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Introduction
When I was a kid, my grandmother would sit in her parlor and work on her
crocheting projects. Whenever she needed to refer to the directions, she
would pull out her trusty magnifying glass, which would help her to read.
She also used it when she worked her crossword puzzles after supper. Of
course, my brothers and I would always “borrow” her glass
to start small campfires, which we would use to cook lunch–in addition
to all the other adolescent things that boys would do! We sure had a lot
of fun with that old lens!
I got this project kit from Steebar (#PK-1221).
It contains one of the nicest optics I’ve seen in a magnifying glass
kit. The glass portion is about 2-1/4" in diameter, is blemish free
and enlarges the object several times. It’s very well made.
INSTRUCTIONS
Selecting and preparing the stock - I chose cocobolo for my project, but
any other hard, dense, exotic wood would work. I used cocobolo because
I like the look of it and I am partial to the way it turns and sands.
I’ve learned over the years doing craft shows that cocobolo is my
#1 selling wood for men–and women find it attractive too. As I mentioned,
other woods could also be used, but I would stick with the exotics; domestic
hardwoods just don’t seem to have the “pizzazz” of the
exotics and don’t attract as much attention!
Begin the project by squaring up a piece of stock to 1" square and
then cutting off three pieces of wood to 1-1/4" in length. It is
important that the wood be turned in the same sequence that it was cut,
so be sure to mark it as shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. Mark the wood parts carefully – it’s important to
turn them in the same sequence they were cut in.
I found the center of each piece and marked the righthand end of the
stock. The drill bit has a tendency to “wander” as the hole
is drilled; it is more important that the right-hand end of the wood be
centered. I used a 7mm drill bit in my drill press to drill out the stock.
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Use the thick cyanoacrylate adhesive (superglue) to glue the tubes into
the stock. I used the Pen Tube Inserter (#PK-1007)
sold by Steebar to help glue in the tubes. The brass tubes are placed
on the end of the rod; superglueis applied to the surface of the tube
and it is pushed into the hole in the wood. I like to turn my wood on
its end after the tube is inserted so the tube will be flush with at least
one surface of the stock. Allow the glue to cure for an hour or two.
Lock the 7mm Barrel Trimmer (#PK-1391)
into the drill press and elevate one of the three blocks as shown in Fig.
2. The drill rod on the trimmer is too long to drill these shorter blanks
without hitting the table, so I drilled a hole in the middle of a larger
block to allow the trimmer to square up the block without interference.
Do both ends of the blanks, removing only as much wood as is necessary
to square up the ends of the blanks. Not only does the trimmer square
up the ends of the blanks, but it also removes any excess glue that might
have gotten into the interior of the tubes.
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| Fig. 2. Using the 7mm Barrel Trimmer in a drill press
not only squares up the blanks’ ends, but it also removes excess
glue from the interior of the tubes.. |
Mount the stock in the proper sequence on the turning mandrel as shown
in Fig. 3. I used some extra 10mm bushings to space out my blanks as shown.
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Fig. 3. Here’s the stock, mounted in the correct
sequence,
on the turning mandrel. |
Standard 7mm bushings come with this kit, and they are fine if you are
going to turn the regular straight handle as is
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