how to cut wood balls in half?

[natausch]

Good suggestions, but in my opinion easiest is to use two 12" by 2" by 3/4" boards. Cut 45 cuts on the 2" edge and glue/end clamp (from the non-beveled edge) them together with the top of the bevel cut facing out.

Jam the ball into the v wedge and cut on a bandsaw.

[gerti]

That was my first thought but the ball is only 1 1/2" in diameter. Is there a parting tool small enough to do this without distorting the ball?

When I want a thin kerf (for example for a box with figured grain) I use a hacksaw with a sharp blade. Obviously hang on to it good, it may want to bind.

Another option is a self-made parting tool fashioned from an old table knife.

[Mr__Bill]

what you need is a samurai sword you take the wooden ball he tossed it in the air and with the sword...........

[phrog]

When I want a thin kerf (for example for a box with figured grain) I use a hacksaw with a sharp blade. Obviously hang on to it good, it may want to bind.

Another option is a self-made parting tool fashioned from an old table knife.

Great suggestions, Gerti. I hadn't thought of doing that. Thanks.

[woodturner]

Looking for suggestions how to cut wood balls 1-1/2 to 2" in diameter accurately in half.

A couple of options:
1. Mount the ball between centers on a lathe and use a saw blade or parting tool.
2. Build a cutoff box/table for a table saw, and add two "sides" parallel to the blade. Insert a drywall screw from each side, and use the points of the drywall screw to hold the sphere. If you don't want it to spin while cutting, glue shelf gripper material or sandpaper to the top face of the cutoff box to increase friction.

[jAngiel]

I really like all the different ways people have come up with to tackle a task. Brainstorming really does come up with some good ideas.

Here I thought it was going to be suggestions for Tiger's ex-wife Elin...

[LCHIEN]

Good suggestions, but in my opinion easiest is to use two 12" by 2" by 3/4" boards. Cut 45 cuts on the 2" edge and glue/end clamp (from the non-beveled edge) them together with the top of the bevel cut facing out.

Jam the ball into the v wedge and cut on a bandsaw.

Well, thanks Natausch. I didn't quite do it the way you suggested but its the closest idea to what I eventually used. I was toying with some way to hinge a clamp with a hole in it for the ball and keep it centered with two sizes balls when I read your post about the long plank and the end serving as a hinge of sorts. I think you intended for the planks to serve as a spring force on the ball but I thought of the bolt.

I used the carriage bolt and wingnut in the center to be able to apply pressure and vary it as needed. See the pictures attached. The rabbet serves no purpose, it just happened to be on the scrap piece of wood I used.

I drilled holes appropriately sized for the 1.5" and 2" balls (5/8" and 1" respectively), used a table router with 45 degree chamfer w/bearing bit to make nice seats for the balls (I thought the flat face of the chamfer would grab better and make no score marks that a sharp edge might). Hint: Stacking the boards together and drilling the three sets of holes all the way thru makes them placed perfectly.

I used the same edge of the jig so its exactly 1.25" from the BS rip fence to the center line of the balls. So I have to be able to flip the bolts. Turns out if you tighten it too much then the jig squeezes the ball and it binds a bit making the blade want to turn. Reducing the clamp force and the feed rate makes it track straight ( I used a 1/2" blade on my 12" Delta BS). One end is for the larger ball and the other for the smaller ball.

When clamping the ball, just lay the jig on its side to align the sides before tightening.

[chopnhack]

Very cool jig Loring, I like that its adjustable!

[JimD]

Nice job.

Jim

[capncarl]

You guys are overthinking this thing, someone is probably designing a jig as we speak! I had to cut a mess of croquet balls in half for some decorations, and thought and thought about how to build a holding bracket. Finally I gave up on building something elaborate since I only need 12 cut.
I took a piece of 1x4 and hogged a hole with whatever size hole saw had an arbor still on it, probably 1 1/4, stuck the ball in the hole and wrapped it to the board with 2” shipping tape. I stapled a couple of pieces of 1/4” plywood to the bottom of the 1x to space off for the tape and squared the piece of plywood against the band saw rip fence, centered it to the blade and it cut in half in seconds. I didn’t cut through the 1x so I could reuse it for the other 11 balls. No jigs and no lost fingers.
capncarl

[LCHIEN]

Well, Capncarl, this was a 7 year old topic and the jig I made worked fine (picture on post 22) and was adjustable.

[capncarl]

How did a 7 year old post come up twice at the same time? Trolls? I saw that it was an old post and thought that someone drug it for further discussion. I actually think that I replied to the other post, not this one that Lchien displayed the jig on #22. Strange.

[LCHIEN]

Some spammer posted something to the thread and it popped back up.

people saw it in the recent posts lists and commented on it not seeing the dates.

Moderators deleted the spam post but that does not prevent it from coming up after people replied tot he thread.

[Injuneer]

Sometimes resurrections are fun!
I wish I had run across your jig a few months back, Loring! I actually had to deal with this recently. I needed to cut some billiard balls in half for a clock project.
The easiest "jig" for me was some thick wall 2" cardboard rolls that I had saved up. After marking the "equator" of the balls with a suction cup chocked into the drill press stuck to the balls, I hot glued them to both sides of the balls, then held on to the tubes for a run through the band saw. Quick, easy, and still have all my appendages afterwards. A quick pass on the belt sander to flatten the cut ends and they came out almost perfect. Now if only I could find the "build two billiard clocks" round tuit.