Michael Szyper Posted November 9, 2018 Report Posted November 9, 2018 6 hours ago, Michael_Molnar said: Here is the stirring mechanism; https://www.amazon.com/Mophorn-Electric-Overhead-Stirrer-Mechanical/dp/B06W2HNPPP/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_469_lp_t_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=TGPES76PBKKT50ZP288K Thank you for sharing the source, that is a reasonable price for athe stirrer! Do you think it speeds up the rosin coloration?
Michael_Molnar Posted November 9, 2018 Author Report Posted November 9, 2018 11 hours ago, Michael Szyper said: Thank you for sharing the source, that is a reasonable price for athe stirrer! Do you think it speeds up the rosin coloration? Yes, because more rosin is exposed to air. It also prevents "frozen skins" from forming. Another benefit is the avoidance of hot spots where rosin or varnish can burn.
Urban Luthier Posted November 9, 2018 Report Posted November 9, 2018 This is about the smartest thing I've seen here in ages! Thanks for the tip Mike.
Michael_Molnar Posted November 20, 2018 Author Report Posted November 20, 2018 I replaced my ancient two-knives jointer with a spiral cutterhead model from Grizzly.com . I secured this to a bench and ran a link to my dust collection system. I mounted the dust gate on the left for easy access. In the past, I put the gate near the wall like the one on the far right which made it less accessible. Here is a shot of figured (American) maple machined with the old two knives jointer. Notice the tearout and ripple pattern. In the next photo, the same piece has not tearout or cutter pattern. The only things I see are flames and wood figure even under grazing incident light. The change in color is due to the finicky nature of the camera. Anyhow, I am pleased with this purchase.
Don Noon Posted November 20, 2018 Report Posted November 20, 2018 Oh, the horror of machines doing their devastating work and brutally ripping wood fibers. On my old straight-knife jointer, I had to put in a huge amount of work sharpening and honing the blades, and then the finish was good and tear-out was minimal... for a little while. My carbide-insert machine is better on tear-out, but never matches the finish of the freshly sharpened HSS blades. I wouldn't go back.
Guest Posted November 20, 2018 Report Posted November 20, 2018 Do you still have to finish with a handplane? If so I'd rather put the same money to a decent plane...like this one. https://www.lie-nielsen.com/product/standard-bench-planes/standard-bench-planes-no.-6-fore-plane-?node=4171
Mike Spencer Posted November 20, 2018 Report Posted November 20, 2018 Congrats Mike! Spiral head machines do an awesome job on figured wood and you get the benefit of carbide knives! How is the grizzly for adjustability?
Michael_Molnar Posted November 20, 2018 Author Report Posted November 20, 2018 10 hours ago, lpr5184 said: Do you still have to finish with a handplane? If so I'd rather put the same money to a decent plane...like this one. https://www.lie-nielsen.com/product/standard-bench-planes/standard-bench-planes-no.-6-fore-plane-?node=4171 No, Ernie. According to my optician's eye, this passes the test. I will never say that this equals a fine hand plane like yours, but the surface is easily good enough. In the photo below, you can see my refurbished No.7 Jointer plane hanging from the rafters above the Grizzly jointer. I am pretty sure that it will become a dust collector. However, if I change my mind, I will report back. I believe in honesty and not pride.
Michael_Molnar Posted November 20, 2018 Author Report Posted November 20, 2018 1 hour ago, Mike Spencer said: Congrats Mike! Spiral head machines do an awesome job on figured wood and you get the benefit of carbide knives! How is the grizzly for adjustability? Hi Mike! I am able to adjust the depth cut with ease. There is the standard hand screw under the feed plate. I back it off and slowly tighten to overcome backlash and adjust the bite. The plates seem to remain level. As for any other adjustments, I will report back as I learn more. As I said to Ernie, I will give an honest assessment as I use this over the months. You can trust my recommendations. In any case, I am truly amazed by the quality of the finish. I hope it stays this way and not develop issues over time. Got my fingers (and toes) crossed, and hope I won't be eating crow anytime soon. Here's another observation: the chips come flying out of the side port with positive pressure making easy work for my dust collection system. The old double knife jointer would clog the pipes with shredded pieces, not small chips.
Guest Posted November 20, 2018 Report Posted November 20, 2018 2 hours ago, Michael_Molnar said: No, Ernie. According to my optician's eye, this passes the test. I will never say that this equals a fine hand plane like yours, but the surface is easily good enough. In the photo below, you can see my refurbished No.7 Jointer plane hanging from the rafters above the Grizzly jointer. I am pretty sure that it will become a dust collector. However, if I change my mind, I will report back. I believe in honesty and not pride. That's pretty impressive for a jointer. My grizzly knife jointer's blades need replacing. I always have to finish with a handplane. Looks like I'll have to run across town and have a look at these in the Grizzly showroom. Thanks.
Michael_Molnar Posted November 26, 2018 Author Report Posted November 26, 2018 There has been a lot of angst and fear mongering in other threads about the threat of machine-made violins and the devil's CNC in particular. To fan the flames of their insecurities, I am posting this photo of the 3 parts I make on my CNC. It took 3 days to do these. My CNC is indeed the old wood-burning model: slow but effective. As you can see, with a little scraping I will have a violin.
Michael Szyper Posted November 26, 2018 Report Posted November 26, 2018 1 hour ago, Michael_Molnar said: There has been a lot of angst and fear mongering in other threads about the threat of machine-made violins and the devil's CNC in particular. To fan the flames of their insecurities, I am posting this photo of the 3 parts I make on my CNC. It took 3 days to do these. My CNC is indeed the old wood-burning model: slow but effective. As you can see, with a little scraping I will have a violin. Oh PLEASE Mike, let this discussion cool down a bit This work looks extremely nice and should show to anybody that good CNC work isn't easy at all.
Mike Spencer Posted November 27, 2018 Report Posted November 27, 2018 Looking very good Mike! I'm glad you posted the pictures as a Cnc is a tool like any other, it must be mastered to produce really good work. There is art and knowledge here too. I don't use Cnc but have a long history of working in a custom furniture shop with them. Can't argue with hand made either, what ever that means.
Michael_Molnar Posted November 27, 2018 Author Report Posted November 27, 2018 6 hours ago, Michael Szyper said: Oh PLEASE Mike, let this discussion cool down a bit This work looks extremely nice and should show to anybody that good CNC work isn't easy at all. Thanks, Michael. I made my point and will move on. Thanks! 16 minutes ago, Mike Spencer said: Looking very good Mike! I'm glad you posted the pictures as a Cnc is a tool like any other, it must be mastered to produce really good work. There is art and knowledge here too. I don't use Cnc but have a long history of working in a custom furniture shop with them. Can't argue with hand made either, what ever that means. Well said, Mike. I am not trying to go against making without automation. The trick is to maximize workmanship either way. I try to blend both. Gee, I just notice that there are three Michaels in this post.
Urban Luthier Posted November 27, 2018 Report Posted November 27, 2018 Nice -- I now how much work it is to programme the CNC machines to get them to do exactly what you want
Michael_Molnar Posted November 27, 2018 Author Report Posted November 27, 2018 16 hours ago, Urban Luthier said: Nice -- I now how much work it is to programme the CNC machines to get them to do exactly what you want Exactly. The CNC requires workmanship skills much like that with any hand tool. Moreover, you still need solid handtool skills. For example, 2 days ago I purchased some new waterstones for sharpening my gouges.
Michael_Molnar Posted December 5, 2018 Author Report Posted December 5, 2018 Today, I felt better and tackled an issue with the CNC. In the next photo, you can see a repetitious tool pattern, namely the vertical pattern I suspected that the tool pattern was produced by a new driveshaft I installed. So, I took the CNC apart and made some measurements and testing. The problem seems to lie with the coupler between the stepper motor and drive shaft. So tomorrow I will replace the old coupler on the right with the new one on the left that is designed to flex for off-center axles. Stay tuned.
Don Noon Posted December 6, 2018 Report Posted December 6, 2018 Either the coupler photo is backwards, or you are.
Michael_Molnar Posted December 6, 2018 Author Report Posted December 6, 2018 18 hours ago, Don Noon said: Either the coupler photo is backwards, or you are. It's on the other right.
Michael_Molnar Posted December 6, 2018 Author Report Posted December 6, 2018 Dropped by Kremer Pigments today. The salesperson, Roger, is on the left. He said they were still filling orders from Monday's sale. I bought a couple of dichromatic pigments that I forgot about during the sale.
Michael_Molnar Posted December 6, 2018 Author Report Posted December 6, 2018 Here's a photo of the replaced coupler. The threaded shaft now runs true. I also filled the lubricating bearing with spindle oil. Tomorrow I will fix some tie-down inserts that came out. The ol' CNC should be ready to go.
Urban Luthier Posted December 7, 2018 Report Posted December 7, 2018 Cool. Large enough for a viola or only violins?
Michael_Molnar Posted December 8, 2018 Author Report Posted December 8, 2018 On 12/7/2018 at 8:49 AM, Urban Luthier said: Cool. Large enough for a viola or only violins? I could do a viola with some adjustments, but I doubt that I ever will. I need to learn much more about violins.
Michael_Molnar Posted December 17, 2018 Author Report Posted December 17, 2018 Thanks for the compliments. Another experiment of mine is to transfer a wet lake into linseed oil without drying and mulling. I have had some good results. Most lakes that we make are amenable to direct transfer. Occasionally, I find some that clump (coagulate) which requires post-transfer mulling. Nevertheless, I like the results. I feel that more small particles get into the mix this way. My setup is a hot plate that has a magnetic stirrer. I use the same oil from making varnish. To this, I add the wet lake precipitate scraped from the filter. I heat this to a little past boiling while stirring. I avoid excessively high temperatures that evaporate the linseed oil. My digital thermometer in the photo reads 7º too high when checked against a lab-calibrated thermometer. I maintain a slow boil until all bubbles and vapor clouds dissipate. It's important to get all the moisture out of this before using in an oil varnish. I let the mixture settle for several days. Large particles precipitate out leaving a very clear solution.
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