How to make a sphere

"perfectly round" and "wood" don't really go together well. even if you did get it nice and round, the first change in humidity would distort it.

that said, making spheres out of wood is work for the lathe. and lots of practise.

A lathe comes to mind. But, there's a better way to do it using a router with a core-box bit and mounting the stock piece using a double axis. Start by making a cube, mark opposite centers and clipping off the corners.

This is strange, but works...For small spheres (

to do this.

I don't

a small hole in

embed a rare earth

round though.

While I'm at

bigger spheres, say

Thanks

John

I would go to the local hardware or craft store and buy them for cheap.

And where's the fun in that.

"sweetsawdust" wrote in news:kEAxg.23631 $ snipped-for-privacy@bignews8.bellsouth.net:

You spend $.79 each, rather than $1700 on new tools and equipment...

And where's the fun in that?

You need a better better excuse to spend $1700 on tools?

I've made a few this size on my lathe, after the first one done by eye turned out to be slightly cylindrical :-). I simply made a template covering about 90 degrees of arc, and used calipers to compare length with diameter. It's not too hard, just go slowly and check often until you get the hang of it.

Why? Any excuse to buy new tools works for me - most of the time! Dave

I'd much rather spend $1700 0n a new machine

Tried a prooved method on lathe the make purfect spheres

use 3 or 4 jaw chuck

Turn stock to just above finished diameter .... around 7/8 in your case

Now make the chisel to cut them .....

Option 1 buy a 3/4" wad punch weld or by some other means afix a decent size handle to it

Option 2 Obtain a piece of pipe with an inside diameter of 3/4" Go to grinder and sharpen end of pipe around circumference like chisel edge

Use homemade chisel to maKe balls .... set toolrest to just below bottom of stock gently apply pressure to homemede chisel and you will notice a ball starting to form Be very careful and go very slowly as you get to centre. With the right timber and a very steady hand, the ball will cut off. There is useally a small (extremly small if you go very steady) knob to remove on one side of ball

I have used this method for many years with great success on ball up to 3

Everything in life is easy if you have the right tools and a little knowledge on how to use them Good Luck

Rgds Paul

There are good suggestions in this thread but metal workers have the same problem. Go to