Make Oval Dowels?

[Jim Underwood]

Do any of you know a way to make oval dowels? Perhaps some of you with the rotary axis machines?

[Kenneth Hertzog]

I'm sure that it can be done easily with the rotary attachment
and a milling machine. How big and long do you need them?
Ken

[Jim Underwood]

They are not large. I need three sizes. the largest being about 27mm x 11mm x 12 inches. I can't remember exactly.

Can any machine shop do this? I have a couple of aquaintances with machine shops...

[ray hampton]

maybe a machine shop are too big to turn the dowels but you will find one that will turn the dowels for you

[Kenneth Hertzog]

Jim
Most machine shops can do this the problem is want to.
length is the problem can't use a steady rest cause it would bounce ( 12 inch )
running it across a router table will give you the oval just watch your fingers.
Ken

[Jim Underwood]

Well it's more of an ellipse than an oval.

I'm thinking of making a pattern following jig for a router mounted on my lathe, but I figured a rotary axis CNC router could do this in its sleep...

[Andy Birko]

You could also do it by simply flipping the piece half way through.

Make your stock a 3/4" longer than your code on each end, you'll be using this to index the flip and hold down the piece. I used drywall screws into the spoil board. Make your code start with 0,0 3/4" away from the corner will be against the fence.

Align your stock using a fence - cut side one and make sure your code doesn't cut into the extra stock.

After side one is done, flip the piece and run the program again....voila! Probably won't be quite as slick as a 4th axis but if you're careful, you can get results that are just as good.

[james mcgrew]

jims oval.JPG

like this ?

[Jim Underwood]

No. The cross section would be elliptical with major diameter around 27 mm and the minor diameter around 12 mm. Then it needs to be about 10 inches long. It would be a mandrel for making jump rings for jewelry.

[Andy Birko]

Just do the flip method. Should work perfectly if you have your fence set up properly. CAD file would be half of the ellipse. Easy peasy.

[Bruce Boone]

Jim,
I wonder if squashing a tube in a vise will get you close enough. I would think that wood would be too soft for that application and it would get dented by the wire pretty easily. You would be able to plot the exact shape you need in CAD and squash the tube until it matches. I did an elliptical laser reflector out of a chromed sink pipe that way. I was able to get it dead nuts to theoretical.