Well, I've had a couple guys ask how I do this, but I've been kinda afraid to post it, figuring I'd get laughed off the forum, but here it goes. Some here may not know, but I don't own a wood lathe, I have a shop smith, which can do some lathe type work, but not very accurate. So I had to come up with something else, and this is it. This set up is hand built, top is from an old kitchen counter top. I made the cabinet out of plywood. The router is a Rigid, and works very well. The heart of it all is the Incra lift. I have the ability to take as little as .0015 of material if I want. The set up consists of a back fence, which is stationary, and a moveable fence, mounted in front of, and to the left side. This creates an open V for me to rotate the pot blank by hand, using both fence's to keep it in the same spot. I should add, that the dust is collected underneath the table via a vacuum attachment to the back of the cabinet to where the router is located in a sealed compartment. It is almost dust free.
Here is the heart and sole of it. Right dial is the lock, once locked, the router cannot move. Once unlocked, you crank up or down the router with a tool that came with it, in the left dial. Simple.
I start by raising the router so that I'm taking just a little more than 1/2 of the width of whatever I'm using for the surface, ceramic in this case. I like my surface to stick above the surrounding wood, because I don't want my customers marring up the wood with whatever they may be using to dress the surface.
It's just personal preference.
This is the blank ready to go. We all here know how to make something round, and drill holes, so I won't beat a dead horse with a stick on that.
The first initial hole is my inside diameter of the pedestal, 7/8".
After every cut, on each pass, I move the moveable fence to the left to corresponding marks, for the amount of material I want to remove.
I return it to zero when I start over on the next pass, after raising the lift.
First cut, first pass.
Second cut, first pass.
at this point I take my time, as not to go too fast, and take too much at once. I have 1 shot to make the surface fit perfectly.
It might take me 3 or more cuts on this first pass, checking the surface to the blank to make sure of the fit.
Now I unlock the lift, and raise the router .085 for my air gap, and repeat the above steps, leaving the land for the surface. On the way, I'll ck the
soundboard fit.
first cut, second pass.
second cut, second pass.
3rd cut, second pass.
checking the fit of the soundboard. If I like it, I will run the rest to this point of measurement on the moveable fence.
Looks good!
4th cut, second pass, and last cut of second pass, leaving the land for the surface.
Now I finish the pedestal, making 3 more pass's. 2 cutting 1/8 inch deep, and final cut 1/16 deep to my final depth of 5/16.
And the pot is finish machine work. Just some touch up sanding, and finish work.
It took me less than 15 minutes to machine this pot out, and that includes stopping and taking pictures. Normally, it takes me about 5 to 8 minutes to machine a pot.
