I am alternately gluing a rotation of 4 shades of cork that are cut into 1/16" sections. I am looking for some tips when I zip tie ring to keep each small section "square" in pie ring. Have glued these up before and used individually however i am building an Indian Blanket style handle and when I stack the 3 I have completed they don't line up perfectly. 16 pieces are difficult to maintain alignment....at least for me.
Any suggestions would be helpful and appreciated.

Thanks, John

because the cork moves a little when cutting it , an the tool that you use has a slot in that you put the saw blade, an you saw on one side of slot one time then the other side of slot the next time your patten
will walk, , I have yet to find a way to cut the rings , so I would be happy with the out come , PS The smaller the pie slice shape the more it will show's up , a real thin saw blade will help a lot not a scroll saw blade , I found one in the big box store on the web about $25.00 per saw, hand operated , if you do get one be-careful as it will cut your metal form you are using to hold your rings ,

William Sidney
AK

Bill,
I have no shifting or problems on cutting in the jig. I wrap about 2 times with 1/4" masking tape on the ring before it even goes in the jig. This helps keep ring from shifting as each saw cut..in my case 8...goes through. My problem is when gluing the ring keeping each of the 16 pieces from rotating bit. As I rotate the completed glued rings each shade will stair step for the effect. My pieces are a little off as I turn the ring. I guess I need a little better "eye".
Thanks for your input! John

John have not done what you are trying in a while, and not certain I get your problem. What I think you're trying to communicate is the "stair steps" don't end and begin exactly as they should as there is a bit of and overlap one way or the other. If so, the cause might be not so much you as it is the geometry where each of the 16 segmented rings' IDs and ODs are just a wee bit different.

I solved the problem by glueing up the ring segments using very slightly under sized 1/4" dowels in the center of each ring and keeping the tension on the zip tie holding the segments together to a minimum. The under sized (turned down) dowels compensated for the loss of material to the kerf from multiple cuts per ring and provided a consistent ID and OD. It was an imperfect fix as the problem would still rear its ugly head once in a while. Finally learned to make a few more rings than I needed to replace those that would not play nice with others.

If you do not fill the kerf cut before making the next cut you will not have a concentric circle. I fill the cut with pieces of xray film that is the same thickness as the kerf. This helps to create a concentric circle.

I have two things that helped me a lot with this problem. We all have single edge razor blades, which get too dull for thread work. I use these to keep rings in place after cutting. Make one cut, and insert a blade straight down into jig. Use one on each side. I run mine over a hone to knock down the edge. The blade may be too dull for thread work, but is still sharp enough to cut your fingers. If you’re making rings with 16 pieces, you will need 14 blades.

Custom Fly Grips sells clamps to be used instead of zip ties. These work better than zip ties, and are reusable. Just don’t clamp them too tight.

I have gotten some great tips here! Thanks,John

Thanks for the post John. I learned some good ideas.

The Kerf of the blade is where I have my problem it is a lot thinner than the slots that are in my jigs [ got it off Amazon ], I have tried many saw blades still looking for a good one [ SIZE ] have not found the best one .
use business cards wrk fine in place of RAZOR blades , as the rings walk in side of the jig I use bolt an washers to make sure it will not move , Lowes have a large selection of plastic washers an plastic bushings
with holes in them [ .187 inch DIA. so you can glue the pies together an glue will not stick ] there is a tool to tighten the zip ties up an cut it all at one time , [ AMAZON ]
PS the wider the KERF of the saw blade, more you loose from the cork rings , plus the smaller the pies shapes the more you will lose off the ring when you cut them up.

William Sidney
AK