[missouri massey man]

I finally got the time to take a few shots of some lathe projects of my son in law. So to keep my promise to Don, here we go:

My son in law is the shop teacher at the local middle and high schools and loves anything associated with wood working. Especially the lathe. Don't ask me how he figured out this bowl, but it's one piece of sugar maple out of our yard.

Here's another thing I don't have a clue how to do....but its spalted maple out of the wood pile. Nope, no wooden chicken to go with it....

A little walnut goblet just right for the spalted maple egg.

Miscellaneous little goblets for little goblins, I guess. I do not possess the skill nor the patience. Patience is required when dealing with middle and high schoolers handling power machinery and he has tons of it fortunately.

Cherry and walnut.

Yellow pine 2 x 10 scrap.

Decorator plate...I'm thinking the gravy would put a stain on it the dishwasher couldn't remove.

Remember the catalpa post ?? This is a chunk of catalpa from his dad.

This was a sawmill slab of cherry, 4 x 12 originally for a mantle. Just cut the end off with a chainsaw.

Little cup and saucer, can't remember the wood, maybe box elder or hedge apple....just guessing.

Red cedar, yep it's hollow... mostly anyways.

Now I don't drink, nor does my sil, but either my eyes are deceiving me OR I'm "under the influence" of something because that stem on this goblet just ain't in line....

I think he's done this on purpose, because if I'd a done it, it would've been entirely by accident. Don't ask me how its done, I just see the finished projects....and there is no glue involved.

A little walnut pedestal with a free ring on the stem...and it is not an assembly, the ring was cut off the stem somehow.

Just a different view...there must be something wrong with his lathe, because it keeps turning stuff crooked.....

A few spinning tops and.....

We managed to get some small ones spinning at the same time too. The two that look like they're laying over are in their final stages of wobble before stopping due to the slow reflexes of the camera man.

Hanging my keys on the birdhouse gives an idea of the size.

Cherry and soft maple. Kinda cut like the "felloes" on a wagon wheel.

Here's his Powermatic lathe. It had a single phase one horse motor, but he changed it out to a 3 hp 3 phase motor.

Fitted with a Reeves drive, you set the rpm's you desire with this lever and it allows rpm change through...

....through a pair of variable pitched sheaves on the motor and the head stock.

Then to get infinite control of the spindle speed this vfd (variable frequency drive) was installed to do two things: first to allow a 3 phase motor to run on single phase 230v power and secondly to vary the Hz (frequency) to the motor from 0 to 60 Hz so you can optimize the torque on the motor at any selected rpm on the Reeves drive.

Say if you were running the lowest rpm on the Reeves, and 15 hz on the vfd, you'd be at one quarter of that speed, 30 hz you'd be at half speed and any infinite variable in between. Same would ring true if you's selected a higher rpm on the Reeves. So ultimately there is an infinitely variable speed selection with the ability to maintain optimum torque. (I got to help out on this part)

The wiring is only temporary, sooner or later it will be enclosed in flexible conduit. He's currently figuring where to set another 3 phase machine so we can utilize the one vfd on two different machines with minimum effort. Then it will be permanently wired in conduit.

Whoops, I forgot a walnut handle for the small gouge complete with a copper tubing ferrule.

Last but not least, here is my daughters lathe where she makes wooden ball point pens. And wouldn't you know it, I didn't even get a shot of any of them !!

So thank you for looking at some stuff that would normally have become scraps of wood for the stove but with some patience have been "turned" into some cool items. Living right up the road 500' away, I've jokingly told my daughter that if they ever get divorced, she's gonna have to find another place to live because Mike is too good of neighbor and handyman to let move away....Yep, I got a chunk of coal from her for Christmas. Just kidding, my kids really take care of me quite well !!!

 

[BigDaveinKY]

Excellent workmanship your son-in-law does, but you took my interest away from the wood work when you started on the lathe upgrades. :roll:
One of my favorite things at work was engineering new components into old controls. VF and VVF drives are the best way to run any a/c electric motor
you need to vary the speed. Sure beats an old wye-delta, or across the line starters, and a bank of resistors,. The control from those drives is smooth as silk.

 

[gordon1121]

Wendell tell your SIL he has reached the rank of top notch. Those are some amazing pieces. I would be hard pressed to pic a favorite but the two Cherry bowls and the Maple(I think) wobble cup are out of this world. I've played around with turning just enough to really appreciate the talent involved in making the things he has. The lathe you all fixed is something to be envied also. One thing I would like to ask is in the fourth picture down what type of wood is the first and fourth goblet made of. One of the neat thing I like about turning is the story of where they came from adds a sort of history to them when you can say remember that old so&so well this is what it made. You should put a picture of some of the pens your daughter made. Dad made us all a set of wooden pens and a set made out of deer antler the pens always bring up some conversation when you bring them out of your pocket. Thanks for posting these I enjoyed them.

 

[don32040]

Wendell, So glad that you posted the pictures of your son-in-law. He is certianally an accomplished turner and the good thing about a lathe is that when you cut down a tree you can use just about the whole tree can even use the shavings for the old dog to sleep on. The bowl from sugar maple is quite unusall and sugar maple seems to always have beautiful grain in them. That spalded maple certinally has some more pretty design in it and can be a pill to get sanded down without all the fuzz like you said was on the sliperly elm.The spindles look great even though I believe he was showing out on the white one I remember trying to do similar to the same place and before I knew what was going on it exploded in my face after I got the blood stopped and found my glasses I have never tried that again. The bowls all look great I guess the yellow pine looks great it's amazing what anyone can do with a piece of scrap wood. I like the cup and sauser The cup could also serve as a good biscuit cutter If you decide to make a batch of bread sometime. I have never tried the offset goblets but they sure look nice. Berea college craft turns baby rattlers like the walnut ring on spindle I think they leave about three rings in the piece of wood. every thing is very impressive the bird house key holder and the wagon wheel dish. By the way what is the lathe about a 16in Throat and 48 in bed I like the fact that it won't be bouncing around when you hit a knot in the wood. have a good day and hope to check in on you sometime this summer.

 

[bettyp]

Oh my goodness I met that Son in law and seen how supernice he was to talk to. A school teacher I won't be taking that like, yeah he is a school teacher. He is a remarkable person and has a great gifted
talent. I loved seeing every piece ,but that bird house was an eye catcher for sure. Anyone that can use those hands that God gave them to make things so beautiful & unique are truely blessed .Cassie is blessed to have Mike that can make such beautiful things. Thanks Wendell for sharing those pics with us all. Really enjoyed seeing them.

 

[prwttsh]

Very talented!!!!!

 

[missouri massey man]

Excellent workmanship your son-in-law does, but you took my interest away from the wood work when you started on the lathe upgrades. :roll:
One of my favorite things at work was engineering new components into old controls. VF and VVF drives are the best way to run any a/c electric motor
you need to vary the speed. Sure beats an old wye-delta, or across the line starters, and a bank of resistors,. The control from those drives is smooth as silk.

Yeah Dave, some of the things I liked best was recontrolling (or retro-fitting) old equipment with new digital controllers. Sometimes we'd get inside a 50 or 75 ton roof top unit and change all the actuators and related linkages, all the sensors, step controllers and every item to control them digitally. We'd replace the old electro-mechanical or electronic controllers with the new digital controllers, link them all together (multiple rtu's) via a two wire comm loop then control the building remotely via a modem in the early stages of digital control then over an ether-net connection later. Sometimes the project would be a few roof toppers to a mechanical room or two or even multi-storied buildings controlling all portions of hvac, lighting, outdoor signs... you name it.

Doing that kind of stuff was a hoot, but I don't miss the stress of having to get it done during extreme hot or cold weather under the deadlines usually allotted.
Come to think of it...retirement IS pretty NICE !!!!

 

[missouri massey man]

Gordon the wood in the fourth picture down with all the goblets from the left is: 1) Hackberry, 2) Sycamore, 3) Cherry, 4) Silver Maple, 5) Silver Maple again. Some have a tung oil finish which changes the wood coloring a bit. And the one that looks like a castle on top exploded just as he was putting the finishing touches on the rim.

Thank you and your Dad on behalf of Mike for the compliments. It means a lot to him to know others appreciate his turnings.

Don, the swing is 12" and the bed is 40" in length, but you are right about it being very stable. I gotta grunt to even move the light end. Now you have me wanting to see some of your antler pens and other pens you've turned. I promise to post some of Cassie's as soon as I can get some. Thank you again for the compliments on his work.

 

[to many irons]

cool .