Strobe lamp for interrupted turning?

[john lucas]

Bill I can on one angle grinder re orient the blade guard so that I can use it like rubbing the bevel of the tool. I drag the blade guard on the wood and then lift the handle of the grinder until I get the cut I want. This limits the depth of cut and reduces the danger but it can still happen. The scraping cut I'm talking about is having the blade more or less parallel to the surface I'm cutting and dragging it across it. this is very controllable and removes a lot of wood but of course you can't cut slots that way.

 

[hockenbery]

Bill I can on one angle grinder re orient the blade guard so that I can use it like rubbing the bevel of the tool. I drag the blade guard on the wood and then lift the handle of the grinder until I get the cut I want. This limits the depth of cut and reduces the danger but it can still happen. The scraping cut I'm talking about is having the blade more or less parallel to the surface I'm cutting and dragging it across it. this is very controllable and removes a lot of wood but of course you can't cut slots that way.

I use a similar technique quite often with the Lancelot, except I don't usually rub the guard . Pulling the tool it doesn't grab because it just cut away the wood it could grab.
I do the same with the carbide wheels. They grab less generally and a lot less when slot cutting.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Bill I can on one angle grinder re orient the blade guard so that I can use it like rubbing the bevel of the tool. I drag the blade guard on the wood and then lift the handle of the grinder until I get the cut I want. This limits the depth of cut and reduces the danger but it can still happen. The scraping cut I'm talking about is having the blade more or less parallel to the surface I'm cutting and dragging it across it. this is very controllable and removes a lot of wood but of course you can't cut slots that way.

The reason that I am interested is that I have a very large cross section slab of mesquite that is roughly 30" diameter and 7" thick. It is very lobed and the area in the vicinity of the pith is decayed so it will need to be turned very slowly or else it looks like it could fly apart like slices of a giant pie. I am making a large faceplate to hold it together during initial rough shaping and have been thinking about some type of power carving.

 

[john lucas]

I use a similar technique quite often with the Lancelot, except I don't usually rub the guard . Pulling the tool it doesn't grab because it just cut away the wood it could grab.
I do the same with the carbide wheels. They grab less generally and a lot less when slot cutting.

Al I thought the carbide would grab less when slot cutting or at least reduce the kick back do to less teeth in contact with the wood. I couldn't prove it so. My son and I rigged up a sort of Myth busters set up. We set the grinder in a hinged arm at 90 degrees. Then we pivoted a piece of wood into the grinder so the tool would try to cut the slot and then kick upwards dramatically. Well first of all it wasn't nearly as dramatic as we thought it would be. Second they both kicked up exactly the same amount. When I used both of them to purposely kick back in my hands I had the same results. Feeding down against the direction the blade runs does reduce the kickback dramatically but all you have to do is tilt the tool slightly so it also hits the side of the cut and you can still get it to grab pretty quick. The blade guard works just like the newer router bits that have depth of cut limiters. By limiting the amount of blade that can go into the wood you dramatically reduce the tendency to grab and becomes very controllable.

 

[Raul McCai]

With a lot of practice, and held flat like a surface grinder, I can get close to belt sander finish with the Lancelot.

Well that's impressive.

 

[john lucas]

I agree with Joe although on my limited experience with a borrowed Arbortec I was able to get cleaner cuts than with my lancelot.