Have you ever looked at a laminated feature ring of a segmented bowl wondering how it was done? Well, wonder no more. The truth is, using laminations to create feature rings is far easier than the results would indicate. The process is simply putting a board on your saw at a predetermined miter angle, cutting it into strips, flipping alternate strips left-to-right or top-to-bottom and gluing the strips back together to make a laminated board. The first generation (called either a zig-zag or chevron pattern) is shown in the body of this vase. If you take a first generation board and repeat the same process, you'll get a second generation pattern, as seen in the neck of the vase.
But while the method is simple, creating a lamination design that will have the desired dimensions and appearance is far from simple. That's where Lamination PRO comes in.
The first thing you need is a laminated board. The Laminate Wizard helps you design that board by letting you decide how many strips (up to seven) will be used to create your laminate. You pick the width of each strip and the species and when you click 'Finish', your laminated board will appear. And here's the best part - it isn't just a drawing where color has been used to simulate the color of wood. Actual pictures of exotic woods are used to create the board, making it as realistic as possible.
In the process of creating your lamination, you can select whether the board is to be symmetric or non-symmetric. The lamination used to create the vase shown above uses non-symmetric laminations. To be symmetric, both the strip widths and species must be the same for pairs of strips surrounding the center strip. In this case, the strip widths are the same but the species are different. If you click on the image at the left, you'll see the laminated board. You'll also see the width of cut selected at 1-1/2" and an 'Angle for 1st Generation' of 30 degrees. Because the 'Show saw kerf' button has been pushed, the software also shows what the strips will look like after sawing.
Main Features:
- 1st, 2nd or 3rd generations
- Flip alternate pieces left-to-right, top-to-bottom, left-to-right and top-to-bottom or no flip
- Cut through strips with declining patterns or inclining patterns
- Cut the board horizontally and then slide the top and bottom halves
- Cut the board horizontally, flip the bottom half and slide the top and bottom halves
- Adjust top and bottom curtains to show the finished appearance of the board
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