Elliptical Cutting Frame
Overview
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Elliptical Cutting Frames (sometimes called Ellipse Cutting Frames) are another variation of the fly cutter. They add additional functionality to the eccentric cutting frame by adding gears which allow the cutter to follow an elliptical path instead of a circular one.
Elliptical cutting frames are often used for adding designs to the end of an object, especially with guilloché type of work. The trained user of the elliptical cutting frame can change the gearing and produce other, highly intricate designs including multiple four-leaf clovers.
Figure 285 in Turning and Mechanical Manipulation, vol. 5
Examples of this device in use
- This YouTube video. Holtzapffel No. 2410 with Elliptical Cutting Frame, is about all I can find showing one of these in use.
More Information
Published Articles
- Some thoughts on the Elliptical Cutting Frame by Malcolm Thorpe. The Society of Ornamental Turners Bulletin 146, Spring, 2022, pg. 19
Books and Papers
- The Art of Double-Counting on the Lathe - Whereby a Variety of Patterns in the form of Ellipses, Triangles, Squares, Pentagons, Hexagons, and Octagons, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8-Looped Figures, Besides Others of a More Complex Character may be produced by means of the Common Eccentric Chuck used in Combination with the Division Plate and the Eccentric and Elliptical Cutters. With 60 Illustrations (1857), by Captain James Ash (inventor of the Elliptical Cutting Frame).
- Turning and Mechanical Manipulation, vol. 5 - The Principles and Practice of Ornamental or Complex Turning (1884), by John Jacob Holtzapffel.
Web Sites
- John Edwards' web site, OrnamentalTurning.co.uk
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