Mounting a router to your lathe

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RunnerVince

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I'd like to start doing some fluting on some of my projects, and my attempts thus far have been highly unsuccessful. I am not great at all with hand tools, and a handheld dremel is extremely hard to control and not at all good for trying to get anything approaching a straight flute with a consistent depth.

Has anyone created any sort of mount to put a router onto a lathe for doing this sort of thing? Or is there a commercial jig/attachment available? I've searched without luck, though I may just not know the correct search terms.

I'd appreciate any thoughts or suggestions.
 
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I did. I got plans off Ebay, they were actually out of an old magazine.
I used Corian for it. I'll see if I can find the directions. I also made a holder for my dremel to fit on it.
 
Another system to ponder.
 

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The spiraling jig is cool. Very sophisticated but if doing that kind of work it can work well. One thing has to be mentioned is most of us use a mini or midi lathe so whatever jig you make needs to fit those measurements and that includes slides and routers. It gets a little easier with larger lathes. Many times you can build off your banjo stem. There is a One Way attachment that Ed Davidson uses. He was a member here and has shown his detailed pens. Skiprat was another member here who shared his design and designs for many routed pens. He shown his jigs. There are so many examples of router jigs on utube that you maybe able to use. I based my design on a famous wood turner John Lucas. Over time I mat redo or make another type jig. I prefer to use a small router but a dremel tool can be used also but need to design jig around whatever tool you choice. Good luck. One more thing to mention, no matter what jig you build you need a way to do indexing on the lathe. Many adapters available if your lathe does not come with indexing already.
 
jttheclockman said:
The spiraling jig is cool. Very sophisticated but if doing that kind of work it can work well. One thing has to be mentioned is most of us use a mini or midi lathe so whatever jig you make needs to fit those measurements and that includes slides and routers. It gets a little easier with larger lathes. Many times you can build off your banjo stem. There is a One Way attachment that Ed Davidson uses. He was a member here and has shown his detailed pens. Skiprat was another member here who shared his design and designs for many routed pens. He shown his jigs. There are so many examples of router jigs on utube that you maybe able to use. I based my design on a famous wood turner John Lucas. Over time I mat redo or make another type jig. I prefer to use a small router but a dremel tool can be used also but need to design jig around whatever tool you choice. Good luck. One more thing to mention, no matter what jig you build you need a way to do indexing on the lathe. Many adapters available if your lathe does not come with indexing already.
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I saw recently this guys technique for spiralling, i don't know if its useful for small objects like pens.
 
randyrls said:
This is a spiraling jig made by a local woodturner and VERY impressive! It will do both spirals and flutes. It is NOT something you want to do for a one-off, but if you do a lot of this, it works well.
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Funnily enough, I can do spirals "by hand" and get results I'm very happy with. There's some slight variation in thickness and depth of the flutes, but I've gotten to the point where you have to really look hard to see the inconsistencies, and it has as much to do with inconsistencies with marking up the blank as with the actual cutting.

The difference is that, with a spiral, I can get my saw/file/dremel at the right angle, whereas for a straight flute, it's more difficult. Maybe a better dremel attachment or some files with an angle on them would work, but I figure for about the same money, I can build a jig that will do it right every time and much faster.

All that said, I do a fair few spirals, and this might save me a lot of time.
 
There is always the option of using a Bealle Pen Wizard. There is a seperate forum here that is dedicated to this tool. As I said YOYOSPIN (aka Ed Davidson) Has done so much great work with it and also the One Way tool I mentioned working with pen blanks. He has a ton of videos. Look in library for links to his work. You can also see some of his work here. Ed was one of the first members here and he did things way before many others even tried. I encourage you to check his work out. He has not beeen here for a long time but he has a web site and his album is still here. Here is an example of fluting and dot work using the one way jig.

https://www.penturners.org/media/imported-photo-from-yoyospin.4320/
 
I can't seem to find the plans right now, but mine is very big and bulky, and the router mounts on the side like the psi 1. It was quite cheap to make though. I will keep looking and send it to you if you want
 
Joebobber said:
I can't seem to find the plans right now, but mine is very big and bulky, and the router mounts on the side like the psi 1. It was quite cheap to make though. I will keep looking and send it to you if you want
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I too would be interested in the plans. I bought a router specifically for this awhile ago, I just haven't got around to figuring out how to m,ount it.
 
In England I am a member of Sandon Woodturners. We meet every Saturday and the profesional turners we get say it is one of the best if not the best club facilities in the UK. Our chairman is called Paul Howard and maakes/sells a fluting jig which costs £159 + P&P
He has demonstrated it several times and it is excellent but aagain not something to purchase for a one off.
If you are interested his web site is :- www.paulhowardwoodturner.co.uk
He has demonstrated in the USA
Cheers
George Locker
 
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