Sphere jigs

[jeff oldham]

I have been thinking about investing in a sphere cutting jig…the one by chefware kits or carters jig..can anyone tell me which is the better of the two and which one is the easiest to set up…I know carter is way more expensive than the chefware jig…any info would help…

[Richard Madden]

Would you consider building one? Call me cheap, but if I can make a jig or fixture that works and saves me money, that's what I do. I made a sphere jig for right around $100.00. That included the material and a little bit of machining. It's been a while since I've used it but I think I incorporated features from both the Carter and Vermec jigs. If interested I can provide more info and pictures.

[jeff oldham]

yes I would be interested if it not much trouble,,,thank you

[John RStegall]

Richard, did you post anything on how you built your jig? I would only be interested in making my own, not buying one.

thanks.

[Richard Coers]

I have the Carter and it's worth every penny. The micro adjustment is really nice. You can also rotate the cutting head around the back and use a banjo to do any hand work you want. The cutter holder can be side rotated to either side to do a shear cut in both directions. It's a wonderful tool and very well engineered.

[Dick Mahany]

I made this poor man's version of an unusual sphere jig after watching a demonstration video by Larry Marley. Previously I had attempted to build one from box store hardware but it wasn't rigid enough. The Marley type was constructed from 1/2" Baltic Birch ply and is surprisingly rigid and stable. The sphere shown in the pics is 3.5" dia. It requires light cuts and yields excellent surface finish.

If one's budget allows, the commercially available jigs are well made however a much less expensive DIY alternate can suffice quite well.

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[Peter Blair]

Made a home made one from Aluminum but eventually saved enough to buy a Vermec and have never looked back. Yes my home made on worked fine but did vibrate a bit and was a more difficult to adjust for different sizes. I would recommend that if you do make one you incorporate a thread advance of some form. Making extremely fine cuts and adjustments easily I find make the process a lot more enjoyable.

[John K Jordan]

Made a home made one from Aluminum but eventually saved enough to buy a Vermec and have never looked back. Yes my home made on worked fine but did vibrate a bit and was a more difficult to adjust for different sizes. I would recommend that if you do make one you incorporate a thread advance of some form. Making extremely fine cuts and adjustments easily I find make the process a lot more enjoyable.

I have the Vermec too. It is incredibly solid, heavy, and well made. I can't imagine improving on it.

JKJ

[Richard Madden]

Jeff,
Sorry for not getting back sooner. Here are a couple of pictures of the jig I made.416563I'll send more.

[Richard Madden]

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[Richard Madden]

It's been a while since posting here and I could not figure out how to add text after adding a photo. I will try and explain each of the 5 pictures above. The first is for centering the jig under the piece to be turned. It just fits over the pivot bolt temporarily. The second pic shows the stop collar for centering the cutter height. I made cutters with both carbide and HHS, thus the need to be able to adjust the height for each. Third pic is a carbide cutter. Fourth pic is the bottom of the jig. The thin plate centers it in the bed ways and the thicker piece with two flats and rounded ends locks the jig in place. The last pic shows two nylon washers above and below the pivot arm that make for smooth swinging of the pivot arm. I checked my list of costs for this and the total was $110.74 for everything. If interested, I can give a list of parts and cost.
Before building mine I watched a you tube video by Piazza Studios on his sphere jig and followed some of his ideas.

[Richard Madden]

Here's two I turned using the jig.

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[Peter Blair]

Really nicer Richard. My jig was quite similar to yours and it appears we both took advise from the same sphere turner. The two examples could have come from my shop! Here are a couple of shots of mine. As you can see I made a threaded advance system.
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[Glen Blanchard]

Jeff - I have one of the Chefware Kits jigs that I don't use. I would be willing to sell it if you are interested.

[Steve Mawson]

I made this poor man's version of an unusual sphere jig after watching a demonstration video by Larry Marley. Previously I had attempted to build one from box store hardware but it wasn't rigid enough. The Marley type was constructed from 1/2" Baltic Birch ply and is surprisingly rigid and stable. The sphere shown in the pics is 3.5" dia. It requires light cuts and yields excellent surface finish.

If one's budget allows, the commercially available jigs are well made however a much less expensive DIY alternate can suffice quite well.

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I build one very much like this and it works quite well. I use a 1/2" square bar with a carbide cutter. Couldn't have had more than $15.00 in it less the cutter.

[Peter Blair]

I thought I had posted these before. Here are a couple of shots of the one I made. It's interesting, at least to me in how much it resembles Richard's.
I'm only posting in the hope it may help someone who is planning to make one. I used one of the 'head' from my Kobra which helped me a great deal.
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[Peter Fabricius]

Hi Jeff, I have the Chef Specialties version of both the Sphere cutter and the Threading jigs. Both work very well and are reasonably priced.

[Mike Wagner]

I have on order Sept 23rd the sphere/threading jig. When I receive it I can let you know how it works.