[difalkner]

Very clean looking - I know you're ready to fire it up.

David

[Ntl]

Very clean looking - I know you're ready to fire it up.

David

Thank you very much!

And

Definitely David I have another test cut file I drew up that I'm going to run tomorrow. I'll post some pictures when it's done, I also want to draw up something full sized. I'm just working on getting my tool paths more dialed. I'm sure it's going to be bit of a learning curve to really get the cuts dialed in since it's different for each material. So far I have tool feeds and speeds set up for Aluminum and Soft wood. It's a lot of work setting up the tools, but once it's done I would imagine that it's just a little adjustment here and there.

Dan

[Ntl]

Here's a picture of another test cut I did, I'm just trying to get different tool paths in Vcarve down. So far aside from there being so much more to learn I'm happy with how it's going. Now I just need to find somewhere local to get hard wood. So far I've been using the scrap pallet pine that the router came on. Yes I'm cheap and try to reuse what ever I can.
Dan

[GME]

Here's a picture of another test cut I did, I'm just trying to get different tool paths in Vcarve down. So far aside from there being so much more to learn I'm happy with how it's going. Now I just need to find somewhere local to get hard wood. So far I've been using the scrap pallet pine that the router came on. Yes I'm cheap and try to reuse what ever I can.
Dan

Rockler and Woodcraft both sell some nice wood, but you typically pay dearly for it. Rockler often offers some on sale, which is usually okay. I don't buy my wood there.

Larger cities usually have a supplier, sometimes you'll find a good source in a smaller town. In my neck of the woods, there is a place named Edensaw located in a town of under 10K. It's a big, full service store (Large CNC machines doing custom work). The are located there because there are wooden boat builders/restorers there, and in nearby towns.

Gary

[Ntl]

The closest ones to me are 40+mi away, they have everything you could ever think of but I don't want to drive there. I'm just surprised that there isn't anything closer. I'm going to have to suck it up though, I just need to stock up when I go.

[difalkner]

I drive 45 minutes one way to get to the sawmill I use for Walnut. When I'm really busy I go every other week or so. Good lumber is worth the drive!

David

[Ntl]

I drive 45 minutes one way to get to the sawmill I use for Walnut. When I'm really busy I go every other week or so. Good lumber is worth the drive!

David

Agreed, I can't wait to cut some nice wood since the scrap pine I've been using is so soft that I can't get the detail out of the couple designs I've cut. I would imagine that some nice hardwood will have a much better finish than pallet pine has.

[GME]

I have two good sources. One is Crosscut Hardwoods in Seattle. It's between 60 and 90 minutes away. During rush hour, it would be more like 2 hours 30.

The other is Edensaw in Port Townsend. It's 90 minutes one way.

It's the price we pay.

Gary

[Ntl]

I have two good sources. One is Crosscut Hardwoods in Seattle. It's between 60 and 90 minutes away. During rush hour, it would be more like 2 hours 30.

The other is Edensaw in Port Townsend. It's 90 minutes one way.

It's the price we pay.

Gary

Any progress on the new router?

[GME]

Any progress on the new router?

Yes, but indirectly. I am installing optical scales and a DRO on my mill, before I proceed with milling my 80/20 extrusions. Won't be long, although mounting the scales is a bugger. I have to fabricate all the brackets and work in tight spaces.

I'm also working on how best to support the extrusions, so I can mill the ends square. They are 68" long and weigh 21.3 pounds. To long and heavy for my 5" milling vise. It would be a challenge to get them to lay flat, even If I had a matched pair of vises. I am working on making a support rail out of 1.5" x 1.5" 80/20 I have laying around. Part of the challenge is figuring out some sort of micro adjustment that will allow me to get the height just right. I'm thinking about topping the rail with some UHMW, which is very slippery. Hopefully it will allow the extrusions to move without resistance as I move the mill table during the facing operation.

My other challenge is figuring out how to get all of the lengths even. I'm thinking I might mill one end of each piece, try standing them on the milled end on a test plate, figure out which is the shortest, and use my dial height gauge (it has a scriber) to get all the lengths marked the same. Then, I get to worry about milling precisely to the line. Best case will leave me off + or - a few thousands, but hope I can get the lengths closer than 80/20 cut length tolerance (within .015"). A stop would probably be better, but I haven't worked out how to set one up. Butting up to a dial indicator would be the most accurate, if I can figure out how to do it. It's a nail biter, given the cost of material at stake. Oh, and I'm certainly going to work on some test pieces before committing the stock I bought for my router.

Gary

[PLJack]

Agreed, I can't wait to cut some nice wood since the scrap pine I've been using is so soft that I can't get the detail out of the couple designs I've cut. I would imagine that some nice hardwood will have a much better finish than pallet pine has.

You imagine correctly. Night and day. Hardwood mills great. Hard oily wood mills like a dream.
Padauk, walnut, purple hart, any quote, "exotic" hard wood, can maintain any detail you can throw at it. Down to about half an m&m.




Jack.

[wmgeorge]

I love walnut, I get it at a sawmill about 30 miles from me and most of what he has is 2 inch thick with the bark or live edge. Here is one I did last week on my machine. Its a tad over 48 inches long. I think a lake cabin scene on one end and " Joe and Sally's Place " in the middle would look nice.

Needless to say it was not rotated that way when I uploaded.

[Ntl]

Nice what are you making?

[Ntl]

Here's my first and second attempt at routing aluminum. The first one I had the depth per pass set way to deep. The second and third cut really well after I backed the depth off. 5052 is very sticky stuff, next time I need to use some cutting fluid. The edge quality turned out really nice and the parts were perfect dimensionality. The open ends of the gantry were bugging me. I'll post a picture after I pick up the hardware.

[wmgeorge]

The finished project looks pretty darn nice. I have used WD40 in the past for aluminum milling but maybe you could rig up some sort of water mister?

[Ntl]

The finished project looks pretty darn nice. I have used WD40 in the past for aluminum milling but maybe you could rig up some sort of water mister?

I have a cheapo air mister installed, I just didn't use it since I was being lazy. I also didn't realize until after I cut them out that I had it programed for conventional not climbing. Basically everything I did wrong was because I was rushing to get the parts cut out.

I'm going to try the wd40 thing since I've seen it mentioned a lot. The mister I have I plugged the oil passage on it and was just going to use compressed air. I've talked to a few people that cut a lot of aluminum sheet and they all dry cut it. They just said you have to make sure you clear the chips and with 5052 to use some wd40 because it's very sticky material.

Down the road when I can afford it I'm going to get a aluminum t slot plate for the base of the bed. Once I do that I'm going to hook up a fog buster. It's a tough one since I'm going to be be doing at least 50 50 wood to aluminum.

[Ntl]

Here's the installed picture.

[difalkner]

Very clean looking - nice job!

David

[Ntl]

Very clean looking - nice job!

David

Thanks David and let me know if you want the Vcarve file I'm not sure if you put caps on your extrusion yet. It was bugging me having them open and 80/20 didn't have any pre made and they were expensive. Originally I was going to make thicker one's, but I have 0.063 5052 from another job I did so I used it. I'll probably just leave it since it looks kinda cool with the bolt heads sticking out, I'm glad I used those instead of the button head. It's always nice when things turn out how you wanted.

Dan

[difalkner]

Much appreciated, Dan. The open ends aren't bothering me. If I were to cover mine I would probably do it in Walnut with Maple stringing for accent.

David