Spiraling candle light holders jig

I wanted to make some candle light holders that had a spiral pattern.

To be able to do this, I started to design a jig that would enable me to make a precise spiral pattern quickly as the resulting candle holders below shows.

The jig is also perfect for making straight grooves.

I hope this blog entry can help others to make their own jig for creating spiral patterns like this.

I use some locally grown oak.

And start with making it round.

Then I use a support jig to drill the hole for the candle at one end. The support jig is also home made.

Now I can make the shape I want.

The next step is to make the spiral pattern. The Jig I designed and made is setup on the lathe and the

router is started with a square bit. One handle moves the router sideways and at the same time rotate the lathe. The other handle moves the router against the candle holder. I also position and lock a set of stoppers on the lathe to limit the sideway movement of the router.

You can see a run in the video below.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/a05470_dcc07922187f4b789b08b58c6806e426/360p/mp4/file.mp4

The last piece required is the base which is glued to the main part.

Here you can see the connection between the jig and the lathe. I 3d printed the plug which is locked to the lathe with a pin and ensures that the lathe rotates when i move the router sideways through the wires. By making plugs with different diameters, I get different spiral heights.

Different plug sizes requires some adjustment of the wire with the mechanism seen below to get the wire tight.

A view from behind.