Doug Rasmussen
10-25-2016, 11:01 PM
This might be of interest. The pictures show a way we sometimes turned small bowls and display trays in exotic woods for high end retailers like Nordstrom's jewelry counters.
The machine here is a CNC milling machine. It's programmed to cut an outside profile then do the inside with a tapered wall, thin at the outside and thickening slightly toward the bottom. The same thing can be done on a CNC lathe, but the mill gives a little more variety in the tricky cuts it can do like oval turning. As shown about 6 minutes to do the inside and outside.
The piece shown is 3" diameter, black locust limb dripping wet. It's what I had handy. It's a little surprising the finish isn't better with this being locust, earlier I did a piece in soft western maple that has an almost burnished finish.
The work is stationary, the high speed rotating cutters move around the work in a downward spiral path. For this test the outside was done with a 4" diameter shaper cutter, the inside with a 1/2" diameter ball end router bit. The same technique can do turnings as large as salad bowls.
The machine here is a CNC milling machine. It's programmed to cut an outside profile then do the inside with a tapered wall, thin at the outside and thickening slightly toward the bottom. The same thing can be done on a CNC lathe, but the mill gives a little more variety in the tricky cuts it can do like oval turning. As shown about 6 minutes to do the inside and outside.
The piece shown is 3" diameter, black locust limb dripping wet. It's what I had handy. It's a little surprising the finish isn't better with this being locust, earlier I did a piece in soft western maple that has an almost burnished finish.
The work is stationary, the high speed rotating cutters move around the work in a downward spiral path. For this test the outside was done with a 4" diameter shaper cutter, the inside with a 1/2" diameter ball end router bit. The same technique can do turnings as large as salad bowls.