Ornamental Turning

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Ornamental Turning System

According to John Jacob Holtzapfel, who knew a thing or two about such things, Ornamental Turning may also be known as Complex Turning. In fact, although specialised ornamental turning lathes, per se, do exist (many having been produced by Holtzapfel himself), it is possible to achieve a significant part of the Ornamental Turner's repertoire using an appropriately-adapted centre lathe. Wivamac have shown their commitment to a broad-based approach to woodturning by producing a large number of accessories and options for their DB lathes which equip them very ably for this task.

If you would prefer to do your ornamental turning (OT) on "the real thing" then by all means withdraw a few tens of thousands of pounds/dollars/euros from the bank and go out and search for a Holtzapfel, Birch or Evans lathe for sale. If you are less inclined to spend your life searching for the Holy Grail, or less well-funded, then maybe it's simpler just to read on!

The basis of the Wivamac Ornamental Turning system is a Compound Table (DB1410) that can be affixed to the lathe bed. This table provides calibrated indexing in two perpendicular directions in the horizontal plane. Mounted upon the compound table, and supplied with it, is an adaptor into which the other OT accessories and tooling can be mounted. The position of the adaptor on the compound table can also be varied using the pattern of three tee-slots provided on the top face of the table.

Much OT work depends upon the ability to rotate the workpiece with respect to the tooling, about an axis which is not coincident with the axis of the lathe itself. For many tasks, the work is locked in this axis and the cutter is mounted in the lathe spindle. The DB1420 Ornamental Turning Device (see large photo, left) performs this function and may be considered as the heart of this OT system.

The DB1420 mounts in the adaptor on the compound table and provides a rotating spindle, the axially rotational position of which is governed by a 24/60 hole indexing plate, and an M33 x 3.5 mm thread to allow a chuck or faceplate, for instance, to be mounted on the spindle to hold the workpiece. Also provided is a cutter carrier which mounts on the main spindle of the lathe and which has a series of mounting holes for the toolholder, allowing it to be set at various offsets from the axis of the lathe spindle (hence the tool tip describes a circle about the lathe axis as the lathe spindle rotates). By progressively rotating the workpiece held on the DB1420 spindle, and locking it in position at discrete intervals using the indexing plate, decoration etc. can be applied in a regular pattern around the workpiece using tooling held in the headstock spindle-mounted toolholder. The exact planes of intersection between the workpiece and the locus of the cutter can be adjusted by moving the DB1420 by indexing the compound table along either of its axes of freedom.

Using a somewhat similar principle, the DB1430 Thread Cutting Jig allows threads to be cut on a workpiece which is held in a chuck mounted on the special spindle of the jig, which advances 2 mm with each full revolution (i.e. the spindle acts as a 2 mm pitch leadscrew). A cutter with a 60 degree included angle and 8 mm shank is held in a small chuck mounted in the lathe's main spindle and is used to create the thread form in the workpiece. The system adjusts to the workpiece diameter and the depth of thread is varied by indexing the compound table across the lathe bed.


	For some operations, it may be convenient to mount a router or a pistol drill to hold the tooling which you apply to the workpiece. To facilitate this, the DB1440 Tool Support will clamp a router, pistol drill or almost any tool with a standard 43 mm diameter collar and allow it to be accurately positioned with respect to the main spindle.


	The DB1450 2MT Support Mandrel is another tool-holding device, but in this case it is designed to hold equipment or accessories having a 2 MT shank. Such tooling can be used to machine a workpiece held in the main spindle or the mandrel can even be used as a miniature tailstock, with accurate indexing provided through the compound table. Think how simple this would render off-centre turning!


	So there you have, in brief, the components to enable you to challenge the functionality of a Holtzapfel but at a cost that allows you to keep your feet firmly planted on terra firma. Daydreams can become reality when you use a Wivamac lathe.

©1997-1998 P. Hemsley. The information on this website is the copyright property of Peter Hemsley. Coeur du Bois and The ToolPost are trading styles of Peter Hemsley. Whilst reasonable efforts are made to ensure the accuracy of information presented, no liability can be accepted for errors in this information nor for contingencies arising therefrom. If you are inexperienced in any aspect of woodworking, we would strongly counsel that you take a course of formal instruction before commencing to practice