Show and Tell - let us know what you're doing!

[Kitwn]

Oh god that sounds worryingly familiar. Despite wifey still being under 30, the number of weaving/beading/lace making related contraptions in the house seriously terrifies me.

Sounds familiar! Christie does weaving, lace making (I used to make bobbins for her to sell on her website), knitting (we live in the tropics!!), crochet, cross-stitch, quilting and occasionally plays the harp as well. Oh, and we're messing about with resin based jewellery as well. We're looking to retire to Tasmania in a couple of years but will need a large 4-bedroom house with a double garage just for the two of us to have enough room for our hobbies!

Could be worse I suppose. At least we've never had any of those nasty, smelly, expensive child things.

[AndyUK]

I used to make bobbins for her to sell on her website

Huh I was asked about exactly this the other day. Another hobby she has is glass fusing and bead making; apparently spangled lace bobbins fetch a high price these days, so if I could produce the bobbin she'd do the rest.

Obviously my cutting experience is very limited with my original conversion not really even coping with soft woods (it was an old scanning water phantom, so very weak). I guess it could be done by just flipping the work, but I did wonder if it was a 4th axis job. Would love to hear more about your method? Did you CNC them or just manually turn them?

Could be worse I suppose. At least we've never had any of those nasty, smelly, expensive child things.

Hah.

[Kitwn]

Andy,
I turned the lace bobbins by hand. That was long before I got involved in CNC stuff. In fact in 2004 we spent our last ever weekend living in the UK attending a course on bobbin turning and one of the first household appliances we bought in the new country was a lathe! In our early years in Australia C used to have an online shop selling bobbins nd other lace-making supplies, some that I made here but most were imported from the UK made by Stuart Johnson (who ran the course we attended along with David Springett) or Chris Parsons.

Hand turning wood down to a diameter of 3mm takes a steady hand but once you get the knack it's easy enough with the right timber. Mass production requires a well thought out process and the right tools but nothing expensive or complicated. If you really want to look into making a 4th axis and producing bobbins I'd be happy to give you the benefit of my hand-turning experience. A 4th axis for such light work would be pretty simple. The main design requirement would be a fast turn-round time for swapping out pieces.

[cropwell]

Go on Kit, Go the full Jacquard ! She's worth it !