Need a little help .. Newbie questions

[customchris]

Hello all my name is Chris
I am going to be getting a lathe next month and I going to try to start producing wood lathe tool handles and I need a way to make that same tool handle shape over and over.. I need to know if I make a template like in the pic below .. Would this work? The red is the part that fallows the template and is bolted to the cross slide.




This is the tool handle I want to make



Also I am lookig at the Grizzly G0752 to do the work on
I know that is not the best lathe butt I got to buy what I can afford
Do I need the Variable speed for production work . or can I get the g0602 . It is the same lathe but is $450 less with out the variable speed. I know its alot to ask on my first post I just hate to mess up on getting the right lathe.

 

[dave2176]

Chris,
The taper is the tricky part. You say they are wood lathe tool handles so the taper is 4" or more? You should use a taper attachment which you may be able to make. Another option is to buy the G0602 with the intention of making it CNC. Jumps4 here did a great job on a 9x20 (maybe that would be less starting cost). Use 2 servos or steppers to drive the X and Z axis. You should be able to get it together fairly quickly.

Good luck and keep us posted, we all would love to follow this.
Dave

Edit: Since most of us wood turners are not young guys what do you think about a light knurl along the flat between the tapers to use for a better grip and control of the tool?

 

[customchris]

I made one on my wood lathe but it was a 4 hour process.


So you don't think the template would allow me to make the taper.. if i use the template to guide the tool depth and use it some what like a taper attachment. it just be like a depth stop. I would love to have a CNC set up but that is out of my rang right now. This would be my first metal lathe.

 

[Philco]

Chris, I don't see why this want work for you. Keep in mind that you are going to have to work the cross slide wheel & the saddle wheel at the same time to follow the taper. If you disconnect the cross slide hand wheel so that you're cross slide is free floating , then you stand a chance that the tool will dig into the work & break tooling or damage the work. I hope this helps, Phil