Cutter Vision by JT Turning

[Scott Brandstetter]

Apologize if this has been posted. This is really crazy in my opinion. I didn't even get to the point of finding out how much it it. It will be fun to get different reactions to this tool......combining turning with electronics like this. Old school vs new technology.

What say you. Oh, and before someone says it, I agree, not sure it is really needed. Many HF have been turned just fine before this.

[Bill Bulloch]

Trent Bosch interduced this at the 2013 AAW Symposium in Tampa. His had a price tag of over $600. Since then several members in our club have made there own with a $30 camera and a old TV monitor. They are not as fancy as JT Tools, but they work and they like them.

[Dwight Rutherford]

Alan Zenreich posted a u-tube video on how to DIY one.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pidLwThKHSw
I just put one together for less than $70.00. Not yet convinced it is better than my laser set up. Need to play with it a bit more.

[Curtis Myers]

I have the Trent Bosch setup. Makes hollowing a little more tolerable. Also like hollowing off the end of the lathe.

All the Best
Curt

[Hal Taylor]

Scott, many hollow forms were turned before captured bar systems, articulating jigs, lasers, carbide hollowers, etc. That's progress and new technology.

[Alan Dick]

To me, the major advantage of any of the video viewing solutions over the laser, beside the "coolness" factor, is that it eliminates the necessity of changing the position of the laser as you move to different places along the profile of the inside of the hollow form. For example, if you have a round cutter, and you were using the laser, it would need to be set to different points around the cutter, depending on the direction of the cut and the shape of the hollow form at the point at which you are cutting. The same would be true with any fixed position cutter. With the video systems, you mark a uniform distance from the cutter around its entire profile, and as you cut, you can see what part of the cutter is making contact with the wood and use the appropriate point on your marking as a gauge of wall thickness. With the laser, you would have to reset the laser as you progressed down the profile of the hollow form.

If you are using an adjustable cutter, i.e., one on a swivel, rather than a fixed cutter, as you change the position of the cutter relative to the shaft of the boring bar, then the advantage of the video goes away, or is at least reduced greatly, as you would then need to your adjust your wall thickness guide every time you adjusted the cutter.

[Tom Wilson66]

This looks a really cool technique. Just wondering, if you were using a swiveling cutter, could the tracing on the monitor be rotated and retaped to match the cutter? Since the focal length would stay the same, the outline should still match the cutter.

[Don Bunce]

If you are using a dry erase marker,it is much easier to erase the tracing and redraw the outline of the cutter. The shaft of the tool will still be in it's original position.

[Steve Doerr]

Scott, I think this technology is the next logical step in the progress of modern turning. Yes, many HF have been turned without the use of lasers or video technology. But, I'm sure in not the too near future, this will become the accepted practice. It will be just one more tool used by woodturners to perfect their craft/art. If you stop to think about it, this was probably a similar discuss that was held went an electric motor was added to the lathe. That technology did not destroy the craft or art of woodturning. I see this as just another step in the progression of modern woodturning.

If you want, look at the medical profession and see how much technology is used everyday in surgery or even in your regular doctor's office visit.

[Thom Sturgill]

When Trent introduced his device it was mounted on a hand held hollower as a 'training device'. Tom Steyers mounts to his captured hollower and is intended as a permanent fixture. At some point the tech gets in the way of the art for some, but helps others. Personally I like Trent's approach since I hand hollow. I find it appeals to me much more than assisted does.

[Russ Denz]

For myself and other "short guys" (as in wheelchair-bound) this new technology is truly an enabler! Consider trying to watch the laser, and the cutter it represents, as it disappears over the horizon of your hollow form, or even a bowl, as you get nearer to the base of your project. The video would be akin to eyes in the sky - what a breakthrough...without actually breaking through. Gotta get/make one of these!

[Peter Blair]

Tom this is the technique I use. As a matter of fact I use it on most of my cutters. I find it generally much easier to turn my already drawn mylar to match the new cutter position and cause I am partly 'brain dead' I often find I have to go back and use a precious cutter which would at least to me make the whole process more like a tracing class than spinning wood.

[Alan Zenreich]

Dwight,

The video I posted using a CCTV camera is an effective implementation of a simple camera setup.
It is one of three hollowing variations I show in a youtube clip I made about several ways to use live video in woodturning projects (the CCTV video is the first of the detailed configurations, and is the simplest)
Personally, I prefer a iPhone based solution, as it's the most flexible... and I already have the device in my pocket (I will make a detailed video about that soon)

For anyone interested, here's the overview video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kYF3fgwhBs

[Don Bunce]

Hollowing in reverse allows you to be in a more comfortable position because you don't have to reach over the bed. The disadvantage when using a laser is that the beam disappears on the far side, making it difficult to see. The video system solves this problem by allowing you to see the tool position easily on the screen.

I used a automobile back up system for mine. Camera and monitor together was $40 from Amazon. Runs on a 12 volt battery.

[Scott Hackler]

Back to the original post and question....

I have seen JT Tools' setup and played with it and Trent Bosch's version as well. I can see how it is an improvement in a wall thickness gauge, but JT Tools' unit is very expensive and so I deemed it out of the running for my collection of tools. I own their Gizmo articulated hollower and am a satisfied customer, but I won't be buying the camera rig from them. Or from Trent for that matter.

When it (and I mean when) gets to bothering me that I don't have such a rig..... I will be ordering the 7" screen and backup camera I have saved in my eBay account and rigging it up next to my laser. It is just not super important for me right now and honestly I find myself hand hollowing smaller items so I don't use any type of rig or laser.