This week I started a new project. I want to continue manufacturing projects, and I decided to make a desk ornament/trinket that I’d seen before.
It’s pretty simple to make, at least in theory. The trick is to put the part into the chuck offset from the center of rotation and reclamp the part at different angles to create the spiral of disks.
I’m using a Youtube video as a reference for how to make this part, and their’s came out really good.
I created a drawing and started turning the part on Tuesday.
At first I started with a part that was made out of aluminum and was 1.8 inches in diameter. Unfortunately, I believe that this is simply too large and I ended up breaking a parting blade attempting to turn this part. I very nearly broke another making a second attempt, so I decided to give up on this version.
I decided to redesign the part to be smaller and made out of brass. Brass looks better and is what is used in the video, so maybe it will be easier. The main thing I’m hoping will help is the reduced size. My second version will be both shorter and thinner.