need urgent help with design..

[Rasmus Petersen]

I have a customer that wants me to turn 2 "bowls" prototypes for some birdhouses that will end up beeing made in china.

My problem is is this possible to turn at all or is it to much endgran cutting should this be a segmented job to get a stabile outcome ... the danish guy i asked (Old pro turner) said that this could only be acchived with segmented glueup job.

Im at a loss.. so all advice and help will be MORE than welcome!

102696 102697

Thank you all in advance!!

[Duff Bement]

I guess if it was up to me I would find a nice chunk of hard maple or the most stable wood you have and just try it out. You really never know until you try. Good luck and post some pictures of how it turns out.

[Jason Christenson]

How deep are those things?

Jason

[Brian Brown]

It is a lot of endgrain no doubt, but we see examples here where people that do it all the time. IF you pick a dry stable piece of wood like maple, I don't see why you couldn't pull it off. If necessary, you could drill out some of the interior with a forstner bit, and finish with a turning tool. Segmenting would definitely work, but it takes longer. Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

[Reed Gray]

I guess that it would depend on what the Chinese are going to make theirs out of. If the wood is going to be a pattern for a casting (ceramic, poly clay, plastic, etc), they maybe segmented would be the way to go. Another way would be to do end grain, rough turn about 75% or the way, and let it dry/adjust for a few days, then finish turn it. If it is going to be a sample for them to copy out of wood, I don't think it will matter too much. Maybe some of the jewelers wax that they use for lost wax casting would work as well.
robo hippy

[Dave Noon]

...Another way would be to do end grain, rough turn about 75% or the way, and let it dry/adjust for a few days, then finish turn it. ...

At around 7" diameter x 11" long I think you might need more than a few days to dry it.

I would think segmented or staved would be the way to go but I'm very low on experience so take that for what it's worth :).

Dave

[Rasmus Petersen]

the messuremenst are i mm. and the design is goging to be made in Teak and Oak. hehehe if the chinese can figure it out ;)

im thhinking of making theese in ash og mapel. build from 4 staves...

[Rasmus Petersen]

the messuremenst are i mm. and the design is goging to be made in Teak and Oak. hehehe if the chinese can figure it out ;)

im thhinking of making theese in ash og mapel. build from 4 staves...

but im still not quite shure

[Jeffrey Fusaro]

have you considered a synthetic material like this?

http://www.freemansupply.com/RenShapeModelingan.htm

it is used for rapid prototyping.

no grain structure. very stable and easy to machine.

it cuts very well with conventional milling and lathe equipment. i don't see a reason why it would not work with SHARP wood working tools.

[Bob Vallaster]

I don't know whether the growth rings in the end view and grain in the profile view is embellishment or specification...
It appears from the drawings that the designer might want stave construction and want a particular grain orientation to achieve a chevron effect on the outside surface.
If that is the case, turning from a single piece, or using a synthetic material without feature might not fill the bill.

BobV

[Scott Conners]

I agree, it appears the segmentation and grain orientations are called out in the drawings. I see 8 staves per peice, grain at 45 degrees and alternating, which should be pretty strong.
Have you tried contacting the designer on the drawings?

[Jeffrey Fusaro]

this would be a challenging piece to work on.

there are a lot of dimensional specifications on the lid and very few on the body. this seems odd. not sure why one part would be so tightly specified and the other not as much???

if you have the drawings available in full scale, i would use them to make templates out of a rigid material to use to shape the interior and exterior profiles.

there does not seem to be any feature to locate the lid on the body - like a small mortise and tenon to keep everything concentric. both shapes seem to have the same profile where they meet. how ware they held together? just bonded?

i would like to see the process that you use to make this.

mayeb you could make a tutorial??? :D

[Rasmus Petersen]

Thank you all for the great input... i will let you know how this ends up :-)

jeff : a tutorial well i dont know about that, but i will give you all the tips and some pics.