AAW Symposium - Tacoma 1999

Chapter Collaborative Challenge Entry

Woodturners of North Texas

Photo: Roger Austin

"Turn of the Century" The Y2K Treadle Lathe

 
Photo: Roger Austin

Below are Photos by Mike Wallace
Supplied by the Chapter Representative John Horn

by Devore Burch

The above title was selected as an appropriate title for the Wood Turners of North Texas' 1999 collaborative project to be presented at the National Symposium of the American Association of Wood Turners in Tacoma, Washington June 17, 1999.

This project had a lot of brainstorming occur before the treadle lathe was selected. Our current President, John Horn, began studying ideas and discussing them with various members as far back as October 1998. At the February 25, 1999 club meeting, it was announced that we would participate in the collaborative project in Tacoma and volunteers were solicited and 15 members responded. By the time the project was under way, 25 people had volunteered their services. A special meeting of the volunteers was scheduled to meet at Bill DeLorme's immaculate shop to discuss assignments for building the project.

By this time, we had selected to build a treadle lathe as our collaborative project. This item came from a suggestion from our present newsletter editor, Mike Wallace.

One of our members, Louis Oberheu, has built a full size treadle lathe that he uses for demonstrations, fairs and historical events. So the idea of a treadle lathe seemed to be a perfect choice for our project in that it is very appropriate for the theme and offers an opportunity for many people to participate.

Our club is loaded with talent. We have engineers, professors, machinists, a real estate tycoon, two nationally known wood turners, cabinet makers, artists, musicians, band directors, doctors, lawyers, air line technicians, to mention a few, even two members with PH.D. degrees and one with a master's degree in music. From this group, I firmly believe a think tank or a brain trust could be formed. One of our members, Bill DeLorme, is a retired aerospace engineer with 40 years experience in project management as well as being a grass roots engineer. Bill was selected to head up the project. He is a creative designer and designed our lathe project where almost every part was a turning. Even Woody Turner and all of his parts were made on a lathe. Woody features ball and socket joints.

At first Bill was reluctant to take on the project leader assignment, but as the project progressed, Bill agreed to take on the position. Bill is a man of tireless energy and wholehearted enthusiasm for whatever he takes on.

Around the early part of April a special meeting was held in Bill DeLorme's workshop for the purpose of assigning the various parts to the teammembers. By this time it was decided that a working marionette would be included with the lathe. The wooden man is sized in appropriate scale to the lathe.

The component leaders were decided at this meeting and are listed below.

Project Leader	Bill DeLorme
Base Structure	Jimmie Arledge
Bed Rails	Bill DeLorme
Head Stock	Bob Davis
Tail Stock	Louis Oberheu
Fly Wheel & Pulleys	Devore Burch
Treadle	Raymond Pierce
Marionette	John Horn
Tool Rest	Blake Hickerson
Turning Tools	Larry Roberts
Others who contributed:
Larry Genender	Jane Siebenthall
John Haddock	Stephen Smith
Bill Hancock	Mike Wallace
Keith Harper	Lorene Harper
Del Hooper	Louis Oberheu
Chase Roberts	Bill Shadle
Alan Siebenthall	Wayne Clowers
Sue Horn

 

GROUND RULES FOR TURNERS

Each turner was allowed to select the type wood for his assigned part. Also, the design of each part was the choice of the turner, though he must stay within the dimensional requirements of the drawing. It was stressed that each part should involve turning.

No difficulty was experienced in making the assignments, except for one the little wooden man, the marionette, now known as Woody Turner. No one would volunteer for this detail, so our valiant president, John Horn, heroically volunteered to take on the little man.

After the meeting, Bill DeLorme burned the midnight oil and did the design work and issued the drawings on April 4, 1999.

On May 15, 1999, members of the team met at Mike Wallace's shop for a trial fit up on the components. Except for the little man, John Horn was experiencing serious production problems. Some of the pessimists were predicting that we might have to ship the lathe without the little man.

A final assembly was scheduled at Mike Wallace's shop on May 22, 1999. Our goal was to present the completed lathe and operator at the next club meeting on May 27, 1999.

About 12 members showed up at Mike's shop on May 22, 1999 for the final assembly. All the components arrived and went together with minimum adjustments, even Woody Turner, the marionette, arrived completely assembled. But, alas, his arms were a bit long and would require altering before the following Monday when the marionette is promised to the artist to paint. John Horn has some midnight oil to burn.

Our original schedule, made back in March, had provided for the completed project to be presented to the members at the regular meeting in Mike Wallace's shop.

On this date, May 28, 1999, the treadle lathe was presented to the members. It performed beautifully, even Woody the marionette, was at his position at the lathe, faithfully pedaling away on the treadle of the lathe. Our intrepid president had strove valiantly and burned three barrels of midnight oil to complete the little man in time for the artist, Jane Siebenthall, to have him decorated in time for the May meeting.

At this date we are exactly on schedule and have a few more days for fine tuning, final tweaking, packing and shipping.

(The following was written by Bill DeLorme, Project Manager)

The objective of the Y2K Collaborative Project was to engineer and produce a truly functional prototype, incorporating most of its parts that could be produced on a lathe. The end result would be both a work of art and a well thought out design. One that could be a model for a full-size , fully functioning lathe for turners desiring to reproduce truly nostalgic turning.

An initial design concept was drawn up in March, 1999 and a planning meeting was held to assign team leaders for the major components, and to serve as a brain storming session to optimize the design. With a combined experience of over 150 years of woodturning, suggestions were made to change the design of the bed rails, providing a hand powered display drive system and other ideas to enhance the lathe's appearance and functionality.

Design factors were considered such as the ratio between the flywheel and the live spindle so as to provide adequate rotational speed for optimal turning. Other factors such as swing over the bed and the distance between centers were considered. The radius for the treadle and the connecting rod was determined to assure adequate travel for the necessary power. Machined parts and low friction bearings were incorporated to reduce friction and provide a durable design. Classic type wedges were utilized to lock the position of the headstock, tailstock and the tool rest.

After finalizing the design, a project schedule was drawn up for fabrication of the parts, assembly of the subcomponents and final assembly of the lathe. To the credit and dedication of the team leaders and the turners, we were on schedule all the way. The project was divided into ten major categories, with ten team leaders. Operation sheets were prepared for each team captain, listing step-by-step procedures for each subcomponent.

Parts fabrication got underway, fabrication and assembly jigs were made, and constant coordination was made, and constant coordination was maintained to assure the problems were worked out. We needed to manage all of the details in order to have a smoothly operating machine of top quality, completed on schedule. And we did it!

In retrospect, many members of our club gained a great deal of awareness of the talents of our fellow woodturners. Even if there were no competition involved, this project has served a most useful purpose, increasing enthusiasm among all of our members.

This is not to say that we did not run into a few snags! We dealt with the three foot cube rule, designing Woody to fit both the lathe and the cube, and then how to pivot Woody's arms and legs to hold the tools at the proper position and allow his foot to pump the treadle in the appropriate manner.

John Horn, our President, volunteered to turn all of the parts for Woody. He spent an enormous number of hours on the turnings, the fit and finish, and the appropriate attire including the leather apron. John will surely remember Woody before he volunteers for anything again!

It should be noted that all of the turners that helped to make this project a success, have their signatures laser engraved on the backside of the tool rack.

So, fellow, woodturners, stand by while we rotate the crank and watch Woody Turner pump the treadle. He will turn out another wonderful work of art on his Y2K Treadle Lathe.

The completed lathe had used 24 different woods listed below:

When we finally arrived in Tacoma, started unpacking the project, and setting it up on the table along side of the other chapter's projects, it was obvious that the competition was a going to be really fierce this year. All the projects evidenced the hours of planning and creative ideas that far exceeded the caliber of projects that were presented at Akron in 1998.

Those of us who were able to attend the 1999 Symposium all agreed that it would certainly be a great honor just to win a place of any sort in the collaborative competition. You cannot imagine how thrilled we were when it was announced at the banquet that we had won the Best of Show. All the hard work and long hours spent in planning, turning, and refining had finally paid off. --John Horn