During the summer of 2004 I was doing a 20 mile walk. I use these long walks to reduce stress and to run design ideas through my head. One of my walks was from North Arlington over to West Orange and up Eagle Rock Ave. At the top of Eagle Rock Ave, and across the street from Pal's Cabin there is a lake next to the corporate center. As I walked  the path around Crystal Lake I saw something up in a tree. It was not a bird, squirrel or rat.  As I walked closer I could see it was a turtle!  As I got closer the turtle jumped out of the tree into the water and it swam towards me and then down out of sight.  I then looked to see how the turtle could have gotten up in the tree. We had lots of rain in the summer of 2004. The base of the tree was under water. The branch of the tree came out of the water and gently sloped out over the lake.(end of turtle story for now!)
         Now I am deep in the Jester project doing all kinds of tests and drawing.  Some of the people in my group ask me if I am ever going to design a CNC lathe. When I dream I sometimes have people in the dream ask me if I am going to do a lathe. I always tell them the spindle is the problem. There is no cheap way to make a spindle assembly. I give the same answer in my group as in my dreams. Also in my dream I start telling people about the turtle who climbed the tree. I get the same reaction in the dream as in real life! (a pattern is forming)
         So now I am on the last few drawing on the Jester project. I am looking forward to a few weeks off after it is finished. I am laying in bed thinking about what project I will do next and where I will walk to the next nice day. Lathe No! Walk! Finish Jester! I fall off to sleep.  At around 2 AM I wake up out of a dream. I don't remember the dream exactly. All I remember is a turtle going back and forth on an axis with a cutter strapped to his head and people looking on in disbelief. As I sat on the edge of the bed trying to wake up I saw the entire machine design-Name-Hat and Software solution. The whole thing!  I then went over and switched on my computer and reported this event to my group. Guess what? The idea was met with disbelief.
          The Woodturtle is a CNC wood lathe add on. It is the simplest CNC machine anybody has ever produced. It is designed to be used with cheap wood lathes. Other people have used an X-Y assembly on a wood lathe. This one uses a cutting bar with a carbide insert.  You can also make your own cutting bars. The cutting bar moves in and out of the dust guard like the head of a turtle.
          The Woodturtle only works with wood lathes. The 20 page booklet showing how to build the Woodturtle Booklet is  $36 US,Canada and $42 to the UK and Australia. Other countries see Order page for instructions.

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