Segmented Turning Question

[Glen Blanchard]

I will soon be making my first attempt at some segmenting work. In this case, nothing more than a feature ring for a hollow form. I have glued up two half rings which will be glued together to form the entire ring. I will be making a sanding disc that I will place on the lathe and will use it to true each half ring to 180*. Is there a preferred grit of sandpaper to use for this purpose? A grit that is coarse enough to get the job done quickly while at the same time creating surfaces that will mate well without showing a glue line? 180 grit perhaps? Any suggestions?

[Ken Barney]

Glen, I true up all of my half rings using a sled I made for my tablesaw. Has works fantastic as long as the half rings are less than 2 inches tall.

Ken

[Glen Blanchard]

Ken - I hadn't thought about using the table saw. Great idea.

[Ken Andersen]

I use 80 grit for this with light touches. I think you'll find 180 is way too fine and you'll burn and/or burnish rather than remove material.

[Bob Coates]

Go to http://segeasy.com/segeasy.htm and make a simple sled to cut your segments, You will never need to sand again.

Bob

[Glen Blanchard]

Bob - Thanks for the link. I may buy myself a few wedgies. Do you have experience with them (along with a sled)? Are your rings as dead-on accurate as what is represented in the video?

[Michelle Rich]

100 would be good..but I believe you should concentrate on getting your angles well cut & not rely on this 1/2 & 1/2 thing..what you end up with is an oval ring. Down the road, when you make more intricate rings, that bad angle cutting will drive you nuts, and your patterns will not line up. I use an incra sled & when you can get one for segmenting, do so, if you progress with segmenting/.

[Ken Andersen]

Even with "perfect" cut segments, there are situations where you can't work fast enough to glue up the complete ring at once, (say 48 segs with splines). As soon as you glue up in two or more stages, some touch up at the 1/2 ring stage seems inevitable.

[Bob Coates]

Ken,
In Jerry's video he mentions that you can make 12 segment rings using a 30-60 drafting triangle. If you want to try befor you buy you can just use that. I was a nonbeliever and made a sled with fixed fences to make 12 segment rings. Just attach one fence on sled, set triangle against fence and attach second fence. This should take less the 1/2 hour. If you get the fences tight to triangle you can cut 12 segment rings and experiment with different combinations of cuts he discuss.
Then you can make the moveable sled. See some of my other posts.
Enjoy,
Bob

Bob - Thanks for the link. I may buy myself a few wedgies. Do you have experience with them (along with a sled)? Are your rings as dead-on accurate as what is represented in the video?

[Jimmy Edwards]

Glen the segeasy solves the problem. Also search WilliamOYoung on you tube for another technique. It is a good one

[Michelle Rich]

Even with "perfect" cut segments, there are situations where you can't work fast enough to glue up the complete ring at once, (say 48 segs with splines). As soon as you glue up in two or more stages, some touch up at the 1/2 ring stage seems inevitable.

I agree, but even at 36, I've done it..48 with splines?? probably not unless one uses a slow setting glue. yet for VAST MAJORITY of projects, learning to cut segments well and avoiding makeshift ways to get them right is beneficial in the long run.

[Steve Mellott]

+1 on the segeasy system. Several members in my club use them and they all have had great results.

[Glen Blanchard]

Thanks everyone. I'll give SegEasy a try.

[Walter Mooney]

Jerry is a member of our club, and is a VERY talented guy. You should see some of the things he has made! Dave Muller is also a member of our club. Another talented guy.