Different Twist 5158

Bruce, These are very eye catching. I'd love to see a photo or drawing of the "sled" you mention that you use for your router. It has so many applications, as your pieces show. Dale

The sled is really very simple. It's just a couple of pieces screwed together in the shape of a backwards "L". The laminate trimmer is mounted to the upright part of the L with a couple of U-bolts that you can pick up at most any hardware store. It is mounted so the bit is at the height of the lathe center.

This slides on a table which is just a piece of plywood. The back of the table is attached to the lathe by a bolt through the ways. I also made a couple of legs connected by a stretcher which slide under the front of the table, so that it is very stable. I used a bit of wax on the bottom of the sled and the table so that it slides easily.

For spirals, the sled is driven by a cable attached to a drive wheel/indexing plate attached to the outboard side of the spindle. The whole system is similar to one which has been described on WoW, but differs a bit in the setup of the drive/indexing wheel, and a couple of other minor variations and tweaks. As the drive wheel turns on the spindle, it turns the vase, and also drags along the sled, thus producing spirals. It takes a bit of practice, but you can use rough turned pieces, and when they're covered with spirals, just finish turn them and turn away all of the practice and you're left with a nice thin walled piece. Hope this helps.
Bruce

Bruce, Thanks for the above explanation. I'm pretty poor when it comes to "things mechanical" but I'll try and get a mind's picture of your sled. I'd love to give the technique a try, the pices all look so interesting. Dale Clemens