| [GMCnet] Maybe Not GMC -- Parser Drill [message #284574] |
Tue, 11 August 2015 12:20  |
glwgmc
Messages: 1014
Registered: June 2004
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Thanks for the reminder, Ken. I studied these years ago when I was working on modifying a 1700s design for a rose engine that could be applied to contemporary work. I never never found a reason to actually build or use one. I did build a modern interpretation of a rose engine and thought it was the hibs-nibs. But, I was wrong and for the same reason would have been wrong if I pursued the parser drill idea. I will explain why in a minute.
A rose engine is like a small lathe with the same headstock thread as whatever regular lathe you are using. Instead of being held rigid and spinning around a fixed center point, the headstock on a rose engine is mounted on a pivot point. By adding a shaped disk (called the rosette) and a follower, when the headstock is turned it also rocks back and forth following the shape of the rosette. A sharp cutting point (I use a small router with a sign making V bit) mounted on a two axis milling machine vice allows the operator to machine intricate patterns into work that is mounted on the rose engine spindle via some sort of a chuck or holding fixture. It works magnificently and I was thrilled to be able to place ornate patterns on the bottom and insides of otherwise simple “round and brown” turnings as a way of differentiating my work from others.
The issue was one that shocked me. The customers who admired those intricately carved patterns invariable asked me what kind of CNC machine I used to make those patterns. It was almost a blow off comment like since they thought it was made on a CNC machine it had no real value to them. Even after I explained that I had redesigned a 1700s rose engine, made my own version of it, and that every pattern was hand done and never repeated, the most common reaction was a blank look. I finally got tired of that conversation and have basically stopped using the rose engine for anything but my own enjoyment. I think work done via a parser drill would these days meet the same fate.
Hand carved does seem to have perceived value so long as it has enough irregularity to clearly be perceived as “hand done”. Even if the design was produced on a numerically controlled tracer or printer, so long as the resulting carved pattern does not look “too good” or “too regular” it will be valued. Funny world we live in. To much earlier crafts persons the ability to do something really well, really intricate and really regular had enormous perceived value - like the intricate carvings on the back of a watch or a woman’s cosmetic case or a piece of jewelry where that piece might sell for several times as much as the same piece without the ornamentation. In today’s world such carving is a “so-what” because even the least skilled person using numerically controlled machinery can easily produce that exact same pattern over and over again, and quickly, at virtually no marginal cost.
Jerry
Jerry Work
The Dovetail Joint
Fine furniture designed and hand crafted in the 1907 former Masonic Temple building in historic Kerby, OR
glwork@mac.com
http://jerrywork.com
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Message: 6
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2015 10:11:28 -0400
From: Ken Henderson
To: GMCNet
Subject: [GMCnet] Maybe Not GMC -- Parser Drill
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
This isn't necessarily GMC-related, though someone here can probably find a
use for it. Just too good to not pass on. I'll bet Jerry Work's the only
one here to whom it's not a surprise:
http://makezine.com/2015/08/05/old-tech-drills-any-shaped-hole/?utm_source=MakeNewsletter+20150811&utm_medium=email&utm_term=&utm_content= button&utm_campaign=newsletter
or
http://goo.gl/tH7h1L
Ken H.
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Jerry & Sharon Work
78 Royale
Kerby, OR
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