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New project

Glenn McCarron

PRO Member
This is my first project designed with the Woodturning Pro suite of software. I will start cutting material this week. Before that I would appreciate any comments or suggestions anyone has. The vase will have a 1 7/8 glass tube 9" tall in the centre. I want this to be a usable vase.

Would you use a solid bottom or a floating base? I was thinking of a standard ring with the centre being the bottom of the glass tube.

Thanks for any input or suggestions.

Is there anyway to trim the segment edges to the outside shape in the preview?

Vase capture 1.PNG
 
This is my first project designed with the Woodturning Pro suite of software. I will start cutting material this week. Before that I would appreciate any comments or suggestions anyone has. The vase will have a 1 7/8 glass tube 9" tall in the centre. I want this to be a usable vase.

Would you use a solid bottom or a floating base? I was thinking of a standard ring with the centre being the bottom of the glass tube.

Thanks for any input or suggestions.

Is there anyway to trim the segment edges to the outside shape in the preview?

View attachment 490

Nice profile for a vase.
Color is a personal thing. I would make the bottom two rings out of walnut to match the top section of the vase. The orange bottom distracts from the featured ring. By having the bottom dark (walnut) it would enhance the featured ring.

Let us know how it turns out.
 
Nice profile for a vase.
Color is a personal thing. I would make the bottom two rings out of walnut to match the top section of the vase. The orange bottom distracts from the featured ring. By having the bottom dark (walnut) it would enhance the featured ring.

Let us know how it turns out.

Thanks for your comment, that is what I am looking for. If I went with walnut on the bottom two rings would you also change out the pauduk in the feature ring? I initially had it all walnut with maple strips for the feature and top but I thought it was lacking something.
 
As an alternative, the vase could be very attractive just as you've designed it, but I would consider not having the light-colored bands above and below the feature ring. This would let the entire area above and below the feature ring be solid and would direct your eyes directly to the feature. I made a vase very similar to this a long time ago and I thought the effect was very nice.

Lloyd
 
Two thoughts. For the bottom ring, you can use a standard ring but install a short "plug" in the bottom of it. This will finish off the outside of the vessel, plus leave a divot for the glass insert to set into on the inside. Another option for the feature ring would be to flip it over so the colors alternate. All projects are learning opportunities, and there are no absolutes. Have fun.
 
Actually, I kinda see what you are going for there. The flame rising up from the bottom of the vase with the multi-gen flames at the top. Very cool. I do agree that the lighter color bands should go to make it more flamey.
 
Hi Alex, no flames in my vision lol, I just wanted a division and a transition between the two kinds of wood. I did remove the 1/8 division between my feature ring and I think I like it better. I also think I am gonna keep my wood choice and hopefully will start the glue up tomorrow. The week has sorta slid away again.
 
First round of cuts for the feature ring are complete. I won't get the glue up done until tomorrow. Need to cut a jig to hold them straight.
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So holidays are behind me so I can get back to work on my vase project. I did look into getting a laser pointer to help with my second generation cuts but that didn't work out as Rockler will not ship them across the border. Plan B since my drill press has a laser guide I thought I could use that and make it work. Went together very easy but could use some refinement in adjustability.

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Now back to cutting. I used my Wedgie sled with one fence removed to give me room to set the opposite one to 30 degrees and add some stoppers.

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Now to gluing the pairs together.

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Now I am seeing some slight irregularities in the alignment as some strips match perfect and some don't. My initial strips were all cut on the table saw and glued straight from there. I do not have a drum sander to help dimension the wood. I suspect this is where the error is creeping in. I am going to continue with these blocks more to learn the process of getting it to a ring. I may redue the feature ring and strive for more accuracy. If anyone has suggestions to get perfect cuts please feel free to pass them on.
 
Any tiny error will only get bigger as the generations increase. I usually have trouble on the first glue up trying to keep all the points exactly lined up. Lately I have been using a straight edge across the middle of the segments to help keep them lined up. I also started using Titebond extended glue, like Lloyd suggests. It gives me some time to readjust the segments before they set up.
 
Thanks Jeff for the input. I really think my errors are better explained by a slight variation in thickness as some strips line up and some don't.
 
Glenn,
I really think that experience will be the great teacher here. You are doing an excellent job so far and I only wish my first attempt at a 2nd generation would have turned out as well.

I've used lasers quite extensively but I use a single fine dot because I could never get a laser line to line up perfectly with the saw blade and stay aligned. Mine is on a magnetic base with an arm that is approximately 18" above the table of the saw. To begin, I take a piece of scrap wood and put it at the intended angle and then push it partially through the saw and then pull the sled back. This saw kerf shows me exactly where the blade is. I then position the laser so that the dot is in the center of the kerf and approximately six inches in front of the blade. I then put my board on the sled and move the sled and the board until the intended cut spot is positioned under the laser dot and then make the cut and it is usually close to perfect.

I now take the time to mark the position of each intended cut since this only takes a minute or two. Since each cut gets positioned using the laser, the accuracy is almost never an issue as long as all the strips were glued into the board without errors.

Keep up the good work.
Lloyd
 
Thanks Lloyd for the encouragement. In the next few days I will build another sled to position my segments for the 15 degree cut on the sides. Most likely I will try with a MDF set until the angle is perfect. My only concern now is whether my pieces are thick enough to accommodate the shape of my vase. I will determine that and maybe add a layer to the segments first as it will be on the inside and not visible.
 
Next step was to cut the angles on the segments. Here is a picture of the sled I built. I did cut a set from MDF to test the fit and got lucky that it all seemed good.

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Here is my test ring.

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And the segment

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Now I am off to glue it up. I think I will do it in two halves just to ensure a tight fit. Light touch up on the sander before I glue the two halves.
 
Looks like you are getting the hang of it. I wished I thought of using nails for separators. I have tried toothpicks and skewers, but they tend to fall over. The nail should work great.
 
HI Jeff. I certainly used small dowels in the past and have had issues keeping them upright. Nails seemed a perfect fit for this taller ring and once inserted they seemed to just hang there until I tightened up the clamps.
 
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