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Hi. Although I realise that your question has been answered (ie not practicable on a small scale) I wonder why there is a market for these tools. I sometimes make metal tools for a potter and the challenges are that clay is both abrasive and wet. So the tools wear quickly and corrode easily...

Thanks Setch - that's useful. I'll try to make something along those lines and relist perhaps at a more attractive price. Bob.

Hi, I have the bag which I assumed was a straight fit to the machine, but not so. It looks like there must have been an adaptor to connect to the exhaust port on the machine: Hunted high and low, but can't find it. Sorry! Bob.

This saga reminds me somewhat of my experiences rescuing Kity 419 table saws - decent saws let down by using a nylon pinion engaging with a steel rack on the tilt/raise mechanism. The pinion fails well before the rest of the saw is past its lifetime. OEM replacement was outrageously expensive -...

Hi galvernisednuts. I've done a fair bit of this sort of thing (home workshop, not pro) so I'll contribute my 2p worth. Bearings are (in my experience) either spot on in their external diameter or slightly under, by which I mean plus nothing to minus maybe 3 microns at this sort of diameter...

Having a bit of a clearout. I bought this years ago and used for one job in softwood, so pretty much in pristine condition. I can't remember how much I paid, but there is a 'discontinued product' listing on Sitebox which suggests £80 back then. I 'm thinking £45 including a couple of partly used...

Guhring is another high end brand to consider. It's worth having a look a Zoro - at the mo they have a Dormer A095 1-10 x 0.5mm set for £54, which is a good price, they also have Guhring sets cheaper than elsewhere. If you don't want to spend that sort of money their Sherwood drills are...

Movable scenery - in our case eight 4x8 foot panels cavassed on both sides = 16 surfaces to design / paint. Bob.

Hi Morag. I do the same sort of stuff - props/scenery for our local panto. I've been doing it for the last 25 years, so know where you're coming from! Bourbon's suggestion of a stagehand with a switch certainly could work - I've done similar things that way in the past. Another possibility on...

Hi AES. I don't have the same scroll saw as you, but I recently had a failure on a bench-top milling machine which is electrically similar - a 500W brushed DC motor driven by a variable speed unit. In my case it turned out to be the motor (unlikely in your case) but I went through the logical...

Strip off the motor and chuck, install a retro LED bulb, lick of paint, and you've got a lovely adjustable table lamp. £800 minimum I'd say. Sorry - couldn't resist- reminded me of the ridiculous Money for Nothing programme. Nice find, I'm sick with envy! Bob.

Thanks for confirmation. For the record it also faced quite nicely using the same tool with the 'pointy end' parallel to the lathe axis: There are some 'pores' (don't know the technical term) towards the right of the pic but I guess that's in the nature of the wood. It'll polish up nicely I'm...

Hi Niall. Presumably these are for your whistles. Geoff Wooff (renowned pipemaker) describes his method here. He says: "The width of the ferrule, in the flat, is arrived at by taking the desired inside diameter, adding to that the thickness of the sheet metal and multiplying this figure by Pi...

Well, I think it's iroko - I bought a lab bench top (2400x 550 x 25 mm) from a guy on eBay for £10! This is just an offcut - does it look like iroko to you? Thanks for the warning anyway! Bob.

Hi Niall. I feel a bit of thread drift coming on, but it's my thread so OK I suppose! I had a go at making low D whistles (from metal) a long time ago but making the fipples (by hand) was so time consuming I gave it up as a commercial proposition. As you probably know Uilleann chanter bores are...

Thanks for further replies. I thought that before taking the work off the lathe, bandsawing it a bit rounder and grinding an HSS tool I'd have a go with the SCGT chamfering tool I showed earlier just to see what would happen. I set it to take a 2mm cut and it was really easy - no breakout or...

Thanks for further comments Jonn and Niall. I certainly am interested - I have 6 and 8mm RCGT inserts but obviously the holders present the tools horizontally. I have a milling machine so could make canted holders. Bob.

Thanks. I've not got back to it yet but as advised I'll rough out on the bandsaw and find or grind an HSS tool when I do. As an aside though, there are sharp high +ve rake metalworking inserts designed for non-ferrous metals, eg this chamfer tool: I know that wood turning carbide inserts exist...

Glad you weren't hurt - it's frightening how quickly these things can happen. Worst one for me so far is a steel rule falling onto the chuck off the headstock tray. It ended up embedded in a sheet of ply at the other end of the workshop. It would have been an A&E job if I'd been in the way. Bob.

Thanks for replies. I do have a bandsaw and in retrospect it was daft of me not to have cut the piece to some semblance of roundness. I'd have done that if the work was in metal. I guess I was thinking that because wood can be cut much faster than metal on the lathe it would be quicker than...