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Spar milling

Ted, You don’t need a dividing head! If you look at that vise, you will see a triangular groove in each in each jaw. That allows you to clamp a piece of square stock to machine the corners to form an octagonal shape. Go to your local craft or home improvement store and browse around for a piece of wood with square cross section.

I suspect that the kit designer never thought about how their customers were going to turn dowels into octagons.
Including dowels instead of square stock for these spars is nothing more than a marketing gimmick to convince buyers that they are getting more for their money.

Roger
 
Bob Cleek said:
This is a common phenomenon with Chinese machine tools. They rarely come properly set up straight from the factory. This is one way they keep the cost down. If you don't mind doing your own fettling, they can be a bargain for home hobby work, though. Have you adjusted the gibs?
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No, I haven't. Thanks for listing the YouTube video. I saw it before I got the x,y table but was only half watching.
 
Ted Robinson said:
My problem is that I don't know how to calculate the width of the flats other than divide the circumference of the dowel divided by eight
Click to expand...
To calculate the side of a regular polygon inscribed in a circle, use the following formula:
l = 2 * r * sin(π/n),
where 'l' is the side length, 'r' is the radius of the circle, and 'n' is the number of sides of the polygon.
(translated by Google Translate)
 
saitam said:
To calculate the side of a regular polygon inscribed in a circle, use the following formula:
l = 2 * r * sin(π/n),
where 'l' is the side length, 'r' is the radius of the circle, and 'n' is the number of sides of the polygon.
(translated by Google Translate)
Click to expand...
Thank you for the formula.
I'm struggling with math that was second nature in the past.
Right now I'm in the hospital for the fourth time in the past month. Hopefully going home tomorrow lm
 
Ted Robinson said:
I got the x,y table anchored to the Dremel Workstation and the mini vise attached.
I have a sample dowel in the vise to experiment on the flats.
I still need to put in a milling bit.
New tools always provide joy and excitement at the prospect of precise parts and hours of enjoyment.
This table is sloppy in the x axis but stable in the y.
View attachment 536209View attachment 536210
Click to expand...
I have one of those X-Y tables, which I use with a home-made mill utilising a Makita trim router, I stripped it (the table) down, cleaned it up & reassembled fitting thrust bearings, & reset the gibs, a much improved piece of kit. I use it mainly for metal & jobs too big for MF70.
 
Roger Pellett said:
Ted, You don’t need a dividing head! If you look at that vise, you will see a triangular groove in each in each jaw. That allows you to clamp a piece of square stock to machine the corners to form an octagonal shape. Go to your local craft or home improvement store and browse around for a piece of wood with square cross section.

I suspect that the kit designer never thought about how their customers were going to turn dowels into octagons.
Including dowels instead of square stock for these spars is nothing more than a marketing gimmick to convince buyers that they are getting more for their money.

Roger
Click to expand...
I have the same vice, and it only has a v-groove on the red jaw face. That will make things a bit sloppy, but then again, my dremel stand was never square either.
 
Stuart Little said:
As Roger said, it's not absolutely necessary, BUT as I have one, I use it, admittedly it's not used a lot, but it's still useful to have. There's always the 'Now, how do I go about this?' question, then one remembers that there's a dividing head on the shelf!
Click to expand...
Can you show us a picture of it? From whence did you get it?
 
Namabiiru said:
I have the same vice, and it only has a v-groove on the red jaw face. That will make things a bit sloppy, but then again, my dremel stand was never square either.
Click to expand...
I have indexed the table fairly accurately to square. Still need to adjust the five on the table. I'll do that as soon as I get out of the hospital
 
Roger Pellett said:
Ted, You don’t need a dividing head! If you look at that vise, you will see a triangular groove in each in each jaw. That allows you to clamp a piece of square stock to machine the corners to form an octagonal shape. Go to your local craft or home improvement store and browse around for a piece of wood with square cross section.

I suspect that the kit designer never thought about how their customers were going to turn dowels into octagons.
Including dowels instead of square stock for these spars is nothing more than a marketing gimmick to convince buyers that they are getting more for their money.

Roger
Click to expand...
I think I get the concept.
I agree that the dowels are a step backwards if the spars have anything but round centers.
 
Bob Cleek said:
This is a common phenomenon with Chinese machine tools. They rarely come properly set up straight from the factory. This is one way they keep the cost down. If you don't mind doing your own fettling, they can be a bargain for home hobby work, though. Have you adjusted the gibs?
Click to expand...
Many thanks for this video. After watching it I knew enough to find a video on the exact table I bought r om Amazon.
Dissecting the Mini BG6300 milling table
 
Arrrrgh.... Went to all that s effort and the mill but is softer than the wood. Of course the reviews online proclaimed it the be a good bit.
Any suggestions where to purchase a 1/8" shank set that doesn't cost a fortune.
Please note the burned end of my spar dowel blank17552169314026298419641798751569.jpg
17552168941668097174839954234889.jpg
 
1. The type of cutter that you are using is a rotary file, not a milling cutter. Using it to cross cut is not what it’s designed to do. It is not a substitute for a saw.

2. The Dremel tool turns at high speed. The tool rubbing against the end grain of the wood creates heat to the point that it has charred the wood. You should be able to clean the tool with a stiff bristle brush.

3. While this work station might look like a milling machine it probably does not have the robust construction to hold the tool rigidly against the work piece. To work, you need to take very small repeat cuts.

The tool that you should be looking for is called a Spiral End Mill. You should be able to find a 1/8in diameter one that will fit in your Dremel Machine chuck.

Roger
 
Roger Pellett said:
1. The type of cutter that you are using is a rotary file, not a milling cutter. Using it to cross cut is not what it’s designed to do. It is not a substitute for a saw.

2. The Dremel tool turns at high speed. The tool rubbing against the end grain of the wood creates heat to the point that it has charred the wood. You should be able to clean the tool with a stiff bristle brush.

3. While this work station might look like a milling machine it probably does not have the robust construction to hold the tool rigidly against the work piece. To work, you need to take very small repeat cuts.

The tool that you should be looking for is called a Spiral End Mill. You should be able to find a 1/8in diameter one that will fit in your Dremel Machine chuck.

Roger
Click to expand...
Thanks for the information. I'm looking for a spiral end mill now. I will make very small cuts as the workstation is really a drill press.
Will this type of cutter work on side milling?
Happy modeling
 
If you like messing around with machine tools, that can be fine fun. But it is not necessary for making model spars. You can make nice spars the old-fashioned way: start with square stock, cut the tapers, leave the square sections (if any) square, cut off the corners to make the rest octagonal, leave the octagonal sections (if any) eight-sided, and make the rest round. Needs only simple tools: little plane, hobby knife, sanding block. One of the keys is selecting straight-grained stock with little or no runout; that is often difficult with dowels. Poor grain pattern can lead to warping with changes in humidity.

Examples of the old fashioned way below include a mast on a 1:16 RC tug (square to round), bowsprit on a 1:32 Chesapeake bugeye (square to octagonal to round), 1:12 and 1:8 oars (square to round), and a small, octagonal sprit for a canoe sail (1-1/8" diameter). Fair winds!

skipjack tug 223.jpg


bugeye bowsprit.jpgoars 3.jpgoctagon spar.jpg
 
AndyA said:
If you like messing around with machine tools, that can be fine fun. But it is not necessary for making model spars. You can make nice spars the old-fashioned way: start with square stock, cut the tapers, leave the square sections (if any) square, cut off the corners to make the rest octagonal, leave the octagonal sections (if any) eight-sided, and make the rest round. Needs only simple tools: little plane, hobby knife, sanding block. One of the keys is selecting straight-grained stock with little or no runout; that is often difficult with dowels. Poor grain pattern can lead to warping with changes in humidity.

Examples of the old fashioned way below include a mast on a 1:16 RC tug (square to round), bowsprit on a 1:32 Chesapeake bugeye (square to octagonal to round), 1:12 and 1:8 oars (square to round), and a small, octagonal sprit for a canoe sail (1-1/8" diameter). Fair winds!

View attachment 538030


View attachment 538031View attachment 538032View attachment 538033
Click to expand...
Nice work.
i have 6 mm mydowels provided in the kit.
The center of the spar is supposed to be a 6mm octogonal section. The plans measure 6mm in the side view and 6.3mm on the top view. Obviously I can't file or mill the 6mm blank without coming out smaller. I'm thinking I get yhe octagonal section correct and add some stock to the lands and go from there.
 
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