Sphere Turner

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Sphere Turner

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  • #566552
    Vic
    Participant
      @vic

      For the Wood Lathe.

      I’m thinking of making something similar. The one in the video seems to be made from steel but I’ve seen another very similar design apparently made from alloy.
      I have dovetail cutters but I’m not sure it’s worth the effort cutting them? Neither design has a gib strip, I suppose because the unit only makes small movements. Would a gib improve the design? I’d appreciate any thoughts on this before I start the design process. I’m sure some of you will bring up issues I haven’t considered and this has been extremely helpful in the past. TIA.

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      #36593
      Vic
      Participant
        @vic
        #566555
        Ian Parkin
        Participant
          @ianparkin39383

          I have the one thats in your first link sold by boffin guy on eBay

          its great works well and I wouldn’t think making one any better is going to make it better to use…it does the job out of the box. And at the price he sells them for I wouldn’t go to the trouble of starting to make a copy.

          if you want a ball turning jig rather than making a ball turning jig that is

          #566556
          Paul Lousick
          Participant
            @paullousick59116

            Hi Vic,

            It;s normally called a ball turner and there are lots of articles and designs on metal work forums, youtube, etc.

            (and the previous post to this one)

            #566557
            Michael Gilligan
            Participant
              @michaelgilligan61133

              You may get some inspiration from this alternative design, Vic : **LINK**

              MichaelG.

              #566574
              Vic
              Participant
                @vic

                Thanks folks. I’ve actually got two ball turners already, one for the metal lathe and one similar to the one Michael linked for my wood lathe.
                The reason I’m interested in the type in my original post is that they look to be much easier to set up and can be fitted to a standard wood lathe Banjo.

                Having used a ball turner there are however a couple of small things I don’t like which I think I can easily improve upon.

                #566598
                Sam Stones
                Participant
                  @samstones42903

                  Vic,

                  FWIW – I have a faint idea that this one was described in Model Engineer many years ago, perhaps in the 60's. A round cutter (e.g. a piece of broken drill bit) is inserted into the left hand end and pokes out as per the illustrations in the links above.

                  Other than making a couple of stainless steel handles (for a six-way turret and a rear tool post, oh and an aluminium ball on the end of the handle which I carelessly cropped off in the photograph), I hardly ever used it.

                  Capacity? About 50 mm max.

                  spherical turning attachment.jpg

                  One extravagance was the bronze body, a left-over from another job.

                  The bronze body was made to be clamped in the normal (ML7) tool post.

                  I seem to recall making the lead screw with a 40 tpi thread. It allowed very fine adjustment.

                  Cheers,

                  Sam smile d

                  Edited By Sam Stones on 12/10/2021 20:01:28

                  #566599
                  Vic
                  Participant
                    @vic

                    Thanks. I did see that one during a search. I’ll be using a round carbide insert for the cutter as it works so well on my other jig. I’m looking to turn wooden spheres up to about 250mm diameter.

                    #566611
                    Paul Lousick
                    Participant
                      @paullousick59116

                      Sam,

                      It looks like an earlier version of the ball turners that use a boring head. (Possibly where the designer got the idea)

                      ball turners.jpg

                      #566614
                      Sam Stones
                      Participant
                        @samstones42903

                        Yes Paul, very similar.

                        As my memory mist clears slightly, I feel sure it was described with drawings in ME. That would have to be pre '72.

                        When I made it I'm not sure. Late 60's or early 70's. It went out with my ML7 and most other stuff in '07.

                        Cheers,

                        Sam

                        From a still chilly Melbourne.

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