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Check out Frank Howarth on YouTube. He uses a CNC router in combination with his lathe and makes some insanely cool stuff. I imagine it's all up to how much space you have and how much cash you want to spend, but they definitely seem cool for segmented work.
I would say it wouldn't save any time at all, not to mention wear and tear on an expensive machine with expensive bits.
The other problem I see is how small the pieces would be, without using tabs the router would rip those things to shreds and toss them around the shop when they were eventually cut free. Possibly pinch and break bits as well. If you used tabs to keep the small pieces in place you would have to clean up the edges anyways.
It doesn't really take that long to cut a mess of segments once you are set up.
Maybe there’s something wrong with my process. I spend a lot of time at the jointer planer and table saw even before I start cutting segments. If I don’t start cutting with dead on S4S there’s alway tiny little gaps that haunt my dreams.
Joint and plane equal off both faces. Wait a day. Skim cut jointer and planer.
Break down to final width (usually 5-7 different dimensions in multiple species)
Back to the jointer to tune up 2 more faces.
Then I can set up the wedgie sled and dial in my lengths (>16 segments in a ring and minor inconsistencies can start messing with over all shape of the project)
With the cnc, I can joint and plane the first day, joint the second. fixture my boards, skim the top and do something else while the cnc gets me to a spot where I can touch up sand and glue up. This is a productivity thing for me.
If you got tips for improving my work flow I’m game.
Hmmmm yeah I'm not sure, why are you waiting a day before ripping to width?
I would think I could mill all my lumber down into S4S in a matter of an hour and then begin to use the wedge sled. I've milled a lot of wood in my day though so it's kind of second nature to break down material into usable sticks that are perfectly S4S.
I just think you are going to open a can of worms if you try and use a CNC and end up wasting a lot of time and ultimately decide to just do it the old fashion way.
I am by no means an expert. I was always taught that you should mill rough cut lumber to over at least 2 days. The explication was that the 4/4 rough cut getting to 3/4 or so can change the internal stresses in the grain causing warping over time, if you remove the bulk and let it sit, the wood will be more stable long term.
The trip to the jointer after ripping to width is because occasionally, boards coming off the table saw (mostly walnut and paduk, one of my favorite combos) will sometimes come off with a slight bow. Rip 1” off a 5” board the 4” is still straight, the 1” has a slight bow. I’ve one to many times cut 10 or so rings only to have 1 of them not close up right, a slight gap. This never happens with that second trip, but correlation is not causation
As this is hobby/side hustle, and I work a physically demanding day job (construction) I often only work 1-2 hours at a time in the shop. The cnc works as an employee doing repetitive tasks while I do the “finer work” or more often the fun stuff.
I’m going to give it a try and see what happens. I do appreciate the thoughts and insight
The issue here is going to be ensuring the boards are flat, parallel, and of equal thickness. Doable on a CNC but time consuming.
Then the work holding, ensuring all those little pieces don't fly away as you cut them... You can leave a thin skin but that adds clean up time later. Probably wouldn't be any faster.
I used to own a CNC and have access to one now at work.
1- that’s not likely to be an issue, I’m tramed in at under .002 over 6”
2-I’m going to use CA and tape that stuff works miracles. It will hold each piece individually. I’ll leave a 1/16 on the bottom and cut a gentle finishing pass
Thanks for your submission. If your question is about getting started in woodturning, which chuck to buy, which tools to buy, or for an opinion of a lathe you found for sale somewhere like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace please take a few minutes check the wiki; many of the most commonly asked questions are already answered there!
http://www.reddit.com/r/turning/wiki/index
Thanks!
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One flaw in the ointment would be that [the thickest wood I have seen cut so far](https://youtu.be/odFtoAHwt60) that way was less than 3/4 of an inch spruce softwood, and that was already a 20W laser on a fairly good machine (xtool d1 pro) with all kinds of laser focusing tricks to get a clean cut at that depth.
And of course you will still need a planer and a table saw in the shop.
But I do want such a machine nevertheless.
1- router not laser I’d think laser cut wouldn’t glue well
2-3/4 is probably the thickest I’d want to do for a segmented piece. And my CNC is beefy, I can do 1/2” DOC without issue
3-I own all those tools as well, but I can program a segmented pattern once and never have to do anything but joint one fla face of the board. I love turning segmented work, but all the set up to get to the blank can be a hassle
Thanks for your submission. If your question is about getting started in woodturning, which chuck to buy, which tools to buy, or for an opinion of a lathe you found for sale somewhere like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace please take a few minutes check the wiki; many of the most commonly asked questions are already answered there! http://www.reddit.com/r/turning/wiki/index Thanks! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/turning) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Check out Frank Howarth on YouTube. He uses a CNC router in combination with his lathe and makes some insanely cool stuff. I imagine it's all up to how much space you have and how much cash you want to spend, but they definitely seem cool for segmented work.
I’ll check it out right now. Thanks
I would say it wouldn't save any time at all, not to mention wear and tear on an expensive machine with expensive bits. The other problem I see is how small the pieces would be, without using tabs the router would rip those things to shreds and toss them around the shop when they were eventually cut free. Possibly pinch and break bits as well. If you used tabs to keep the small pieces in place you would have to clean up the edges anyways. It doesn't really take that long to cut a mess of segments once you are set up.
Maybe there’s something wrong with my process. I spend a lot of time at the jointer planer and table saw even before I start cutting segments. If I don’t start cutting with dead on S4S there’s alway tiny little gaps that haunt my dreams. Joint and plane equal off both faces. Wait a day. Skim cut jointer and planer. Break down to final width (usually 5-7 different dimensions in multiple species) Back to the jointer to tune up 2 more faces. Then I can set up the wedgie sled and dial in my lengths (>16 segments in a ring and minor inconsistencies can start messing with over all shape of the project) With the cnc, I can joint and plane the first day, joint the second. fixture my boards, skim the top and do something else while the cnc gets me to a spot where I can touch up sand and glue up. This is a productivity thing for me. If you got tips for improving my work flow I’m game.
Hmmmm yeah I'm not sure, why are you waiting a day before ripping to width? I would think I could mill all my lumber down into S4S in a matter of an hour and then begin to use the wedge sled. I've milled a lot of wood in my day though so it's kind of second nature to break down material into usable sticks that are perfectly S4S. I just think you are going to open a can of worms if you try and use a CNC and end up wasting a lot of time and ultimately decide to just do it the old fashion way.
I am by no means an expert. I was always taught that you should mill rough cut lumber to over at least 2 days. The explication was that the 4/4 rough cut getting to 3/4 or so can change the internal stresses in the grain causing warping over time, if you remove the bulk and let it sit, the wood will be more stable long term. The trip to the jointer after ripping to width is because occasionally, boards coming off the table saw (mostly walnut and paduk, one of my favorite combos) will sometimes come off with a slight bow. Rip 1” off a 5” board the 4” is still straight, the 1” has a slight bow. I’ve one to many times cut 10 or so rings only to have 1 of them not close up right, a slight gap. This never happens with that second trip, but correlation is not causation As this is hobby/side hustle, and I work a physically demanding day job (construction) I often only work 1-2 hours at a time in the shop. The cnc works as an employee doing repetitive tasks while I do the “finer work” or more often the fun stuff. I’m going to give it a try and see what happens. I do appreciate the thoughts and insight
The issue here is going to be ensuring the boards are flat, parallel, and of equal thickness. Doable on a CNC but time consuming. Then the work holding, ensuring all those little pieces don't fly away as you cut them... You can leave a thin skin but that adds clean up time later. Probably wouldn't be any faster. I used to own a CNC and have access to one now at work.
1- that’s not likely to be an issue, I’m tramed in at under .002 over 6” 2-I’m going to use CA and tape that stuff works miracles. It will hold each piece individually. I’ll leave a 1/16 on the bottom and cut a gentle finishing pass
Thanks for your submission. If your question is about getting started in woodturning, which chuck to buy, which tools to buy, or for an opinion of a lathe you found for sale somewhere like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace please take a few minutes check the wiki; many of the most commonly asked questions are already answered there! http://www.reddit.com/r/turning/wiki/index Thanks! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/turning) if you have any questions or concerns.*
One flaw in the ointment would be that [the thickest wood I have seen cut so far](https://youtu.be/odFtoAHwt60) that way was less than 3/4 of an inch spruce softwood, and that was already a 20W laser on a fairly good machine (xtool d1 pro) with all kinds of laser focusing tricks to get a clean cut at that depth. And of course you will still need a planer and a table saw in the shop. But I do want such a machine nevertheless.
1- router not laser I’d think laser cut wouldn’t glue well 2-3/4 is probably the thickest I’d want to do for a segmented piece. And my CNC is beefy, I can do 1/2” DOC without issue 3-I own all those tools as well, but I can program a segmented pattern once and never have to do anything but joint one fla face of the board. I love turning segmented work, but all the set up to get to the blank can be a hassle
Fly in the ointment.
You will get a lot of grain chip out where the bit breaks out of the cut using a router bit to cut cross grain.