# Duplicator & Spindle Steady



## Kentuk55

Congrats on your new toys and thnx for your review of those. Pump em out.


----------



## pjones46

Thanks Roger. It should make it a lot easier.


----------



## michelletwo

I have been aware of the duplicator for years and have wondered how good the unit was..quite an investment $$$ wise. Now you will have to make hundreds of spindles and table legs  have fun thanks for the early review.


----------



## pjones46

Thanks for your comments, michelletwo.

Last year I did a little over 800 spindles for local conservancy organizations and local builders/renovators; this will be a great time saver. Really do not make much of a profit, but, it fills in down time during the year, but now I will be able to use it for table legs, etc as well with considerable time savings.


----------



## BRTree

Great review, thanks. Curious, what grit sandpaper do you have to start with after the duplicator finishes?


----------



## pjones46

Depending on the wood and how well it responds to the cuts, I start with either 100 /120 grit paper as the first sanding grit depending on how well I have completed the turning. I try to get a surface as smooth as possible off of the lathe tool before sanding. I never try to use sandpaper to "fine tune" the turning, but rather to take the tooled surfaces to a fine glass smooth finished surface. Also, I pay close attention to leave the sharp transitions of the turning such as cove and bead edges on a spindle.then progress through the grits from 120, 180, 220, 320, 400 and sometimes even 600 grit depending on the finish I desire. Further, I use cloth backed sanding stock.

For spindle sanding, I prefer to reverse the direction of the lathe when possible for two primary reasons. The first is safety. When having the turning spin away from you (relative to the top surface of the turning), if you run into trouble with sand paper slipping, it will be pulled away from you out of your hand rather than the skinned knuckle (or worse) alternative if having the sandpaper wrap around the turning and pulling your finger in giving it a good sanding rather than your spindle.

Dust (another important safety topic). Note that with the lathe direction reversed, you are sanding on the top of the turning, and the dust is therefore projected mostly away from you rather than up and at your face. I always use a dust collector behind my lathe and this method of sanding actually directs the majority of the sanding dust directly into the dust collector.

Moving the sandpaper back and forth along the axis of the lathe also minimizes grooving.

Hope this answers your question.


----------

