My Hollowing System - Pics

[Steve Mathews]

Here are a few pictures of my partially completed hollowing system. The base and cradle are from an Al Basham hollowing system that was cleaned up and painted. I posted pictures of it earlier before it was reconditioned. The D-shaped follower and coupling are homebrew. All that remains is the boring bar and possibly the laser setup, which I'll probably get from Lyle Jamieson. I would've purchased the entire setup from him but I already had the base and I wanted to make the D-shaped contraption just to prove to myself that it could be done. It was fun making it.

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[Dwight Rutherford]

Glad to see you got it finished. Enjoy.

[Adam Petersen]

Looks great! Heavy duty for sure. Looks nice all cleaned up.

[Steve Mathews]

Glad to see you got it finished. Enjoy.

Thanks Dwight! The real challenge will probably be the hollow forming itself. I have a small piece of Olive ready to go when the boring bar arrives As you can see from the pics I chose not to bend/weld the corners and intersection. They were all machined and screwed together. Even the coupling was made instead of purchasing it. Thanks again for providing the dimensions and help.

[Dwight Rutherford]

You mentioned buying the laser setup, you can easily make your own mast and boom. I found the pen type laser pointers to be the frustrating part of the set up. Because of the vibration that develops at the end of the boom, these lasers failed often. I found focusable lasers on E-Bay that withstand the vibration. Very reasonable price! Additionally the pencil type lasers had a short battery life. I now power my laser with a battery box ( cheap! ) and get a much longer life. If you wish, message me and I can supply the links.

[Dane Riley]

I've tried both these lasers, they both work well:

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/quarton-inc/VLM-650-03-LPA/VLM-650-03-LPA-ND/413761

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/adafruit-industries-llc/1054/1528-1391-ND/5629439 (In spite of screwy data sheet. Focus distance is adjustable.)

Much brighter than a pointer, be careful. I dug out my soldering iron when the vibration opened up the twist connector used to attach the battery pack..

[Brice Rogers]

Steve, you did a nice job on machining the joints. I suspect that it'll work very well for you. If it proves to lack any rigidity, you could always solvent clean the joints and silver solder them. Silver solder works great when there are only a few thou of clearance and is surprisingly strong in that application.

[Steve Mathews]

Steve, you did a nice job on machining the joints. I suspect that it'll work very well for you. If it proves to lack any rigidity, you could always solvent clean the joints and silver solder them. Silver solder works great when there are only a few thou of clearance and is surprisingly strong in that application.

Thanks Brice! I don't think the joints will budge as the machined notches make a tight fit. If anything moves it will probably be at the coupling. A flat spot wasn't machined on the bar. I may have to go back and do that. I could've welded and bent the bar but chose to try something different.

[Thom Sturgill]

The only problem I've seen with Jameison type rigs is vibration in the rear gate. Tap on the long end and see how much vibration is generated. A brace from the long end back to the base cures that nicely.