Gluing up thin segments

[Dan Gaylin]

Still learning the many aspects of segmented turning. When you have a feature ring that you are building up from several thin segmented rings (1/4” high) what is the best way to clamp the individual thin rings before glueing it all together.

I use hose clamps or rubber bands to clamp my rings but I am thinking these won’t work very well with a ring that thin — it might collapse in on itself. I’ve tried dry fitting the rings with a hose clamp and it seems to work, but don’t want to get to the glueing and find out that with the added slipperiness of the glue I have a problem on my hands.

Anyone have a special trick for this?

Thanks,

-dan

[Steve Eure]

I use several different methods, depending on the type of ring I'm making. If at all possible, I'll incorporate the thin piece with another ring. If that is not possible, I may make a ring that is much thicker, say 1/2" or larger and then cut it on the bandsaw to make several thinner rings. Then I will run them through my drum sander on a sled to final thickness. It's so much easier if you are just using thin rings to border another ring. Then you can glue them together as I mentioned at the beginning.

[Dan Gaylin]

Thanks Steve. My rings above and below the thin rings are candidates for incorporating to a thicker ring. But do I do that one segment at a time? Meaning, so I take the thin segments and glue them to the thicker rings, one by one? It would seem that this would only work if the thicker rings were the exact same number of segments and the segments are the exact same length.

I get that I could have done this by making laminated strips and then cutting the segments from the strips. But it’s too late for that now darn it. Can try it next time.

What about putting down some plastic wrap on the top the thin ring and then weighting it down with something so it doesn’t collapse when I tighten the the hose clamp?

[Sam Force]

If you have a drum sander then I would glue up as usual, using minimal glue and keep the hose clamp touching the surface you are glueing on. Once clamped up I lift the ring up spray with a lot of water to clean any squeeze out. Then I lay the ring back down and put a heavy weight on the piece.

[Edward Weber]

You can use a rub joint or even blue tape to hold the segments together while curing. there's no need to over do the clamping pressure.

[Dan Gaylin]

Thanks for the advice. Rub joint worked well prior to clamping. Put the heavy object in the middle just in case.