Segmented Bowl Question

[Greg Bender]

I have been tempted to try a segmented project on the lathe and came up with a question.When you glue up the various laminated pieces to cut the segments from,is there a easy way /formula to calculate how long of a piece to make up to ensure that you will have enough material to cut X- number of pieces for a given bowl diameter.Hope I phrased this question correctly.
Thanx,Greg

[Mike Golka]

Greg check out this site www.woodturnerpro.com (http://www.woodturnerpro.com). I have no affiliation with them but do use the software. There are more out there but this suite seems to cover most of the bases. You can download the free trial and use it for 30 days. It calculates total board length require if you are doing laminated strips to make segments from or just cutting the segments from a board. You even have the option to choose aligned grain or not.

[Gerold Griffin]

Gregg, I'll second what Mike said. The woodtuner pro package will give you everything you need. You can design feature rings, select differant woods, everything, and you can download a free 30 day version. Only problem I had is it was so good I had to buy it!!!

[Jim Kountz]

+1 for the Woodturnerpro suite. Its saved me alot of time and alot of wood too!!

[Greg Bender]

Thanx for the info,seems like a good deal at $50.Definitely creative software.Did you guys just buy the Woodturnerpro or did you buy the suite?LaminationPro looks to be interesting also.
Thanx Again,
Greg

[Richard Madison]

Greg,
It can be done with pencil, paper, and a calculator, but you need to know some trig. It depends upon the number of segments per ring (and hence the angle of cut), and the thickness of your saw kerf. The circumference of each ring (Pi x D) will give you a ballpark value of the length of stock needed to make that ring. Software is great if you can afford it.

[Ben Richardson]

I got the suite and love it! The Lamination Pro takes a little study but the other two packages are very easy to use.

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

Both WoodturnerPro and Woodturner Studio are very handy and easy to learn programs. For simple, beginner bowls, a calculator and graph paper are about all you need. The math doesn't need to be "trig"; just knowing the relationship between diameter, circumference, and pi will be all the geometry that you need.

[Dewey Torres]

Both WoodturnerPro and Woodturner Studio are very handy and easy to learn programs. For simple, beginner bowls, a calculator and graph paper are about all you need. The math doesn't need to be "trig"; just knowing the relationship between diameter, circumference, and pi will be all the geometry that you need.

Well Greg... The Master has spoken!

Malcolm, I don't even turn yet but I bought your latest book and love the genius of it!