I somehow managed to not take any pictures of my rim blank before moving on to the next step, but here is a photo of one from the web:
Rim blank
The blank needs to be mounted on the lathe so it can be turned. I decided the easiest way for me was to glue the blank to a circle of plywood, then screw a lathe faceplate to the plywood.
Rim blank, plywood,and face plate mounted on lathe
I turned the outside down to 12in diameter, and cleaned up the inside enough to make it smooth. The final thickness is a little more than 1/2in.
Turning Rim
Turning Rim
The edge of the rim that is not glued to the plywood will be the back of the banjo. I cleaned this edge up, making it flat so I could glue pieces of ebony to it to create the cap. The cap is decorative, and hides the edges of the maple strips.
Gluing ebony cap to the rim
All pieces of the ebony cap glued in place
After allowing the glue to dry, I turned the rim again and cleaned up the ebony cap.
Cap turned smooth
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