T2 knob turning

[kevin gilmore]

unfortunately there is a lot of wasted wood to make circles. Plus i want to make

a couple in the other grain direction. I can always find another piece of wood,

shouldn't take more than another year.

Nice try steve. You can make these yourself anyway.

[swt61]

Kevin, sand some of the scrap Ebony wood to get a 1/2 tsp. or so of fine powder. Mix that with a little wood glue, and rub into the crack. Sand smooth once dry, and that crack will hardly be noticeable.

Actually I do have some Ebony large enough to make a few knobs.

[kevin gilmore]

Yes i saved the ebony scraps just for that purpose. But i consider that cheating.

Was planning on fililng the hole that way. On the other hand its a thing of beauty

as is. Very little wood is absolutely perfect. Same thing the red mallee knob.

A slight roughness and color change is in the red mallee too.

I have more ebony to work with, for now

[justin]

i just can't take these posts about ebony wood seriously anymore

[swt61]

You took my Ebony post serious before!

[kevin gilmore]

i'm beginning to hate ebony.

http://gilmore.chem.....edu/ebony8.jpg

tried a different direction for the 3rd ebony knob, broke after machining, and

had 2 cracks by the time i got it home.

The other one is perfect, so unless i screw it up, senior voltron will get his knob.

I'm also really liking the rosewood knob.

Edited January 24, 2012 by kevin gilmore

[Voltron]

Wow, Kevin that is extremely cool! I can't tell from your post which one you are thinking about for me, but I would feel guilty taking your only "perfect" one. I would be very very happy with any of them. Thanks for keeping me in mind. The rosewood is beautiful too.

[Craig Sawyers]

i'm beginning to hate ebony.

Must make the lignum vitae ones seem easy by comparison!

Craig

[wink]

(Quote) and had 2 cracks by the time i got it home. (Quote).

Those aren't cracks, they're features........

Edited January 24, 2012 by wink

[Kerry]

Drinking... Working... Listening to high-end stats on a great amp

That sounds like a great plan

[swt61]

Thus ending Al's lifetime search for the perfect Ebony knob.

Kevin it's most likely the small size of the knobs that is causing the Ebony to check. In all larger pieces I've turned I've had no issues. Cut it thin though and it curls like hell.

[Dreadhead]

Further proof that Steve and small knobs have nothing to do with each other

[Milosz]

I think a metal knob with an embedded peltier would be a fun idea, you could have a control on your amp to set the knob's temperature to your liking- cold or warm....

[n_maher]

Knowing how warm T2 knobs get I worry about the life span of a wooden got getting temp cycled like that.

[Craig Sawyers]

I think it is OK for my LV one. It is linked to a delrin shaft, and is not in contact with the (toasty hot) casework, and is a wood with a very high internal oil content (which is why it was used for ship's propellor bearings). I might get a bit more concerned with a really hard wood like ebony or african blackwood.

Anyone think about a one made out of natural stone, like marble, limestone or slate? Or one of the polymer composites like Corian.

[kevin gilmore]

We will soon find out how well the ebony knob tolerates the heat.

Clearly the titanium knob and the aluminum knobs don't care.

Machining corian turns out to be really miserable, dulls even carbide

bits real quick. Which is one of the many reasons that wilson speakers

cost so much. I did some corian stuff a while back, not going to do that

again.

I think i have a line on a piece of wooly mammoth ivory that is big enough

to make a knob out of. I refuse to buy black market ivory for the obvious

reasons.

I think i can do marble... Lets find out.

Voltron's knob should be done tomorrow when i have some more time.

Then i have to find a suitable wood presentation box for it.

Afterall you have to have a box to put your knob in

[swt61]

The cool thing about Corian though is that you can use a Drimmel tool to make the edges look like chipped stone. I did this on some table tops I made some years ago. Similar to this...

Might make a unique faceplate too.

[Craig Sawyers]

Cool! We're just expecting a kitchen designer to arrive, and here in the UK Corian is twice the price of real marble. Allegedly this is because DuPont are focused on the large installation market, like top quality hotels, and the prices for the sort of quantity you need for domestic kitchen worksurfaces are through the roof.

Kitchen through the roof???!!??

And I haven't had anything to drink. Yet

[swt61]

I will poor my own concrete counter tops, when I build my retirement home. The material cost is extremely low, and of coarse I'll cut myself a deal on my own labor.

[luvdunhill]

Don't work yourself too hard though.

O_o

[swt61]

That's never a concern.

[kevin gilmore]

http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/ebony9.jpg

The "Knob of Voltron" is done and ready to ship.

(the ebony one)

I kind of like the rosewod one for now.

Trying to find a decent size piece of snakewood.

[Craig Sawyers]

Nice! How about Cocobolo http://www.exotichardwoods.co.uk/Woods_List/Cocobolo.asp

[kevin gilmore]

cocobolo is also on the list.

practically due to the setup time on the lathe, it makes much more sense

to do 5 or so at a time, it goes so much quicker that way.

Cut 5 on the band saw, live center and spin plate on the lathe, then

step collet gripper for inside hole, then boring bar, then do up the

aluminum pieces. Assemble, then micromachine.

doing a marble one requires diamond tools, probably not ready to do that

at the moment.

[morphsci]

http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/ebony9.jpg

The "Knob of Voltron" is done and ready to ship.

(the ebony one)

I kind of like the rosewod one for now.

Trying to find a decent size piece of snakewood.

Those came out nice. Snakewood would be my personal choice, can't wait to see that one.