Time for a Jig......

[santiniuk]

Hi all,

Thought I'd share some of the work I was doing this week. I guess I have too many interests, one of them a couple of years back was 'homebrew' cnc machines.

To cut a long story short I spent a few month's designing a machine from scratch out of bit's I managed to scavenge from all over

What's this got to do with turning?

Well as a new addict to turning I used to hate sharpening, I was getting better at it but after seeing some video's of Jigs I looked around to see what was available. I hate buying things that I think are overpriced which I do feel a lot of the jigs on the market are.

So reading through the posts here I stumbled upon the fixtures that Chas had posted and thought I'd have a crack at making one. When I looked at my chisels I noticed the shafts were different sizes so I thought I'd rather make a few to save having to adjust and change plates etc.

So.... here's a few pic's.

1. Taking the plans that Chas posted, I dropped the dimensions onto a cad program I use which gave me a 3D model of the plate. (About 10 mins to draw up)

2. A good friend I know is writing a fantastic program called CAMBAM. It's still under development so I thought I'd use this to test it. This takes the 3d model and generates what is known as G-Code. This is the file that is used for the CNC. (about 10 mins to do code. I'm rusty so its more like a few mins)

3. From Cambam the G-Code is loaded into a program called Mach III. This is a program I purchased that controls my 'homebrew' cnc.

4. Here the fun begins. Using a 4mm cutter and some 4mm aluminium plate I had the machine sets away doing the automated cutting. (Cutting time about 10 mins)

I didn't fancy hand bashin that slot !

While the machine was cutting the plates I was turning the posts from Beech.

A bit of assembly and hunting for parts and all was complete. (Pics are before I had all the hardware for nuts, washers etc.)

So finally I cannot say how much easier this has made my life sharpening the tools. The simple jig works a treat.
Thanks very much for sharing these plans Chas. I'm in your debt ccasion5:

Note: I may be accused of being lazy..... Your right

Cheers,

Shaun

 

[duncanh]

Nice job. That curved slot is the bit that I was wondering about if I ever made my own.
So when are you going in to business?

Duncan

 

[Woodmagnet]

Nice one Shaun, when i get to replace my turning chisels, i may be knocking on your door begging you to sharpen them properly. :lol:

 

[CHJ]

Neatly done Shaun, production far quicker than my drill, hacksaw and file, even with the cnc bit.

 

[Paul.J]

Nice bit of work Shaun,but i would have to use Chas's method if i made one :roll:
Paul.J.

 

[gasmansteve]

Hi Shaun
Nice jigs. The only fly in the ointment I could see is the money saved by making the jigs with the CNC might not quite be offset by the ten grand needed for the CNC gear.
Cheers
Steve

 

[santiniuk]

Thanks guys,

I'm clean out of plate but wanted to make another one today. (It was for my mate who gave me his old Clarke lathe that got me hooked in the 1st place). So decided to go back to basics and tried to design the basic of basic jigs. I think I came up with a method that's I'll post on a different thread. I'm sure anyone could make that one.

If anyone has the burning need to make this jig and would like a plate cutting, just drop me a p.m. I'm not in it for profit, and would be good to help out any beginner in the same boat as me.

Cheers

Shaun