On another site, a member was mentioning all the hype that he thought was somewhat far fetched in the Ringmaster commercial for the machine.
To clear the air a little and to explain from my own experiences with the machine , below is my reply to him so I hope this helps out for anyone that has plans for purchasing a RM is the future .
Quote:
electric power woodworking tools have come along within the past 100 years, he has a rather inflated view of his product. He also says that the RingMaster is, " able to perform a woodworking task never before possible in any woodworking shop". I don't know about that -- it makes the task easier and faster to do, but it is just a variation on a coring tool.
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This was my reply ;
I understand what you are saying about the hype. Some has to be taken with a grain of salt for sure.
The Ringmaster is not a new tool at all . It has been sold for many years by the previous manufacturer and then the same company (still in USA) was bought by a new owner. The first owner had them priced way higher than the new owner so they are getting a bit of a revival with more woodworkers buying them at present day prices. Even though the price is still high for what it is, it is easily justified if a person wants to sell enough bowls to cover the cost which doesn't take very long at all . I have talked on the phone with the present manufacturer and he is the same one that has the ebay adds for new units.
On the other hand, I have tried myself and have had many discussions and watched other ones for over 20 years on many sites where woodworkers were trying to make attachments to their standard lathe do what the Ringmaster can do so accurately and easily in so little time. I am one that tried that long before I got the ringmaster . We even had a topic on my own WWF site where some members were working on contraptions made up on their lathe to try to cut rings at proper angles to stack into bowls. A couple were able to cut thick rings from a lot thicker wood that had to be turned with turning tools after gluing them up rather than consistent 1/4" or 5/16" thick rings that stack accurately within a thou or two on one another on a RM and only need sanding with no turning tools involved. So yes, contraptions can be made to cut rings on either mini or full size regular lathes but so far I have never seen one that comes close to what a ringmaster can do .
Now with that said, and your comments about the hype, which I totally agree with , is that pictures of curved items like hollow forms and vase's and lamps etc is a little deceiving because it is impossible to cut those from one flat board .It requires pieces from two or more flat boards cut on different angles. I have tried a few hollow forms and curved sided bowls although it is a nice interesting challenge it takes twice as long as making a straight sided bowl.
So you see , I am not one track minded and only showing the positives. There are also some negatives that are not shown in the advertising hype.
There are very few accessories required after purchasing the machine . Actually none unless a person is a mathematical genius in trigonometry and is capable of figuring out all the angles with a pen and pencil and calculator. I do not fit into that category so I bought a PAG (Precision Angle Guide) which when used in conjunction with a digital caliper it is child's play to get the angles dead on every time . BTW, the angle guide that is on the machine itself is practically useless as I found out before getting the PAG. I procrastinated for weeks about getting the PAG but now I feel it is the best fifty bucks I ever spent on a tool accessory. It is a case of figuring out board thickness and ring thickness and ring width all within thousands of an inch to come up with the proper angle. I would rather be able to set that up in seconds with the PAG instead of working on the trigonometry way and hoping I got it right because if I made a mistake I would know only after the second ring was cut. If they didn't match up properly I had wasted not only my time figuring it out but also that piece of wood. Inaccuracy on one side means the same in reverse on the other side so even if using turning tools instead of sandpaper there would not be enough wood left in the center of a 1/4" thick ring.
Take a standard lathe for instance. You buy the lathe of your choice and before you can even use it you need tools. Can't even buy one very high quality turning tool for fifty bucks . Then there are chucks and all kinds of other expensive accessories that some buy to make their work more creative and interesting .
Another con is that although rings for bowls of any size up to 12" diameter can be made fast, easy and accurately on the ringmaster and after glue-up can be put back onto the RM for sanding, the design of the machine does not allow for sanding of tall vase's and lamps etc. They have to be put on a standard lathe with a tail stock brought up for support. Fortunately many of us have a standard lathe that can be used. I even use my standard lathe with VS for sanding rather than sanding on the RM .
Sorry to ramble on but I would hate to have anyone spend money on a RM and think it is all as easy as my little video shows. Yes, that part is extremely easy and fun and addictive but other factors as mentioned above come into the equation.
