Making Masts and Yards for Model Ship: DYI Jig using Drill Machine 

A drill press also works as a mini-lathe, oriented vertically. Use a pointed metal center spindle held in a drill press vice on the the bottom and place the dowels the drill chuck. Before this, make a shallow pointed hole in the end of the dowel to accept the spindle at the bottom. The dowel is held with light compression between the spindle and the chuck. Clamp the vise holding the spindle so it doesn't shift around. If you do not have a small rotary or belt sander to begin narrowing the dowel to the desired taper, use TWO small sanding blocks with 60 grit sandpaper, and sandwich the spinning dowel between the blocks. This supports the dowel on two sides preventing it from breaking. Use 100 grit, then 220 grit paper on the blocks to remove the coarse sanding blocks for the final passes. Shape both narrow ends with light strokes of a fine file. Remove the wood and cut off and sand the excess dowel at each end. Then sand it longitudinally with 400 grit along the grain by hand, pinching the wood and paper lightly between your fingers in order to 1) get rid of any remaining circumferential scratches, and 2) to to polish the wood to a semi-shiny finish, ready for sealing or staining. All masts sections and yards can be turned to proper diameter this way. If you leave some extra wood thickness at the ends of the mast sections, you then file the ends square to form the mastheads. Here are pictures: ibb.co/Rh2SVGY ibb.co/1bvP4wb Enjoy!

Tapered shaft. You could try the coned shaped sand paper design. Although it all depends on the taper, metal is different to wood in shaping and the length is also a factor in the jig design. Say a taper of 12" long from 3mm to 5mm. The problem is it's a sliding scale but the kicker is 3-5 and the length comes into play. Two pieces of wood 14" long hinge one end 8mm groove from one end to the other now make a slant cut so one end of groove is 8mm and the other end is 4mm. The size is to give you lee way of the size. Now cut other piece of wood the same then place together now you have 8mm hole one end and 4mm the other use a small hinge on the 4mm side gives you a taper jig now the size is the size for then you have to take into account the thickness of the sand paper. Glue in some sandpaper into groove or grooves your choice. get scrap piece of dowelling to fine tune it to your specs. You could go with only one groove and the other flat so to glue sandpaper on it. Hope this makes sense or points you in the right direction. On your jig you could make a tool rest as in a wood lathe and make it adjustable using block for height and L shape for part to hold sandpaper and to get correct angle. Hope this is of some help to you and others.

Hi, nice job on the jig....thank you for taking the time to make the video......watching a method that gets the job done is the best way to learn and get new ideas!

That is oh so ingenious. Thank you very much. I have to build something like this !! You could use a longer dowel than needed to allow a safe piece on the completed end to fit in the chuck. You could also add a rest piece on the side for the sanding tools to be kept steady and at a consistent position. This has a lot of possibilities. You should design, patent and sell it

Great homemade wood working lathe!!

Hi, it looks very easy indeed, thank you!

Hi, Thank you for sharing. First off, if you want, you could buy this contraption on Aliexpress for around $30, same setup. I'm thinking of doing that. Second, I've done a testrun using the drill and found very distinct press-marks at the end where the wood was clamped. You need to watch out for that. At the end of your video you could perhaps explain that you use some tubing to avoid this. What did you use, and how thick was it? Thanks!

Hi, Is it possible to have the plan of the DIY jig ?

Too much Talking!