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Acrylic Chinese Ball

Bob Roehrig

Bob Roehrig

Joined
Dec 21, 2017
Messages
15
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195
Location
Venice, Florida
After making many wooden Chinese balls I decided to cast a ball from Resin and try a turning from that. Used Alumilite Clear Cast with some dye and turned a 2 5/8" diameter sphere that I could cut with my "L" shapped tools. Acrylic sphere came out resonably nice but certainly was difficult in getting scratches removed and a resonably good polish. Working with these balls has it's challenges into attempting to get into small spaces. Anyway, it was an interesting endeavor and quite different than my wood ones.
 

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Nice, Bob! I've never turned one. I understand a special tool is needed for Chinese balls. Is more than one tool needed? Can this (these?) be made in the shop? If not, where is a good place to get one - I'd like to give it a try. Lots of questions! Would be fun to see pics of more you've done.

BTW, is researching "Aluminite Clear Cast" I find it is not actually acrylic but epoxy, if that matters to anyone. I turn a lot of acrylic (cast acrylic, not extruded) and love the way it turns and polishes as well as the variety of colors, the glass-like clarity of some types, etc. Haven't turned any resin or epoxy. Do you know how it compares to acrylic as for clarity, turning, and polishing when turned without dye?

I can understand the difficulty of smoothing and polishing. I might give up and try light grit blasting or tumbling!

JKJ
 
John K Jordan said:
Nice, Bob! I've never turned one. I understand a special tool is needed for Chinese balls. Is more than one tool needed? Can this (these?) be made in the shop? If not, where is a good place to get one - I'd like to give it a try. Lots of questions! Would be fun to see pics of more you've done.
Click to expand...
More than one tool. They can be bought, but David Springett has diagrams for making them in his "Woodturning Wizardry" book.
 
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