Scott Shonkwiler presented his approach to turning rings without a metal core at the November, 2018 regular monthly meeting
The process starts by drilling out the inside of the ring to the right size, a bit undersized so it is the right size once sanded. See the sizing rings in the photo above.
Scott drills the inside of the ring and sands this inner surface before using a hole saw (in this picture) to rough size the outer surface of the ring.
This is the roughed-out blank after drilling, ready for turning to its finished shape.
Scott has a home-made ring mandrel for turning the outer surface of the ring.
The 60 degree live center in the tailstock gently ‘spreads’ the arms of fixture to hold the ring in place as Scott profiles the ring using a roughing gouge.
Here Scott is using a carbide tool for the finishing cuts on the outer surface of the ring.
If Scott wants to create a ring with something other than a ‘band’ profile he often puts a sanding disk in the headstock to shape the ring.
By: Scott Shonkwiler On: 11/29/2018