So my sister saw the bowl and asked me to make her and my other sister a bowl. I was not happy with the result of using the miter gauge to make the segments so I did some research and discovered wedge sleds and studied them for a few days and didn't really like exactly what I found so I designed something a bit different. There's a lot of videos on how to make them but they seemed inaccurate at best. I did some CAD work and came up with this CAD design for a wedge sled.

Cutting from the bottom the holes and slot.

 

I added a hand hold and something to secure the right edge.

 

 

First test cut with some scrap wood, I'm a happy camper... I wanted to be in control of the segment as it's cut off and not let it have a burr.

 

It's just MDF nothing fancy but super accurate as far as I can tell. This is a 10 segment black walnut ring I cut on the wedge sled. I might be tricked into making a few wedge sleds for cost it there is any interest in them. I'd just make the base and the fences on my CNC mill you would need to make the hand hold and supply the hardware and make the miter slot and insert.

 

I have a spreadsheet to calculate the length and width of the segments as soon as I put that on my web site I'll add a link here. This is the calculations for the wedges.

 

Needless to say I was very happy with the results. Now on to the bowls... what a mess under the router table but that's been cleaned up by now.

 

Now I couldn't send my sisters a one of a kind bowl without engraving something from their brother on the bottom of the bowl so I had to come up with a way to hold the bowls while making the bottom perfectly flat and engraving the message. V-Carve works best with a level surface and I'm not good enough on the lathe to do that so I did it on the mill.

 

The engraving jig clamps.

 

 

I put a center mark in the bottom of the bowl while it was on the screw chuck during Op #1. I used that center to fix the X0 location of the bowl on the mill. The jig is 8" deep so Y-4 is the center of the bowl for engraving.

 

Making the bottom flat

 

This one is for my wife!

 

For my sisters

 

JT

 

 

 

Edited March 14, 20224 yr by jthornton

WOW!!!Thank You for this post and the details of your sled. Those bowls are Awesome!!

Lew said it, really nice setup and craftsmanship...on the bowls and the sled.

W.O.W. !!! Spectacular! The engraving jig clamps, you engineered and made them in your shop?

1 hour ago, Dovetail said:

W.O.W. !!! Spectacular! The engraving jig clamps, you engineered and made them in your shop?

Yes, I created them in SolidWorks then in OneCNC I created the G code for my Bridgeport mill. The first photo of the clamps you see one finished and the second one on the jig ready to mill the profile.

 

JT

Thought so. I’ve noticed in hand trades that the tools we make and solutions we fashion sometimes eclipse the product of their use. We are stationary engineers, designers, fabricators, AND artists (I’m still a wanna-be artist but will not stop trying 😁)

JT all I can say is...

     

        I

Wow!  Love it.  Great solution.  Nice build on the sled.

Bowls are outta me wheelhouse (so far), but as others have commented on, your jigs may be something you could make and sell. From my online surfing, there’s a lot of interest in them. I dunno if you have that kind of time. Bowls are way cool!

52 minutes ago, Artie said:

Bowls are outta me wheelhouse (so far), but as others have commented on, your jigs may be something you could make and sell. From my online surfing, there’s a lot of interest in them. I dunno if you have that kind of time. Bowls are way cool!

I should be retired but people still find me and bring me automation projects. Right now I'm building a semi-automatic assembly machine for Whirlpool for a mixer handle! Converting 4 Bacci copy lathes to PLC control (3 done, 1 to do) and converting a late 1800's spoke lathe to automated feeding and cutting (second one). I think that one makes a hammer handle. I know I can find time to make a few segment jigs if someone wants one. Now that I'm semi-retired I do take off in the middle of the week when the weather is nice and go somewhere with my wife and my customers know and understand that I'll get it done...

 

JT