segmenting questions

[Eric Wagner]

Hi everyone, I am kinda new to turning even though i have tried to do some advanced work that came out ok. I am having trouble getting segmented rings to line up straight. They tend to get off center a little and after ten rings the peice id way off center. It has been ok for peices made up of all the same wood, but when doing different types of wood doesnt work out to good. Any advice on keeping my rings straight is appreicated. I currently use a home made vertical glue press to glue rings together.

Thanks,
Eric

[Bill Bulloch]

Pictures would sure help in visualizing your problem. I glue up my rings on the lathe. The exception to this is when I have several rings with a hight of 1/4" or less, then I'll glue them off the lathe using springs clamps to hold them in place. One problem with this is that you have to watch for is slippage. You'll need to rub the rings together then hold them for a few seconds to let the glue set a little before clamping or pressing in your case to prevent this slippage. I find gluing on the lathe much, much easier. You can use a Cole Jaw, Longworth jaw, or centering cone to center the rings from the tailstock. I have and use all three. A Centering Cone can be made from scrap wood and used over and over again.

[Scott Hackler]

*disclaimer: I have ony done 2 segmented pieces

Are you trying to glue up all of the rings at once? I had a lot of "slippage" between the rings when I was trying this. I found that it was a lot easier to glue 2 or 3 rings at a time and then assemble them together a couple at a time until the entire vessel's worth are together. That being said, I believe it was Malcolm Tibbetts who once told me that he glues rings up one at a time, on the lathe.... using the tail stock for clamping pressure... for a short time and then repeats. He also had meantioned that he will begin turning 20 minutes or so after the last ring is glue on!! I waited overnight.

[Eric Wagner]

Thanks for the response,
I have been trying to glue up all the rings at once. I will try to glue 2-3 at a time. I think the biggest problem I have is lining them up vertically.

[Robert McGowen]

It is hard to tell from your post exactly how you are doing things, but I find it easiest to glue 2 or 3 rings at a time onto your vessel and then turn them round. This basically "re-centers" your vessel on the lathe so that the next 2 or 3 rings start in the center instead of already being misaligned from the previous rings being off center.

[Bill Wyko]

Here's what I just got to solve the problem. This is a truncated cone. It'll center your rings to each other perfectly. You can also put sand paper on the flat side to sand your surfaces flat before the next ring too.

[cal thelen]

I dont know if I am doing it right or not, but I find the center of the bottom solid piece, then i measure the inside diameter of the first ring and use my compass to scribe a circle same size, then line up circle with inner diameter. then I glue the first ring on. It usually is centered pretty good that way. then I just keep working my way up always 1 ring at a time and always working off the center of the base plate. Has worked well for me so far but I have not done anything over 6 rings high.

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

Eric, there are many, many ways to stack rings. Trying to do multiple rings at the same time is asking for trouble. Perhaps the simplest, cheapest, accurate method to join a ring to an existing vessel stack is to use a disc of MDF. Drill a hole in the center of the disc, lathe-mount it using a screw (held in your chuck jaws), true it up round, score concentric lines, use those lines to center your next ring, temporarily attach your next ring with a couple of tiny beads of hot melt glue, do a dry fit using the tailstock, as a centering device, determine the best rotational position, mark, remove and apply glue, put back again using the tailstock small cone in the MDF hole, apply some pressure, and add some spring clamps if possible. Hope that makes sense.