hollowing light

[Charlie Knighton]

i was looking to build a hollowing light, went to local hardware store, did not find what i wanted

found this on internet

MH150/U/MED/CL ED-17 E26 BASE
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it looked small on web site
anybody have any ideas??? 😕


150 Watt Clear Single Ended Halogen Bulb 130 Volt

 

[Ed_McDonnell]

Hard to tell exactly what it is from what you posted, but the product information you posted looks like it might be a metal halide type of light. Couple issues with that for hollowing:

LOTS of heat. So much so that it could catch your work on fire in addition to drying issues.

Metal halide bulbs are usually enclosed in a glass globe. They are generally accompanied with all kinds of warnings about handling the bulb and getting finger oil or anything else on the globe. It tends to make the bulbs explode as they heat up. I haven't seen that happen, but I've been real careful to never touch them with my bare hands (I use them in aquarium lighting). I can't imagine wood chips, sap, moisture or a cold tool being very compatible with them.

I just saw Paul Fennell do a hollowing demo. He uses a fiber optic light. Small profie in the hollowing, No heat and lots of light. Big bucks though.

You might want to investigate LEDs as a light source.

Ed

 

[john lucas]

I just use an auto tail light bulb and a transformer to step down to 12 volts. It's worked great for me. Got that idea from Frank Sudol.

 

[Jake Debski]

I just use an auto tail light bulb and a transformer to step down to 12 volts. It's worked great for me. Got that idea from Frank Sudol.

Yup, I got the same idea from the same man. I use a 12v cheapie battery charger. I think that was also a Frank Sudol idea. Go to the auto parts store and get a replacement socket with wires and a bulb to fit.

 

[Charlie Knighton]

I just use an auto tail light bulb and a transformer to step down to 12 volts. It's worked great for me. Got that idea from Frank Sudol.


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#4 Today, 02:24 PM
Jake Debski
Bowl-meister Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Cowlesville,Western New York
Posts: 431



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Quote:
Originally Posted by john lucas
I just use an auto tail light bulb and a transformer to step down to 12 volts. It's worked great for me. Got that idea from Frank Sudol.

Yup, I got the same idea from the same man. I use a 12v cheapie battery charger. I think that was also a Frank Sudol idea. Go to the auto parts store and get a replacement socket with wires and a bulb to fit.
__________________
Jake - WNYWoodturners-II and the AAW

i have a trolling motor battery charger, how do i hook that up to replacement socket? the trolling motor battery charger has positive and negative clamps for charging the battery 😕

 

[Jake Debski]

i have a trolling motor battery charger, how do i hook that up to replacement socket? the trolling motor battery charger has positive and negative clamps for charging the battery 😕

The pos.clamp would go to the lead on the socket that is in the center of the socket. Being a dc circuit it would probably work ok either way. First extend the leads on the socket to give yourself some flexibility. Wrap connections well so no shorts are possible, plug in the charger, and you should have light.

 

[Charlie Knighton]

thank you Ed, John, Jake, and Frank Sudol

i was able to purchase a LED light and socket, wire, and i already had a battery charger

i will try to use it towards the end of the next week, work really does get in the way of things 😀

are there any woods that it does not work well with, i was thinking black walnut may be hard to see thru???

 

[Hugh]

The light inside of hollow vessels pretty much only works on light colored woods. Frank Sudol used to use a 12v light bulb attached to a battery charger that was set at 24v. He got a brighter light - but it lasted a shorter time period. He figured the bulbs were cheap and the extra light was worth it. There is still the heat problem I think unless the opening is larger. But then you only need the light when you get the wall thickness down fairly thin.

I remember watching Frank many years ago for the first time that I had seen him turn wood with the light. What a show. Frank loved it. He would laugh and giggle while he was cutting away - shavings flying. The rest of us love it also.
Hugh

 

[NBHowe]

I made a large hollowing tool for the large vase's I like to turn.
I attached two rows of white 12V LEDs to the cutting end of the tool.
One row is placed about 4" back from the cutter, the other row is about 8" back from that. I used a 12V dc transformer from some piece of old disused electrical equipment.( it was in the basment with a load of junk ready to be dumped).
The power cord for the LED's runs up the middle of the tool which is made from a 6' length of 2" x 2" x 1/4" Sq tube.
Since I added the lights I have not used the tool for deep hollowing but have used it about 10" deep. seems to work ok. I hope to start a deep vase soon and will then find out if the lights light up the inside deep down as I hope they will.
I got the LED's from superbrightleds.com they have a large selection on their web site.
Before I put the lights onto the tool I had used a regular desk type lamp to see inside my turnings but that had caused shadows and extra heat. (on me if behind, on the turning if in front).
Hopefully lighting up the inside from end of the tool will work as intended.

 

[Joe Greiner]

Perhaps I'm missing something here, but this all seems like a lot of electrical engineering just to look inside. Harbor Freight peddles a small 9-LED flashlight for about $5; batteries (3 AAA) not included of course. The body measures 1 1/8 inches maximum diameter x 4 inches long. It could be attached to your tool shank with filament tape for straight-in illumination. For thickness gauging, it'd need a small dental mirror mounted to the end at 45 degrees - not exactly rocket science for that either, I think.

For very small access openings, CSUSA has a Flexible Tool Light, id# 382-0100, about $30 in the '07-08 paper catalog.

Or have I misinterpreted everything in this thread?

Joe

 

[Ed_McDonnell]

Joe - In my case, the light is intended to show through the wood once you start getting below about 1/4" thickness. You work in a darkened shop and you can tell by the color of the wood where you are thicker or thinner.

Using a laser gets you close, but if you want a really uniform thickenss (helps a lot with piercing), checking the overall thickness by illuminating the vase while hollowing is a real time saver.

Ed

 

[Mark Mandell]

Perhaps I'm missing something here, but this all seems like a lot of electrical engineering just to look inside. Harbor Freight peddles a small 9-LED flashlight for about $5; batteries (3 AAA) not included of course. The body measures 1 1/8 inches maximum diameter x 4 inches long. It could be attached to your tool shank with filament tape for straight-in illumination. For thickness gauging, it'd need a small dental mirror mounted to the end at 45 degrees - not exactly rocket science for that either, I think.

For very small access openings, CSUSA has a Flexible Tool Light, id# 382-0100, about $30 in the '07-08 paper catalog.

Or have I misinterpreted everything in this thread?

Joe

Joe,

What they're talking about is the technique of gauging the wall thickness by how much light it lets through. You must turn lamp shades and hats this way, and its gives very precise walls simply by shaving more off the darker areas. The lathe is spinning and you're cutting while the light is on inside the turning.

mm

 

[Joe Greiner]

Thanks, Ed and Mark. I thought about half of the posts related to thickness gauging, but wasn't too sure about the rest. I've done some turning in the dark, but the little whiz-bang I mentioned isn't too effective until the thickness gets down to about 1/8 inch, depending on species as some have remarked. For 1/4-inch gauging, you'd need something really, really bright.

Joe

 

[Charlie Knighton]

1st attempt

😱 well, 1st attempt the result is not e x a c t l y what i wanted, but i made some progress up the learning curve

tried the ole wet rawhide trick, but with the crack 3/4 way down hf and have not cleaned up the foot, i think this is learning experience, dad says those learning experiences are good for you 🙄 😀

i manage to get the hf to about 1/8 but never did see the light thru the wood except thru small inclusion holes

how thin does it have to be to see thru wood?????

 

[Ed_McDonnell]

Was it dark in the shop? I turn off all the shop lights and on Norfolk Island Pine and Cypress I'll start to see the first glimmers of red at about 1/4". Spalting will really block the light.

Did you use any kind of steady rest?

Ed

 

[Charlie Knighton]

lights

i turned off all the lights, blocked up a window with cardboard, it stlll was not pitch black, about 25 feet away on opposite wall there is a door with window which i did not block out

the wood was a plain maple that had been sitting out, but with anchorseal, it had cracks before i got thin which i glued up, these cracks started at opening at top of hf and ran down

the only glimmers of red were around the opening

i used a home made 3 point steady rest with oneway wheels

i wonder if i need a brighter light?

 

[Ed_McDonnell]

I remember you said you got an led light. They can be very directional. Maybe all the light is going towards the bottom and not the side with the way you have it set up. Try aiming your light right at the side (on the outside) and see if it shines through to the inside.

If it doesn't, try holding a bright worklight up to the outside and see if the light shines through to the inside. That would at least give you an idea if it's the wood or the amount of light.

If your light only has one led, that may not be enough. A cheap 9 led flashlight like Joe mentioned above will shine through 1/4" of cypress (I tried it after he posted).

Ed

 

[Jim Keenan]

😱 well, 1st attempt the result is not e x a c t l y what i wanted, but i made some progress up the learning curve

tried the ole wet rawhide trick, but with the crack 3/4 way down hf and have not cleaned up the foot, i think this is learning experience, dad says those learning experiences are good for you 🙄 😀

Saw your magnificent crack. Thought you might like this link.

http://www.stebbinsstudios.com/index.html

 

[Charlie Knighton]

light

i reset up the hf tonight, its dark, repositioned the light to point 90 degrees or straight left, still could not see thru it is hybrid maple instead of plain ole wild maple do not know it that makes a difference

the light from auto place had 4 led's
went to wally world and _owe's only could find 3 led's and one 6 led that took 9 batteries for $30

called hf ordered 9 led for 3.99 the shipping is more that the light

those butterfly look like something i need

thanks for all suggestions

the ides of march are upon us 😀

 

[KEW]

Is the wood wet? Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I was thinking that the wood really needs to be wet to be translucent.
I may be wrong as I've only done this with very wet wood.
Also, be aware that the light travels with the grain much better than across the grain.

 

[Charlie Knighton]

light

Is the wood wet?

no, low moisture reading, i put some water on rawhide to try to stop cracking

hf turned endgrain

does the wood need to be green?????????😕

 

[Ed_McDonnell]

For the last year I've been hollowing mostly green wood. Maybe that's why it starts to go translucent at 1/4" for me?

I saw Paul Fennell demo last month and he said that he usually works with dry wood. Maybe that's why he needs a really bright $1,000 fiber optic light system?

Green wood is ok for thin hollowing as long as you move quick and don't take any breaks. By the time I'm working on the middle, the top is already enough out of round that there's no going back for touch up.

Ed