• April 2025 Turning Challenge: Turn an Egg! (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to Kelly Shaw winner of the March 2025 Turning Challenge (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to Ellen Starr for "Lotus Temple" being selected as Turning of the Week for 21 April, 2025 (click here for details)
  • Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.

Trying to put together a homemade camera hollowing system

I built this rig about 5 years ago, so part numbers, etc. may not be applicable any more.

The articulating arm system is the "Simple Hollower" from Harrison Specialties (https://www.harrisonspecialties.com/).

The camera is a Sabrent Model SC-NVA5, connected to a Dragonpad 7" TFT LCD Color Monitor. Both came from Amazon .

The camera is mounted in place of a laser on a Ron Brown "Turners Laser Guide". The camera came with the little metal yoke, so attaching it to a dowel sized to fit the arm on Ron Brown's rig was a breeze.

As an aside, I have purchased a number of products from Harrison Specialties over the last several years ... have always been impressed with the fit, finish, and quality of products from them.
IMG_20200718_163334926.jpg IMG_20200718_163344489.jpg IMG_20200718_163357192.jpg
 
I had my camera mounted similarly until vibration caused one of the camera frame screws to fall out. Couldnt find a replacement so made a new mount that uses double sided tape to the camera back.
 
Finally finished it and it's amazing. Was actually very simple build.
Ron browns laser guide $80 https://www.ronbrownsbest.com/Micro Detailer Tool 7505
1/2" aluminum tubing from home depot as the top arm of the laser guide wasn't long enough. Had to wrap some electrical tape due to diameter being just shy for the laser guide to clamp onto $8
Drilled a hole and bolted the camera mount onto top aluminum arm. $19 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B015MHKJNI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Video cable extensions $14 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M655C3L/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Video to VGA converter $22 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ENH8MTW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
VGA cable to my monitor which was not being used sitting in basement. $10 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KRLYPNE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Also got a pack of transparency film but using dry erase markers or even sharpies (w/alcohol to clean the screed) I'll never work through 30 pieces. $10 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B087BF4YLJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That's it. Super simple, super effective. I absolutely could have built it cheaper using drilled hardwood instead of the laser guide but I'm glad to have it.lathe 1 small.jpg lathe 2 small.jpg
 
There is fellow in our club that doesn't use a transparency/tracer. He somehow zeros the cutter and the camera, and what you see on screen is your turning and the tool. Because it's calibrated, the accuracy is much better than a tracing. If I find out more, I'll post it.
 
Tom Hansen said:
Finally finished it and it's amazing. Was actually very simple build.
Ron browns laser guide $80 https://www.ronbrownsbest.com/Micro Detailer Tool 7505
1/2" aluminum tubing from home depot as the top arm of the laser guide wasn't long enough. Had to wrap some electrical tape due to diameter being just shy for the laser guide to clamp onto $8
Drilled a hole and bolted the camera mount onto top aluminum arm. $19 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B015MHKJNI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Video cable extensions $14 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M655C3L/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Video to VGA converter $22 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ENH8MTW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
VGA cable to my monitor which was not being used sitting in basement. $10 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KRLYPNE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Also got a pack of transparency film but using dry erase markers or even sharpies (w/alcohol to clean the screed) I'll never work through 30 pieces. $10 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B087BF4YLJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That's it. Super simple, super effective. I absolutely could have built it cheaper using drilled hardwood instead of the laser guide but I'm glad to have it.View attachment 34571 View attachment 34572
Click to expand...
 
Possibly although mine is that old. On the video to VGA converter there are 2 places to connect the 15 pin cord. Try the other slot. I had that issue at first too. One is an ouput and the other must be something else.
 
please don't be offended, but, is the cap off of the camera lens and you're not just seeing black ( i did this and took me a bit before I could headsmack my way to the solution)? Any idea where the problem is? Power to monitor? Power to converter? Power to camera? See any interference on screen when plugging in the twisty camera cord?
 
I have everything running! When l got on screen instructions in Chinese, I was stymied. At my wife's urging, l started pushing buttons; then up popped English, and then the camera just started working. I'm not pushing any more buttons to try to figure out what l did. I'll just mount everything tomorrow, and play. Thanks for your help.
 
awesome!! I bought a pack of transparency film and put a ruler under my cutting tip. For me, the tip is 1/4" wide but the measurement on screen is 3/8" so I drew a few different templates with a 1.5:1 ratio of the shapes of all my cutters and scrapers. Now I put a tool on, walk to the screen and put up whichever template I want (based on what tool I'm using and wall thickness) and draw it on a piece of film taped on the screen. Makes it quick. Have fun, I've enjoyed mine and glad posting the journey helped someone else.
 
Tom Hansen said:
Finally finished it and it's amazing. Was actually very simple build.
Ron browns laser guide $80 https://www.ronbrownsbest.com/Micro Detailer Tool 7505
1/2" aluminum tubing from home depot as the top arm of the laser guide wasn't long enough. Had to wrap some electrical tape due to diameter being just shy for the laser guide to clamp onto $8
Drilled a hole and bolted the camera mount onto top aluminum arm. $19 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B015MHKJNI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Video cable extensions $14 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M655C3L/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Video to VGA converter $22 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ENH8MTW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
VGA cable to my monitor which was not being used sitting in basement. $10 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KRLYPNE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Also got a pack of transparency film but using dry erase markers or even sharpies (w/alcohol to clean the screed) I'll never work through 30 pieces. $10 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B087BF4YLJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That's it. Super simple, super effective. I absolutely could have built it cheaper using drilled hardwood instead of the laser guide but I'm glad to have it.View attachment 34571 View attachment 34572
Click to expand...
What type of hollowing set up is that?
 
John Hicks said:
I was looking at your system Doug: will it work with a bosch stabilizer and the supplied laser arm?
Click to expand...

John, I have one of Doug's systems. I use it with a jamieson rig. On the jamieson rig the laser holder is about the same diameter of a 3/8" bolt. With Doug's system you make your own camera mount. I epoxied the camera to the head of a 5" long 3/8" hex bolt and put it in the jamieson laser holder with a couple of nuts and washers. So I assume you can create some easy way to mount it to a Bosch laser holder. That being said I think Doug recently started selling laser holder bars for some systems like the Carter and Jamieson but not sure about the Bosch. Hopefully he will be able to clarify. His system is easy to use!!

Ricc
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top