[Flutemaker]

I am a flute maker and have an experimental flute I have to make a repair on.I can still use it,but just need to make the repair.
The flute is eastern red cedar and is basically an "almost" completely hollow tube 1 1/16" in diameter with a 3/4" bore or hole through the inside the length of the flute. On the top of this flute is a section I need to replace cause it has a bad place in it..So I routed a groove 2 1/2" long with a 1/2" straight bit . I want to make an insert of a contrasting wood to glue in this groove. I can rip a piece 1/2" wide but dont know how to make the rounded ends with a near perfect radius.....

On the inside of the flute there is a piece of 3/4" dowel rod 3/8" long right in the middle of this groove...The insert will be glued in and sit on top of the dowel and then sanded flush.This dowel is part of the function of the flute....

***My question is how to make the rounded ends of this 1/2" insert with a near perfect radius. It will be glued in ! Thanks in advance !!!

 

[JOAT]

Dunno if this would help or not. I found a piggy bank I had made years ago, and had totally forgotten. It had a coin slot, but no way to get the coins out. Or so I thought. Saw two almost invisible lines going across the section of plywood (that is how my banks are made, layers of plywood), above and below the tail. Hmm. Studied that a minute or so, then pulled up on the tail. Viola, a form fitting piece came out, and that is how the coins come out. And not a clue how I did such a precise job. My suggestion is to put the piece in place, no glue yet, sand it, carefully, taking it out and putting it back in when needed, until you get an exact fit, and then glue it in. I THINK that would work. But I would suggest trying it on a scrap flute first.

 

[TenGees]

I've never used one but maybe an inlay router kit might help... inlay router bit set

 

[DesertRatTom]

Before you cut the bad section out, put some green painter's tape across it and draw a straight line across so you know how they line up. Cut out the bad section and use it to mark the exact size diameter by holding the end of the replacement piece with a pencil. Since I assume your flute is long grain, you can use a chisel to get near the outside of the pencil line, then sand carefully until the pencil line just disappears. As you do this, double check the size against the cut section of the flute so you don't overdo it.

Make sure your replacement piece is straight grain. I would pre drill the inside hole while it's still a block so you can clamp it to the drill press fence. You could use a short dowel the size of the opening to align the replacement piece hole with the flute before you mark it.

SANDING see the diagram below: If you know the exact diameter, you can drill a hole that size through a piece of 2x4, cut that in half, lightly sand the inside curve to account for the thickness of the sandpaper. This will give you a sanding block you can use on the filler piece. I suggest you make your insert piece a little longer for easier sanding, then cut to exact length.

 

[Flutemaker]

Before you cut the bad section out, put some green painter's tape across it and draw a straight line across so you know how they line up. Cut out the bad section and use it to mark the exact size diameter by holding the end of the replacement piece with a pencil. Since I assume your flute is long grain, you can use a chisel to get near the outside of the pencil line, then sand carefully until the pencil line just disappears. As you do this, double check the size against the cut section of the flute so you don't overdo it.

Make sure your replacement piece is straight grain. I would pre drill the inside hole while it's still a block so you can clamp it to the drill press fence. You could use a short dowel the size of the opening to align the replacement piece hole with the flute before you mark it.

SANDING see the diagram below: If you know the exact diameter, you can drill a hole that size through a piece of 2x4, cut that in half, lightly sand the inside curve to account for the thickness of the sandpaper. This will give you a sanding block you can use on the filler piece. I suggest you make your insert piece a little longer for easier sanding, then cut to exact length.

View attachment 396062

That should work.I had already cut the place out with a 1/2" straight router bit.Thanks!!!!!

 

[Flutemaker]

I've never used one but maybe an inlay router kit might help... inlay router bit set

Ill check that out! Thanks!!!!

 

[DesertRatTom]

In future, get yourself a Japanese pull saw. It makes a really nice clean cut. It will spoil you as far as saws go.

Do you have a drill press yet? I have a WEN 10 inch bench top 4210 T benchtop drill press that is identical to the Jet, down to the casting marks. For drilling something long, you need a long bit and a way to feed the workpiece upward into the bit. You may already have this tool.and if not, I'd love to hear how you are drilling the central hole in the flutes now.

 

[Flutemaker]

In future, get yourself a Japanese pull saw. It makes a really nice clean cut. It will spoil you as far as saws go.

Do you have a drill press yet? I have a WEN 10 inch bench top 4210 T benchtop drill press that is identical to the Jet, down to the casting marks. For drilling something long, you need a long bit and a way to feed the work piece upward into the bit. You may already have this tool.and if not, I'd love to hear how you are drilling the central hole in the flutes now.

I do have a drill press but am not satisfied with it. It is on the Delta Multi tool that is a tablesaw/jointer and drill press. (all of them work)(an old tool ,made good and solid but I cant slow the speed down on it.It has a step pulley but moving the belt really doesnt slow it much at all....way too fast....It only has one step pulley and a single pulley so that doesnt help.I looked at
Old Woodworking Machines http://www.owwm.org/index.php and this pulley set up appears to be original. Ive heard that these tools are good but not the best tools to be had or as good as individual tools. (Really the only thing I use on it is the drill press.) If the right person was close by and would trade me a decent table top drill press and a small table saw I would jump on it....It is a good piece of old iron...I even got a box of spare parts for it from a seller on ebay.

Ohhhhh I would really loved to have a milling machine but can't justify the expense so I do a layout of the holes and go from there.I do good this way but there is room for improvement.

Any ideas I sure would appreciate it.

 

[DesertRatTom]

I do have a drill press but am not satisfied with it. It is on the Delta Multi tool that is a tablesaw/jointer and drill press. (all of them work)(an old tool ,made good and solid but I cant slow the speed down on it.It has a step pulley but moving the belt really doesnt slow it much at all....way too fast....It only has one step pulley and a single pulley so that doesnt help.I looked at
Old Woodworking Machines http://www.owwm.org/index.php and this pulley set up appears to be original. Ive heard that these tools are good but not the best tools to be had or as good as individual tools. (Really the only thing I use on it is the drill press.) If the right person was close by and would trade me a decent table top drill press and a small table saw I would jump on it....It is a good piece of old iron...I even got a box of spare parts for it from a seller on ebay.

Ohhhhh I would really loved to have a milling machine but can't justify the expense so I do a layout of the holes and go from there.I do good this way but there is room for improvement.

Any ideas I sure would appreciate it.

I'm with you on dedicated machines. There are a lot of used tools out there, estate sales for example, but you have to search them out. Estate sales are usually advertised in the local paper or possibly online. You want to make sure the tools run. Some really old tools, you can't find replacement parts.

I'm attaching a pdf of the 18 plus things that accelerated my learning curve. I have a lot of tool I bought during my peak earning years. Glad to have them now. I accumulated all of them over a period of about 14-15 years, so don't think you need to get them all at once. One thing I wasted a lot of money on were makeshift dust collection setups. But the most important of all the tools is a decent table saw. All my projects improved once I got one. My first was a little Delta direct drive, 1hp saw. It was actually pretty good, just underpowered for woodworking. I sold it for what I paid new because it was a closeout at HD. My TS now is a Laguna Fusion, 1.75 hp that could be converted to 220 for more power. Had a little $50 drill press, but love my WEN unit. I bought a Delta 14 inch band saw in that closeout for about $300, sold it for as much, but with some upgrades, which added just enough bucks to buy a Laguna 14-twelve which is an amazing resawing machine for making thin boards from thick stock. But I have a little WEN/Rikon bench top band saw I use all the time. Have a great sliding miter saw, but I rarely use it and would rather have used the money to buy something else.

My shop is a 12x24 shed we had installed when we moved here to the high desert in So. Cal.. Later, my wife popped for an electrician who ran 3 20 amp 115v circuits to a sub panel. That powers the workshop, one for lights, AC and heater. Another powers the Dust collection system and the third is for the tool in use. All hard wired by me, with flex conduit from the sub panel to the shed.

My point is really just that the essential tools, beside the router and table, are the ones I mentioned. Smaller band saw, drill press, table saw. I have many other tools, but these three are definitely what gets the most use.

 

[Michael Turner]

"I'd love to hear how you are drilling the central hole in the flutes now."

I was thinking while at work...I think you meant the hole for what we call the bore of the flute....I do that with a gun drill.It is a home made outfit but works great if I have good straight wood.I did have to buy the gundrils from Sterling .

Is that Wen 10 drill press a good one? You like it a lot? I would like to get rid of the Delta multi tool.It takes up good space that I need. I dont ever use a jointer and I have a decent bandsaw....Old Delta 14" with a riser block.

 

[Michael Turner]

Wow I like the 18 things Illustrated..Ive done a lot and have enough tools but there is always an area I can improve on...The planes interest me and I have one.But I only have so many hrs in the day and the arthritis in my right hand is bothersome....lots of use and abuse in 64 plus yrs!

 

[Lemuzz]

I am a flute maker and have an experimental flute I have to make a repair on.I can still use it,but just need to make the repair.
The flute is eastern red cedar and is basically an "almost" completely hollow tube 1 1/16" in diameter with a 3/4" bore or hole through the inside the length of the flute. On the top of this flute is a section I need to replace cause it has a bad place in it..So I routed a groove 2 1/2" long with a 1/2" straight bit . I want to make an insert of a contrasting wood to glue in this groove. I can rip a piece 1/2" wide but dont know how to make the rounded ends with a near perfect radius.....

On the inside of the flute there is a piece of 3/4" dowel rod 3/8" long right in the middle of this groove...The insert will be glued in and sit on top of the dowel and then sanded flush.This dowel is part of the function of the flute....

***My question is how to make the rounded ends of this 1/2" insert with a near perfect radius. It will be glued in ! Thanks in advance !!!

 

[Lemuzz]

Engineers making a steel key to fit a milled keyway in a shaft use emery tape available in rolls to finish a rough ground piece of key steel to an exact size. Hold the strip of wood which has been roughly shaped, in a vice and each end of the tape, about 300mm long, and work backwards and forwards. You could glue sand paper on a strong fabric backing and finish your insert in the same way. Doing it this way you are only sanding the high spots and when its natural radius is reached it it retains its form with further sanding to fit the slot. The fabric backing helps to keep the radius square as well

 

[old55]

Welcome to the forum Michael.

 

[Michael Turner]

Thanks Ross!

Engineers making a steel key to fit a milled keyway in a shaft use emery tape available in rolls to finish a rough ground piece of key steel to an exact size. Hold the strip of wood which has been roughly shaped, in a vice and each end of the tape, about 300mm long, and work backwards and forwards. You could glue sand paper on a strong fabric backing and finish your insert in the same way. Doing it this way you are only sanding the high spots and when its natural radius is reached it it retains its form with further sanding to fit the slot. The fabric backing helps to keep the radius square as well

Ill give a try! Thanks