What kind of lathe are you using? I’ve gotten a hankering to try building whistles and possibly flutes as well, and would really prefer to work in wood and delrin as opposed to PVC or copper, although I’m starting with those until I get a better handle on the whole process. Anyway, should I pursue this to the point of working with wood, I’ll need a good lathe, but probably won’t have a slew of cash to pour into one. From what I’ve read, it looks like a lot of builders use metal lathes.
Do you know anything about the lathes from Sherline? I’ve seen a couple of these on ebay for not too much. Also, I’ve run across this page about mini-lathes, and they look promising. I realise that these lathes would not be long enough to make a pratten’s on, but they should suffice for d and c whiistles and three or four joint flutes, don’t you think?
While this may all be wool-gathering, and is certainly speculation at this point, I’d like to do the groundwork, research-wise, so I can make a good decision should the day ever arrive to write a check.
I’d appreciate any thoughts or recommendations you have. Thanks!
I’m not much of a builder, but I know a bit about lathes and I’ve been paying attention to the board and the flutemakers group.
Small lathes are limiting in that the spindle hole is too small, leaving one to use roller-steady-rests and other contraptions. My Taig is fun for tiny stuff, but once I put on the steady rest and tailpiece, there’s not much room left for stock.
It seems that the most raved-about machines are old industrial metal lathes with short beds, big spindle holes, and collets rather than jawed chucks. My old Southbend has a small spindle, but is otherwise ok (lots of room on the bed for steadies, and other gear for drilling and gun-drilling). I got it at auction for $100.
Best of luck! I hope the builders chime in with more specifics.
Probably should have mentioned on the flute forum as well…there is an article around somewhere on turning up a new spindle with the bigger bore and “converting” the typical South Bend to a “heavy”
Thanks, Jack. I’ll look for it. I’m pretty happy with my steady rests (one all-steel ball bearings, the other made from skate-board wheels) but I worry about the twisting force I’m putting on the workpiece by driving it so far away from the cutter. No problems yet, but I’ve been doing multi-piece tooters. I’d like to do some one-piece bodies for kids’ flutes (in F for nice close fingerings) so it’s time to get creative.
I think you’ll find those minis to be TOO mini for whistlemaking, although they do look like fun. My Sears 6/18 is about as small as you’d want to go, and I sometimes wish that was bigger.
Thanks for all the help, guys. Like I said before, it’s all speculation at this point, but I’ve got a lot better idea of what lies in store. For the time being, I’ll stick to CPVC and maybe copper, but eventually…
No, honey, put that pan down! Honest, I don’t know WHERE that lathe came from! Where did WHAT money go? No, honey! Ouch! Ow! Ouch!
I get by just fine with my Sherline 4400DRO lathe and Sherline 5400DRO milling machine… both with several optional attachments.
If you’re only going to be working with prefab tubing, it’s a sweet setup for whistle making… but you’ll need a larger lathe to bore your own tubes.
If you don’t mind spending some serious money, you can get a nice gap bed machine from Harbor Freight Tools that has a 1-1/2" spindle bore and a gorgeous 4-jaw chuck, plus enough length to get into high-end bass whistles. Unless you plan to go into production, you don’t really need a milling machine. A decent full-size drill press with a crossfeed vise will do a fine job for a lot less money. If you want to require max accuracy, however, they have a nice mill-drill (not the mini!) for about $399 that gives you 0.0005 in both X and Y axes.
I don’t like collets. They presuppose that there won’t be variations in OD and there always are. A 4-jaw chuck with geared jaws obviates that possible glitch. Make sure you get a good live center, and first thing turn some assorted shape end caps for it. Worth their weight in gold.
Boring wood is the purview of Mr. Busman, but I know he uses a gun drill to do it. I have a fitting for the tailpiece on my wood lathe that allows me to pass various diameters of wood bits through the tailpiece. that, I made on the metal lathe.
Get good calipers. Again, Harbor Freight Tools. They have some exceptionally nice digitals that go up to 12 inches, for under $50. Also pick up a set of their inexpensive dial calipers to measure diameters on the fly without endangering the electronics.
Damn it. Now you’ve got me wishing I had all my tools down here already!
My favorite setup is a four-jaw chuck w/ the spindle collets running thru the middle…using 5C nylon “soft” machinable collets…and now that I think of it , it would be nice to make up a set of “soft” jaws…easy enough for an independant 4-jaw (ok, so thats one more project)
I’ve tried gundrilling but its more of a pain than its worth for a few pieces. I’ve been using long taper-shank drills w/o any problem (just a bit slower)
A good ball-bearing live end rest is worth its weight and easy to make !
I have a Bradford 1920’s era metal working lathe. I three and four jaw chucks, a faceplate, a collet set, w/hollow headstock. Very heavy machine, probably 1500 pounds. I use the three jaw chuck most of the time.
FWIW, I use a mini-lathe that I bought from Grizzly. I have modified it heavily, especially I have bored out the taper in the spindle to just under 1". The good part of that is that you can buy another spindle for about $20. However, I am saving up some money to give to ENCO… The mini is just too… mini.
