Chris, first, between centers, turn a tenon on each end and make the piece round. Then turn as much of the OD of the donut as possible without cutting off the tenons. Then using the narrowest parting tool, cut a groove from the center line of the donut about 1-1/2" deep. Remove from the lathe and finish splitting the two halves on the bandsaw. Return each piece to the lathe chuck and finish hollowing the inside of the donut as well as the center all the way through. Glue the two pieces back together on the lathe using the chuck and live center to hold them in place. Be careful to line the grain back up and be VERY careful where and how much glue you use. If you get squeeze out on the inside of the hole, you cannot clean it up!!!!
After the glue has dried, spin up the piece and take a light clean up cut at the joint. Remove the tenon and finish hollowing the first side. Sand and apply Shellawax friction polish.
Remove piece and chuck and install donut chuck. Chuck up the piece using the donut chuck and padding to protect piece. With a dial indicator on the hollowed center hole, center up the piece and tighten down bolts on donut chuck. Turn the second tenon off, sand and finish the last 1/4 of the piece. Cut in half on the bandsaw. Now you have two pieces that look like Elbow Macaroni!
The drawer is done in the same way, but it doesn't get parted in half, just hollowed to the wall thickness you want the drawer to be. WORD of caution in this step: You MUST make templates of the INSIDE of the case, then make another set of templates that match the INSIDE template. You NEED the second templates to get the drawer to the right size so it will fit inside the donut hole. You CANNOT check the fit because you have to cut the drawer piece in half to do this!
Finally make all the ends, glue them on, flush trim router bit, sand and finish!
Let me know how YOURS turns out!
Michael
Well done Michael! I'm trying to wrap my head around how you did the outer shell! In halves maybe?