Wood Baseball Bat How it’s Made on CNC Woodturning Lathe
June 7th, 2009 by baseball
Gone Batty Bats uses the latest CNC Lathe tool technology to produce high quality solid wood Baseball, Softball and Youth bats.
This entry was posted on Sunday, June 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm and is filed under Bats. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
June 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
When I hand turn a bat, it takes me about 20min from full round to finished bat.
But, I have done this for years and made 1000’s of bats by hand before getting the CNC Lathe.
June 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
thats really fast, i have made a bat by hand on a lathe and with sanding it takes hours
June 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
their are not wasting any wood in the video, this goes to show u guys do not know abt basic turning
June 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Right, there is only about 3mm of wood on one side of the cut that allows us to keep the wood in the lathe, and finish up with a full size Adult bat.
If I were making only Fungo Bats, or Youth Bats, I can use a smaller dowel to start.
June 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
The Wood needs to be a certain size just to make the barrel end of the bat, and to stay in the lathe during the whole cut. there is no time wasted.
There is 4 pounds of chips made for every bat. We recyle all waste material as bedding for animals and garden mulch… No waste here. Even the end trimmings go to heat poor people’s homes in our community.
June 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Note that when it’s cutting the largest diameter portion of the bat it’s hardly removing any material.
If you used a skinnier piece of wood, it would be too small.
June 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
of course its a waste , why start with such a big bit of wood, anybody with common knowledge would, ……why waste extra time , effort turning such a big bit of wood down , it DEFINATELy aint good machining practices, and its still a waste..
June 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
if the wood was any skinnier it would break…use some common knowledge…it’s not waste..the shavings could be used for mulch or sent to shops that work on vehicles and used as a substitute for floor dry (fyi..floor dry soaks up spilt oil)
June 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
errr, bit of waste of wood aint it ??? why not start of with a SKINNIER bit of wood.you waste about half the wood in the vid.
June 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
how about CNC can cutting lathe for a alunmium bat
June 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
We use 5 different CNC Lathes from 7.5hp to 20hp. 3 Phase Electric boosted to 400volts.
June 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Wow. Very impressive, I found your video poking around looking for info on CNC lathes for wood. You’re 100% correct, $200k is not for the faint of heart. I don’t think I can afford, much less justify the cost of such a machine, especially when the regular lathe I have sits idle most of the time, but I’d assume yours is at work a good portion of every day.
June 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
O ok, and whats the hp of the main motor?
June 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
I believe we have 3 or 4 RPM changes. The low of about 1500 and the high of about 3200 rpm.
It all depends on feed rate, depth of cut and the wod.
June 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Whats the RPM of the lathe in the cutting?
June 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
I sand with 120/150/180 then apply finish.
Done!
June 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Make one for your boss first.
June 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
No two bats are ever 100% alike even with CNC Equipment. Wood is all natural and as such every bat is different.
June 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Steel
June 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Wow I might be used to just steel turning but that is a very very aggressive MRR!
What is the finish of this like? I would still be inclined to run over it with steel wool.
June 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Hi Walter, I have a question, what kind of material are the sqare tool bit used in the video?
June 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
That’s true. In theory it would be possible to have a bat making factory filled with 12 year olds with chisels cranking out bat after bat.
There is, however, a fundamental and grave problem with that. Indeed, such a factory would offend all our sensibilities- simply, no two bats would be alike!
June 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Damn thats sweet i should make one on my steel lathe, but that might make the boss un-happy lol
June 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
hmmm that bat is slightly better than my attempt, tho mine still hurts wen u club ppl with it.
June 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
wow thats just amazing