can anyone recommend a program where I can design woodturnings on the screen before I make them. For apple.
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Computer program
- Thread starter Glenn Lefley
- Start date
john lucas
AAW Forum Expert
I'm old school. Pen and paper. I often make sketches and then may refine it for the final drawing. I do this mostly for spindles and finials. I find that if I design it first, even roughly, the end product is usually better than if I design while turning. Hollow vessels are too dependant on the grain and figure in the wood to decide up front what shape it will be. I might start out with an idea but quite often I make subtle changes as I turn based on how the wood is showing itself. Of course I'm not computer literate and the drawing programs I tried were not intuitive to me at all.
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Like John I sketch on paper,
You can use the Apple Pencil and sketch on an iPad or Mac
Then save the results in a file.
You can use the Apple Pencil and sketch on an iPad or Mac
Then save the results in a file.
go to library check out Roman, Greek, Egyptians, American indian pottery and sculpture.....find something you like
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Charlie makes a good point
One of my best woodturning books was south western pottery
I used Apple Pencil to make a sketch of how I do pitcher forms from a half 1/4 log.
Note the log is not round.
Mostly I want an idea for the rim diameter what the height will be after I use 1 1/4 for the faceplate.
I can get a notion of where the sapwood will show.
I do a refinement of the shape when roughing between centers.
One of my best woodturning books was south western pottery
I used Apple Pencil to make a sketch of how I do pitcher forms from a half 1/4 log.
Note the log is not round.
Mostly I want an idea for the rim diameter what the height will be after I use 1 1/4 for the faceplate.
I can get a notion of where the sapwood will show.
I do a refinement of the shape when roughing between centers.
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Al, That is a beautiful piece. Great work.
We need to draw by hand, even those as terrible at drawing as me. The hand is prone to making natural compound arcs. Turning is a skills of the eyes and hands, and the design should echo that. But that's just my strongly held opinion.
We need to draw by hand, even those as terrible at drawing as me. The hand is prone to making natural compound arcs. Turning is a skills of the eyes and hands, and the design should echo that. But that's just my strongly held opinion.
Bill Ooms made some software for just that (http://www.cornlathe.billooms.com/cornlathe.html). It’s free.
I use an old version of AutoCAD on my laptop. Makes it very easy to draw up all the layers of a segmented bowl and gives you all the needed dimensions for each segment. Sectional views and Face views of an item are a snap once you are used to the program. Its all done by picking an icon like "draw a line" or "draw a circle" or "draw an arc". Enter the size dimensions and there it is. Save it and print it on your printer.