Bludworth Table Saw Machine Questions

[JC]

I would like to hear from those who have one of these and have used it extensively.

The questions I have pertain to dust collection mainly. Leonard told me to mount it on my saw with the blade cutting toward the drive spindle so the blade won't be fighting the spring tension of the tailshaft spindle. I did so and it works great but containing the mess has turned into quite a challenge. I have the entire thing mounted on a rolling stand and bring it out back behind my shop to run but I would like to contain the majority of the chips, especially the fines from the landscape.

The trouble seems to be that throwing the chips into the spindle motor and lead screw motor area is really troublesome. There is so much stuff down there I cant rig up anything to catch the sawdust efficiently. I have to manually clear the area with either vacuum or air or it just piles up and can pack in the end of the lead screw causing jamming and missed steps. If I turned it around and cut toward the tailstock it would be considerably easier to rig up a catch to attach to my dust collector and the working end would stay clear. But I'm not sure if the machine would work ok with the blade pushing toward the spring loaded tail stock. I do know it cuts fine running the screw either direction with the blade spinning the way it is. It's a fair amount of work to turn it around to try so I'm hoping someone already knows from experience a good way to contain most of the mess.

If you have made a nicely working dust collector for this beast I would love to see a picture or two or any other advice garnered from trial and error.

Thanks,

JC

 

[SpiderWeb]

I would like to hear from those who have one of these and have used it extensively.

The questions I have pertain to dust collection mainly. Leonard told me to mount it on my saw with the blade cutting toward the drive spindle so the blade won't be fighting the spring tension of the tailshaft spindle. I did so and it works great but containing the mess has turned into quite a challenge. I have the entire thing mounted on a rolling stand and bring it out back behind my shop to run but I would like to contain the majority of the chips, especially the fines from the landscape.

The trouble seems to be that throwing the chips into the spindle motor and lead screw motor area is really troublesome. There is so much stuff down there I cant rig up anything to catch the sawdust efficiently. I have to manually clear the area with either vacuum or air or it just piles up and can pack in the end of the lead screw causing jamming and missed steps. If I turned it around and cut toward the tailstock it would be considerably easier to rig up a catch to attach to my dust collector and the working end would stay clear. But I'm not sure if the machine would work ok with the blade pushing toward the spring loaded tail stock. I do know it cuts fine running the screw either direction with the blade spinning the way it is. It's a fair amount of work to turn it around to try so I'm hoping someone already knows from experience a good way to contain most of the mess.

If you have made a nicely working dust collector for this beast I would love to see a picture or two or any other advice garnered from trial and error.

Thanks,

JC

If you turn it around like you mentioned its just a matter of time. The saw will compress the spring enough to pull the shaft down into the blade because it will let go on the drive end. I hope you are not standing in the path of the shaft when it is cut in two pieces and comes by because you may be dead. Dont do it.

 

[It's George]

From a man with mad experience on a table saw.

 

[conetip]

Just make the tailstock not spring loaded, then you will be fine. Like been said, you can not have the piece come out of the centers.
Have you got a photo of your setup. There may be another option that you may not of considered for collecting the chips.
I am not familiar with the Bludworth machine, that is why I asked for a photo.
Neil

 

[JC]

Just make the tailstock not spring loaded, then you will be fine. Like been said, you can not have the piece come out of the centers.
Have you got a photo of your setup. There may be another option that you may not of considered for collecting the chips.
I am not familiar with the Bludworth machine, that is why I asked for a photo.
Neil

Here are some pics of this jig for those who haven't seen one. What happens is the chips just pack into and pile up on every nook and cranny at the spindle motor end. And it all is on the move toward the tail stock.

I have set my electric leaf blower on a tripod at the tail end blowing directly down on the blade and it keeps it 100% clear. I'm thinking of building a tapered 3 foot square receiver box and setting it centered at the other end with a 4 inch dust collection port at the bottom of it and seeing how much it catches as I blow it off. I can make a mount attached to the tail end of the machine for it and maybe buy a smaller blower. Like I said I do my cutting outside so it doesn't have to be perfect but I would like to catch most of it and keep the machine clear.







JC

 

[ELBeau]

Part of the key to good dust collection is directing the chips through deflectors and air flow.
I attached pictures of the "coffin" Goldrush cues built around his.
Ted Harris has great collection on his manual TS machine, too. TS tapering dust collection
The clear hinged shield on the top keeps the chips contained and directed to a dust collection fitting at the base. Of course, he's got a 5HP cyclone attached to his, so results may vary. Maybe he'll chime in with a few more pictures.

 

[JoeyInCali]

I was always intrigued by saw taperers. I had one briefly. Thanks to the maker.
But, they sure are bulky and kinda messy.
I've seen pictures of them enclosed and it looks like that's the best solution.
I'd probably replace that stepper as driver and replace it with 250RPM motor.

 

[KJ Cues]

Every time I see one of these monsters I find myself mumbling, "What were you thinking ?"
Lol

KJ

 

[RBC]

Every time I see one of these monsters I find myself mumbling, "What were you thinking ?"
Lol

KJ

No doubt!

The first machine we bought was a 4 blade saw machine. It's a monster!

We did turn it upright so it doesn't take up so much floor space, and have somewhat of an enclosure on it so the chips don't go everywhere. We do have to use 2 cyclones in series to catch the flaky wood chips so they don't plug up the filters though.

All in all, I prefer smaller single or 2 spindle router based machines. You can hold better tolerances and they're just easier to work with, work on, and build.

And Joey, I'd much rather have a stepper to drive my lathe spindle than a fixed rpm motor. It's nice to be able to change the rotational speed whenever you want. I wouldn't direct drive it though. I like a 1.8 to 1 belt drive.

Royce

 

[JC]

Every time I see one of these monsters I find myself mumbling, "What were you thinking ?"
Lol

KJ

If I had it to do over again I definitely would not have gone this route. I was sold a bill of goods by Bludworth . It was supposed to be his personal machine that he just built a couple of years ago and hadn't used much because he was sick but it somehow turned into an old worn out POS in transit to me. UPS must have used it for a decade or so over at the depot. I have had to rebuild almost every moving and electrical part and still need to tighten up more. The G code his son wrote is a cobbled up mess and Leonard doesn't know enough about it to even realize it. His parabolic shaft code has lumps in it that can be solved with 8th grade math assuming one has that at their command. Good thing they have sand paper down there.

It's been an expensive learning experience for me but now at least it is turning out wood at more or less the correct dimensions with a real smooth surface. It is a lot quieter than a router too. And I have learned a butt load about CNC. Some consolation.

Edit: I didn't start this thread to slam Leonard but now that it's here I will add this. I was so disappointed with this machine when it arrived and I inspected it that I put it back in the crate and sent it back allowing for the cost of shipping it to me to be deducted to be fair to all. He flat refused to give me back my money even though I was extremely unsatisfied and he had the thing back at his place exactly as it left a week or so earlier. I ended up having to pay for the shipping to get it back and salvage anything as he said either I could keep it or he would. So I'm trying to make the best of a mistake.

What was I thinking? Can't say for sure.

JC

 

[pescadoman]

This wasn't difficult and gets all the fine and a lot of chips.

 

[JC]

Well I'm building a "coffin" type enclosure similar to the ones in the photos shared. Mostly just from my scrap lumber pile except the clear plastic. I am putting a small leaf blower on the tailstock end with a router speed control on it to hopefully overcome the limitations of my small dust collector. Suddenly I'm optimistic that I may be able to actually run it inside, we'll see. Thank you all who helped me. I will post a video of it once it's complete.

On another note I can't believe the PM's I'm getting with "I got screwed by Blud too" theme to them. Apparently he's been unscrupulous for quite some time now. The only reason I didn't do more due diligence before dealing with him is that when I started getting interested in cue building I bought Chris Hightower's book and videos. In the book Chris calls Leonard a friend. So I figured if Chris trusted him I could too. Live and learn.

JC

 

[GoldRush cues]

If I had it to do over again I definitely would not have gone this route. I was sold a bill of goods by Bludworth . It was supposed to be his personal machine that he just built a couple of years ago and hadn't used much because he was sick but it somehow turned into an old worn out POS in transit to me. UPS must have used it for a decade or so over at the depot. I have had to rebuild almost every moving and electrical part and still need to tighten up more. The G code his son wrote is a cobbled up mess and Leonard doesn't know enough about it to even realize it. His parabolic shaft code has lumps in it that can be solved with 8th grade math assuming one has that at their command. Good thing they have sand paper down there.

It's been an expensive learning experience for me but now at least it is turning out wood at more or less the correct dimensions with a real smooth surface. It is a lot quieter than a router too. And I have learned a butt load about CNC. Some consolation.

Edit: I didn't start this thread to slam Leonard but now that it's here I will add this. I was so disappointed with this machine when it arrived and I inspected it that I put it back in the crate and sent it back allowing for the cost of shipping it to me to be deducted to be fair to all. He flat refused to give me back my money even though I was extremely unsatisfied and he had the thing back at his place exactly as it left a week or so earlier. I ended up having to pay for the shipping to get it back and salvage anything as he said either I could keep it or he would. So I'm trying to make the best of a mistake.

What was I thinking? Can't say for sure.

JC

Man tell me about it! I got mine in like 2007 . I changed every bearing out and a couple of the drives. Every time I contacted blud, his service was horrible.....

 

[JoeyInCali]

Man tell me about it! I got mine in like 2007 . I changed every bearing out and a couple of the drives. Every time I contacted blud, his service was horrible.....

Ouch!
I avoided buying that machine from him.

 

[JC]

Actually this thing is doing ok for me now days. One thing I figured out to do with it to improve it's ease of use and accuracy is I replace his drill bit live center it came with at the tail stock with a much longer 3/8 hardened rod and made some new mounting holes for the head stock at 20 and 22 inches. Then I center drilled some 3/4 wooden dowels and made a series of adaptors to add between the spring and the spindle nut on the tailstock between a half and four inches long. This way instead of unbolting the head stock all the time to accommodate different lengths of wood squares you can just pull the spindle out of the tail stock and add the right shim for shorter pieces. Then for precision cutting on shafts and butts I ran a fat rubber band over the tail spindle from the back side of the block to the front side to hold the spindle from turning and let the wood rotate directly on the center with a little wax in there. This eliminates the run out Leonard built into the funky design of the live centered tailstock.

It still doesn't clear chips very well and requires a fair amount of manual help every couple of cuts if you're turning squares into dowels but it really is a work horse. If I had a more powerful dust collector I'm sure it would help. I have it downstairs in the main shop of my other business so if I need to turn a bunch of stuff the same I can load it over the course of my work day as I wander by and have time and the next thing you know 20 squares are round and very little of my time is used. This machine is pretty good that kind of thing. I wouldn't buy it again but I have learned to like it and get it to do what I want after rebuilding and redesigning it.

JC

 

[pescadoman]

Who wants to buy mine???

 

[cueman]

I have had one of Bluds 4 head saw machines since 2005 and it has done well for me and is still running fine. I built a wood enclosure around it and pipe the fine dust out the wall and catch the big stuff in a box underneath. Mine does cut toward the springs and I never thought it would work as I have experience with other taper bar saw machines I built for myself, but it works just fine since I only cut shafts on it. A thin dust guard that would keep your chips off the lead screw would be a good addition to the type machine you have.