rose engine or ornamental lathe???

[taandctran]

anyone know anything about making or buying a rose engine or ornamental lathe??? I've saw some of the work done on one and it just amaizes me.

[McRabbet]

Tranh, I didn't even know what a rose engine was until I just used Google to find this link that even includes a basic plan on how to make one. We have many turners on the site so I'm sure you'll get some answers from them on ornamental turning. Looks like fun (I'm afraid that's all I can do to help!).

By the way, welcome to the site -- we are happy to have you join, but please go to the "Who We Are" forum and post a thread to introduce yourself. Share your interests and experience with us -- if you want to add photos of your shop or work, feel free to request a Photo Gallery (under "Other Links" on the menu bar) and we'll get you set up.

Enjoy the site...

Rob

[D L Ames]

Tranh, welcome to North Carolina Woodworker. I take it you're a turner. I am not familiar with a rose engine but the link Rob provided was very informative. Please keep us informed if you decide to buy or make one of these.

D L

[cskipper]

Welcome to the site. I'd be interested in more information too! The link Rob gave was excellent. Do you have one? Are you planning on getting one? Where does one get one? How in the world does one learn to use it?

[Vanilla Gorilla]

I have thought long and hard about building an ornamental lathe. I don't think it would be easy to build, or would have as much adjustability built into it as say the legacy, but the concept is fairly straight forward. With as many engineers as we have on this site, I am sure someone could figure out the gearing and such. Basically, it's very similar to building a router lathe which is just a hand crank on a mounting system for the workpiece, with a router above it attached to some kind of a carriage. with the mill, you have a screw mechanism on the carriage that is geared in with the crank so as the workpiece turns, the carriage slides (X axis)allowing you to turn spirals and such. if you added to this carriage some left to right movement (y axis), say on a sled, you could also do fluting for square or round pieces, and if you made it so that one or both of the ends of the workpiece could be lowered or raised (Z axis), you could do tapers as well. in concept, it's not terribly difficult, but would require some careful planning/drawing. Just my .02

[taandctran]

From what I can tell most of the ornamental or rose lathes are built with a metal turning lathe.. It has something to so with the speed of a metal lathe. I'm just not a builder.... I would have great trouble with building one. I have heard of attchment that you can put on a standard wood lathe though but I have never seen one. I have thought of maybe using some type of rotary tool but the only problem is the speed of my wood lathe. I could change the gears but then I couldn't use it for regular projects.

[4yanks]

While it's hardly a Rase Engine Lathe, it is possible to build a sled for a router that will carry it along the ways so that the center of the collet is aligned with the center line of the spindle. This is easier if an auxiliary table is placed between the bed of the lathe and its stand, with the sled riding on the table. This setup is useful for fluting or reeding turnings using the spindle index for spacing.

Or you could buy this.
http://www.bealltool.com/lathewiz.htm

[woodbutcher]

Take a look at this. They sent me some info the other day. This thing is awsome. www.legacywoodworking.com

[taandctran]

I would love to have something like that..... Or something simpler would be fine.... I just want one!!!!!!

[Steve D]

Wow, that is some amazing work. That's one of those things you walk by at the flea market and see for $15 but walk on by because you have no idea what it is, once you know, you never see one again.