[Quickstep]

I want to turn a sphere for a Peppermill top. Any tips for getting it perfectly round? I plan to make a template, but any other advice is appreciated. I'm particularly interested in knowing how to part of the end while retaining the spherical shape.

 

[Gary Beasley]

I've seen jigs for turning spheres, mainly for finishing, that consist of cups to hold the sphere so you can rotate it 90 degrees off axis and turn the ends smooth. I suppose you can rotate it however you need to get all the surfaces round using them.

 

[john lucas]

Best tip I've found is to use a ring to check for roundness. Imagine a 3/8" slice off of a 1" piece of PVC. Lay this on the sphere. Any low spots show up as a gap. Move it around the sphere and locate the high spots and very carefully turn these down. When you don't have any more high spots it's round. My good friend uses a flashlight with the glass removed. This becomes your ring and it shines light through the low spots which of course shows you where the high spots are. You can make your rings larger or smaller to fit the size sphere your working on.