Turning Knitting Needles

[crokett™]

a few (well more like several) years ago I turned a few sets of knitting needles.  my MIL is a champion knitter and brought a pair into the local yarn shop.  the yarn shop owner bought all the ones I had.  Fast forward to last week, my MIL said the owner was asking about getting more.  thats the good news.  the bad news is I quit making them because of some production issues.

I solved one (holding the work) by a woodnetter machining me a nylon collet that mounts in my morse taper and I slide the needle along and turn it.  the remaining problems are:

1.  holding the work steady.  I tried a string steady but it didn't seem to work.  I may also need two of them.  the needles are 10mm or so diameter and about 14" long when done.  
2.  turning to a consistent size.  I think I'm going to try grinding down a crescent wrench and sharpen one side.  that way I get an instant sizing, I just turn until the open end of the wrench slides onto the piece.  
3.  cutting the stock to fit in the collet. tolerances are fairly tight.  I no longer have a tablesaw, when I did cutting stock that small (about 1/4" x 1/4") was problematic.  I have a bandsaw but I'm not confident in getting accurately size stock out of it.  that is probably a technique problem.  I know guys resaw veneer to incredibly tight tolerances so I should be able to do it.  

suggestions? especially for making the raw stock?

[Arlin Eastman]

a few (well more like several) years ago I turned a few sets of knitting needles.  my MIL is a champion knitter and brought a pair into the local yarn shop.  the yarn shop owner bought all the ones I had.  Fast forward to last week, my MIL said the owner was asking about getting more.  thats the good news.  the bad news is I quit making them because of some production issues.

I solved one (holding the work) by a woodnetter machining me a nylon collet that mounts in my morse taper and I slide the needle along and turn it.  the remaining problems are:

1.  holding the work steady.  I tried a string steady but it didn't seem to work.  I may also need two of them.  the needles are 10mm or so diameter and about 14" long when done.  
2.  turning to a consistent size.  I think I'm going to try grinding down a crescent wrench and sharpen one side.  that way I get an instant sizing, I just turn until the open end of the wrench slides onto the piece.  
3.  cutting the stock to fit in the collet. tolerances are fairly tight.  I no longer have a tablesaw, when I did cutting stock that small (about 1/4" x 1/4") was problematic.  I have a bandsaw but I'm not confident in getting accurately size stock out of it.  that is probably a technique problem.  I know guys resaw veneer to incredibly tight tolerances so I should be able to do it.  

suggestions? especially for making the raw stock?

I am thinking why do you need a string or steady rest.  Why not just advance the wood as needed and use the tail stock the whole time.  That way you are always working at the head stock and not the tail stock end which is unstable part and can have a 3' long piece sticking out of the head stock.

Well that is the way I did it anyway.  Get one done and start another one right away.  Maybe I need to check into a knitting shop.

[crokett™]

I use the tail stock to support one end. I turned a few inches at a time down near the headstock. I still had a lot of chatter turning something that long and thin which resulted in an out of round needle. Perhaps an alternate solution is sharp tools and better control. Hopefully I'll have more shop time to experiment again.

[gear jammer]

Probably the wrong way to do it but I turn small longer pieces using my pen jaws. My steady rest got dropped and broken. Haven't messed with making a new and improved version.

I use the pen jaws for pieces I inch and under although I don't go that long (8 to 9) inch stuff and leave the tail stock in place cutting off the nub last before polish then cut off the driven end and clean that up. I'll go down under 3/16 inch on some things.  Knitting needles are longer and a different cat altogether.

[Arlin Eastman]

I see a problem there starting with 1/4" wood.  I start with 1/2" or 5/8" and never get the wipe with it.  I also use the wide part of the spindle roughing gouge to get things flat.

[crokett™]

I didn't have the pin jaws when I made these on the first go round. I have a set now, that's an interesting idea.

Arlin the way I do this is the stock is slid through the spindle in the headstock. so Im limited to the ID of the spindle for wood thickness, then I need room for the collet, so the max is about 1/4" to tart with. I leave about 3" sticking out of the spindle and turn that. then I loosen the collet slide more out and turn that. I repeat this until I have a knitting needle but they're so thin that they like to flex while spinning. so I use a string steady. Or at least I try to.

[Arlin Eastman]

I didn't have the pin jaws when I made these on the first go round. I have a set now, that's an interesting idea.  

Arlin the way I do this is the stock is slid through the spindle in the headstock.  so Im limited to the ID of the spindle for wood thickness, then I need room for the collet, so the max is about 1/4" to tart with.  I leave about 3" sticking out of the spindle and turn that.  then I loosen the collet slide more out and turn that.  I repeat this until I have a knitting needle but they're so thin that they like to flex while spinning.  so I use a string steady.  Or at least I try to.

I just had another idea last night about it.  Is there anyway to be able to clamp the end of the stock at the tail stock end?  Kind of like a Jacobs chuck that will spin like a live center.

That way both ends can be well supported.

[SceneryMaker]

I just had another idea last night about it.  Is there anyway to be able to clamp the end of the stock at the tail stock end?  Kind of like a Jacobs chuck that will spin like a live center.

That way both ends can be well supported.

You beat me to it, Arlin. I might add that if the live center / Jacobs chuck combo was threaded for a drawbar, a little tension could be applied on the needle to keep the middle from whipping as it gets longer.

A live center / Jacobs combo was identified in the 3-jaw thread a few days ago.

[crokett™]

I see where the live chuck adapter or the live jacobs chuck would be of value and potentially help me solve a holding problem with a different project. I will look at those. I'll have to figure out how to hold them in my tailstock as I can't run a drawbar through it.

[Arlin Eastman]

I see where the live chuck adapter or the live Jacobs chuck would be of value and potentially help me solve a holding problem with a different project.  I will look at those.  I'll have to figure out how to hold them in my tailstock as I can't run a drawbar through it.

You do not need to advance it thru the tail stock just hold the end and when done part it off at the tail stock end and finish up at the head stock side and start all over again.

I got one of this from PSI

https://www.pennstateind.com/store/LTCA18.html

It works great for a lot of things and you can put another chuck in it to.