Segmented Toroid

[Texian]

Just your basic toroid, not a fancy one or combination. It is about 13-1/2" (34 cm) diameter, oak and walnut, composed of 60 rings of 12 segments each. It's not perfect, but ok for the first attempt at one of these. Try to ignore the cardboard stand. Some of you may have seen this on another forum. Your comments are welcome, and thanks for looking.

[Ed Reiss]

Tex...if that's "basic", would love to see the next level up!!!:2tsup::2tsup:

[rod1949]

Mate! I've never heard of such a thing before.

It looks bloody fantastic:2tsup:

[starr]

Very nice!!

I don't usually go for the segmented stuff very much, but this is an exception.

[thefixer]

:2tsup::whs:

Cheers
Shorty

[dai sensei]

Wow that is amazing :2tsup:

I made some harlequin pens a while back with a similar theme and technique, but your slices are cut on the angle making it even harder, well done it looks great.

[powderpost]

An exceptional piece, well done.
Jim

[OGYT]

Don't know what it is, but it looks done up well! :)

[Texian]

Thanks to all for your kind comments. I appreciate the encouragement. Ed, am working on a piece that I hope will be the "next level up", but that remains to be seen. Will know for sure in a couple of weeks. Thanks again y'all.

[Hardenfast]

I do a little segmenting myself, and have been happy to turn out a few modest bowls etc so far. This "toroid" is certainly quite amazing and I would love to see some more info about the cutting, assembly and turning process. I can feel a WIP tutorial coming on, Tex (hopefully).

Wayne

[artme]

:o:o Basic!!!! Wish I was so basic!!! :D:D

Wonderful work!!:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

[Texian]

Thanks Art. Appreciate it.

Wayne, A segmented toroid is nothing more than a segmented ring, except that the segments are, themselves, segmented rings. The best tutorial is probably the one in Malcolm Tibbetts' book "The Art of Segmented Woodturning". Probably still available on Amazon for about $17US. Price may have increased since I bought mine a while back.

It would take me a couple pages to write all the details, but basically you decide on the outside and inside diameters of the toroid you want to make. Then how many rings do you want to use. Need to use enough so that the thin side of the rings (after you taper them) is about 3/16" (5 mm) thick. From the toroid diameters and number of rings you get the diameter and thickness of the individual rings. Make the required number of segmented rings plus a few extra. The taper angle of the rings is calculated the same way as the angle for the individual segments. I decided on 60 rings, so 360 degrees divided by 60 equals 6 degrees per ring. So each side of each ring had to be tapered 3 degrees to give a 6 degree included angle. Did this with a home made sanding disc, table, and fixture on the lathe. Thickness sander would be better. Could also use router with a "planing" frame.

Clamp rough toroid to auxilliary face plate with a center plate and turn/ sand as much of the outside as you can reach. Install "doughnut" clamp plate over already turned part of toroid, and then remove center clamp plate. Turn, sand as much of inside as you can reach. Reverse the toroid on the face plate and repeat the process. And presto, you have it.

Best just to buy Malcolm's book, as it is very well written and has excellent pictures of the various steps. Besides, it will show you a whole world of other cool stuff to make. Hope this is helpful.

[Hardenfast]

Thanks Tex.

Would you believe I actually have the Tibbetts book - I just hadn't read far enough into it. I got caught up in the segmented bowl stuff and hadn't gone any further. I'll sit down with a coffee shortly and try to digest the toroid information. Many thanks for the summary.

By the way, I presume you're from Texas USA - not Texas Queensland? We seem to have quite a few American Texans here.

Wayne

[Texian]

You're welcome Wayne. Yep, it is USA. Ern and some others visit some of the US based forums, so it seemed appropriate to return the favor. You all have some great turners in Australia and NZ. Good luck with your toroid. Just finished a couple more that will be combined into a single piece if all goes well.