Tools for segment turning?

[gasmansteve]

Hi folks
Not sure if this should come under `turning` or `tools` section?.
I`ve been thinking of having a try at segment turning and quickly realised that an essential item would be a thickness sander something along the lines of this -
www.rockslide.org/drum%20sander.html which I`m gong to make perhaps this weeekend and wondered if anyone had had a go at making this or something similar. I have been advised not to use a thickness planer because of possible tearaway on the edges preventing a good joint when gluing the segmented discs together??. Any segment turners among us able to offer any advice please?
Cheers
Steve

 

[JackL]

Steve,
I've been doing segmented turning for ages and I can't quite understand why a thickness sander is an essential piece of equipment.
The segments are cut on either my band saw or scroll saw then glued up. Perhaps I'm missing something here - and if I am, someone will no doubt enlighten me.

 

[Anonymous]

A couple of turners, local to me, use a planer thicknesser and a home built sled on a table saw... judging from the quality of their work they don't need a thickness sander.

Check your local clubs for anyone near you... they may be able to point you in the direction of a 'puter programme which takes the hard work out of the calculations... the mere thought of accurately cutting 800+ pieces for a vase or bowl is enough to deter me :wink:

From memory the woodturning online forum has articles on segmented turning.... it's big in America :wink:

 

[davol]

HI Steve.
I have produced a number of segmented bowls and platters and agree with the other posts, a thickness sander is not required.
A good table saw with either a sliding table/sled or pull through facility, plus a SHARP 40 to 80 toothed blade should be your first requirement.
A planer/thicknesser would be a plus for finishing strips prior to cutting into segments remember to discard the first and last 3 to 4 cm of each strip.
All the above relates to straight line work, for curved work the scroll saw would be my wepon of choice.

Davol

 

[loz]

Found this that might help,

http://www.segmentedturning.com/sppintro.htm

However there is a link in the latest woodturning mag, to an excel sheet that does all the calc for you.
( its at home though ) - ill post later.

 

[Hans]

Hi Steve,

As all seem to agree, a thickness sander is not needed.
However Malcolm Tibbetts writes:

. . . a drum sander is invaluable for dimensioning thin material. It is a luxury for any home shop, to be sure, but now I wonder how I ever got along without one.

The Art of segmented woodturning page 13, isbn: 0-941936-86-4

The best book on segmented turning that I have seen.

Hans

 

[gasmansteve]

Hi all
Many thanks for the comments. Just goes to show how much I know .
Checking out the various segmented turners web sites the one thing that stood out was the ability to get flat rings prior to gluing as apparantly any gaps are magnified when looking at the turned/sanded and finished bowls.
I can see the logic in that and Bill Kandler (segmentedturning.com) goes to great lengths to point out the reason he gets the finish he does is because his rings are flat (calm down missus :lol: ) Must admit I`m quite surprised that it doesnt seem to be an issue amongst the experienced segment turners but I bow to your expertise!!.I have actually registered Bill`s excellent software for working this stuff out and have planned a bowl to make. Can I assume a planer would not cause chipping to prevent a tight joint from being made?.
Thanks again
Steve

 

[tnimble]

I'm not a well renowned turner but I can't see why you need a thickness sander to sand the rings flat. A thickness planer or your hand plane can produce very good flat thin stock. If the stock you cut your segments from is flat your segments will be and so will be your rings. Only when you glue up your rings crocked you would be in trouble. Also to remove the squeeze out from the glue up would not require a thickness sander nor planer.

Thicknessing thin stock on a tickness planer would gennerally not cause chipping. When tickness planing the to be cut stock any chipping would be at the waste ends. Mind that to plane stock it might be needed to use a sheet of for instance MDF to put below the thin stock.

 

[Paul.J]

I've only made one turned piece of segmented work which was a pretty easy piece,just made up 3 squares out of Oak and Ash and glued them together.
I did use a thicknesser,jointer and a table saw,to square the bits up,but i can see the advantage of using a thickness sander for flattening the pieces,especially if you are like me and no good with hand tools,and if you were to make more complicated fragile pieces.
Looks a good idea.Might have a bash meself one day :roll:

 

[gasmansteve]

I have no problem with making the sled and cutting the mitres accurately with my table saw, I could just imagine an instance with all that hard work going to waste because of perhaps just one ring containing one slightly warped segment hence my initial views on the thickness sander which would prevent that. A routine of gluing and putting each ring through the thickness sander a few times would seem to provide consistent accurate results but then more experienced folk than I suggest this is not necessary so perhaps I am being over cautious :wink: .
Interesting topic all the same.
Regards
Steve

 

[Anonymous]

From what I've gleaned from the two turners I mentioned, the 'strips' are machined and assembled, providing it's on a flat surface further sanding/machining of the 'ring' is unnecessary...

 

[diamature]

Hi, don't know if this will help but have you looked at Ray Allen's book on segmented turning. if you do and like what you see I would use what he used : ISBN-13: 978-1-56523-217-4, ISBN-10: 1-56523-217-8, hope this is some help.

 

[Anonymous]

Welcome aboard Dai... luv the user name :wink:

 

[loz]

Found it,

http://www.denswoodturning.co.uk

My Projects TAB and then Segmented.

this is from Woodturngin magazine no 186. The author of the Tool - Mr Dennis Bergess


Regs

Loz

Forgot to add - there are some very sexy segmented pieces in his gallery !

http://www.denswoodturning.co.uk/mypixs.php

 

[TEP]

Hi Loz, you need to delete the 'comma' after the uk on the first address to allow it to work.

Very interesting site, will have to spend some time browsing it. Thanks for the link.

 

[diamature]

In the post I made before I feel I should have told you what tools Ray Allen used, here they are: Table Saw with 60 tooth blade, mitre gauge for saw, Disc Sander with 80 grit disc, Vernier Calipers, Shop made Press for gluing up, Shop made angle jigs for sander and saw, Sanding board for truing up each ring of segments on the lathe. I believe that there is a clip of his work on You Tube at the moment. Cheers

 

[gasmansteve]

Thanks for the tip about Ray`s video on youtube diamature, just watched it. It looked like Ray was using some sort of milling action to flatten his rings, but you only got a flash so not really much detail but its given me an idea for using a vertically mounted router which would seem to be ideal for the task but not sure if a fast moving router would chip at edges??. Have to think about one.Must get his book!.
All good fun
Cheers
Steve

 

[davol]

In segmented work a lot depends on the type of construction, wether you are making segmented or one piece rings, strips or other shapes, flat parallel faces or right angle joints. In all cases the following is true. Faces must be flat and joints should have good mating faces.
this can be achieved with out the use of a sander and in some cases the misuse of one can make things worse.

The concern about chipped edges is generally not an issue in closed
(no holes) segmented work as these edges are lost when the work is turned.

davol