| November 2011 Meeting
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Scott Solsburg showed us how he makes his little spherical ringing Christmas ornaments at our November meeting. Scott prefers to start off with a tight grained wood in spindle orientation. Once he has turned it into a cylinder several inches long, he starts making a small cup. He shapes the outside but leaves it a little on the thick side. Then he hollows out the inside and sands as much as he can on both the inside and outside. At this point the bottom half of the sphere is ready to be parted from the cylinder. The piece is then jam chucked on the end of the cylinder and the very bottom nub is turned and sanded.
Next up is making the corresponding but slightly larger upper half of the sphere. This half must have a little ledge so that the other half fits nicely. Scott turns several ledges and keeps adjusting the fit until it is just right for jamming. At that point he hollows the inside and shapes the outside while leaving a little band of extra wood right at the rim. As he hollows the inside, he leaves a little extra wood at the bottom as well so that the jingle bell has a nice place to later be attached (as shown in the drawing below). After sanding the inside and outside, he also leaves a little extra wood on the attachment point nub by cutting the tenon a ways away from the half sphere shape (also shown in the drawing below) so that a small finial with a tenon can be fitted. After parting it from the cylinder, Scott likes to jam chuck it to clean up the bottom tenon while leaving a little negative space in the top and the corresponding finial to allow for room to attach the bell wires. Once the bottom is clean, he drills a hole to accept the finial tenon.
For the final assembly, a small bell is attached to the larger top half by wiring it through two small holes. The bell should not rest against the sides of the sphere, otherwise the bell will not ring freely. The finial can then be attached to completely cover the bell wires. Then the bottom half needs a few equally spaced holes drilled (using brad point bits). Scott follows this by cutting between the drilled holes with a few cuts on the bandsaw part way through to complete the ornament.
The pictures below show some of the items brought in for the monthly President's Challenge entries and show-and-tell. Congratulations to our President's Challenge winner Craig Demlow shown with one of his bag full of tops for the kids! We also had a second place winner with Ted Wilkins and his very nice little Harry Potter wands. As always, thanks to all of those that brought in items for the President's Challenge, show and tell, and those that brought in flag bases for our veterans.
Our December President's Challenge item is any turned Christmas ornament. Ted has CA (super) glue and accelerator for sale. He has 2 oz bottles of thin, medium and thick for $6 each. He also has black glue for $8 each. Don't forget about our special challenge of turning wooden flag holders for our veterans at the Ann Arbor VA hospital. All bases should have a 3/16" hole to accept the flag. We are starting a mentoring program for our membership. If you are willing to help by fielding questions, please get in touch with Craig or Scott.
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