Today I revamped the Lignum Vitae hinges for the swing-out leg assembly. This process involved a trip to the local hardwood supplier to buy a 1′ length of Wenge, which I fashioned into a square and straight 1.75″ x 2.0″ section, divided into two 6″ lengths. Then I headed over to George’s place to spend a little time on his cute old Monarch lathe:
Here’s the original Lignum Vitae hinge piece, shortened down and locked in the three-jaw chuck:
Then it was time for the chips to fly!:
It took a matter of 15 minutes and I wad done. The result was a longer spindle with the original 0.75″ tenon at one end:
With the Wedge pieces I mentioned above, I drilled deep holes, starting with a Forstner and finishing with a top-bearing router bit.
Now it was time to check the fit of the Wenge receivers with the newly-turned Lignum Vitae spindles:
All was well at this stage:
Out with the near-dead 240mm saw, to trim the Wenge pieces a bit shorter – as you will see in the following picture, that wonky tooth finally gave up and dropped out onto the top of the wood:
Maybe if I put that tooth under my pillow tonight the tooth fairly will leave me enough money for a new saw!
Next it was time to form the tenon on the end, here’s the first step:
After step 2 in the process, the tenons were defined:
Then I planed the pieces to exact size, testing them for fit in the relevant cross-pieces as I went along:
The Wenge pieces were then complete, edges and corners lightly chamfered:
Then I epoxied the pins into place, keeping them aligned to the pieces with my combo square, and at the precise depth using my caliper:
After the oiling, the parts were ready (I accelerated the oil drying process by using a forced air heater):
I think these are an improvement on the first ones I made. They’d better be, ’cause there’s no going back!
That’s all for today folks – I hope to see you next time when I commence final assembly of the battari-shōgi. I can hardly wait! Thanks for dropping by today. Next post is number 16
Hey Chris,
Is there anything you do to ensure that seasonal flux in dimensions won't be a problem for pieces fit into one another with grain coaxial like this?
Thanks so much for such detailed commentary and documentation!
-matt
Matt,
in this case, the parts are installed in a museum which has the humidity kept low and perfectly constant, so I had no worries about seasonal movement. If seasonal movement were a concern, then it would have been better to make the pin assemblies from one solid piece, or to connect the inner pin to the housing using silicone or something like that. The larger the parts, the greater the potential for movement and problems down the line.
~C