Experimental Lathe

Bonssketch

Hello Everyone. Can the experts please tell if me if the following is possible in SU:
I want (in real life) to make a number of blocks by laminating 3 or 4 small pieces of different-colored wood together, then turn them on a lathe using various axes through diagonal points to produce ornaments of various shapes. It would be nice to experiment in SU to see the effects of changing the thicknesses of the laminated pieces, the axes, and the colors of the wood.

Any suggestions as to how to this will be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Andrew.

Hazza

To do that in SU I would create a seperate component/group for each layer. I would then create the shape you wanted. Lay each component next to each other so that the entire volume of the shape is filled.

Edit the component, select all, then use intersect with model, erase the unwanted section. Do the same thing with the next component. Delete the shaped component. Save the file with a different name.

To do the next one open the original file, change the thickness of the coloured components. Make them line up again after the thickness change. Repeat the intersect/deleting that you did with the first one.

Bonssketch

Thanks Hazza, I'll try that.

Hazza

I just throught of a much easier way, create the shape. Then create your own material with the various widths and project it onto the shape.

If you don't have a decent graphics editor then you can always download The GIMP.

Dave R

I think you could go about drawing the individual blocks for a segmented turning using SketchUp but working out the shape of the blocks to end up with a desired pattern would be a bit of work. Certainly you only need to do a small portion of the entire pattern and then copy it.

As Hazza has also suggested, you could apply a pattern drawn flat to the "turned" shape but this wouldn't result in individual blocks. You could trace the edges shown in the pattern to break up the surface of the turning and make up individual components if needed.

You don't really need an image editor to make the flat pattern, you could do that right in SketchUp and then export the pattern as a JPG and import it as a texture. I made this drawing in SU6 that way.
Wooden Vase.jpg
Using this as the material.
pattern f bowl.jpg

Now of course in SU 7, you don't even need the export and import thing. You can do it right in SU.

You might decide that what you need to do would be better done with other sioftware. I did a quick Google search and found this link: http://www.segmentedturning.com/software.htm I have no experience with it but it looks to be designed to do exactly what you want to do.

Good luck.

Dave

Bonssketch

Thanks Hazza, and Dave.

Dave, your effort in finding the segmented turning software is really appreciated - it does look as if it may be the answer. By the way, since I shall only be working on small items, I shall do some of the initial shaping on the Woodrat, with which I know you are very familiar!

Kind regards,

Andrew.

remus

You might have found some clever way around this, but when i had a quick go at turning laminated pieces of wood i could never get anywhere as i found the hardness of my laminates to be too different. This meant that one of the laminates would be cut more quickly than the other, leaving ribs in the piece which would then get caught by the tool and mess the whole thing up.

I never went further than a couple of quick tests, though, so you might have more luck than me.

Ghostbear

Are you guys professional turners or do it for fun and relaxation??

Cheers,
Narc

remus

I'm certainly not. I just do the occasional bit at college, it is very pleasing though.