How do I cut tapered plugs flush in a bowl?

paulrussell · Post by **paulrussell** » Sat May 08, 2010 11:42 am

I am in the sanding phase of making my first bowl with my Ring Master. I've a tapered plug cutter and read that this the best solution because the plugs fit tighter (one from each side). However, I'm sure that the plugs will stand out from the bowl, one on the bottom, and one inside.
The one on the bottom I can attack with the disk sander, but what about the one inside the bowl? What would be possible ways of trimming it flush?

iclark · Post by **iclark** » Sat May 08, 2010 2:11 pm

if the tapered plugs are large enough in diameter, you could make the bottom one extra thick and use it as the tapered tenon to mount it in a lathe chuck. then you trim the inner plug with your favorite lathe tool. a good oval end scraper, for example.

that bottom plug could then be your bowl foot. the suggested guideline they gave us in class was for the foot to be ~1/3 the diameter of the bowl - for strength in turning, for aesthetics, and for stability sitting on the table.

also, I always thought that the Ring Master was used to make bowl or hollow-form turning roughs. are you able to go directly from the Ring Master to finished bowl without turning the bowl on a lathe?

paulrussell · Post by **paulrussell** » Sat May 08, 2010 4:55 pm

iclark wrote:if the tapered plugs are large enough in diameter, you could make the bottom one extra thick and use it as the tapered tenon to mount it in a lathe chuck. then you trim the inner plug with your favorite lathe tool. a good oval end scraper, for example.

that bottom plug could then be your bowl foot. the suggested guideline they gave us in class was for the foot to be ~1/3 the diameter of the bowl - for strength in turning, for aesthetics, and for stability sitting on the table.

also, I always thought that the Ring Master was used to make bowl or hollow-form turning roughs. are you able to go directly from the Ring Master to finished bowl without turning the bowl on a lathe?

That is correct, you do not need to turn the bowl.

The Ring Master system involves drilling a 1/2" hole in the board, and mounting it to the Shopsmith via a threaded arbor. The gluing jig is simply a 12" round board with a 1/2 threaded rod sticking up from the middle. The rings are stacked and glued, and the bottom (with the 1/2" hole) is put on last. A washer and wingnut then clamp it all tightly together to dry.

After drying, the bowl can be reattached to the Shopsmith using the same arbor, for sanding, turning, or both. While turning is an option, it is not required for simple shapes. Once the sanded and/or turned piece is taken off the arbor, there remains a 1/2" hole to be plugged. Nick and the Ring Master folks both recommmend two tapered plugs, one from each side. I know that no matter how hard I try, there is going to be some excess sticking out and as I originally posted, I've no good idea how to smooth it out from inside the bowl.

SDSSmith · Post by **SDSSmith** » Sat May 08, 2010 7:17 pm

paulrussell wrote:That is correct, you do not need to turn the bowl.

The Ring Master system involves drilling a 1/2" hole in the board, and mounting it to the Shopsmith via a threaded arbor. The gluing jig is simply a 12" round board with a 1/2 threaded rod sticking up from the middle. The rings are stacked and glued, and the bottom (with the 1/2" hole) is put on last. A washer and wingnut then clamp it all tightly together to dry.

After drying, the bowl can be reattached to the Shopsmith using the same arbor, for sanding, turning, or both. While turning is an option, it is not required for simple shapes. Once the sanded and/or turned piece is taken off the arbor, there remains a 1/2" hole to be plugged. Nick and the Ring Master folks both recommmend two tapered plugs, one from each side. I know that no matter how hard I try, there is going to be some excess sticking out and as I originally posted, I've no good idea how to smooth it out from inside the bowl.

Can you remove the inside plug projection with a Dremel or rotary tool and one of the multitude of attachments available for them? Otherwise, we are going to have to get you a lathe chuck.

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Sat May 08, 2010 9:47 pm

Suggestion #**! Put a plug in from the outside - put in the inside tapered plug - sand the bottom of the bowl flat - attach a face plate to the bottom, by screwing wood to the faceplate then gluing paper to that wood, then glue the flat bottom of the bowl to the paper. After drying you will have a bowl you can turn INCLUDING THE PROTRUDING INSIDE PLUG.

You can remove the finished bowl from the faceplate by a chisel strike at the paper layer - plus maybe a little twist.

paulrussell · Post by **paulrussell** » Sat May 08, 2010 10:33 pm

I found yet another solution -- Nick made a comment in the Conical Disk Sander Sawdust Session regarding the interior plug being a PITA. He said he uses a violin plane, but I'm more with the dremel idea.

greitz · Post by **greitz** » Sat May 08, 2010 11:10 pm

I forget who made this suggestion originally, but you're not required to use the 1/2" hole in the first place. Instead of using the RingMaster's threaded arbor, you could use Chuck's suggestion and attach the round board to a block of wood screwed to a face plate. Then cut your rings as usual. Glue up the rings using a drill press to provide clamping pressure.

You can sand the plugs using a 2" sanding pad chucked into a hand drill. I've got a Sorby Velcro sanding pad, and it works fine with 60 or 80-grit sanding discs.

Gary