Every once in a while I put a few turns of copper wire around a vessel, which looks good, but can be an almighty pain in the neck to apply. The coil of wire has to be supported to allow it to run freely without getting any twists in it, but more than that, it needs to be kept in tension and the slightest wrong move results in slight kinks, which look awful.
Well, this afternoon, enough was enough. I gave up on a vessel I was applying the wire to because I was making a mess of it, so I built a little gadget which does the job well. Mounted in the tool rest banjo, it holds the coil in exactly the right place. The coil is free to rotate, so the wire feeds off it without twisting, then passes through a hole just 0.5mm wider than it. Next it slides between two wooden blocks, the lower of which has a tiny groove to keep the wire moving in a straight line, whilst the upper piece of wood is screwed in place, putting pressure on the wire and tensioning the whole thing... and as a bonus, taking even the slightest kink out of the wire.
The pot is held in position between centres, onto a reversing dolly and the spindle is locked, then a little pressure from the tailstock holds the workpiece still until I choose to revolve it by hand.
It worked a dream.....so why the heck didn't I think of it a long time ago?
Les
