My experience and satisfaction with hollowing tools is spotty.
I don’t like the constraints of the captured bars.
I don’t like lasers hanging in the air
I don’t like the lack of positive tool attitude when using an unconstrained bar.
I don’t like sitting on the lathe
I’m inventing a new approach to the whole problem.
Stay tuned or comment if you are interested.
Well, that sounds interesting. Look forward to what you come up with.
I’d say though that a distinction needs to be made between the hollowing cutter and the cutter holder. Many variables in each as would be obvious.
On the former, Lyn Mangiamelli’s reviews on Fred Holder’s website are rather useful IMO.
On the latter, AFAIK there are devices that don’t rely on a toolgate.
Cheers, Ern
(rsser on the Stubby group).
Ern,
Good points my work is focussed on the holder per say. I’m interested in ways to stabilize the cutter with the bar constrained and internal lighting to get rid of external laser contraptions.
I use an outrigger set up regularly now with good results. The internal lighting is still a work in progress with lots of challenges.
Donnie
Any progress on the lighting problem?
Have you tried out the Harbor Freight LED lights that come with a flexible tube so that you could tape the light to the hollowing tool?
Bernie
Sorry it took me some time to get back to you since you wrote this comment I have been on an Alaska cruise and attended the Utah symposium.
I have not made any progress on the light experiment due to other distractions such as the “mothers day music” box.
However I learned from the last vessel that I need a much brighter light than the 3000mcd LEDs I have been using and I need a way to keep the wet shavings off the lens. I am planning on trying a halogen lamp that is fixed to the steady rest but is inside the vessel. I am looking for a good way to connect the lamp.
I think that the light level from the HF LED’s may be to weak.
Lighting: I have found that dental lights provide ideal illumination, albeit expensive. I have a pair to sell. These dental lights rotate about 2 sockets in a rail approx. 18 “above the power unit. These arms are approx. 30 inches long. A pantograph hidden in each arm maintains parallel orientation of two rotation-axes, as the arm is raised/lowered/rotated. Each lamp has one switch, and a handle to aid in positioning and aiming it with independent adjustment about 5 of its 6 axes of rotation. This elaborately engineered mechanism allows good flexibility for independently directing highly focused beams from the two dichroic Fresnel mirrors onto or into your turning. Please email me for more information and photographs. I will sell this pair of A-dec (Newberg, Oregon) lights for less than the cost of a single dental light on the web.