# flute master



## jeff3285 (Jan 28, 2016)

I just bought me a full size lathe,,i did have a mini,,the rikon 70-100 and it was really nice but my wife was wanting bigger bowls and such,,lol,,and I was considering doing fluting on it but don't know much about it other than the flute master that you can buy online,,can anyone give me some info on it,,or for that matter,,doing flutes in general,,,thank you,,and I just signed up,,lol,,this is my first ad,,lol,


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## saculnhoj (May 18, 2015)

That's a video I haven't done yet. It's simple. You need some way to index the piece, and some way to hold the router and some way to guide the router. It depends on what you intend to flute. I did my first spindle off the lathe. I build a box that had a moveable panel that sort of acted like a tailstock. I simply used screws to hold the spindle between centers. then I made marks on the end of the spindle and put a screw through one side to lock the spindle in the position I wanted. I used 2 boards as sides of the long box and cut a rabbit in the top the width of the router base. Then I rigged up start and stop positions for the router and simply rotated the leg, locked it in plate, put the router on the platform and route the groove. It tended to burn the entry and exit point so I did 2 things on the next one. One was to design the leg so I could cut a cove at bot ends of the groove and simply cut away the burn mark. The other way was to build a ramp so the router went into and out of the cut at an angle. 
Now I do it on the lathe with a table that I built that sits on the lathe banjo like a tool rest does. This allows me to easily tilt the table to fit the shape of the leg or to add a guide to the router to fit other shapes like fluting on a vessel. Here are some photos.


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## saculnhoj (May 18, 2015)

Here are some index possibilities. The Alisam is state of the art and fairly expensive. The yellow disc is Ironfire index wheel and runs about $24. www.ironfireLLC.com The last one is a spring loaded device I built that works with many chucks that have index holes in them.


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## saculnhoj (May 18, 2015)

This photo may be too large but i'll try it anyway. Here is a manual index system. just build yourself a ring that fits behind the chuck. Draw lines on it for the indexing. Then rig up an L shaped bracket to sit on the lathe and clamp this to the index wheel. That gives you the indexing. Shown in the photo is my jig for drilling holes in clock faces using the index wheel.


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## saculnhoj (May 18, 2015)

Here is a photo of the improved spring index pin for my Alisam index wheel. Also another use for the router and banjo mounted router table.


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## Woodychips (Oct 3, 2015)

Great post saculnhoj. Very innovative!


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## saculnhoj (May 18, 2015)

I've been doing fluting and or carving with the router on turning almost since day one. In fact one of the reasons I got a lathe was to do fluted split turnings for a night stand I was building.


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## Woodychips (Oct 3, 2015)

saculnhoj said:


> I've been doing fluting and or carving with the router on turning almost since day one. In fact one of the reasons I got a lathe was to do fluted split turnings for a night stand I was building.


My guess is that you have a gift for mathematics? A friend of mine is always tinkering and building in a machine shop making lathe jigs too.


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## saculnhoj (May 18, 2015)

I'm horrible at Math. I can fix anything. I have good mechanical sense.


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