Router Mill/Lathe
Quite some time ago I came across a shop-built machine described as a router mill. The machine was designed to aid manufacture of spiralled table legs and caught my attention as being a worthwhile build candidate. The machine had a number of drawbacks however; it lacked the ability to reverse the direction of any given twist, which I considered essential, it was based on imperial dimensions and un-necessarily large, and lacked several other features I would have liked such as an auto-feed mechanism and a leg-profile template copying capability.
So taking the same general idea I set about designing a similar more compact machine based on metric dimensions which offered a far greater variety of twist pitches - all of which were reversable, an auto-stop variable speed power feed, and leg-profile template copying capability.
- For turning twisted fluted or profiled ornate chair legs/table legs/balustrades/candlesticks/coat racks/lamp stands etc.
- Can machine transitional features, plus optional profiles/flutes/spirals, to form either straight, tapered, or profiled legs from raw stock up to 150mm dia x 800mm long.
- Choice of 12 left or right hand spiral pitches ranging from 20mm to 400mm.
- Can cut a choice of 1,2,3,4,5,6,8,10 or 12 equally spaced flutes or spirals.
Overview of plans:-
Download the free sketchup plans here
(© C Chadburn 2016 free plans are for non-comercial use only.)
Build Videos:-
Overview of parts preparation:-
Overview of gearing arrangement:-
Overview of automatic feed machanism:-
Overview of carriage construction:-
Operational Videos:-
Test Cuts 1: Planing stock:-
Test Cuts 2: Cutting Spirals:-
Test Cuts 3: Reverse Spirals:-
Download the free sketchup plans here
(© C Chadburn 2016 free plans are for non-comercial use only.)