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Ringmaster style ring cutter

Don C Davis

Don C Davis

Joined
Feb 15, 2018
Messages
256
Likes
64
Location
Canton, GA
I have and have used a 'mount to your lathe type' Ringmaster tool and built several bowls with it--I actually like them quite a lot. I would like to obtain a cutting tool that will cut rings from a 1 1/2" or thicker board--the guy at Ringmaster--Peter Merritt is just horrible at following up with customers--my 'mount to the lathe' model Ringmaster has had some issues since day one--Peter has been promising for over 2 years that he would send me a Variable Speed Stand Alone model Ringmaster 'lathe' and give me a full credit for the one I have with it's issues. At this time I would like to obtain a cutting tool that I can use with my lathe, whereby I can cut rings from a thicker board than the Ringmaster (7/8" thick max capability) and be able to choose the angle that I need to cut the rings at to insure they will stack properly. If anyone knows of someone who could make such a tool, I would gladly pay a reasonable price for it, likewise if someone know what specifications a tool like this would require, I would be willing to find a machine shop to build it for me..
I am open to all input and advice on this project/tool quest!
 
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I use a parting tool. Thickest ring I have done with a parting tool was about 4” thick.
It was in a Johannes Michelson class. We cut the ring to use for a mirror frame off the hat we we turned.

Bowl from a board is an old technique that Steve Marlow has gotten quite good at.
He is doing class at the Florida symposium. He uses a parting tool
http://floridawoodturningsymposium.com/workshops/steven-marlow/

http://www.penturners.org/forum/att...o-bowl-blank-make-bowl-single-flat-board2.pdf

I have done lots of stack lamination for full size birdhouse roofs and bottoms.
I cut a wooden guide for the angle. Square the toolrest to the lathe hold the wood angle to the toolrest to get the correct angle for the parting tool. After the first ring is cut I use it for the angle guide.

March 1997 AAW Journal - Susan Schauer has and article on the birdhouses. She cuts the rings on the bandsaw.

You can also make a spiral cut with bandsaw saw like the bandsaw baskets. Glue the seams. Pull it up and clamp it. This is a cool bowl too.


AAW Journal October 2016 Steven mellot article on the vortex bowl - he cuts the rings on scroll saw. Very small kerf. Blades go through a drilled hole. Will be depth limited.

AAW Journal September 1993. Dale Larson article bowl from a board with a bandsaw technique.
 
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Do some research on youtube on Bowl From a Board. I saw some really cool homemade ideas for ringmaster style cutter assemblies. I have been designing one myself but that got put on the back burner when I got married, moved and built a new workshop. Now that I'm planning on moving again I guess it will stay on the back burner. The one I found on youtube that I really liked had 2 cutters that cut from both sides toward the middle and could be adjusted to any angle. Of course you would have to build it.
I've done several bowls using just a parting tool. I made my own thin parting tool that is narrow enough to not bind up in the smaller circles. It only works well on 3/4" boards however. To get up to 1 1/2" I would think you would need a captured cutter of some kind. That's what I was working on when I had to put it up. It was a metal cutting parting tool mounted in a separate bar. That bar would be captured and go through a gate that you could change the angle and lock it down. Don't know if I ever made a drawing. If I find one I'll post it.
 
I tried to reply to John on my phone, and apparently it didn't work. So here was my reply.
" John that rig you were/are working on sounds just like what I'm seeking-I will do a YouTube search fora 'Bowl from board' I searched for 'cutting rings for a bowl' and didn't find anything I liked. I'm the sort of person that likes good quality tools, and I will pay for something like I'm searching for, I found a guy on the internet that builds some impressive stacked ring items named Mark Damron but he is/was a design engineer of some sort and he made custom tooling to do what I'd like to be able to do-he is not contact-able-at least not for me.
I may try and come up with a design that I could get a machine shop to build for me"....
 
Not sure if you want to modify the Ringmaster or get anew tool. I have a Ringmaster and it my understanding that it cannot be modified for a thicker board. I read most of the posts on William Youngs Woodworking Friends board as that is the place to learn about RM. The board is now private but if you are interested I could reccommend you.
 
Gerald, I am already a member of Woodworking Friends site--and no I'm not wanting a modified RingMaster--but something more like the unit Mark Damron is using in that video.
Thanks though!
 
It looks like the angle and the thickness of each ring would be the critical part of producing mating rings. A tool rest set up with a proper angle guide and a thin parting tool could possibly work for this application. If you had a shaft with a narrow slot cut in it that would fit into your banjo and set the angle of the slot and the thickness of the ring, you could use a thin parting tool mounted in a handle and push the parting tool into the wood by hand. The vertical tool rest post would need to be aligned with each of the ring cuts being made, so you would need to modify or use and offset post or swivel arm that adapts to the banjo to allow for the tool rest post to align with each cut. You can purchase 1/16" thick carbide parting tools for metal lathes that could be mounted to a handle to provide a thin cutting kerf.
 
Mike, I like the way you are thinking, a parting tool will not give the consistency I'm after or work on the thicker pieces I would like to cut rings from. The video of Mark Damron shows the type of tool I would like--I am currently brainstorming with a machine shop owner and hopefully can figure something out, possibly one we could produce multiples of and sell....
 
Don,

I have turned a number of nested spheres from 1-1/2" thick slabs and free handed the rings I used for each layer. Making that deep of a cut usually requires cutting from both sides of the slab which I would mark my cut lines with a Sharpie on both sides of the wood slab. I have used my metal lathe on several occasions to make precise angle cuts on wood blanks in the past, the Aloris style quick change tool, cross slide and compound tool rest made it easy to set up an angular plunge cut into the wood blank. If you could make all of your cuts on one side half way through the wood blank and then reverse the mounting of the wood blank on the face plate or chuck you could finish cutting the rings from the outer edge working your way in to the last ring. This process would simplify the cutting jig and needing to perfectly aligned cutting tools.
 
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