How to make a spinning top out of epoxy resin and wood, for a good cause

More info on the links below:

Greek Woodturners google+

ArtStreet 52 youtube channel

Contest’s rules

For this video, I used a scrap pine piece, clear casting epoxy resin and red pigment.

First of all I used a center finder, to mark the center of my piece.

I then turned the piece true on the lathe while mounted between centers. 

I used the parting tool to create a tenon in order for the piece to be mounted on my chuck.

I mounted the piece on my chuck and also added a drill chuck on my lathe’s tailpiece. 

Using a forstner bit I opened up a hole on one end of my stock. I used the spindle gouge and a flat chisel  to open up the hole even more and create a mold for the epoxy resin.

I then mixed two part epoxy resin and added red pigment. I should have used less pigment in order for my final product to be more transparent. I poorer the ten in my wooden mold.

This type of resin releases the bubbles on it’s own. I let the resin cure for two days and it came out great.

I then remounted the piece on the chuck. I used a spindle gouge and a round scraper to shape my top.

I sanded the piece starting from 100grit, moving to 220, then 320 and finished by wet sanding with 500 and mineral oil.

I removed the top from the lathe with a flush trim saw.

The tip of the top had the center marked on from the lathe. On the drill press I drilled a small vertical hole and hammered in place a round headed nail. 

This way the tip of the top cannot brake or chip.

I hope you like my little spinning top!