I attended Mark Crouse's seminar on presentation rod tubes this year but I have lost my notes. Didn't he have a handout ? All I can remember is 22.5 degree cut with a router, masking tape method. Can anyone tell me the size and thickness for each piece before glue up? Or have a copy of his sheet they can e-mail me?

I can’t find it so I will try to explain correctly. Both sides of the wood are cut at 22.5?. When you put two pieces of wood together you form a 45? angle. 360? divided by 45? equals 8 pieces of wood to form a circle. Now measure your rod I assume (yes I have watched the odd couple) without reel for the width between the stripper guide and a parallel line from the widest part of your handle alone the rod to the stripper. This is the inside diameter you want from your tube. (Plus a little wiggles room).

So let’s say you measure six inches in diameter. That makes the inside radius three inches. C = (R X R) X Pi. So 3X3=9, 9 X 3.141592 = 28.2743”. Let’s say you add one inch ID for wiggle room. One inch divided by eight equals .125”. So now you have 28.3993 divided by you 8 pieces of wood equals 3.55” inside width of your wood.

Hope this helps and makes sense.

You can make the tube any size that you want, you just have to do a little bit of pre planning. I like to build a six sided case instead of an eight because the math is a little easier. If you want to make a 3 inch inside diameter you need to take into account the thickness of the wood. I like to use 1/4 inch thick boards to build the tubes, so you have two sides at 1/4" into account. 3 inch inside diameter plus 1/2" (1/4"+1/4") equals 3.5", the radius of this is 1.75". On a six sided tube the radius is the width of the boards, so you need to rip (I use a table saw) the boards with a 30 degree angle to 1.75" wide. I test on scrap lumber to make sure my table saw is set at an exact 30 degrees before I make the cut on the expensive wood. Rip 6 pieces at 1.75" wide with a 30 degree angle on both sides, use tape to hold the six pieces together, apply glue, form the six pieces into a tube shape with the tape holding the pieces together. I then like to use plastic twine or cord to wrap the tube much like a bamboo rod to pull all the gaps together and hold the wood until the glue sets. There are tons of different ways to make tubes, my favorite is to make a six sided tube as the math is easy, but you can make an eight, twelve, or more sided tube, just have to use a different math system.

Thanks for the help guys. I thought there was a "formula" for the sizes. This makes sense.

Has anyone used left over hardwood flooring ripped/planed down to the correct thickness?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/02/2014 09:20AM by Hal Lambert.

Hal, or anyone else for that matter...

I've built a few cases over the years and have previously drawn up some plans using AutoCad for 5, 6, and 8 sided cases. If it would be helpful, I could create, and e-mail to you, an MS Excel spreadsheet based on these plans to generate 1) a dimensioned profile for each strip for 5 and 6 sided cases where all pieces are the same and 2) a cutlist for the 8 sided case taking into account the thickness of your table saw blade where you'll have 2 wider sides and 6 narrower sides (the two wider sides will be ripped in the middle after gluing to separate the case into two halves).

I could set up the spreadsheet so the user will just need to enter 1) the thickness of the wood you will be using to create the sides and 2) the desired inside opening size that you want.

I could also include detail drawings of an optional glue line profile that is both stronger and easier to glue-up than the simple straight angle cuts. However, to view any of the drawings you will need to download an AutoCAD drawing viewer from the internet if you don't have AutoCad.

If this sounds like something that you would use, send me an e-mail (it's unhidden in my profile) and I'll send you a PDF of some detailed construction drawings, a spreadsheet which will calculate the info you need to generate a cut list, and a cover letter outlining a lot of detailed information. I'll also explain the various modifications you can make to customize the shape of the standard 5, 6, and 8 sided cases.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 11/04/2014 05:07PM by John E Powell.

I received the spreads sheet, etc. from John and WOW! It does a great job explaining everything. I can't wait to start on a few tubes in the next few weeks. Thanks!

Hal,

Thank you for the kind words, I'm pleased that I could help.

J Powell

Update:

I managed to get the AutoCAD drawing converted over to a PDF, so you won't need a special AutoCAD file viewer to see the plans.

What I am sending out now:

MS Excel spreadsheet to calculate polygon outside edge width based on user entering stock thickness and desired minimum inside size
MS Word document to explain how the spreadsheet works, how to use the plans, and ideas for how plans can be modified to achieve custom elongated polygons
PDF file of plan details for 5, 6, and 8 sided cases and details for optional improved joint profile and possible locations for improved joints in each case

If you would like to receive the files, send me an e-mail. My address can be found by clicking my name in the post, it's not hidden.