[louieatienza]

This is another one I did earlier, in durly redwood and basswood (super light!)

[louieatienza]

Another aluminum test cut. This time it's foe a keychain for my fiance. I'm thinking I could go faster on the feedrate, though I wasn't sure if the end mill could take it. Also I do get a little bit of backlash from the Lovevjoy couplers I used, but overall I'm happy with the results. What I'm not happy with is the cheap Ryobi v-bit I used for the v-carve. It actually does not come to a point, so the v-carve is not perfect. Not bad for MDF, but I need to get a better bit!

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2Ovpt7XQeo"]YouTube - Home Made CNC Router Milling Aluminum, Celtic Cross Part 1: V-Carve![/nomedia]
[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOPxB6yX_SI"]YouTube - Home Made CNC Router Milling Aluminum, Celtic Cross Part 2: Profile![/nomedia]

This piece is about 3" in diamter...

[CarveOne]

I bought a Bosch V router bit not long ago and found out the same thing when I tried cutting a Mayan Haab calendar.

CarveOne

[louieatienza]

I bought a Bosch V router bit not long ago and found out the same thing when I tried cutting a Mayan Haab calendar.

CarveOne

Hey CarveOne good to see you again, I had to take a sabbatical when my mother got ill, and passed away. Have you tried other bits? I've had luck with the Amana stuff, so I try their bits. Do you have the DXF of teh calendar?

My Solsylva machine is currently disassembled, btw. My buddy wants to get it up and running at his garage, so we're going to rebuild it soon...

[louieatienza]

Yeah, I can imagine that this machine saves you a serious amount of time

Have you noticed any issues with backlash? Or does having them tensioned eliminate this for the most part?

Jesse... I still have a little bit of backlash, due to the Lovevjoy L couplers I am using. I have new couplers coming in, which should mitigate that. Other than that, all axes seem tight; the ROLLON trucks take a bit of time to set up right (you can preload the crap out of them) but it was worth it. Also, I think the rails ended up being more structural than the phenolic!

What I DID do in the interim was lower my accel/decel in Mach3, from 30 to 15, which seems to help. I also lowered the rapids from 250 to 175 (though I have had it set as high as 400!) so the table doesn't shake uncontrollably! I guess a new table is in the order.

My plans are to make a smaller desktop machine for metal cutting, so I can use this one primarily for wood and plastics. For that I may start a build log... but I will wait till spring to start...

Another thing I notice... when I do a outside profile cut in VCarve, and specify climb cutting, the outside edge of my part is actually getting cut with a convevntional cut. I was wondering why the outside cuts aren't as clean as my pockets or inside profiles. Will have to look into this!

[louieatienza]

Example: here's a nametag I made for my friend's daughter's room. The inside pockets come out clean, and the cleanup pass climb cuts. When I cut the outside edge, it travels in a conventional manner...

Still with the tighter machine, everything cuts cleaner overall. The bottom of the pockets are nice and smooth (guess I got the Z axis aligned well!)

The tops and bottoms of the "S" near the serifs are leass than 1/32" thickness, and .166" deep, so I guess the backlash isn't that horrible!

[CarveOne]

Hey CarveOne good to see you again, I had to take a sabbatical when my mother got ill, and passed away. Have you tried other bits? I've had luck with the Amana stuff, so I try their bits. Do you have the DXF of teh calendar?

My Solsylva machine is currently disassembled, btw. My buddy wants to get it up and running at his garage, so we're going to rebuild it soon...

I cut the all of the Aztec/Mayan calendars with a 90 degree vcarve bit that jsantos got from Rockler on sale. They have a sharp pointed tip. He donated one when he sent me the gcode files on CD. No sanding is required for MDF or oak.

CarveOne

[CarveOne]

I haven't tried brass on the big machine yet. That is part of my plan for the smaller steel channel machine though. When I install the PC7518 router and S-PID on the big machine I'll give it a whirl too.

CarveOne

[louieatienza]

I haven't tried brass on the big machine yet. That is part of my plan for the smaller steel channel machine though. When I install the PC7518 router and S-PID on the big machine I'll give it a whirl too.

CarveOne

I'm looking at the s-pid as well... though I am still waiting for my return e-mail! I ordered the v-insert bit from Amana, so I'll see how that performs; heard great results from them.

I have a chunk of 1/4" brass from a demo job (old evacuation plan). So gearing up for that as well. I think steel may be pushing it unless I change the spindle, go real slow, and run some kind of coolant. Hoping with my planned desktop mill I'll be able to do so (parts have been gathering for a while now)

[CarveOne]

Both of my S-PID boards are version 1 with v1.5 firmware. One is modified for the higher current 3-1/4 hp router. You will like the results of using one. I haven't hooked up all of the fancy Mach3 controls yet since things tend to be moving targets on my To-Do list.

CarveOne

[louieatienza]

Both of my S-PID boards are version 1 with v1.5 firmware. One is modified for the higher current 3-1/4 hp router. You will like the results of using one. I haven't hooked up all of the fancy Mach3 controls yet since things tend to be moving targets on my To-Do list.

CarveOne

Cool info! I've corresponded with Roman and Val, and I should be ordering next week if all goes to plan. I am told that the v2 supports higher cuurent routers!

[louieatienza]

I just recently purchased a new insert v-carving bit made by Amana. The inserts are cool because they are made of harder carbide compound, are easily resharpened, and have two cutting edges (reversible). I got the 90 degree, 1/2" shank, but I might also get a 60 degree as well.

To test this bit out, I used the Mayan Haab calendar file online. I used a 3/4" straight bit to surface the board, followed by a 1/8" straight bit to do all the flats, and finally the v-carve bit for cleanup and detail.

Here is the end result with no touching up or sanding, straight out of the machine. What surprised me was the level of detail; considering my 1/2"-8, 8 start leadscrews, the v-carve bit came down at exactly the right spots...

[louieatienza]

Here is the pic/ The piece is 9" diameter. I should have gone larger, but still the v-carve bit cut all the detail out!

[CarveOne]

Here is the pic/ The piece is 9" diameter. I should have gone larger, but still the v-carve bit cut all the detail out!

Looks good! Have you decided yet how you are going to finish it? I was thinking that I would try one of these sometime with the "stone-in-a-spray-can" type of finishes from Lowe's.

CarveOne

[louieatienza]

Looks good! Have you decided yet how you are going to finish it? I was thinking that I would try one of these sometime with the "stone-in-a-spray-can" type of finishes from Lowe's.

CarveOne

Thanks! I thought about that, but was worried that it might obscure some of the finer lines, some of which are not even .01" thick! I'm thinking of doing different color stains, and stippling, to mimic stone. But I think I will try a larger one, and maybe use Corian or oter solid-surface material? How did you end up finishing yours?

[louieatienza]

I should also add that I have upgraded my collets, with ones purchased at PreciseBits.com. WAY better than the stock collets, my router seems to run a bit smoother. I got the kit which has 1/8", 1/4", and 1/2" collets, and ER nut, and a spindle/collet cleaning kit. The cleaning kit was particularly useful, as I never realized how rusty and dirty my spindle bore was! It almost looks better than new now. I also got the 3/8" collet, so I have more options as far as bit purchases (I'd use 3/8" over 1/4" for the extra ridgidity when I can.)

What's nice, is that I can use 1/8" bits without sleeving them. I did find the Amana sleeves to be pretty accurate, but bit changes were a nightmare!

PreciseBits has end mills down to .001"! Well below my machine's mechanical resolution, but good to know they got it if I need it...

[RomanLini]

That's some beautiful guitar woodwork Louie!

That quilt maple strat looks amazing.

[louieatienza]

That's some beautiful guitar woodwork Louie!

That quilt maple strat looks amazing.

Thanks Roman! It's not even sanded yet, that's fresh off the press. Sanding it smooth to 400 should make the grain even more 3-dimensional looking! We're going to use aniline dyes, in a four stage staining process, that should make the figure look like ripples in the ocean. Basically I would start with a dark blue, sand completely off, then amber to add a little warmth, then a lighter shade of ble, and finally use an airbrush with the darker blue to make a subtle "burst", yet still transparent. The center will look almost aquamarine with the amber and light blu

I wish I had started down the CNC path sooner; this saves so much in terms of hand labor. Of course here is still some manual labor, but now it's more devoted to detail and finish!

I can't sand it down yet as I'm waiting for binding material. Hopefully soon!

[CarveOne]

Thanks! I thought about that, but was worried that it might obscure some of the finer lines, some of which are not even .01" thick! I'm thinking of doing different color stains, and stippling, to mimic stone. But I think I will try a larger one, and maybe use Corian or oter solid-surface material? How did you end up finishing yours?

MinWax Dark Walnut stain in the darker parts and Golden Oak stain in the lighter parts. MinWax clear satin polyurethane finish. It takes about five coats brushed on before it fills in and stops having a leathery look. The photos aren't as natural looking as they should be. The camera doesn't do so well under fluorescent lighting.

I have one that was cut too shallow. I may get a can of the stone finish and see how much it covers up the grooves. Using a 60 degree cutter may alleviate the filling up problem.

CarveOne

[louieatienza]

MinWax Dark Walnut stain in the darker parts and Golden Oak stain in the lighter parts. MinWax clear satin polyurethane finish. It takes about five coats brushed on before it fills in and stops having a leathery look. The photos aren't as natural looking as they should be. The camera doesn't do so well under fluorescent lighting.

I have one that was cut too shallow. I may get a can of the stone finish and see how much it covers up the grooves. Using a 60 degree cutter may alleviate the filling up problem.

CarveOne

I like the color on that! I think I might just give that a try; have the stains in my shop. I also like the deeper V-carve; i may do another attempt with the deeper pass.