Bat Finished!

Today I finished turning my bat!! It's such a great feeling to have accomplished it! I put so much work into it and I finally have something to show for it. Turning the handle turned out to be a big challenge and I thought I might break it the same way I broke the mini-bat, but by turning up the speed to over 2500 rpm, and really being meticulous with my strokes, I did it. I was very nervous during the process and the risk of breaking my one piece of wood made the accomplishment that much greater. I sanded it off pretty well but will probably hit it one more time just to get it super smooth. Then I may wax it to get a nice finish if I can get some wax at the store. This will most likely be my last journal entry as my blog will be hitting the printers tomorrow for my hard copy submission to my teacher. I have learned a lot through this project and would like to thank all of the people that have read this blog and I hope that you learned something. For your satisfaction, here is a final picture of the bat. 

Bat Update

I have started to compose my written materials for my project. I can't believe it is almost over. I got a bunch of work done on my bat Thursday, and only have the handle left to turn and then some sanding to do before I have the finished product. I am planning on getting this done tomorrow after school but I will have to see what I am able to accomplish. Here's a picture of the bat right now. The barrel is on the right side. 

Progress Thursday

I apologize for the gap in entries, but the holiday weekend and a case of strep throat have kept me away from my blog. However on Thursday I started my bat! (Finally) I got the edges all rounded off of my square blank and put it on the lathe and began turning. I got the entire thing rounded and will be ready to start my first  cuts as soon as I can get on the lathe. Because it has been so difficult to find time to work on the lathe, Mr. Cowell and I are planning on staying after school pretty late one day in order to get a large portion of the work done. Here are some progress pictures of what I accomplished on Thursday. 

Before

After

Mini Bat Failure

Today while working on my mini bat, it snapped in half. All the work I did on it was lost. However, it is not a waste because I got more practice on the lathe. When I started working on the bat again today I had a bad feeling because it was getting jumpy. The scaled down dimensions were just too small and I didn't have the foresight to know that working a large piece of wood down to a half inch diameter would put too much stress on the wood and break it. This wont be a concern for the full size bat because the smallest cut is an inch in diameter which won't put a large amount of stress on the block. I am a bit disappointed that the mini bat didn't work out exactly because I was looking forward to having it in the end to look at compared to my full size bat. 

Here are the two halves of the bat after it snapped. On the right is the barrel and the left is what would have become the handle. 

Listening to Our Coaches

In wise class today, it was brought to our attention that advice from our mentors and teachers is vital. Comparable to an elite Olympic athlete listening to their coach, despite their extensive skill and knowledge that they have themselves. This can be attributed to the fact that from the outside looking in, things are different and taking a step back and considering the advice of others is important in ensuring your own success. As an athlete, I am used to listening to my coaches and have routinely listened to my mentor when he suggests things and he has helped me overcome many obstacles in this way. 

CNC Lathes and Mass Production of Bats

A CNC lathe, according to the definition from: http://www.toolingu.com/definition-800115-12284-cnc-lathe.html, a 'shop' training website, is a lathe controlled by a computer running programs driven by numerical data. Basically this means that a computer program tells the lathe the dimensions of what you want to make and then the lathe operates according to the computers directions. This allows companies to make more bats faster and with a smaller margin of error that is inevitable with a person hand turning each bat. All the big name wood bat manufactures use CNC lathes in order to produce their bats.

Solid Progress After School

Yesterday I got a lot of work done after school on my mini bat. I was able to finish about 7 cuts and practically complete the mini bat. I plan on getting it done Monday and then hit the ground running on the full size bat early next week. 

Here is a progress picture of the mini bat.