My DIY Duplicator is Finally Done

[ProfessorM]

Will help a lot when you do some birch or maple. Cedar and pine are child's play with this type of set up but when you get into rock maple and birch it will scare the hell out of you sometimes, especially after you rip a plug or two right out of the centers. You will have wrists like John L Sullivan after a while. Cramping of the wrists and forearms are the only downfall of this set up but if you are only doing short runs than it is a lot of fun and very efficient. Also taking off the edges before you load them will help you a lot. Want them to look like stop signs. I use the band saw and a big v groove fixture. I did a post of that fixture a few years back

[Grapenuts]

what helps the most on that type of dup is if you drill out the center in a few places and load it up with lead...heavyer the better,helps with controlling the cutter when put to wood instead of your spinning wood controlling the cutter.

[WoodyCT]

I can see how harder wood could really toss it around. I could always rough my blanks to round before duping.

Is there a best location for the bars- middle, forward, toward rear?

Lead makes sense too. I'll use the Speed Bore on the bottom and epoxy some bank sinkers in.

I'll modify it before turning some Wadds.

[Slipknot]

one more suggestion, build up the base higher instead of building up the duplicator part. It lowers the center of gravity,that and the lead combine to give more control and stability. I did that and I feel safer

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by WoodyCT

I can see how harder wood could really toss it around. I could always rough my blanks to round before duping.

Is there a best location for the bars- middle, forward, toward rear?

Lead makes sense too. I'll use the Speed Bore on the bottom and epoxy some bank sinkers in.

I'll modify it before turning some Wadds.

Woody, I'm assuming you're in CT, but if you come by SE Mass at all, I could give you some scrap lead. Bank sinkers are getting expensive with them being replaced by eco-friendly metals. PM me if interested.