Saturday - Hollowing Tool Making & Finish

Tom...........see the pictures below - I "did not" weld the coupling on the D-arm for a good reason. What I found was that a 1" round cold rolled would slip into the 1 1/4 square perfectly and smoothly. So I made the coupling so I can remove it for 1" Hollowing bars and then if I want to use 3/4" hollowing bars I slip the coupling into the 1 1/4 square D-arm and secure it with the 2 set bolts.....The coupling then is a 1" round with a 3/4" hole bored all the way thru.

How I made the coupling was I took a pc of 1" round cold rolled steel that was 4 1/2" long down to a local welding shop and had them drill a 3/4" hole 1/2 way thru it.......but I found after getting it home that this was not the best idea for 2 reasons: Why 4 1/2" long ? No reason really just a guess....:eek:

1). A drill press for drilling something like this you will get some travel in the drilling - not a big deal and I can compensate for it easy enough but i also realized

2). That if I would have had it bored all the way thru I could make longer boring bars and they would slid thru the coupler and into the D-arm and actually extend all the way back as far as I would want it to go. I would not have to be accurate or limited by length of the boring bar at all.

A lady at work who's husband owns a machine shop took the same 4 1/2" pc and made it so a 3/4" bar would slip in and out smoothly all the way thru (I assume he did it on a metal lathe)......In exchange I gave her a few vessles because he wouldn't take any money for doing it - told me it was no big deal to bore it out and I was right not to use a drill press.....I already had the holes tapped and my angle grinder did the flat spot on it you see in the picture - easy enough.........I used 1/4" tap and SS small bolts...


Actually, there are alot of times I do not have to use both set screws (bolts or whatever) when i put it together to hold it secure but, I was not sure at the time I fabricated it so I made it super strong.......welds and brazing a bit sloppy but its built strong everywhere

If you go to a steel shop to buy your steel - you can do what I did - I grabbed a pc of 1" round and walked around putting it in and out of square tube steel until I found a wall thickness that creates a nice smooth slide when you put the 1" in to it.............worked out perfetly.......

Anything else.......let me know.....making it was alot of fun and I did change my mind on things thru the process
 

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Thanks for the detail Dan. Tom Thanks for asking. I think i am gonna save this post and have a go at it some time this winter.

I can understan the rest when i think about the issues at hand with those swan neck hollowing tools. I suppose if one gets caught somewhere it could lift the whole thing into your face. The torque rest at least ensures it doesnt get to do that before you get to shut it down or get out the way.

Now i am starting to get the idea of what it must be like when Vaughn does his thing using that tool that allows him to cut multiple bowls out of one chunck of wood.

This must be like being the pilot of an aircraft experiencing sever turbulence and living on the edge.:rofl:

Now i get what you turners are hooked on the adrenalin of being just at the edge of the whole lot catching. :D
 
Dan, I really appreciate all the photos. I fully understand now how you did everything....it makes sense. My day job is working for a company and I rebuild machinery. Many of these machines require new shafts of all sizes to be installed each year. A lot of the shafts only have wear on the ends where bearings have rubbed into them so I have been keeping some of these shafts as I replace them and stockpiling them for this project. I have mostly 3/4" with some 1' and 1 1/4" shaft. I was planning on using the 3/4" to make my D-arm with a round coupling at the end. I might cut a section (4") of the 1 1/4" shaft and have it drilled to accept the 3/4 inch shaft. I know this would limit me to using the same size bar but that might be how it goes for now.

Tom
 
Which ever way you decide to build it you can always modify it later on to adapt to larger bars if you need to. For me, I figured that I probably will not need anything beyond 1"......but who knows.............LOL

Besides sounds like you can get your hands on alot of good metal to make these projects with....................
 
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