In article ,
charlie b wrote:
BUT - You Can get donut shaped fluorescent light bulbs. And if
you can fix it to the drive end of the lathe - behind the chuck
or around the chuck - and made some kind of shade - then
you might be able to use light to tell you how thick the wall
of the piece your working on is getting. Could probably turn
a "shade" even.

Brilliant idea or a dumb idea?

You don't need to complicate it with a ring lamp - put a spotlight where
it shines on the bowl, and gauge the thickness of the bowl while the
piece is spinning by looking at the color of the spot. ie, you don't
need to have the whole piece lit, just as you don't need to have a
circular cutter to turn it round - a single point will do as you turn
the piece.

Look up Peter Bloch (blochofwood) who demonstates this technique from
time to time, and uses it to turn lampshades.

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