[rwskinner]

No too much going on here. I've made about a dozen simple signs in MDF, Pine, and rough cedar getting used to feeds and speeds and DOC.
It seems the conventional milling is the way to go on most of this softer stuff anyways.

The CRP is performing very well. No hiccups at all (that I can remember).
Gerry's 2010 screen set works well after I got used to all the icons. The auto zero on tool change works nice as well and is a huge time saver.

I'm sure everyone knows this, but if you use a Z setter (I have the one from CRP) be sure to mic your actual thickness because it will make a huge impact on how well the details come out on your carvings. When I first started, I used the script that CRP provides that has the offset at 1.000" and my actual is 1.006" so I was loosing many of the finer details on the shallow cuts. I figured that was the problem and when I measured I was able to verify that indeed was the issue. I just got busy having fun and missed that check.

When or if I create anything special I'll post up some pictures, otherwise I guess that brings this thread to the end.

Richard

[rwskinner]

Monday, I ordered 14 Corian Sink Cutouts to play with. All 1/2" thick stuff 10.5 x 13.5" if I remember correctly. Should be fun to play with and do some Vcarving with.

Right now, I have 1/4" DC, UP and Compression bits from Amana and 1/2 x 90 and 1/2" x 60 VBits from Freud. If anyone that plays with Corian could provide some tips on feeds and speeds I'd very much appreciate it.

For the 1/4 2 flute EM, on profile cuts, I was thinking around 18,000 and 100 IPM with DOC of 0.125". GWizard is showing 16,000 and 320 IPM and DOC at .250" for Hardwood but that seems way to aggressive. That is 3 HP and 0.003" deflection at 0.010" chip load per tooth. I'm only running a 3 HP spindle so I think that is pushing it.

If I put it in finishing mode, it drops to 17,000 RPM and 120 IPM with 1 HP and 0.001" deflection and a removal rate of 0.0035 IPT which seems a little more realistic but still seems aggressive. Again, I have no idea how accurate GWizard is for woods and materials like Corian.

I have absolutely no idea on the V Carving bits either. 1/2" V bits in MDF I have been running 16,000 and 100 IPM and doing okay and it sounds okay there with no groaning or chatter. I'm not sure about the Corian, again, I'm sure it will have to be slower on the feeds.

Again, wanting to learn and I'm all ears.

Richard

[ger21]

With a 15HP spindle, I cut Corian at 18,000rpm and 400ipm with a 2 flute spiral, 1/8" depth. If you're going to cut at 100ipm, back the rpm down to 12,000-14,000.

I've never V-Carved Corian, but we cut miter's in one pass with a 90° V bit at 50ipm and 15,000 rpm. I think similar numbers would work fine.

[rwskinner]

Here is a little sign I cooked up for my BIL which is about to get married. They are Disney fans and plan on going their for the honeymoon.
I used Amana V-Groove bits, 45,60, and 90 Degree and then a 90 V for the border, and a ball mill for the outside parameter then cut out with a 1/4 EM.
It looks awesome in person. The Corian cut great!

Just having fun!
Richard

[ssw]

Hi Richard,

Looks GREAT!

How did you get the black in the cuts?

-- Bernie

[cncrr]

The sign looks fantastic Richard. :wee:

Chuck

[rwskinner]

Thanks. Normally I fill it with Marsh's Stencil ink then sand the top layer but this time I used the Avery Label and carved thru it, then sprayed with a couple of coats of Marsh Stencil ink then about an hour later sprayed with clear. When it dried I removed the stencil material. Looks real nice in person.

Richard

[ssw]

Why Marshes? Would lacquer spray paint work?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[rwskinner]

I used Marshes because of the nice, solid black color and it dries within minutes.

[cncrr]

Hey Richard,

I have a question for you about when you trammed in your cross members with the indicator in one of your pictures. I'm assumimg that your side rails were bolted down to your frame and you only loosened the cross member to adjust it's height. Is this correct?

I finally got everything put together and running so I'm starting to adjust everything before I put my table top on the machine. I had to make a short rod that I could chuck in my router to attach my dial indicator to. There's not much "Steel" on these machines to attach a mag base to.

Thanks for your help.

Chuck

[rwskinner]

Chuck, Yes, the side rails are bolted to the stand. The outside frame / rails were leveled and then I used the indicator to adjust each cross beams height, on each edge.
The only reason I used a tramming type setup is because the profile is not square on top, so I sweep across the top and use the highest spot for my reading.
So I'm really doing two things, checking for twist, and then checking each end where it bolts to the rails to make sure they are the same height.

Even after doing all that, I still had to take a 0.010" clean up pass on my spoil board as there is a real small amount of sag on the beams with the 2 layers of MDF on them.

[rwskinner]

I did mean the Avery Paint Mask and not Avery Label. Sorry about that.

[rwskinner]

Here is a bar sign I made for a customer. It's their existing logo design and I did a 3D version of it.
I have to hollow out the back for a LCD Temp gauge and this will show their beer cooler temperature. This will hang on the wall behind the bar.
It is 14" OD and 1.6" thick. The customer will sand and paint.

My first 3D item.

[ger21]

Nice work.

[cncrr]

Awesome looking sign Richard. What software are you using for your 3-D design?

[rwskinner]

I've been using VCarvePro for several years to do all my metal machining tool paths and I broke down last week and upgraded it to Aspire.
So this was my first Aspire project. I attached the customer's artwork, it's a real simple logo that looks like it was done with crayons on a napkin.
The problem is, it is very hard to have the same look in vcarved wood so that is why I went 3D and did the outlines of the lettering and they can paint it up the way they want.

Here is some of the machining on the back for the gage. The hole in the middle is the spoil board underneath.
The Gage was 4.5" thick so I had to take it out of it's case and do unsolder the display and stuff and shrink it down some so it would fit in the 1.5" body of the sign.

Richard

[rwskinner]

Thankfully I don't have to do the sanding , priming and painting on this one because I'm having a very hard time with MDF.
I can't seem to seal it. I have tried Shellac, tons of it, and I have tried polyurethane. Both just keep sucking up and never stop or eventually make a mess and caused the machined areas to bubble pretty bad. I've only tried spraying it, I hadn't used a brush yet.

My best luck was with Ruddy Brown Spray Primer I had laying around. I did a sign with that for another friend then sanded the top smooth and it left a nice deep brown down in the grooves.
Any hint's would be nice.

Richard

[cncrr]

Hey Richard,

What MDF are you trying to seal? All the signs I've ever made that I stained were made of hard wood or plywood wood. I only use MDF when I'm going to paint it, I've never tried to stain or seal it. As far as my spoil board I just leave it natural because it gets skim cut every so often.

Chuck

[rwskinner]

For example, the bottle cap sign, is two layers of 3/4" MDF glued together than machined. Since that sign will be totally painted, should any specific type of primer be used to seal the pores so the paint doesn't keep soaking in causing different colors? I like using wood as well, but some indoor signs will have to be MDF due to cost or the dimensions of the article.

I haven't V-Carved any plywood nor have I tried any 3D carvings on it yet. I figured the laminated structure wouldn't lend itself good for that, and also plywood tends to have voids. Am I being overly paranoid? Does hardwood ply such as oak or even some of the Baltic birch carve well?

Richard

[ecurb5]

I did a piece for a friend using MDF and ended up using wood putty on the edges and other parts of the surface that was routed as a way to "seal the pores". Then applied a primer and painted with no issue (after sanding of course).