Hi:
I've been nursing a pinched nerve in my back so no lathe time, but plenty of time to plan future projects. A couple of the things I would like to try in the future are cutting threads and turning spheres, so my query is about jigs for these purposes. I realize I could learn to turn spheres by hand and eye, but I am unlikely to turn them often enough or in numbers that would allow proficiency. Therefore I seek jig advice. I've watched a few videos on sphere turning jigs and searched some previous postings here. It seems the Carter Perfect Sphere jig and the Vermec sphere jig get good reviews with the Chefware Ez Sphere unit seemingly less well received. For threading it appears the Baxter jig is the best, without a clear second anywhere in sight.
I did note that Mike Peace seemed to like the Chefware Ez sphere jig once he installed the carbide cutter which seemed to actually cut rather than scrap. The Carter jig also seemed to utilize a scraper as opposed to a cutter although you seemed to be able to orient the cutter for a shear scraping action.
I am tending to lean toward the Chefware sphere jig mostly because l likely won't use it enough for either purpose to warrant say a Baxter for threading and a Vermec for spheres. Up here in the Great White North these two jigs would be well North of $1000 (CDN) dollars shipped to Canada. The Chefware jig including the threading jig (currently on special) would be around $675 (CDN) shipped to Canada and a bit less if I ship it to a shipping point in the US and pick it up myself.
So after all those words. What do folks who have the Chefware jigs (sphere and threading) think of them overall? What are the compromises of the two jigs in use, and any overall thoughts on them? And of course the flaws in my reasoning - I realize multi-use tools are (with rare exceptions) never as good as the single purpose designs, but in this case it appears the Chefware "might" just meet the "good enough for each purpose" test.
Any and all advice is appreciated as always. Thank you in advance.
Barry W. Larson
Calgary, Alberta, Canada eh!
I've been nursing a pinched nerve in my back so no lathe time, but plenty of time to plan future projects. A couple of the things I would like to try in the future are cutting threads and turning spheres, so my query is about jigs for these purposes. I realize I could learn to turn spheres by hand and eye, but I am unlikely to turn them often enough or in numbers that would allow proficiency. Therefore I seek jig advice. I've watched a few videos on sphere turning jigs and searched some previous postings here. It seems the Carter Perfect Sphere jig and the Vermec sphere jig get good reviews with the Chefware Ez Sphere unit seemingly less well received. For threading it appears the Baxter jig is the best, without a clear second anywhere in sight.
I did note that Mike Peace seemed to like the Chefware Ez sphere jig once he installed the carbide cutter which seemed to actually cut rather than scrap. The Carter jig also seemed to utilize a scraper as opposed to a cutter although you seemed to be able to orient the cutter for a shear scraping action.
I am tending to lean toward the Chefware sphere jig mostly because l likely won't use it enough for either purpose to warrant say a Baxter for threading and a Vermec for spheres. Up here in the Great White North these two jigs would be well North of $1000 (CDN) dollars shipped to Canada. The Chefware jig including the threading jig (currently on special) would be around $675 (CDN) shipped to Canada and a bit less if I ship it to a shipping point in the US and pick it up myself.
So after all those words. What do folks who have the Chefware jigs (sphere and threading) think of them overall? What are the compromises of the two jigs in use, and any overall thoughts on them? And of course the flaws in my reasoning - I realize multi-use tools are (with rare exceptions) never as good as the single purpose designs, but in this case it appears the Chefware "might" just meet the "good enough for each purpose" test.
Any and all advice is appreciated as always. Thank you in advance.
Barry W. Larson
Calgary, Alberta, Canada eh!