"Ron Headon" writes:
I've been looking through a book by Malcolm Tibbetts called "The Art of
Segmented Woodturning".

Hey, I just got that myself but haven't had a chance to really read it
yet.

This means, for example, that my disk sander is a piece of abrasive
stuck to a plywood disk attached to the scroll chuck on my lathe!

Mine is on my faceplate. So? I built a plywood table that sits on
the bed of the lathe that lines up with the center of the disk, too.

He advocates use of a 12" disk sander,

12" disc on the lathe.

a mitre saw for cutting the segments,

Table saw and incra.

a jointer

Ok, I've got one of these. You can use a belt sander or your disc
sander along with a "safety planer" on a drill press to thickness
wood.

I'd be interested to know from any segmented turners out there how
much tooling is necessary to produce good quality results

I use a jointer/planer to prepare my stock, and a tablesaw to cut it
and match half-rings. Disc sander for facing the rings.

I think the thing to do is try try try! Pick an inexpensive hardwood
(maple around here) and see if what you've got is accurate enough for
the results you want.

do I need to shell out on a "proper" disk sander

I thought you already had one ;-)

I have a good quality bandsaw

Bandsaws aren't accurate enough that way.