Well, here's a progress pic of the big one I've been on.

[Bill Wyko]

I was going to wait until I was done but I don't know if I'll be done before I go to the Brickyard 400 next week, so that will put me out 3 to 4 weeks before I get to finish it. I still have a top beauty ring to go and I still need to do a final shaping of the whole thing plus a little marquetry on the main beauty ring. I don't think it's looking too bad for my 15th piece ever. I hope you all like it.:)

[Bernie Weishapl]

Bill it is a beauty for sure. I really envy you guys that have the patience for doing those. Well done Bill. Cannot wait to see the finished piece.

[Bill Wyko]

I"m not going to make it to the 2000 pieces I wanted to but right now I'm at 1134 pieces. I think it'll be around 1500 upon completion. Trust me, I'm running out of patience. I wanna be done and move on to the next one. I have some really cool Ideas for the next one.;)

[Ron Journeau]

My patience is just about all used up just sanding a 1 piece bowl with a 2 part catch, couldn't imagine myself getting myself into something like that, bill...very nice job

[Bill Wyko]

What I need to do is get a 2nd chuck so I can switch projects easier. :D (stealth excuse for more tools)

[Jim Becker]

What I need to do is get a 2nd chuck so I can switch projects easier.

Honestly, for someone like yourself who is doing these segmented pieces that can take a lot of time and steps, another chuck or two isn't a terrible idea and will pay for itself in time and satisfaction. Yes, it's a financial outlay, but what's the cost to you with not being able to do other work that requires a chuck? (Of course, a chuck isn't required to turn... ;) )

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

Bill, hang in there. The end is near. Of course that's when a little extra caution is in order. Regarding the need for another chuck, why don't you have this mounted on a faceplate? They are a lot more effective at keeping things consistent as you mount and dismount. FWIW, I use a lot of faceplates.

[joe greiner]

Gettin' into the home stretch, Bill, and you're way ahead of the pack. If you top this with your next piece, I might as well take up stamp collecting or some such. (Only kidding, of course; weed pots are still fun to make.)

Good idea about the faceplates, Malcolm. Cheap enough to have each one dedicated to an individual project. I guess you use a waste block to avoid screw holes in the workpiece itself? On my first attempt, I forgot about that and had to turn some mini button feet to fill the holes.

Bill, I posted a remark about chucks in your other thread's query.

Joe

[Steve Schlumpf]

Impressive Bill! Looking forward to seeing it finished and also am looking forward to seeing your next one! Very, very nice work!

[Bill Wyko]

Thanks everyone. I'll definitely do the faceplate next time. What I did this time is I marked my chuck and I marked my tenon. I found out the hard way that as accurate as the machine work is on the chucks you'll still get a wobble if you don't put it on the chuck exactly the way it came off. I think chucks are fine for smaller projects but you're right, for big projects, a faceplate is a must. That's part of the fun though...the learning curve. I'm still going to do some marquetry into the Black Limba that's on the beauty ring to make the "V" shapes consistent from top to bottom and to each other as well. I found that when it comes to a beauty ring like this, you can't even be out of round 1/16th of an inch or it will show in the end.This one was 4 semesters of wood turning 401. Next time I've got something in mind that'll really drive me nuts.:D

[Dick Strauss]

Bill,
Its looking pretty sweet so far.

As far as remounting your pieces go, it helps if you mark the #1 jaw outline with a pencil on the tenon of your piece before you remove it. That way you always get it back into the chuck jaws with the same orientation. It's not perfect but it will get you pretty close. Another thing that will help is to use a live center cone (like Oneway's) to align the center of the tailstock end and then tighten the chuck jaws on the headstock end. Once the jaws are tight, you can get rid of the tailstock cone and the piece should run pretty true. You should combine the two methods for best results.


Dick

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

Bill, I'm curious about the technique that you used to create your segmented "openings". Did you use a router on segment ends? Or did you "turn" them first with the segment ends aligned outward? Or maybe you used some other technique? I have a project in my near future where I will attempt to create "openings" by first turning the segments aligned to the outside of a temporary ring and then dis-assembly the ring in order to glue "half openings" together. I've never tried doing it that way, but I don't see why it couldn't be done.

[Bill Wyko]

That in itself was a learning experience. What I did was align the sides of 6 segments at a time for a total of 24 segments. Then taped them together with masking tape on the tops and bottoms. Because I made my segments to grain match, I flipped every other one so if there was any missalignment they would still be correct (This technique was discovered on my 2nd attempt). Using an Incra Jig fence, I made 4 passes over the router bit. Each time raising the bit 1/16 of an inch until I got the desired depth. Then I un-taped them and did the same to the other sides. It was crutial that my wood had no variation in thickness. Here's a pic of what'll happen if the router cuts aren't perfectly aligned or the wood is not evenly thick. This ring is firewood. I hope I've explained this properly. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask.:) I forgot to mention that I taped them together with the sides parallel so they have to be un-taped, flipped paralleled again and re-taped to do left and right sides. I'll take a pic tonight and post it tomorrow.

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

Thanks Bill, I figured it was something like that. I'm going to try to accomplish the same basic result a different way. I'll cut my segments with a miter cut only on one end. Then I'll glue together a ring with the segments aligned so that the square, end-grain ends point outward. To form the ring, I'll put skinny angled shims between the segments. Then on the lathe, I'll turn my desired shape into the end-grain ends, dis-assemble the ring, glue the square ends together, and then glue a ring together with the openings facing outward. At least it sounds plausible. I'll let you know if it works.

[Ed Scolforo]

Bill, I have the utmost respect for anyone with the patience to do a project like this. It's a real beauty!
Ed

[Bill Wyko]

That sounds like a good way to get shapes you wouldn't be able to get with a router. Keep in mind though you'll have to reverse the whole process to do the other side of the segments. I look forward to seeing how that works for you. Good luck.