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Flattening Segments for a Turned Bowl

7K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  TheDane 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I'm toying with starting a segmented bowl, but am hung up on getting the rings flat after gluing the mitered pieces together.

I know that a lot of people run them through a thicknessing drum sander, and that would be my first choice … if I had one!

I have a V-drum sander that does a great job finish sanding, but I'm not sure it can get the rings flat enough.

I have a planer (DW-733), but the idea of feeding bowl rings through it sounds like a recipe for disaster. I have a sled that I routinely use to run under-sized stock through the planer, but have never run anything through with the grain parallel to the planer's knives. I have a hit a few knots with the planer, and the results aren't pretty … I'm think bowl rings might be a lot worse.

Any suggestions?

-Gerry
 
#3 ·
SASmith-Don't know … I'm having trouble visualizing what that would look like.

I know a guy that has a disk (MDF mounted to a face plate) that he uses to sharpen tools, but I'm not sure it would be any more effective than the V-Drum sander.

-Gerry
 
#5 ·
I second SASmith on getting Malcolm's book if you do not have it and are going to do any segmented
turning. He has a gold mine of information. I do not yet have a drum sander, but can see a shop made
one in my future by next summer, there is plenty of info on how to build one here on LJs. My only
problem is too many projects and not enough time/money for all of them, but that is what retirement
is all about for me.
 
#6 ·
Dane, assuming that you assemble/glue this ring together on a flat surface, it should not be THAT far off, but still in need of true flattening. A little more labor intensive would be to contact cement 4 sheets of sandpaper to a flat piece of MDF and flatten them by hand. It is cheap, doable RIGHT NOW, and is much cheaper. This might hold you over until you can get a disk sander as suggested above.
 
#7 ·
Dane Rance is spot on. Another idea is to get a 1/4" piece of glaa say 12"x 12" and use double sided tape to hold the sand paper on to the glass. One more idea stick the rings on to a sled with carpet tape and use the thicknesser only taking very light cuts. Carpet tape is a double sided tape used by carpet linstallers, Hope this helps Regards Roger in RSA
 
#9 ·
SASmith-I just ordered Malcolm Tibbetts' book … looks like a good addition to my growing library.

doordude-I just about signed up for a segmented bowl turning class this fall, but decided not to because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get the 'homework' done. The classroom sessions are pretty much just that … they're not doing the turning in the class. I had to re-arrange my shop so the Jeep and the snowblower would fit, which means I have limited access to the lathe.

Roger-I was playing with the V-Drum sander in the shop this morning … I mounted a ring I glued up yesterday to a piece of MDF with carpet tape, loaded a 60-grit strip of Klingspor, and the results were pretty positive. The MDF helps maintain more consistent pressure than just pushing he ring itself across the drum, and the ring comes out pretty much dead flat.

-Gerry
 
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