I received my first retirement payment covering a few months back payment, so bought a few of the tools I've had my eye on, or needed for bagpipe making, etc.
I've wanted a small bandsaw for a while, and finally bought the Craftsman 10 inch model:
I had looked at the Rikon, the Ryobi which turns out to have been discontinued by the BORG around the beginning of the year (but it's still shown on Ryobi's site), and the Craftsman. Like the Ryobi, the Craftsman has a 4-5/8" cutting height, the Rikon only 3-3/8". The Craftsman also has a cast-iron table v.s. the Rikon's aluminum, and unlike the Rikon it comes with a rip-fence. Sears price with the current discount was the same as Woodcraft's Rikon price. Pity Craftsman didn't use a 1/2 HP motor like the Ryobi.
The stand is a Shop Fox from Woodcraft, where I also bought a new 45 degree router bit, a 1/8" spiral bit, and a nice 3 x 3 x 12 piece of walnut to make a new bagpipe mainstock.
I also have had my eye on the Craftsman machinist-style wood lathe chucks for quite a while, and my curiosity finally got the better of me:
Here's a good working view of the 4-jaw universal chuck with a small square of maple or birch being prepped for end-boring:
The 4-jaw chuck is the more useful of the two, out of the box; no run-out concerns! It's also "hackable", in that the jaws are very simply made from 1 inch square stock, and one could easily make custom jaws of hardwood to gain a little extra capacity. The narrow square faces will close on a minimum of 5/8" square stock, and a maximum of about 2-1/4 inches. A custom set of jaws could probably go to about 3 inches hold size. The stepped sides are curved for round work and I haven't concerned myself with them yet.
The 3-jaw scroll chuck, unfortunately, suffers from serious run-out of about 0.014"; on this particular chuck it is mostly from jaw #2 whose face is way off from concentricity with the other two. The reversible jaws do not help with this problem; actual machinist chucks use replaceable jaws instead, as better accuracy can be obtained than with reversible. This is not completely hopeless, however; it is possible to accurize these things. I used to have a copy of Alexander Weygers "Recycling, repair and reuse of tools", which showed how to accurize a 3-jaw lathe chuck using a moto-tool.
I am aware of the special wood chucks available from Woodcraft, et al, but they are really designed for bowl and box turning and not particularly adaptable to pipe-making.
I also acquired an 18" bending brake from Harbor Freight for making brass keys for the musical instruments, and a Bernz hose torch for silver soldering and annealing brass.
Oh, and I also bought a small, proper drill press vise so I can properly drill the brass keys; I've put serious wear and tear on my old Wolfcraft woodworker's drill press vise, using it also for metal work!.
So, I've probably spent about 2/3 of my first retirement benefits on new tools :icon_thum
John
I've wanted a small bandsaw for a while, and finally bought the Craftsman 10 inch model:
I had looked at the Rikon, the Ryobi which turns out to have been discontinued by the BORG around the beginning of the year (but it's still shown on Ryobi's site), and the Craftsman. Like the Ryobi, the Craftsman has a 4-5/8" cutting height, the Rikon only 3-3/8". The Craftsman also has a cast-iron table v.s. the Rikon's aluminum, and unlike the Rikon it comes with a rip-fence. Sears price with the current discount was the same as Woodcraft's Rikon price. Pity Craftsman didn't use a 1/2 HP motor like the Ryobi.
The stand is a Shop Fox from Woodcraft, where I also bought a new 45 degree router bit, a 1/8" spiral bit, and a nice 3 x 3 x 12 piece of walnut to make a new bagpipe mainstock.
I also have had my eye on the Craftsman machinist-style wood lathe chucks for quite a while, and my curiosity finally got the better of me:
Here's a good working view of the 4-jaw universal chuck with a small square of maple or birch being prepped for end-boring:
The 4-jaw chuck is the more useful of the two, out of the box; no run-out concerns! It's also "hackable", in that the jaws are very simply made from 1 inch square stock, and one could easily make custom jaws of hardwood to gain a little extra capacity. The narrow square faces will close on a minimum of 5/8" square stock, and a maximum of about 2-1/4 inches. A custom set of jaws could probably go to about 3 inches hold size. The stepped sides are curved for round work and I haven't concerned myself with them yet.
The 3-jaw scroll chuck, unfortunately, suffers from serious run-out of about 0.014"; on this particular chuck it is mostly from jaw #2 whose face is way off from concentricity with the other two. The reversible jaws do not help with this problem; actual machinist chucks use replaceable jaws instead, as better accuracy can be obtained than with reversible. This is not completely hopeless, however; it is possible to accurize these things. I used to have a copy of Alexander Weygers "Recycling, repair and reuse of tools", which showed how to accurize a 3-jaw lathe chuck using a moto-tool.
I am aware of the special wood chucks available from Woodcraft, et al, but they are really designed for bowl and box turning and not particularly adaptable to pipe-making.
I also acquired an 18" bending brake from Harbor Freight for making brass keys for the musical instruments, and a Bernz hose torch for silver soldering and annealing brass.
Oh, and I also bought a small, proper drill press vise so I can properly drill the brass keys; I've put serious wear and tear on my old Wolfcraft woodworker's drill press vise, using it also for metal work!.
So, I've probably spent about 2/3 of my first retirement benefits on new tools :icon_thum
John
