Arrow lathe

[DC]

I was asked for some pictures of my new arrow lathe. It's made from an old sewing machine. I kept the foot pedal. Using the tension knob works well. I turned a new idler pulley to slow it down a little more. It has a separate power supply for the feather burner. It could still use more stuff, like a paint brush rest for cresting. Let me know if you want more.

[rebsr52339]

Who says we are not a nation of very clever folks 
Nice job

[TSA]

that is awesome, so it is a thread wrapping lathe, cresting jig and arrow burner all in one ??
very cool

[DC]

Yup. Wrapping two threads at once looks cool. I'm still learning how to do that. It's a tad fast for learning. The original reduction was 9:1. The new idler pulley I made dropped that to 13:1. 15 or 16:1 would be better I think. The lathe I had before used an old cordless drill for power. It worked but it was very noisy. This is nice and quiet, I can still hear my tunes. I got the inspiration to make this new one by watching a video for a device called an "Arrow Wrapper" It's on youtube, take a look.

[Pat B]

Does it have a fletch burner on it too, DC?

[DC]

Yup, The burner is on the pedestal on the left of the first picture and that cord that's flopping all over plugs in to a yard light power supply. The power supply got the wire too hot and kept popping its breaker. I found a second hand router speed controller and now I can adjust the wire heat perfectly. It's one more piece of stuff though. I was trying to make a "one machine conveniently does all" thing and now it has two power cords. Maybe MkIII will be better It filled the time when the RH in the shop was just too low for bows.

[TSA]

excellent- great ingenuity!
i have seen the thread wrapper tool- and conversed with the maker of it, hes from eastern Europe.
the patterns created certainly look very novel- adds a whole new "twist" to traditional crestings 
i did want to ask, where the hot wire contacted the wood- did it not burn the wood there- although i see no indication of that- how did you insulate it there?

[Pat B]

DC, an electric soldering iron makes a good feather burner. It has a resistor in it to keep from overheating. I'd bet you could find one cheap at a thrift store, disassemble it and reassemble to your liking.
There was an article years ago in PA Magazine about thread wrapped cresting.

[Hawkdancer]

Ingenious device!  Patent that puppy real quick!  Great job repurposing old equipment, too!
Hawkdancer

[Woodely]

Quite the project........and extremely useful.     can we see a shaft on it.

[DC]

A few more pictures. I looked and looked for a chuck to grab the arrows and then realised that a tab to fit in the nock with an "O" ring to hold it worked fine. The burner wire is held between two nuts. It doesn't touch the wood. The last picture shows it better and shows off my clever wire tensioning device

[Pat B]

Well done, DC. 

[DC]

Thanks guys

[ohma2]

That is one cool machine the things you come up with amaze me ,i would liked to have one of them years ago.

[TSA]

HA!!!
that is awesome