Segmented Turning

Re: Segmented Turning

John Bussom

>Well I do have a mitre saw but I use a sled and table saw, only sanding I do is to the face side after glueup!

John

Re: Segmented Turning

larry

>Build a sled and spend as long as it takes to get it "dead nuts accurate" then lock it down and don't touch it again. Make as many sleds as you need if you are going to make rings with different numbers of segments. It takes a lot of time and practice cuts to get the sled set so every segment joins every other perfectly with no gaps. It IS!!! worth the (one time)effort. Once done you can cut segments quickly with complete confidence, glue them up and clamp them with giant hose clamps - no muss, no fuss, no problems - and most importantly - with always perfect joints.

Tablesaw jig

Dominic Greco in Richboro PA

>William,

If you check out Kevin Neelly's website, he has plans for a tablesaw sled that is used to cut segments. It's a great design, and one that I use myself. It takes time to tweak it just right. And after performing this calibration, and getting it set perfect to cut 15 deg segments, I screwed the fence down tight.

I also like his method of gluing the segments together. He does them (2) at a time, and then assembles a half-ring. He then trims them with another tablesaw sled he calls a half ring trim jig, and then glues the two trued up half-rings into one ring. This technique insures a very tight joint. He uses a stationary belt sander to flatten the segments while he's gluing them up. What this method gives you is tight joint lines, with no visible gap. You can read more about this on his site.

On my last series of segmented bowls (pic attached below), I used this method, rather than my previous technique of gluing all the segments all up at once. Kevin's technique takes somewhat longer, but the results are really worth it.

See ya around,

Dominic

Re: Segmented Turning

Joel Hunnicutt

>Table saw all the way. I know turners that use a miter saw, but I do't think it is as accurate and controlling the offcuts is a real problem.

Re: Segmented Turning

Bob M

>I agree with Dominic & Joel. I use the table saw sled and half ring jig from Kevin Neelly's site. Take you time and get the table saw sled dead on accurate. It will be worth it in the long run. I feel the table saw is much safer than a compound miter saw, but that's just my opinion.

Re: Segmented Turning

John Lucas

>I'm a table saw person also but I have to friends who do much better segmented work than I do that both use miter saws. I guess it's what you get used to.

Re: Segmented Turning

William-Pa.

>Thanks everyone for your responses! It looks like the sled wins, hands down.

Dominic: I'm ahead of ya on Kevin's site and the various jigs. :) I'm going to take full advantage of the great info off his site.

My only real concern now is sanding. I don't have a belt sander. I think I remember someone rigging up a disc to the lathe to make sure the rings are flat. Anyone know of the jig or perhaps a method I could employ?

Thanks again,

William

Re: Segmented Turning

John Bussom

>I have to agree with you Larry, getting the sled RIGHT makes this project a whole lot easier and eliminates a lot of headaches.

The half ring solution is really not a good one simply because you will not end up with a round ring, you can get by with it and make it work but eventually people will notice that someplaces your rings do not line up.

John Muncy, Pa.

Re: Segmented Turning *LINK*

mike foster

>Piece of cake. Just use either a good flat piece of plywood or MDF cut in a circle on a bandsaw. Mount it to a faceplate (Consider a dedicated faceplate so it's ready for use whenever you need it) Mount the disc on the lathe and true it up and make sure it is flat. Then glue a large sheet of sandpaper of your choice of grit (I use 80). I use the 3M glue that is made for disc sanding, it is easier to remove the disc and change paper. I made one of these discs to flatten rings larger than the 12" disc sander I was using on my shopsmith. Nice thing this way is you can make a disc as big as your lathe swing, and you can control the speed.

BTW I am also a tablesaw sled guy, but I like to glue rings up all at once. I always clamp a ring up first to make sure the joints are perfect before gluing though.


http://www.vermontel.net/~mfoster/index.html

Re: Segmented Turning

William-Pa.

>Thanks Mike! So I would imagine for the ring, you would use maybe another disc mounted on a faceplate and held with double sided tape.

William

Re: Segmented Turning

Mike Foster

>I construct rings and glue them into a stack as I go. So how I do it is start with a faceplate and usually a wasteblock, and start stacking my rings on that. I would construct a ring and flatten one side of the ring on the lathe mounted disc sander. This flattened side is then glued to the trued and sanded stack. Once the glue is set, I then remount the stack on the lathe and flatten and true the ring. I do this simply with a flat board that is twice as long as my swing, I use a board (mdf or plywood) that is about 9 in by 24 in and glue 2 standard sheets of sandpaper to it lengthwise. You don't have to contact the entire circumference of the ring, as long as you have good contact on opposite sides. I turn the lathe on with the stack mounted and just hold the board against the rotating stack. Trues and flattens in one easy step. If my ring has a lot of glue, or some significantly high spots when spinning, I'll speed up the proscess by using a gouge or scraper to get the ring close to flat, then finish with the board. It's really a snap.

Only place this doesn't work well is at the bottom of the stack, or where there is a small hole in the middle. Using a board in this situation can cause you to round over the outside of the ring. For me these are usually small rings that I true on the lathe, then flatten by lightly sanding on my wide belt sander.

Am I the only one who uses a miter saw??

Russ Fairfield

>Am I the only one who preferrs to use a miter saw. To me, it is just as accurate, safer, faster, and easier to use than a tablesaw.

Use whatever you have, or what is the most comfortable for you. A tight joint is a tight joint, regardless of what machine the saw blade was attached to.

Re: Segmented Turning

Mark Kauder, Phenix City, AL

>I basically agree with all that has been posted above. I happen to like the TS sled, and building rings - 2 segments at a time. But people use all sorts of tools and methods successfully.

All I can add to the information above is that whether you use a TS or a CMS, I think that the quality of the blade you use is very important. I happen to use and recommend an 80 tooth ultra fine cut-off blade. With a very good blade, there should be no need to sand the edges of the segments to get good glue lines.

Regardless of the tool or methods you use, Please remember that as important as tight glue joints may be, pleasing wood combinations are important, and MOST important is shape/form. I.E. Don't get lost in the joints, colors, and designs and forget the it still needs to have a pleasing form.

Good luck

Mark

Re: Am I the only one who uses a miter saw??

John Lucas

>Russ

The first person I saw who did much more complicated segmented vessels was Gary Johnson of Missouri and he not only used a miter saw it was a cheap one at that. his vessels were great.

Re: Am I the only one who uses a miter saw??

John Trant (aka Boxes-n-Bowls)

>I also use a miter saw with an "L shaped zero-clearance backers" (bottom and back edge) and a precisely cut wedge to maintain the correct angle. If I have to make a compound cut for staved contructs, I will set the blade using set-up blocks for each angle of the compound cut. I used the Incra miter gauge to cut these blocks on the table saw and fine tuned them with a disk sander.

John

Re: Segmented Turning

John Trant (aka Boxes-n-Bowls)

>A member of my woodturning group uses a band saw and does beautiful work.

John

Re: Segmented Turning

larry

>Amen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good taste can't be imitated with totally over-the-top, ultra rococco glue-ups, no matter how much skill and time they take.