Dowel rod on the lathe

[pieceseeker]

What would be the most accurate way to make 1 3/16 OD x 12" dowel rod on the lathe? I need it to fit precisely, but slide thru an aluminum bore 1 3/16" x 2" through its entire 12" length.


And what wood the best would... be to use? I'm thinking oak, needs to be really strong, resist any bending. Possibly bore it and press in a steel rod thru the center.

One end will be drilled to accept a 5/8" ID bronze bushing, it will be pressed in.

I am going to attempt to make an alignment tool. I initially was looking at a metal tool, but considering I don't have a metal lathe, and a machine shop hourly rate might be prohibitively expensive, I finally resigned to making it out of wood. I don't think I need it to be within a .001" or 2 anyway. However, I would like it to be as close as possible with wood.

[pieceseeker]

Guess I found the answer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGUyupl-Nnk

Well, I may need to get the lathe duplicator!

[WmZiggy]

You don't need to get the duplicator to do this operation. You can mount a skew chisel with a C-clamp to the tool rest holder and run it the length of the work. I put a wooden plug in the tool rest holder that the C-clamp can work against. There is a picture of this in the original Power Tool Woodworking for Everyone in the Lathe Chapter. They show it for turning tapers, but it works equally well for cylinders. I have a Mk 500 and the PTWE by DeCristoforo is the older book. I don't find it published in the newer version.

[skou]

Piece, a LONG time ago, I sharpened the tip of my ER lathe tool rest, to turn a rolling pin. Worked just fine!

Ended up losing about 1/4 of the useful length of the tool rest.

I started by turning the block of maple round and smooth, and finished it with
the tool rest, by dragging it along, by moving it and carriage, together.

If I had an extra tool rest, and needed this precision, I'd do it again.

Sharpen the right edge, just the tip. and work towards the headrest.

Unless your Shopsmith is not square, you get a perfect cylinder.

OR;
there are clamps that will mount in one of the carriage holes, thatg will hold a lathe tool, and do the same.

You might want to turn it a few thousandths too large, and sand it to fit, with the 12 inch disc, used as a sanding block.

steve

[pieceseeker]

Ok, those are some good ideas I hadn't thought of. My line of thinking was more along the lines of the way a metal lathe works.

I was thinking that I need total control (screw advancement) when moving the cutting bit into the wood, instead of just tapping a chisel that is clamped or a sharpened tool rest.

I may experiment with those ideas on some pine. Need to experience the feel of the lathe anyway to start.

[reible]

If you want to cheat a little on the project you can pick up say a 1-3/8 dowel at the hardware store and only have to do some light trimming to get it to size....

I've used the chisel clamped to the small face plate and attached to the lathe arm etc. It works fine but it will be a scraping operation so plan on doing some sanding, using the disk sander hand held while the part is still on the lathe works well.

Ed

[terrydowning]

If it needs to be really precise consider fabricating a dowel plate.

From a google search on "Dowel Plate".

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://toolmonger.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/dowel%2520plate1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://toolmonger.com/2007/12/10/a-square-peg-in-a-round-hole/&h=291&w=432&sz=20&tbnid=J3h9xVQlAjENqM:&tbnh=94&tbnw=139&zoom=1&usg=__fuH4IlGIrZaoPeJ_bqXusP_Q8VM=&docid=FRoqGp9OtgIXTM&sa=X&ei=x0nxUarzHYmRiQKy0oC4CQ&ved=0CFMQ9QEwAQ&dur=3918#imgdii=J3h9xVQlAjENqM%3A%3B9dAbP_i4bZR6wM%3BJ3h9xVQlAjENqM%3A

Essentially, get some flat steel stock. Drill a hole the desired dowel diameter. Secure the plate in a vise and whack some stock through the hole.

Be advised that wood is inherently unstable and will change in dimension over time and weather conditions. (I'm not saying don't use it, just a reminder of one of wood's inherent limitations.

[joshh]

This probably won't be accurate enough for your purposes, but I thought it was neat and may help others


http://youtu.be/yUmlMtpAj9o

[terrydowning]

This probably won't be accurate enough for your purposes, but I thought it was neat and may help others


http://youtu.be/yUmlMtpAj9o

Clever jig. Can't help thinking it would have been faster to make the jig with hand tools from the start though. Just sayin'.

[WmZiggy]

I watched the video and all I could think is how nice it would be if Stanley sold their #77 dowel making machine again. Ebay has them, but they are pricey.