craft supplies, 50mm wooden balls

JoeB-

Hi
I need to buy 100 large 40mm to 50mm wooden balls in order to make a very large abacus. Does anyone know of any craft shops that may sell them?

The following UK sites have them and Lee Valley in Canada but it is working out quite expensive as shipping is a bit of a rip although Fred Aldous isn't bad.

http://www.mutr.co.uk/prodDetail.aspx?prodID=136
http://www.fredaldous.co.uk/trolleyed/3/54/index.htm

Cheers
Joe

Alun

Joe,

you could always buy one of these and make your own

EDIT: Actually I don't think it'd be too difficult to make something like that yourself. In gfact, I've been meaning to give it a try sometime myself, as there's someone I know who keeps going on at me to make him a wooden globe :eek: !

EDIT2: Seems like others have been wrestling with this problem too ! See here.

dubtom

I've tried them and there hard to get right, come to think of it everything is with me and my lathe:( I took lessons from a guy in ballinteer who could turn one in minutes, perfectly round, a sight to see. He did them occasionally for special orders, stair makers etc,no idea what he charged.

PS, my lack of turning skills are nothing to do with his lessons,it takes me a while to cotton on:rolleyes:

Alun

That reminds me, at the Axminster show a couple of years ago there was this turner from the Liverpool area who was demonstrating turning wooden bowling balls. He had some home made wooden jam chuck device that he used and did everything by hand, and by eye. He had been doing this for 30 years or more though, so had had a bit of practice

JoeB-

hmmm... Alun, I have no idea how that thing works... I'll be reading up on it tonight. I also have no idea how wooden balls are mass produced, hopefully I'll know by tomorrow!

One way to produce perfect spheres would be to make rough spheres and to sand them between two flat plates, this action will reduce the diameter to the gap between the plates and no point can be reduced further... if done for long enough it will produce perfect spheres, I think this technique is used in industry to produce spheres of some description, maybe steel ball bearings.

I don't actually own a lathe at present, I did the course in Bolton St. and found that it's quite difficult! I can buy in many turned parts whether big or small and if I can't buy it I don't use it! It's easy enough to produce one random item, the difficulty is in producing matching items, for example four table legs. There is a great homemade jig called a 'dancing jig' which is easy to make and very good for producing matching parts with no layout or measuring required, I'll explain if people are interested, I saw it in a magazine.

Lee Valley is great for small items like Shaker pegs and tie pins, I also buy great wooden bedposts, table legs etc at great prices from a supplier in Ireland, they come from the UK. Generally made from pine but beautifully finished and identical to one another.

Dubtom, I live in Ballinteer, can you pm me that guys details please?

I can buy in 100 x 38mm balls with 9mm holes from Fred Aldous (link above) which would be perfect for the abacus for about €80 + VAT, that's my best option so far. Hopefully the large corporation who want the abacus as a feature piece for their finance department will pay up!

Cheers
Joe

JoeB-

A description about how the jig Alun mentioned works... I don't understand it.

If you do not wish to make your own, Craft Supplies UK -( not Provo) has
just such a jig. You can do a search and get their website. It fits into
the banjo and you swing it through an arc to cut the sphere. It turns
the making of spheres into childs play and it is very well built. Good
luck to you in all of your turning endeavors.

Joe


Custom furniture, Wicklow and Dublin, Ireland.

Alun

My understanding of that jig is that there is a post (you can see it on the left of the photo) that fits into the hole in the banjo on the lathe where the post of the tool rest would normally go. You then clamp some kind of lathe tool into a clamp (on the right of the photo with the wing nut), with the tool tip facing inwards, i.e. towards the post, and swing the tool around in a semicircle, gradually moving the tool further in until you get the required diameter. I guess you'd have to hold the wood in a chuck and do a bit of rough turning first to get a rough shape before using such a jig though, and you'd also end up with a small piece you'd have to remove by hand, which wouldn't be a problem for you since you'll be drilling holes through them anyway.

The description makes it sound easier than it actually probably is

dubtom

Joe, sent you a pm with details of that turner.

On the jig, sounds interesting, although I have two lathes I don't get to use them much. My attempt at making the handles for my little project turned out crap. Doesn't help that pine is very difficult to turn, for me anyway, I find it very soft, extremly sharp tools are a must otherwise the wood feathers, if thats the proper term. I would imagine the mass produced stuff are done with mega rigs of some discription. I think i may need a refresher course in turning ,judging by my recent effort, it's a hard skill to master and maintain unless it's kept up.