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Close Enough? Woodworking isn't Engineering?

Someone please correct me if I have it wrong but why can you not make a consistent dowel on your lathe if you set up a router on a jig that will run the length of the lathe, with the router parallel to the horizontal axis and a bit fixe at the distance from the block of wood that is to be turned into a dowel. Then you switch on the router and slide it along the lather bed while the lather rotates. With the router being in a fixed position from the spinning block of wood it can only cut to the set depth which will be worked out to result in the diameter of dowel wanted.

Once setup this could be used to churn out dowels and then dismantled until next time.

I have seen pictures of this setup being used to put flutes in a spindle.

Surley it can be used to make a consistent dowel.
 
Jim Burr said:
And your taking lot's of pic's for a photo tutorial...right?
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You got it Jim. When they come in I'll post the process in one How-To post.

larry merlau said:
They don't always use cutting oil.. and you gonna finish it any way so that will just help the grain pop better:)
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I was somewhat kidding Larry, and the dowels wont' show as they will be used as inserts.

Rob Keeble said:
Someone please correct me if I have it wrong but why can you not make a consistent dowel on your lathe if you set up a router on a jig that will run the length of the lathe, with the router parallel to the horizontal axis and a bit fixe at the distance from the block of wood that is to be turned into a dowel. Then you switch on the router and slide it along the lather bed while the lather rotates. With the router being in a fixed position from the spinning block of wood it can only cut to the set depth which will be worked out to result in the diameter of dowel wanted.

Once setup this could be used to churn out dowels and then dismantled until next time.

I have seen pictures of this setup being used to put flutes in a spindle.

Surely it can be used to make a consistent dowel.
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Right you are Rob, and if I had a lot to make I would seriously consider making a router jig for consistency. As it it, the 36" dowel will be good enough for about six mills, and I'm not a seller nor am I (currently) interested in production work. I'm also thinking the few bucks I paid for the ones I ordered would be hard to be offset the cost of the rig. I will thank you and store this idea away as it may very well have future implementations.
 
Not to turn this worthwhile post into something it is not..however, 'close enough for Government work' is an insult to the folks who work for governments. I've found that the vast magority of civil servants earn every penny of their pay cheque.
As for the shoddy work in question, this guy was not a government worker, just a lazy non-government jobber attempting to sluff off his lack of professional ability on a very silly phrase. You would have been justified in using the dowel to help him with his posture, if you get my dirft! Tom
 
Excellent points Tom. I looked at comments "close enough for government work" as just being phrases, I too have worked with dedicated people in several branches of Federal service.

I like your idea of "helping him with his posture", but one problem. Hitting him with a dowel 1 11/16" in diameter vs. one 1 3/4" in diameter may not feel any different to him. He may say close enough! :D
 
Tom Storey said:
Not to turn this worthwhile post into something it is not..however, 'close enough for Government work' is an insult to the folks who work for governments. I've found that the vast magority of civil servants earn every penny of their pay cheque.
As for the shoddy work in question, this guy was not a government worker, just a lazy non-government jobber attempting to sluff off his lack of professional ability on a very silly phrase. You would have been justified in using the dowel to help him with his posture, if you get my dirft! Tom
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Frank Townend said:
Excellent points Tom. I looked at comments "close enough for government work" as just being phrases, I too have worked with dedicated people in several branches of Federal service.

I like your idea of "helping him with his posture", but one problem. Hitting him with a dowel 1 11/16" in diameter vs. one 1 3/4" in diameter may not feel any different to him. He may say close enough! :D
Click to expand...

Both very good thoughts:rofl::thumb:
 
When I was in the defense business, government work was something you built at work for use at home. It was funny that some people couldn't understand that if you had time to rework a job you had time to do it right in the first place. I once spent 30 hours fixing a part it took a co worker 25 hours to build. I'm looking forward to seeing this project to the end. I have a niece who is a chef and has been hinting for a mill.
Dale
 
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