Motorized Murrine Chopper

[Glenn Randle]

I'd like to have a motorized murrine chopper. It would be great if I could load it with cane and return to a few pounds of perfect murrine. I know that might be a tall order. It would be okay if an operator was required if it was realtively quick and easy.

Has anyone seen a machine like I need? Does anyone know of a source for one, or maybe plans, or even a photo of one?

Thanks,

[Bruce Harris]

Wes, a photo of Lisa was requested in the message above.

[David Patchen]

I posted a thread a while back with a photo of my homeade murrine chopper (Scott Dunahee made the same one!) and Pete and a few others mentioned some folks who had motorized versions. You might peruse this for their names; perhaps you could contact them directly. It would be cool to see some motorized ones. I thought about making mine pneumatic, but I think it's probably more hassle than it's worth. I also stopped using the sizing stop as sometimes if it doesn't cut exactly straight the stop then gives me a slice that's pretty off. I can eyeball it and compensate better. I also sometimes score bigger stuff before chopping through it--a motorized chopper couldn't do that without mucho engineering.

My chopper is still going strong on its second set of circular blades. The big stuff that I shouldn't even try chopping ends up beating up the blades a bit, but they get rotated and they're cheap to replace. I have a nice system worked out with a box to catch the flying murrine, a large-hole strainer to blow out the powder and chips. I wear a respirator and also blow a fan across my workspace as I chop to keep a silica dust cloud from forming around me.

Thread's here: http://talk.craftweb.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4114&highlight=murrine+chopper

[Marty Kremer]

There was a beauty at Corning, not motorized but it was blue (would that help?).
Heavy flywheel thingie so you could get some chop-chop momentum going.
I have no idea who makes it- call the Studio, ask Harry.

[Marcel Braun]

I saw a killer Cutting edge murrine chopper at GAS....not motorized though.

(It was red)

[Steve Stadelman]

Originally posted by Marcel Braun
I saw a killer Cutting edge murrine chopper at GAS....not motorized though.

(It was red)

Jeff's my drinkin' buddy!

[Wes Hunting]

Originally posted by Bruce Harris
Wes, a photo of Lisa was requested in the message above.

Yes Bruce, she is a fine looking machine but can require quite alot of maintence.:thumb:



Bruce, its so nice to know that you remember and can appreciate my murrini snipping abilities. 200+ a minute using a $20 hardware store tile nipper. Thank you, I think! Lisa

[Scott Hegan]

this machine chops about 120 per minute. the auto feeder is not quite finished, but it is close. The rubber material that grips the glass between the pinch roller and the drive and the force required have not been reconciled yet.

[Scott Hegan]

it's rough looking, but it really saves a lot of time. BTW it really only works with round up to 3/8 inch.

[Eben Horton]

horizontal feed required a feeding mechanism, but vertacle only requires gravity and compressed air to bow away the cut murrine-

Glen i have a manual chopper from venice that i could motorize in half an hour... my thoughts are that if i motorize it the quality of the chopped piece will go down.

if you want i will post a pic of it

[Brent Hickenbotham]

everybody is steve's drinkin buddy. Except ben, well.....I guess you could drink brisket.

[David Patchen]

Glenn,

If you're cutting really thin murrine (1/4" diameter or less) you could probably cut many at a time with a manual chopper designed with a long straight blade (like Scott Dunahee's). What I mean is holding 3-5 lengths across a straight blade (against a sizing stop) and chopping all at once. This would be a quick way to chop lots of murrine by hand.

I'd love to see closer pictures of the motorized chopper--I can't see how it works. The photos just look like Rube Goldberg had a hand in the design ;)

[Peter Bowles]

It looks like a very handy tool and I especially like the way all the small stuff can drop through the floor - a very neat way to keep the studio clean.

Pete

[Wes Hunting]

very cool scott!
lets see some close ups.

[Glenn Randle]

Thanks for the good info & advice so far. More photos and any other ideas would be great.

Eben I understand what you're saying about "cut quality". If it gets too sloppy you can't use them as murrine because you need a clean cross section. I remember seeing your Italian chopper, it's a pretty blue one with a big wheel crank, right?

Scott, it looks like you've got the starts of a promising machine there. More detail shots of it would be great.

Thanks,

[Ben Rosenfield]

Originally posted by Brent Hickenbotham
everybody is steve's drinkin buddy. Except ben, well.....I guess you could drink brisket. Excuse me, but I had a beer with Steve when we were at Chris McCarthy's studio. Also, you owe me a dollar for using the word brisket. PayPal is fine, but make it $1.30 to cover the fee.

[Brent Hickenbotham]

Oh yea. I forgot that the patent office awarded you as the creator of BRISKET.

[Ben Rosenfield]

Not remembering doesn't excuse you from the royalty payment.

[Brent Hickenbotham]

check's in the mail. I made it out to Brisket Enema Inc, that's where you like your meat deposits, right?

[Jordan Kube]

:chuckle:

[David Patchen]

Ouch! That's rough! :rotfl: :clap:

[Ben Rosenfield]

Originally posted by Brent Hickenbotham
check's in the mail. I made it out to Brisket Enema Inc, that's where you like your meat deposits, right? I'd hardly call your half-roll of dimes a meat deposit. Maybe a short-term loan with very low interest. Also, hitting on me will get you nowhere.

[Brent Hickenbotham]

:rolleyes: :bang: :toast:
This isn't over, but I don't want to completely ruin this thread over Ben's insecurities and shortcummings :p I actually have some good ideas for motorized murrine chopper, have to get some drawings and prototype done then I'll share with everyone to critique.

[Jordan Kube]

Ahhh... true love

[James Ennis]

jim moore makes a very nice one,call
him about price.

[Dave Bross]

The instructions for the cutting edge suggest contact, back it off a ways, then whack it. That would be tough to automate.