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Oneway Laser Hollowing System

M

Martin Cramer

Joined
Dec 14, 2012
Messages
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Location
Calgary Alberta Canada
I am considering buying a laser hollowing system for my Oneway 2436. Is there anyone who has experience with the Oneway Laser Hollowing system? It seems expensive compared to some like the Jamieson, however I live in Canada and the current exchange rate levels the playing field.

Martin
 
Martin Cramer said:
I am considering buying a laser hollowing system for my Oneway 2436. Is there anyone who has experience with the Oneway Laser Hollowing system? It seems expensive compared to some like the Jamieson, however I live in Canada and the current exchange rate levels the playing field. Martin
Click to expand...
There are lots of trapped systems out there. All work well.

What I use is a hybrid. The Lyle Jamieson D handle, Trent Bosch straight and bent bars,
A plywood back rest built using Lyle's diagram ( the ugly prototype built in 1999 is still in use)
For laser I used two pieces of conduit pipe, a boat rail tee, and a boat rail floor mount.

My laser has been replaced with Bosch visualizer for me this is a giant leap forward and I was quite good with the laser.

I also use two Stewart bars with scrapers on them but these you could add later. Bosch has a nice bent scraper.

You might look at the bosch stabilizer. It is a compact articulated system.
I hollowed a few pieces with it and it works real well. A lot more compact than the jamieson set up.

Lots of things to choose among.

Have fun,
Al
 
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Thanks Al,
Your rig sounds pretty creative. I have thought of making my own and maybe that is the way to go. I think I'll continue to look around. The articulated systems look interesting and more compact. There are no places locally to see any of these systems up close. I've never been disappointed by anything from Oneway and I know they have them in stock. That said I've read quite a bit about some of the others but no reviews about the Oneway.

Sincerely,

Martin
 
It appears to be similar to the Jamieson style boring bar. I have built several. The first one was built using 3/4" solid bar for the long rails and 3/4" hollow square stock for the cross pieces. I used all thread rod with lock nuts to lock all the pieces together. I bought 1" sleeves from Lowes that had 3/4" ID and used those to attach the actuall cutting bars. I fastened those on with roll pins and then drilled and tapped one side to accept the boring bars. A few years later I got a welder. I shortened the cross pieces because I realized they didn't need to be that long and simply welded all the rest up. Now I'm looking at making it even narrower by simply welding 2 bars together with no spacer like Steve Sinner's hollowers.
I do like the foldable captured bar systems like the Elbow tool and Monster tool. They store easier and are really easy to use. However they do have joints that will wear with time where the Jamieson style has no moving parts.
I have a laser attached to mine. I bought a camera to try out the Visualizer concept but haven't found a monitor yet so it may be a while before I can set it up.
 
Martin Cramer said:
Thanks Al,
Your rig sounds pretty creative. I have thought of making my own and maybe that is the way to go. I think I'll continue to look around. The articulated systems look interesting and more compact. There are no places locally to see any of these systems up close. I've never been disappointed by anything from Oneway and I know they have them in stock. That said I've read quite a bit about some of the others but no reviews about the Oneway.

Sincerely,

Martin
Click to expand...

I've got one and have used it a lot. But never any others. Bought it used.
Overall, I'm happy with it, works well. It also accepts standard Oneway chisels (and likely many others)

Has a few issues. I'm sure all systems do.

The set screws to hold the chisels come loose. I've replaced them with standard grade 8 bolts. Easy. More torque.

The overran laser beam holder (?) is a bit flexible leading to vibration. The laser is crap and should be (will need to be) replaced. Amazon has cheap ones (<$10), or swap in a camera, like I did. Also easy and cheap.

The articulating systems, IMO, seem more suited to short, wide, vessels with a lot of overhang.
The captive bar more for straight in and less width. This depends on much room you have behind your lathe, to extend the bar back and get an angle. Min have very little so I built an articulating system.

I've got both. There's considerable overlap.
I have gone about 20" off the tool rest with this setup. But light cuts at that point.
It's not cheap, but none of these are.

Either could be built as DIY, but the captive bar will require welding.
Hope that helps.
 
Thanks for the input. I have to make up my mind. I really like making hollow forms and while my hand held hollowing is pretty successful there is nothing worse than spending a bunch of time only blow a hole in a nice piece 3/4 of the way to the bottom!

Martin
 
Martin Don't know your age but I gave up hand held hollowing when I started having shoulder problems. The captured bar systems are almost relaxing to use. Perhaps if I had done a few thousand pieces like John Jordan my hand held hollowing would be relaxing, but alas it wasn't.
 
I have the Advanced Lathe Tools (Steve Sinner) rig and I am very pleased with it. I went with the Robust Steady Rest instead of the ALT Steady Rest. The two bars welded together works just fine. I don't see any need for the wide D on the Jamieson rug.
 
John, I agree with you there, I don't know if I'd ever call hand hollowing relaxing. Sometimes it does make you appreciate turning a bowl or spindle. There's definitely a sense of accomplishment when one turns out nicely. Luckily my shoulders are holding up even though I'm getting up there, but I expect the captured rig has to be easier on the hands.
 
I think the wide D was a take off on outrigger type bars that were welded to hollowing tools to keep them from twisting. The outrigger sits on the tool rest along with the hollowing bar. Initially I thought it was needed to control the twisting forces of the hollowing tool. I later learned that if the tool is presented on center (which it should easily be with the tool rest and secondary tool rest adjusted properly) it has little twist. Also if any curved bars have the cutter aligned with the central shaft there won't be any twisting. That's why Steve Sinners works so well and doesn't have the D or parallel extended shaft option. This is also why the articulated hollowers work so well.
I've been collecting the steel to make a much more massive hollowing system to easily hollow to 16" or deeper. I'm probably going to use the 2 bars welded together like Steve's.
 
Bill Boehme said:
I have the Advanced Lathe Tools (Steve Sinner) rig and I am very pleased with it. I went with the Robust Steady Rest instead of the ALT Steady Rest. The two bars welded together works just fine. I don't see any need for the wide D on the Jamieson rug.
Click to expand...

Hi Bill, I just looked at the Advance Lathe tools website and their system looks really interesting. I use a Munro hollower now so I can imagine how well they cut when used in a system like this. I do run into the US$ exchange rate issue which almost makes the Oneway rig look like a bargain.

Martin
 
Martin Cramer said:
Hi Bill, I just looked at the Advance Lathe tools website and their system looks really interesting. I use a Munro hollower now so I can imagine how well they cut when used in a system like this. I do run into the US$ exchange rate issue which almost makes the Oneway rig look like a bargain.

Martin
Click to expand...

One thing that I like about the tools that Steve Sinner sells is that the quality is absolutely flawless and is built like a tank. I don't have the largest one, mine has two 1⅛" bars welded together so I can go about 24" deep, but the deepest that I have done so far is about 17". Everybody has been singing the praises of a video system so I might eventually replace my laser with a camera and display.

I believe that the largest boring bar uses two 1¼" bars welded together.
 
Bill Boehme said:
One thing that I like about the tools that Steve Sinner sells is that the quality is absolutely flawless and is built like a tank. I don't have the largest one, mine has two 1⅛" bars welded together so I can go about 24" deep, but the deepest that I have done so far is about 17". Everybody has been singing the praises of a video system so I might eventually replace my laser with a camera and display.

I believe that the largest boring bar uses two 1¼" bars welded together.
Click to expand...

That sounds like as much capability as I'd need. I'm curious about the video option. Does video replace the laser or work in conjunction with it? What does video do for you?
 
Trent Bosch's video should explain it as well as anybody.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCg7jXCesEA
or if you would rather try the more expensive approach.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVpp9zHTXEE
If you want the least expensive approach buy a back up camera from your local auto parts store. My friend uses one. It does have the back up lines on his to show the width of your car but that doesn't seem to hurt the operation for our purposes and it only cost $45.
 
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I used a USB inspection camera off eBay. Less than $15, free shipping, and fits in where the laser pointer used to go. Do a search, this was discussed about a year ago when these systems came out. Lots of folks hacked the idea. No special software, no fancy tricks. Just an old laptop, inspection camera, a piece of acetate, and dry erase marker.
 
john lucas said:
Trent Bosch's video should explain it as well as anybody.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCg7jXCesEA
or if you would rather try the more expensive approach.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVpp9zHTXEE
If you want the least expensive approach buy a back up camera from your local auto parts store. My friend uses one. It does have the back up lines on his to show the width of your car but that doesn't seem to hurt the operation for our purposes and it only cost $45.
Click to expand...

Truly amazing!
 
Martin, I have a system I built using Lyle Jamieson's plans. You can see at the link below in the Tools & Jigs album. I have bought a Swann ADS-120 Security Camera from PC-Canada for just under $70 Cdn. Took months to get it. Picked up a 14" LCD TV off Kijiji for $20. Like John have yet to put it all together. I am using method put together by Alan Zenreich which is cloned from Trent's system. Has been a few months since I last looked at but can probably find the stuff and send to you if interested. I think I got it off the WoW site. Alan had used a whole lot of neat tricks using iPhones & iPad and editing software as well as using security camera. I can't get a link off my iPad from YouTube but if you Google YouTube v=0kYF3fgwhBs you can find his video showing various techniques.
 
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Thanks all for the advice. I ordered the Oneway system today. I'll make due with the laser for now. Funny, I thought I was going to get the latest greatest technology only to find out that the laser will soon be obsolete! Once I get it up and running I'll let you know how it works.

Martin
 
Well I wouldn't say the laser is obsolete. I've talked to a couple of users of both that prefered the laser. The only problem I see with the visualizer is having to look at the monitor instead of the turning. Sure you can't see inside but it's comforting looking at that laser dot on the turning and knowing where you are. However constantly adjusting the laser when you have odd shaped vessels is a pain. With the visualizer you never have to do this. So I'm guessing once I get my set up working and play with it a while I'll get used tolooking at the monitor and it won't be a problem.
 
I received my Oneway Laser hollowing system last week and have had a chance to work on two pieces. First I finished a deep rough turned narrow open vessel. I roughed it out of a green elm crotch and had a heck of a time turning it with a 1/2 inch bowl gouge. It is about 9 inches deep and and 5 inches wide at the top. It dried quite out of round and I wasn't sure I could finish it with bowl gouge. I thought it would be a good candidate to try out the new rig as I'd be able to see what was going on. After finish turning the outside I had about 1/4 inch of wood remaining on one side of the vessel. I was amazed at how easily the hollowing rig finished the inside of the vessel. I was able to achieve uniform wall thickness with ease.
On to the second project. I turned a 10 inch deep Manitoba Maple (Box Elder) vessel. After shaping the outside I realized I just turned the most complex piece I'd ever tried to hollow. Fingers crossed I proceeded and while I didn't break any speed records I was able to obtain thin uniform walls, certainly the best hollowing results I've had.
I'm quite happy with the rig. As was mentioned earlier in this thread the laser holder and the laser itself could be a little better. I lost one of the alignment set screws which vibrated out at some point and I've had the laser shut off a few of times. Not sure if the contact to the batteries is a bit flaky or if the switch itself vibrates and shuts the laser off.
I'm looking forward to the possibilities this new tool presents me. Plan to spend some time getting used to it and getting good at making hollow forms.

Martin
 
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