Laminating

[Timsk]

Hi everyone, I've been Turning a few months now & made a few things. Non upto everyone here's standard I must admit ! and been 'Lurking' in the background reading post's to get as much info as I can on what I'm doing. Apart from help threading the headstock & setting up my lathe I've not been much of a contributor here. Thank you everyone who helped on that
Anyway to the point. I've done a search through the forum on Laminating but not really found the any answers to my question so I thought I would ask it. The 1st ever thing I made on my lathe was a laminated body for a Kaleidoscope I built for a friend. I didn't have the tools to bore out the middle to a suitable width to fix the mirrors inside so it seemed the easiest way was to make a hexagonal tube from some pine board I had & turn the outside down to round. Not the first project most people would start turning with I admit but it worked for me. Now I had no trouble doing this but now I have started turning some hardwoods & I'm thinking about laminating some of these together to make nice patterns. I'm just guessing but with my newbi skill I would imagine it would be a bad idea to mix hard and softwoods in a laminate together. Is this the case ? And if I use hardwood what tips would people give me on turning laminates apart from the obvious keeping my lathe speed down. I still havn't mastered the art people on here show of getting that great smooth finish without bumps & a few lines using only their tools & no sand paper (BTW I AM keeping my tools sharp). I'm hoping it's just the fact the hardwood I'm using is very hard. Jarrah wood and I've tried purple heart.
With thanks for any tips.

 

[cornucopia]

hello- a friend of mine laminated me two pieces of oak recently- i turned it normally and was very impressed with the lamination and final stability of the finished product.

jarrah and purple heart wouldn't be my first choices for laminating or praticeing on- i would suggest beech or sycamore as two very good pratice woods.

 

[CHJ]

Timsk, as cornucopia says your choice of woods will in itself cause you problems, the differing hardness/texture between the species is bound to give anyone a problem with depth of cut control and subsequent tool bounce as you pass across the joint boundary, Jara tends to be hard, purple heart brittle and both producing differing shavings dependant on grain orientation.

To experience this as a simple practice try making some Pencil /brush Holders by building up pots with rings, flatten each ring end on the lathe as you build it up (steel rule across the face) and glue up on the lathe as you go. If you can then turn the outer along a length of two or three species without dips or hollows then tool control is good.

 

[John. B]

Hello Timsk,
You are correct, mixing hard & soft wood is not really a good idea.
Below are a couple of examples of laminating I do. (Though I tend to call it segmenting).
The Mill is 300mm long and is of Beech & Sapele. The centre pieces are put through a thicknesser checked for snipe and sanded if it has.
The outer pieces are Veneers, glued as they come They are glued with titebond II and cramped overnight on a special jig I made for it.
The trophy stand is of Ash & Walnut again thicknessed to ensure absolutely flatness glued with the titebond and also cramped tight overnight.

The trick with laminating is to ensure both surfaces are true and flat.
Whether they are sanded or not is arguable. Some prefer it, others like to leave a sawn surface. If either works, for you it's the right way. :?

As far lathe speed is concerned, slow speed for large/out of balance/roughing down. faster speeds for smoothing/finishing.
IMO, peripheral speed is the governing factor. For example: A 300mm bowl would be turned far slower than a pen which I turn at the fastest my lathe goes.

EG. A bowl 300mm in diameter bowl at 500 RPM The outside edge is moving at 471.24 metres per minute
A pen 10mm in diameter also at 500 RPM is only moving at 15.7 metres per minute.

(That's if my sums are up to scratch)
So you see, size does matter.:lol::lol:


John. B

 

[Timsk]

Thanks a lot everyone these are good tips to help me.

 

[wizer]

Another example of laminating. I used standard Titemark II and lots of clamps.

 

[wizer]

and when you get really good....

 

[Timsk]

Thank's everyone. That last photo. Umm I think I'd have to give up coffee to get tool control to do anything that thin !

 

[Tony Spear]

Delighted to hear you've got the lathe up and running.

Did you get a chuck in the end?

 

[Timsk]

Sorry few days to reply not been online. Yes up and running. I got a Nova G3 Chuck from Record Derby. My friend's re-threading of the headstock spindle is just the job & I've been able to turn my first bowls although my first try was a failure. Tried to run before I could walk & used a piece of spalted beach. I was very happy with the bowl (well square ashtray style thing) I had made & was giving it a quick sand when I think I must have put a little too much pressure on a weak spot and it split in two on me. Think I will try to use some more durable material in future until I get the feel of it. Thanks for asking.

 

[Tony Spear]

If we can help somebody......