Yet Another Wooden Spiral Bowl

[lightner]

Inspired by the following posts:

Laser cut, shape-conforming spiral bowls by gorgonaut

Wooden Spiral Bowl

Tried my hand at this: I used proof-grade medium draft board. [IMG_6180] [IMG_6182] Alt frame: [IMG_6183]

Gorgeous double spiral baskets

A friend who took advantage of one of my referrals has perfected a double spiral bowl design and is now selling the product on Etsy. There is a lot of subtlety in his work. It has been really interesting watching the iterative design process and the end result is stunning! https://www.etsy.com/Carltonsclocks/listing/614653889/laser-cut-birch-double-spiral-basket

I created a quadruple spiral version of a laser-cut wooden spiral bowl. The Thingiverse SVG file I started with needed mods to the legs to more evenly space the spiral cuts in the frame. I may fiddle with the frame some more.

I cut two sizes of the bowl, a 9-inch one in PG draftboard (~20 minutes) and a 5-inch one (pictured above) in PG basswood (~10 minutes). I like the smaller one best.

Time to break out the “high dollar” walnut! I’m thinking Christmas gifts that can be mailed flat—in an envelope.

Feel free to make changes as you see fit. Both of my SVG files are in the following ZIP archive:

bowl_four_spiral_5in_9in.zip (11.8 KB)*

*8/22/2018: A minor change to the 5-inch SVG file to strengthen the area around bowl’s center 1/4" square hole.

[hansepe]

Very kind to share the files. Thank you.

This may just find it’s way onto the GF soon

[Jules]

Yeah, I love the idea of using the frame to shape them.

[brandtmeister]

That looks sweet! Nice job.

[ChristyM]

I made the same bowl and definitely felt like the legs needed some tweaking to get the spacing right. Thanks for sharing as I hadn’t had time to play with it. These bowls are so satisfying… like playing with a slinky! Love the idea of flat mailing them to friends…

It would be a fun thing to send one a month or week or whatever… or as Christmas cards. “Add your own pinecones!”

[paulw]

So neat.

[sailbyc]

Thanks for the files. Great idea to send them with as gifts

[cynd11]

This is a really cool bowl! I like that it ends in a square in the center, have not seen that before. Due to your quadrupling I guess. And thanks for the files!

[lightner]

I like that it ends in a square in the center, have not seen that before. Due to your quadrupling I guess.

@cynd11: I like how this turned out too—after experimenting with a number of test cuts. IMHO the quadruple spiral design is superior. Note that it is rotated 45 degrees to better control the “droop” of the interspersed spirals at the top of the bowl. Also, IMHO the bowl attachment to the frame is a lot cleaner (and secure) using the four square 1/8" cut-outs.

[lightner]

I broke out the PG medium walnut plywood. A light finish with Watco dark walnut Danish oil. I like it!

[Jules]

Finish is excellent!

[dledoux]

Thanks for posting this. I made one!

Beautiful, simple. PG medium basswood plywood works great. The attachments are snap fit as is.

[pauline.lally]

These are very nicely done.
Thanks for the files.

[elizabeth]

I tried to make the 5" bowl in maple plywood, and I broke all the pieces trying to get it together. I think the kerf adjustment was just a little too much. I’ll try increasing the size of the squares a hair and cutting it again later.

[lightner]

I tried to make the 5" bowl in maple plywood, and I broke all the pieces trying to get it together. I think the kerf adjustment was just a little too much.

@elizabeth: Oh no! Thanks for the feedback. I tried to make the center square hole a bit tight so that no glue is required to keep the bowl bottom in place, but, as you probably know, kerf adjustments are tricky. Flipping the bowl might have given a looser fit.

Maybe the right thing to do is “back off” the four spiral ends around the square hole so that there is more uncut wood around the square hole. In the current design that area is fragile.

[lightner]

@elizabeth: Please give this a try. I’ve updated the SVG file in the original post’s ZIP archive to include this version #2 of the SVG file for the 5-inch bowl. I did not change the kerf around the center 1/4" hole in order to retain the tight file. (Sandpaper is your friend if you think the fit is too tight!)

[elizabeth]

Thanks so much! This is not actually where it broke - the bottom of the base broke when I tried to fit the two pieces together, and the spiral broke at one of the squares on the side. I’ll try sandpaper next time and try flipping the bowl, too - those are both really good ideas.

[lightner]

@elizabeth: Thank you for the information. I have zero experience with PG maple plywood. In my experience the PG walnut—and especially the basswod plywood—are very sturdy after cutting.

The 1/4" squares on the side of the bowl are indeed a fragile area. Maybe I should consider increasing the diameter of the bowl slightly to deal with that? I assemble the bowls by laying the bowl part on the flat glass top of the Glowforge and then inserting the frame into the four square holes—before flipping the bowl right-side up.

BTW; I did cut another 5-inch bowl with the new version #2 SVG design this morning and it came out perfect here—again in PG medium walnut ply. No sanding required!

[elizabeth]

I assemble the bowls by laying the bowl part on the flat glass top of the Glowforge and then inserting the frame into the four square holes—before flipping the bowl right-side up.

Do you fit the two parts of the base together before or after you do this?

[lightner]

Do you fit the two parts of the base together before or after you do this?

Before.