Author: huboboe
Date: 2011-04-02 06:34
Hautbois Francais:
Depends entirely on the mounting system. Most gougers index the blade against a stop of some sort suggesting that it will always be in the same place. Many index against screws (like the RDG gouger) and adjusting these screws moves the blade side to side (and tilts it if you move just one). Others mount rigidly to the carriage and you adjust the bed to center the blade. (this is a real pain!). I would expect if the blade is firmly attached it would not move randomly, so if you find the spot that gives you 45-60-45, it should stay there until you move it. If that isn't true, likely something in the machine is sloppy.
How easy is really a function of the mounting design. In my gouger the blade indexes firmly against the back wall of the 'Blade Block', a detachable unit with blade and guides that you can swap out (along with the bed) for, say, EH or d'Amore blade blocks. The blade block mounts to a block on the carriage which moves side to side with micrometer precision, allowing you to gouge either in the center or off to the side, depending on how you adjust it. And you can always return to where you were or go to a different place with a mechanism that moves just .02mm for each full turn of the adjusting screw.
Just to confuse the issue further, if you hold the center at 60 then the sides will vary according to the width of the shape: the wider the shape the thinner the sides.
I really think that variations in cane density introduce greater variability than a couple of hundredths difference in gouge dimensions, but maybe that's just 'adaptive scraping'. Cooper, you'ce gouged more cane than I have. What do you think?
Robert Hubbard
WestwindDoubleReed.com
1-888-579-6020
bob@westwinddoublereed.com
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