Any duplicator users out there?

[Rob Wachala Jr]

Hello,
I’ve recently been contacted by an artist in California who wanted to know if I could turn some raw bottle stoppers for her. I did a mock up of 10 for her in styles she wanted and she was quite satisfied. It turns out that she is producing a line of products for table settings. She does custom napkin rings, plates and so forth and is planning to sell them as ‘sets’ to retail boutiques. She also wants me to turn out some candle stick designs she is drawing up. One of her concerns is volume production and consistency. She asked if I could turn out 100+ a week… I think she’s optimistic but I’d be happy to do so either way

So the first thing I thought of was a duplicator. I sent in for PSI duplicator DVD that shows their model. That was a nightmare. It took 15 days for them to ship me the ‘dvd’ and all they sent me was a catalog with no dvd. I emailed them with the issue, they never responded so I ordered again… Took them an additional 11 days to finally send out the dvd. ( PSI worst shipping and customer service I’ve dealt with so far ) A month later once the dvd arrived and I watched it to be quite honest that duplicator looks poorly made with cheap materials. I then looked at the vega (mini). It looks like a much better design and made with solid materials.
My question is does anyone out there have any experience with either duplicator? I would be curious if it would function well with such small items. Ie.. Stoppers on average 2 1/8” and her candle sticks ( which I Have not seen design yet) are supposed to be max 9” long with widest part 3”. Will these duplicators actually be able to do small beads or any small details or is it more of a rough outline that you have to go back and finish off? Does it actually speed up production a marked amount? What are some problems you have run into? Any information would be helpful.

Here are a few examples of her work on the stoppers I sent out to her.

[Ian Parish]

I haven't used a duplicator, but I have a general impression that they can speed up turning once all the other stuff is done. The other stuff is cutting the blanks, drilling, threading, "Turning", sanding, and then finishing.

The turning is the fun part, so I say do that without a duplicator. On a topper the turning is not that difficult, and not that difficult to replicate. To quote Richard Raffin, "I've made over 20,000 of these so I know exactly how deep I can go with this cut" Likewise you will be able to pickup some turning tricks and might be able to turn them in volume and fast enough to make it work.

[Greg Bender]

Rob,
I own the older delta and have used the 30+ inch vega and would recommend the vega over the PSI.The vega's are a little pricey but I have seen quite a few on ebay so a deal can be had.It has a little more control than my older delta.The newer delta looks to be similar.I used them to make porch spindles by the hundreds and it sure simplified the process.Once you have your template your off and running.
Greg

[Bernie Weishapl]

I wouldn't waste my time with duplicator on small items like that. I cranked out 38 of the bottle stoppers for a lady here that wanted to paint them. She wanted them all the same. I turned them all in 2 1/2 days. Probably wasn't a 1/8" difference between them all.

[Karl Card]

I use a dup for when people want a pen and pencil set and want them to be the same. There is a time and place for everything and I use what I need to get the job done. I have the psi dup and yes it is better than nothing but at the same time if I had to do it over again I would have waited and gotten a better one. The PSI however is allowing me to make chess sets that are nice so all is not lost..

[Travis R. Nelson]

Rob,

I have the VEGA unit and have used it many, many times. It works just great! It provides NEARLY perfect replicas of antique spindles, newel posts, and columns when called upon to do so and correctly set up. The finest details of beads, coves and birds mouths still need to be touched up with a skew or a detail gouge to get the razor sharp transitions demanded by a professional producing professional work for sale with out making excuses for quality, dimensional repeatability and side by side detail comparison. My rules of thumb are 1- My client demands or I need to have 99% or better accuracy or 2-I need to make more than three that are going to be in close proximity I use the duplicator. Otherwise a story pole or some other type of measuring fixture and a careful eye to detail will take you quite far down the road to what your looking for and usually get the job done more quickly. As far as the production level that you cited. I think that would be attainable with out too much trouble. Once you produce a guide for the cutter to follow you could turn them 15 to 20 at a time using a spindle steady and just cut them apart after sanding and epoxy them to their stopper. Just my $.02. Good luck with your endeavor!

Travis R. Nelson

[Rob Wachala Jr]

Rob,

As far as the production level that you cited. I think that would be attainable with out too much trouble. Once you produce a guide for the cutter to follow you could turn them 15 to 20 at a time using a spindle steady and just cut them apart after sanding and epoxy them to their stopper. Just my $.02. Good luck with your endeavor!

Travis R. Nelson

Well the great part about this job is she doesn't like them with a fine sand. So it takes me about 30 seconds or less to sand the stopper. She also puts in the bottoms herself so that's another step that saves time. All I have to do is turn out the raw stopper hit it with 150-220 quickly and I'm done. Now the candle sticks I'm not sure as she has not sent me her designs but I would assume it would be the same sanding sequence.


Thanks everyone for the input it's much appreciated.