Tried and tamed the Kelton Coring tool

[Peter Fabricius]

Hi All;
I had a nice very dry piece of Russian Olive that needed to be Cored. About 12 x 6 inch and quite rough, from a tree that I took down in our yard in 2006. Most of the wood went to the landfill.
I mounted the blank last week and went to work with the Coring tools. It went quite good but the bottom of the big bowl was too thick, so the second and third bowls turned out a little smaller that they could have been.
I needed to tame the guidance of the Kelton blade, SO, I fitted a bracket on the side of the tool handle so I can mount my Monster Laser guidance system there and in the picture you can see the little red dot on the blade tip.
I am sure this will give me more confidence when guiding the tool into the wood....
Has anyone tried this?
Enjoy the pics.
Peter F.

[Harry Robinette]

I have a laser on my Kelton and it works good. I only use mine with the large and standard blades. I set it to the far outside edge then when you round the corner your looking at the max depth, to me that's what I wont to see to keep the bowl bottom equal.

[Bill Blasic]

For those that do not have the capability to make the laser holder that Peter made Monster makes a Laser Mount for the Kelton Coring System, it is on the website and comes in two sizes.
Bill

[Fred Belknap]

Just curious but how do you change the direction when you realize after reaching close to the bottom that you are going to be either to shallow or to deep? I would like to have some way to tell me where I am going to end up at as I start the cut? Now it is kind of a guess and close estimate.

[Dennis Nagle]

I thought that is the McNaughton coring tool. Where is my confusion coming from???

[Jim Seyfried]

I thought that is the McNaughton coring tool. Where is my confusion coming from???

Kelton industrys McNaughton system

[Reed Gray]

Kel McNaughton started the company. At first it was the 'McNaughton' coring tool, then the business because Kelton Industries or some thing like that, and now he calls it the Kelton coring tool.

I like your solution to the laser mount problem. I had mine welded onto my coring bar, and it sits on top rather than on the outside. The picture in the Craft Supplies catalog shows it set up wrong, still. Having it on top means when you change blades, you just slide it forward or backward. If it is side mounted, you need to pivot it in or out a bit. I have a video up on You Tube about it if you type in robo hippy

Correcting course, is pretty simple, if you are too deep, you come back to the top and start again, aiming a bit more towards the middle of the bowl. If you are aiming too shallow, you come back more towards the top, and aim more in line with the wall of the bowl. It is great for letting you know where you are. I also use that laser for rough hollowing with my Kelton hollowing tools.

robo hippy

[Peter Fabricius]

Thanks all for looking.
The little bracket is a simple piece of angle iron with a few holes drilled and tapped to fit the handle (metric 8 mm x 1.25pitch, 12mm bolts fit perfectly) note I needed two points on the side of the handle so the Laser would stay in place, I drilled and tapped two holes on the top flat part for the Base of the Laser to fasten to. The Laser comes with a 1/4" set screw on the bottom of the base shaft, so I just drilled and tapped the angle iron for that.
The name thing is interesting, I think the system is officially the NcNaughton Kelton Coring System but I just shortened it to Kelton, I could have used NcNaughton but that name is harder to spell.
The bowls do not take long to cut out but then have to be finish turned and the Minwax Tung Oil applied which takes the longest.
Thanks for the nice comments.
Fantastic to hear that others have done the same and especially Robo Hippy for specific comments to help understanding the guidance issues. I can hardly wait for my next try, need bigger pieces of wood to try another!


Peter F.

[Peter Fabricius]

I just took a look at the CSUSA web site. The picture shows the laser mounted over / in line with the cutter bar and this will work just fine if you do not want to adjust the Laser up or down. On the Monster Laser the height adjustment is on the upright rod so the fixing point to the tool does not really matter. I mounted my angle bracket out to the side so I can get a wrench on the nut locking the Laser Base Rod in place easier. The Monster Laser has two quick lock handles for adjustments of the Laser beam ( left/right and up/down). I just left the collar for the up, down adjustment in the same place I use for Monster Hollowing so the Laser head is easy to swing to point at the left edge of the cutter.
for $93.00 I think my little FREE piece of angle iron was a good deal. I am sure most turners would be able to drill and tap a few holes for free.
I put the bracket on the opposite side to the blade holding set screws and drilled and tapped one new 8 x 1.25mm hole in the handle to hold the laser mount level. I did buy a pack of 5ea little 8 mm bolts @ 12mm long to secure the angle bracket....cost <$3.00.....and I only used two of the bolts!
Peter F.

[Reed Gray]

I talked to Kel about it and he said it is designed to go off to the side. Main reason was so that you could adjust the vertical post for the height of the bowl you are coring. When put on top, like in the CSUSA catalog, it is at a side ways angle to the bowl and gives a less accurate indication. It needs to be plumb/in a vertical line to the bed of the lathe. The idea of using the same two bolts to mount the bracket to also mount the blade is confusing to me.

robo hippy

[Peter Fabricius]

Robo,
there is a good set of instructions shown on the CSUSA site along with the tool. They use the side mounting set screws by providing two longer set screws and the two nuts to hold the angle piece on the tool handle.
for those with a Monster Laser, it is real easy.
I am going to look at the Monster web site to see how they do it!
Peter F.