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Since no one else is answering, I can give you a partial answer.
I have a vega duplicator.
It's wonderful.. once you get everything dialed in, it's a huge time saver and great for making duplicates.. would work great for a chess set.
Duplicators use a scraper, I used sandpaper to sand it smooth.. maybe a more advanced turner has a better suggestion.
My CNC can cut things on a rotary axis, I've done that, but honestly, it's a lot faster to use the CNC to make a template and then use the duplicator , if I have to make 4 table legs for example.
I am not sure if the PSI duplicator is good or not, but in general, duplicators are great. Hope this helps.
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Appreciate any advice i can get. My friend is cutting, filing and trimming the templates by hand. He has much more patience than I do.
Thanks again.
Roger
Life isn't like a box of chocolates. It's more like a jar of Jalapenos. What you do today, might burn your rear tomorrow.
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oh sure, I didn't mean to imply that you needed a cnc for templates. Thats' awesome your friend has the skill to do it by hand. Good friend to have
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From what I have seen at demos of the Vega or PSI style duplicators, it is very easy to get tear out if you are at all aggressive with the turning. The trick seems to be to make very light passes once the blank is round. With the added stress of doing a club demo, it gets really hard to make those light passes.
It does seem that using negative-rake carbide cutters should be helpful.
The ones of that style that I have seen can only cut coves and high-points.
The Shopsmith style of duplicator can do some of the undercuts that could be useful for the knight pieces.
"the most important safety feature on any tool is the one between your ears." - Ken Vick
A wish for you all: May you keep buying green bananas.
The guy making his own is an artist with a lot of talent. He's also very OCD about details.
