Edward G. Burlington
08-09-2006, 08:06 PM
I have been asked to post some details on how I do fluted and reeded turnings so here goes.
Step One is to prepare the turning to the approximate size and shape you want for fluteing or reeding. If the section to be done is straight the guide parts are simple to make. If the section is curved a guide section must be made with the same curve. At each end of the guide part a stop should be made that will guide the cutter out of the work as you move along. If you put a straight stop at the end that will work, by you risk burning if you don’t remove the cutter immediately after stopping. See the picture below of a simple straight guide with a curved stop which works best for me. I use a flush trim bit on my table router which makes this stop without any special effort.
In the picture below you can see that the setup is simply a piece of ¾ MDF cut small with two holes for the hold down bolts. These bolts are common carriage bolts fitted into a block of wood that fits under the lathe bed. The vertical guide setup is a piece of ¾ hardwood with aluminum angle and slotted holes that match up with the holes in the flat MDF. The bumper guide is made of ½ Baltic birch with the routed section matching the length of the fluted section with built in stops at each end (cut with the trim bit).
983
The picture below shows how the trim router is mounted to an angle piece so the bottom can ride on the MDF and hold the bit at the exact center height of the lathe. This makes the cut on dead center of the turning. When you place the turning in position with the head and tail stock secure and tight move the guide section into a position that is parallel with the turning and the correct distance from the turning so that the final cut will be as deep as you want. I do this by placing a spacer with a thickness equal to the depth of cut desired in front of the aluminum bumper and against the plywood bumper guide then adjust the guide section so the cutter just touches the turning. As a result when you remove the spacer the cutter will now move closer to the turning by the thickness of the spacer. Minor adjustment can be done by moving the trim router in and out from there.
I find that if you try to do the whole cut in one pass it can cause a torque or tiping problem and poor results. So I added a little 1/8 inch removable bumper that keeps the router away from the turning for the first pass then I remove it for the second pass. This guarantees consistent results.
984
The picture below shows (from a back angle) the assembled guide section and the router bumping against it with the small removable bumper in place for the first cut.
985
The picture below shows the actual setup and the router in action for the bed posts I am currently building.
986
Note that my lathe has a built in indexer that allows me to move the turning an exact number of degrees for each pass. Selecting the size of the turning, the size of cutter, the depth of cut to achieve the correct spacing is mostly a mater of experimentation. It really is not that difficult to plot out the number of cuts to achieve your results through math or trial and error. If you do not have an indexer on your lathe you can easily make one out of a disk of plywood and a compass.
Below is a picture of a curved reeded section done in the same way as the fluteing process. The only difference is the guide piece is curved to match the curve in the turning and a reeding bit is used. Of course curved reeding requires hand smoothing of the transitions which I now do with a pointed smoothing file. This is much faster than using chisels.
987
Feel free to ask any questions.
Edward G.
Step One is to prepare the turning to the approximate size and shape you want for fluteing or reeding. If the section to be done is straight the guide parts are simple to make. If the section is curved a guide section must be made with the same curve. At each end of the guide part a stop should be made that will guide the cutter out of the work as you move along. If you put a straight stop at the end that will work, by you risk burning if you don’t remove the cutter immediately after stopping. See the picture below of a simple straight guide with a curved stop which works best for me. I use a flush trim bit on my table router which makes this stop without any special effort.
In the picture below you can see that the setup is simply a piece of ¾ MDF cut small with two holes for the hold down bolts. These bolts are common carriage bolts fitted into a block of wood that fits under the lathe bed. The vertical guide setup is a piece of ¾ hardwood with aluminum angle and slotted holes that match up with the holes in the flat MDF. The bumper guide is made of ½ Baltic birch with the routed section matching the length of the fluted section with built in stops at each end (cut with the trim bit).
983
The picture below shows how the trim router is mounted to an angle piece so the bottom can ride on the MDF and hold the bit at the exact center height of the lathe. This makes the cut on dead center of the turning. When you place the turning in position with the head and tail stock secure and tight move the guide section into a position that is parallel with the turning and the correct distance from the turning so that the final cut will be as deep as you want. I do this by placing a spacer with a thickness equal to the depth of cut desired in front of the aluminum bumper and against the plywood bumper guide then adjust the guide section so the cutter just touches the turning. As a result when you remove the spacer the cutter will now move closer to the turning by the thickness of the spacer. Minor adjustment can be done by moving the trim router in and out from there.
I find that if you try to do the whole cut in one pass it can cause a torque or tiping problem and poor results. So I added a little 1/8 inch removable bumper that keeps the router away from the turning for the first pass then I remove it for the second pass. This guarantees consistent results.
984
The picture below shows (from a back angle) the assembled guide section and the router bumping against it with the small removable bumper in place for the first cut.
985
The picture below shows the actual setup and the router in action for the bed posts I am currently building.
986
Note that my lathe has a built in indexer that allows me to move the turning an exact number of degrees for each pass. Selecting the size of the turning, the size of cutter, the depth of cut to achieve the correct spacing is mostly a mater of experimentation. It really is not that difficult to plot out the number of cuts to achieve your results through math or trial and error. If you do not have an indexer on your lathe you can easily make one out of a disk of plywood and a compass.
Below is a picture of a curved reeded section done in the same way as the fluteing process. The only difference is the guide piece is curved to match the curve in the turning and a reeding bit is used. Of course curved reeding requires hand smoothing of the transitions which I now do with a pointed smoothing file. This is much faster than using chisels.
987
Feel free to ask any questions.
Edward G.