Official Luthiers Forum!

There was some interest a while back about turning pins and since I have re-vamped my set-up a bit since my last tutorial I thought it would be nice to update the OLF.

Here goes...

This is the lathe I use for pins and more precisely turned wood parts. It's a Hardinge 9" swing bench lathe original built for turning metal. It has three speeds and I run it geared up to spin faster for turning wood.



I made this form cutter from HHS for the pin heads. I used a dremel tool with the large cutoff wheel to rough in the shape and finished the cutter with small diamond burrs.



To help with the repetitive aspects of this and other jobs, I made a simple stop that bolts to my lathe bed. The brass fingers are adjustable to set limits for both the longitudinal and cross feeds. The longitudinal stop is removable and in reality I don't use it much.





The major diameter of the pin heads are a tad under 5/16" (I shoot for .310 for a finished head). I start processing blanks by figuring out how many sticks I can rip from a piece using .4 as a minimum staring width for my squares.



My blanks are sized for two pins to each square and I trim them to a minimum of 3.25", remembering that you have to leave some extra length to chuck in the lathe.



Then I kiss each blank on the band saw to make a little X and center drill the blank with a 60 degree center drill.



My home made drive center mounted in a 1/2" collet.



The first blank mounted up and ready to be turned. My tailstock center is just a piece of 1/4" brass stock turned with a 60 deg. center point. Over the weekend I made up a proper live center with the brass center piece pressed into two ball bearings, but the dead center has worked just fine.



I rough in my first blank, stopping to check the diameter often. When I hit the 5/16" mark I stop and set my cross feed stop and continue to rough in the rest of the blanks with very little measuring required.



Now I have a pile of 5/16" sticks ready to cut the heads of the pins. I take them back to the band saw a slice off the last little bit of square end left over from turning.



Now, I switch to a 5/16" collet and put my pin head cutter in the tool post and start cutting heads. Like roughing in the blanks I cut the first head to size and then set my stop so the rest come out the same as the first.



At this stage I have a pile of sticks with a pin head on each end, time to switch set ups one more time for cutting the shanks.

First, I set my cross feed to cut a 3 degree (or 5 if you prefer) taper. Remember that the degree marks on the compound are in reference to one side of your centerline, so for a 3 deg. taper you need to set the compound to 1.5 degrees.

N

From above.



This is my cutter for the shanks.



I put this home made cup center in the tailstock to support the pin head while I cut the shank.



Ready to go!



Again, I work my way down the first pin until the shaft hits .220 just under the collar on the head, then I set my stop and turn away.



I finish the pins off with a light 220 grit sanding and steel wool. Then a little bowling alley wax ad a trip to the buffer.



This one is ready to be cut off and put to use!



With this set up I can make up batches if pins pretty quick and the finished pins turn out very uniform in size. I'll spend a night roughing in a pile of sticks so I'm ready to cut pins if I need any in a hurry! Once I get into the production zone on these things I can get a lot done in a short amount of time.

Enjoy!

Louis

_________________
- Louis Freilicher

Oh No! Not another learning experience!

Excellent Louis, I never thought I would find myself saying this to another bloke but, you have nice pins mate.

Cheers

Kim

Louis - Three Cheers for the Tutorial!  Thanks!

I am considering getting a small pen making lathe.  I like the metal lathe setup you have.  How well do your self-made tools keep their edge?

_________________
Steve Walden
Aspiring Builder,
Bartlesville, OK

Thanks for sharing! Can you work in ivoroid?

Great tutorial Louis! Thats a nice lathe you have there.
Great job on the pins! They sure look familiar.
I did get my brw pins in the mail today Louis and they Are perfect.The abalone inlays look great too! Thanks a lot.

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Thanks all for your kind words.

First, I missed one pic in the tutorial. I milled up this little gauge from aluminum to index the pins overall length. It is set to take into account the thickness of my cut off tool.



Steve, the high speed steel tools hold up very well as long as you take care not to overheat them when grinding. I keep an old coffee can full of water next to my grinder and dunk the bits as soon as I feel them heating up my fingers. If you do overheat the bit (color change) you can grind away the discoloration and still wind up with a useable bit.

I touch up the top side of my form cutter on a piece of 2000 grit paper on my surface plate for each run of pins.

The other cutters that I use for mostly for wood I wind up sharpening once a month, if that. When used on steel I might have to touch up the edges once or twice to get through a really tough job, but the dulling action from wood on these tools is pretty minimal.

Tony, I haven't tried turning any iviriod but I would be willing have a go at it.

Dave, You welcome! I'm glad you got your pins A'ok.

Cheers,

   Louis

_________________
- Louis Freilicher

Oh No! Not another learning experience!

Very nice! *applauds*

Great tute Louis my friend!!!!

Thanks Louis! I appreciate the tutorial. I've been thinking about getting a metal working lathe for years. I'm  really inspired.

What else do you use your lathe for in guitar building?

Thanks much, Louis. My getting a small metal lathe has to wait a bit, but I'm looking forward to doing my own pins.

_________________
Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Louis,
   Nice tutorial. I started out using a drive center, but I found that I liked
having the entire pin done before parting it off rather than working the
crown end and rechucking it to cut the taper.

   I really like your rig though. I use a similar stop behind my cross feed
block that i lock down once I reach my larger taper diameter.

I think I'll be modifying it alittle after seeing your stop set up in action
though.

Thanks for a great tutorial,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars

    Louis thanks for the tut! Very well done.

    As a note you can color HSS but you don't want to turn it brown, as that is the color of any significant change in temper. Blue is fine!

Personally, in wood use, I don't think even then it would make a horrible difference.

Thanx again for the tut! Very well done!

_________________
Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)