Screwdriver

[SteveNelson46]

Well, after several attempts I finally got an acceptable carve. The screwdriver kit From Rockler (http://www.rockler.com/4-in-1-screwdriver-turning-kit) was originally designed as a lathe project where the diameter of the ferrule end is adjusted in incremental values until the ferrule fits and then the rest of the handle is shaped. Since this isn't possible on the rotary jig (or at least I haven't figured out how to do it) each trial had to be a complete carve that was about two hours in duration. The shape and quality on all of the trials came out very good except the ferrule end which had to be exactly one inch in diameter. That was the problem because the Designer did not report the diameter accurately. It turns out that the depth and heights of each component affect each other and even a font change that is on top of the grip pattern will change the depth of all components. Including the ferrule end. But, I finally got a perfect combination of depths and heights and the project came out very nice. The wood is Cherry and the finish is three coats of Waterlox Original. I like the polymer and tung oil combination on Cherry.

[dltccf]

nice. are you keeping it or is it a gift?

dave

[RogerB]

Very nice Steve. Do you think this could be done with a 2 sided carve and a drill press.

[henry1]

Very nice Steve. Do you think this could be done with a 2 sided carve and a drill press.

Have to agree with roger on this one

[SteveNelson46]

I ordered four more kits and if I can get consistent results I will post it in the Pattern Depot as a project. I'm currently working on the documentation and that seems to be taking as long as the designing and building. It's a really simple and easy to make project but, I like to include as much detailed instruction as possible.

This one is a gift to a good friend and if the finish is dry enough I'll be delivering it today. Waterlox Original contains polymer and tung oil and both take a long time to dry but, I really like the results.

This project uses the rotary jig and the 1/16" long carving bit and I'm not sure if it can be done as a two sided carve. It's about 1 1/2" in diameter at the largest point but, it might be worth a try. You might also be able to do two separate carves as mirror images and then glue them together. Either way there would probably be some clean-up and sanding. If a sharp bit and the "Optimal" setting is used when uploading to the card this project requires very little sanding.

Thanks to all for the for the great reviews.

[RMarkey]

If a sharp bit and the "Optimal" setting is used

Without going into a ton of detail, OPTIMAL is generally not needed on rotary projects as the "quality" increases as the diameter decreases.

In other words, if you start with a 1" diameter block and carve down to 1/2" diameter, your quality will be doubled for the inner diameter. This can lead to very tiny steps which improve the output little.

If, on the other hand, you are carving a 4" block to 1/2", you should consider "rounding" the board first, or removing excess material in other ways as the sideways load of the wood along the length of the bit can potentially cause tracking issues, especially on the leading edge, which tends to "grab".

[SteveNelson46]

Without going into a ton of detail, OPTIMAL is generally not needed on rotary projects as the "quality" increases as the diameter decreases.

In other words, if you start with a 1" diameter block and carve down to 1/2" diameter, your quality will be doubled for the inner diameter. This can lead to very tiny steps which improve the output little.

If, on the other hand, you are carving a 4" block to 1/2", you should consider "rounding" the board first, or removing excess material in other ways as the sideways load of the wood along the length of the bit can potentially cause tracking issues, especially on the leading edge, which tends to "grab".

Thanks Metalus. That explains a lot on how the program was written. I tried both settings (optimal and best) and the quality seemed slightly better on optimal. I used a 1.5 by 1.5 square blank and the uppermost part of the carve is 1.42" in diameter. Wouldn't the quality be better using the optimal setting since so little material is removed? Although, in this case, a screwdriver handle doesn't have to have a high resolution but I was trying to minimize the amount of sanding..

Since it is recommended, I also tried the 1/8" long carving bit instead of the 1/16" carving bit and the quality was better with the 1/16" bit. Again, for a screwdriver handle it probably doesn't really matter that much.