THO Game Calls Forums
The Art of Handcrafting Custom Game Calls => General Call Making Discussions => Topic started by: dogcatcher on October 30, 2014, 05:46:22 PM
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A long time ago Ben posted a picture with his homemade "semaphore" system for turning inserts. Today I watched a video by Eugene Schlaak, a production turner that turns hundred of identical items a year.
See what ideas you can glean from this video?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtGnAoV8CYo
Marvin
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that's pretty neat
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That's great! Where can one buy those contraptions?
Doug
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Thank you, Marvin!! I can think of several great uses for the semaphore jig in making inserts... gotta get busy!
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Thank you, Marvin!! I can think of several great uses for the semaphore jig in making inserts... gotta get busy!
You also have the machinery to make the set up.
From previous research there are no current commercial manufacturers of semaphores as shown in the video.
If you set one up for making one item at a time, there will be no time savings unless you make it so that it is a simple clamp on the lathe and start turning. To make one semaphore, that you can use for several different operations would be a waste of time, you would need one for the insert and one for your barrel. Otherwise every time you switch operations you have to adjust the arms.
Making a set is fairly simple, deciding on the materials to use will depend on what tools you have to work with. They could be made of wood, someone with a "nice mill" could make a set out of aluminum or steel. Or you could make one, and then cast a mold and cast them out of resin, using a steel flat bar for the arm. Lots of ways to skin this cat.
Marvin
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I'm thinking of a couple fairly simple variants that would aid in sizing the taper in reelfoot inserts. It isn't really a problem with calipers, but a jig based on the semaphore model could make it a no-brainer and eliminate stops and starts for measurements. Thanks again.