Advice on sphere jigs

[GRJensen]

I have been thinking about investing in a sphere cutting jig…the one by Chefware Kits or the Carter Products jig.

Would appreciate any feedback on these two jigs (e.g. ease of setup, operation, etc.).

 

[Timothy White]

I own tee Chefware jig and the Vermec jig. The Vermec jig is easier to set up and will cut deeper on the chuck side of the sphere. I suspect that this would also be true with the carter jig. The Vermec can hollow a hemisphere the Carter should be able to do this also. The Chefware jig cannot. The Chefware kit can also be converted to a threader. The other two cannot

 

[Mike Johnson]

I have fabricated sphere turning tools for the different lathes that I use in my shop and made a few more for other wood turners I know. Depending on the wood you want to use and the size of spheres you want to make will have an impact on the tool you want to own. For smaller spheres any of the sphere jigs will work fine, if you want to turn larger spheres you want a heavier frame that holds the cutting tool solid to prevent tool chatter if you are cutting hard woods. I mostly turn pine wood spheres used for mold making purposes which turns easy compared to hard wood species. I recently made another jig using Delrin rounds for the main support base that holds the pivot bearings and used aluminum flat bar for the swing arm and aluminum round stock for the upright cutter base, and a Chinese import carbide cutter mounted on a 1/2 inch bar for the cutter. These tools are easy to make, you just need to end up with a proper elevation for the carbide cutter that matches your lathe center height.

 

[Richard Coers]

You are right Mike, a simple version can be fairly easy to fabricate. But you won't get the features like micro adjustment and multiple flats on the cutter holder bar for shear cutting in either direction. It probably boils down to how many spheres you want to turn, and how much sanding you want to do.

 

[john lucas]

it's been a few years since I compared sphere jigs but there 3 things I really liked about the better ones. One is using a Hunter cupped style cutter. Second is being able to rotate the cutter left or right for final shaping and cleaning up the cut. last was the ability to micro adjust the cutter. Wish I could remember all the jigs I looked at and experimented with but it's been almost 4 years. I'm thinking the Vermec was what my friend decided to purchase after we looked at them all.

 

[Bill Szydlo]

I purchased the Vermec a few years ago and have been very happy with it. It was much better built compared to the Carter. I did not look into the Chefsware at the time. One other point of interest, I purchased directly from Vermec in Australia and shipped it to Mn. With the exchange rate it was much cheaper than buying in the US. The company was excellent to deal with.