Veratos dowel cutter

[dmenzies1950]

Hey Guys, a little help please! I recently bought a Veratos dowel cutter. I sawed a piece of fir into 1/2 inch x 1/2 inch strips. I attached a 1/2 inch socket to my drill, and tried to run the blanks through the cutter, all it did was strip out the end fixed in the socket. What am I doing wrong, and what can I do to make this thing work?

Thanks, Dale

[lostarrow]

You will likely have to adjust the blade . It sounds like it isn't set deep enough . the blade isn't cutting the dowel small enough to fit through the outfeed hole. It takes some tweaking to get it just right. if it's too small it will flop around in the outfeed hole. If it's too big ,it will either not pass through ,or it will but will be burnished down to size. This might sound good ,but it will build up heat and likely burn your blade after 1-2 arrows. If you see that it's leaving the dowel shiney with little dark brown lumps, set it deeper. As the coniferous wood heats up, the pitch comes out and will form little burnt globs. Put your shop vac right above to catch the shavings. It also has the added bonus of keeping things cool with the air flow. Hope this helps.

[MWirwicki]

What you did wrong was outbid me on the auction site.    .  ....kidding!

[dmenzies1950]

Thanks Lostarrow, I will try adjusting the blade tomorrow and see what happens.

Dale

[mikekeswick]

I'm not keen on these things. The yhave to be super sharp, adjusted perfectly etc etc..
Also cut your stock to 3/8ths squares, 1/2 inch squares waste a huge amount of material.

[lostarrow]

I haven't had any problems with mine yet,Mike. I have put somewhere around a hundred arrows through it without sharpening yet. Still cutting good. About 30-40 were Oak and Ash. It did take a bit of finesse to adjust in the first place(positive adjustments like a plane would be nice,but I guess you have to buy the $300model for that) I found with a higher RPM and slower feed rate , even the softer woods turn out well.You do have to make sure you start with straight stock and support it on the outfeed so it doesn't wobble.

[Tom Leemans]

If you read the description on the Lee Valley tool site, it will tell you that 1/16" oversize blank is plenty. Trying to remove 1/8" is asking a bit much. I'm betting that you can fudge the adjustment and turn a 3/8" blank slightly under 3/8" when done, then you'll be just right after sanding.

[lostarrow]

The problem is,Tom, that the outfeed hole is 3/8" .So if you adjust it to make it less,it starts to wobble on the outfeed giving poor results . This could be overcome with a bushing on the outfeed of the desired dia.  It's just a little more farting around than I'm willing to do for the few arrows I make at this time. Some guys have more time than money ,some more money than brains,some more money than time. I seem to get the short end of the stick all around

[Dan K]

I have found it works better to cut your blanks a bit long and just chuck it straight into the drill.  The socket tends to strip too easy for me.  3/8" is plenty for the blank.  Hold the out feed from flopping around and you can cut it a bit less than 3/8"  it's kind of a trade off, monkey around with the set up or just hit it with 80 grit to bring it close to size and finish with 120 or 180,  In all honesty, I've been getting into shoot shafts.  Much less work when you think about all the steps to get a split shaft finished.

[JEB]

Sounds like some adjustments are in order.  We run 1/2" wood thru ours without any problems.  The one we use has the double cut blades.