Playing around with the CNC Router
- Thread starter Sgt_Mike
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cherokeetracker01
Member
Yikes, I don't mean to consume a lot of time. You are welcome to make it as simple and quick and easy as you like.
CT
CT
Sgt_Mike
Well-known member
It's ONLY the first part of the setup that is this way... and tweaking the prototypes. Before doing the "Nice" wood. Luckily for me GrBL is a really easy Language to pick up quickly, it merely command of where in the co-ordinates to go and do what operation.
"consume a lot of Time" duhh nope...
I have designs for load block that can be altered easily. However I stepped away from the CnC which means I stepped away from FreeCad, which is where the drawings was done in. My issue will be to reacquaint myself with FreeCad as a program.
Yeahhh sorta kind of depends on whom the router is from. Mine is the Chicom cheap <$500.00 start kit. Hobby level, it's good to see IF it interest a person. However the drawback from just going with a true production level machine is the accuracy and other small details are NOT present with the ChiCom stuff.
The boards you mention are usually on the level of machines such as I have. But regardless, of level all usually do GrBL or a version of that language to run. In hind sight I should have went with the Long Bow, Lot bigger work area, better stepper motors, better router motors, way better leadscrews with less back lash. Although at 4X the cost without the router motor included approx 2K. The level of accuracy is way better than the +/- 0.1mm that mine does / has built -in. But for just quick engraving, small messing around it does work. Of course with some quirks like occasionally it will just take off. To prevent that the machine needs to be "homed" way more that a decent entry level at the 2K cost level. Kind of explains why I seem to gripe a bit. I don't dislike the one that I have it has some very good qualities and abilities, but could be better.
---- We had discussed a PM coaster -----------------------
I did not want to use the Logo from the web site as it really would cause issues. Even though I "think" the keeping it limited to just members and on a "request" & "no profit" basis might be acceptable. Rather than open up Pandora's box on that one, and even though mentioned, no one has given me permission to use it. I decided to make my own Logo. Which I have a "version" for consideration as a prototype, using the "Firewood Shannon Maple" wood LOL. Yes the unidentified wood that was supposed to be maple that isn't. Spent two days and a half "flattening" two pieces of wood slabs to a 6mm thickness as well as playing with the design code.
which resulted in two coasters at 100mm diameter. I designed the code with at first with a 0.3mm depth (doing 0.1mm steps), then edited the code making three separate version of 0.1mm, 0.2mm, and 0.3mm depth for the logo I came up with. The cut out code well only one version was needed as I knew appox the thickness I kind of wanted.
I ran the first logo at 0.1mm depth, decided that while the detail was really good. With the wood type used when a finish was applied and sanded to fill the grain that I would basically lose details. So I re flattened the first run (I had done it when it was 1mm proud so I could just get a idea) then setup for the actual run. I chose to go with the 0.2mm depth. Ran it then played with the finishing, at first I applied the "tung oil" fake stuff of course, the engraving did not present very much. was not satisfied with the results.
The thought of using a red cherry stain came to mind to enhance the logo. as I had not applied the "tung oil" to the second coaster the idea to apply it to the second coaster vis Q-tip... yeah it ran like crazy ... huh I'll just sand it out was my thought.. nope... OK crap I thought. Think of how stains actually work I then thought about the first one.. maybe the "tung oil" would prevent (seal enough pores) the run like crazy then apply the "tung oil to seal the stain where I wanted it.
Here is a close up of the one done with cherry stain on the logo area without "tung oil" then sanded, then "tung oil"
Now in fairness maybe would have been acceptable, IF I wanted to duplicate a cherry finish and applied to the whole surface evenly then Tung oiled over it.
Here is the one that I applied "Tung oil" first let set a bit then applied the cherry stain into the logo.
This one I found to be more appealing as I knew how the wood would take on color from the fake "tung oil"
Ok folks thoughts and prayer time...
how is the first design of the logo ... after looking at it should a bobcat, and / or maybe a rock chuck be added?? or leave as is.
Is the logo enough detail?
(I'll finish the other two sections of wood that I have prepped for the remaining coasters to make a set of 4)
Sgt_Mike
Well-known member
For the above post where I mentioned doing two more . That is now a dead idea as the rest of the wood for that, is actually worth nothing but firewood.
So I've moved to Red Oak, that I can pickup at a local box store. Lowe's has what they refer to as "project board" the ones I picked are 3.5" wide 1/4" thickness at 5' length. Which net about 12 for ea board.
@hunt0168 Bob has been kind enough to put up with a constant conversation with me on a design on the coaster for members. Whith his help we are getting closer to a design versus using the website's logo except for the text I'm incorporating that into the design.
Red Oak does not photograph well, for several reasons grain and the color variances. Not to mention the fact that because the source is Lowe's there is really no telling if the board section is heartwood or sapwood.
I can just now in my mind's eye see several with a look of what difference does that make written on their face. Black Walnut and Red Oak share the same factors in color, Sapwood tends to be white in both species. While heartwood displays the colors they are know for without a stain and just a clearcoat. It would surprise many on here that probably 75% of what most think that their wood is heartwood which is in fact sapwood. Now walnut stocks for rifles, Yes every bit is heartwood every time.
Why mention the red oak? Well the fact that it does not photograph well and sometimes in this design process unless it is honestly in one's hand is heard to tell if a design is actually good or not.
Those two are the same ones just the first is cutout. This one is on the "spoilboard" on the router
This design will probably stay in the running, which I might add a little bit more detail to it to define the shape of the Yote.
This one is the design prior to the two above. Bob and I felt way too much detail, which created a "busy" look.
As well as the text location etc.
Bottom line is that we have not come to a consensus of which ones to see if folks might be interested in any of these.
Edited later..
actually all of the pieces look better than in the photos. Maybe it is the cheap iPhone camera I have?????
So I've moved to Red Oak, that I can pickup at a local box store. Lowe's has what they refer to as "project board" the ones I picked are 3.5" wide 1/4" thickness at 5' length. Which net about 12 for ea board.
@hunt0168 Bob has been kind enough to put up with a constant conversation with me on a design on the coaster for members. Whith his help we are getting closer to a design versus using the website's logo except for the text I'm incorporating that into the design.
Red Oak does not photograph well, for several reasons grain and the color variances. Not to mention the fact that because the source is Lowe's there is really no telling if the board section is heartwood or sapwood.
I can just now in my mind's eye see several with a look of what difference does that make written on their face. Black Walnut and Red Oak share the same factors in color, Sapwood tends to be white in both species. While heartwood displays the colors they are know for without a stain and just a clearcoat. It would surprise many on here that probably 75% of what most think that their wood is heartwood which is in fact sapwood. Now walnut stocks for rifles, Yes every bit is heartwood every time.
Why mention the red oak? Well the fact that it does not photograph well and sometimes in this design process unless it is honestly in one's hand is heard to tell if a design is actually good or not.
Those two are the same ones just the first is cutout. This one is on the "spoilboard" on the router
This design will probably stay in the running, which I might add a little bit more detail to it to define the shape of the Yote.
This one is the design prior to the two above. Bob and I felt way too much detail, which created a "busy" look.
As well as the text location etc.
Bottom line is that we have not come to a consensus of which ones to see if folks might be interested in any of these.
Edited later..
actually all of the pieces look better than in the photos. Maybe it is the cheap iPhone camera I have?????
Last edited:
Sgt_Mike
Well-known member
This post is basically a update.
After a long conversation with @hunt0168 , basically calling on his expertise in the graphic design world.
I think he and I (mostly him) came up with a good design.
The Red Oak on the left with the mahogany inlay is the last design that Bob and I discussed. (which should be credited to him, I basically took his input and just like the Nike commercial did the "just do it" )
The one on the right is is the one that I started with in the conversation which lead to the design on the right Left.
The big Department of the Army coaster is one of my first attempt on a piece of scrap (?) mahogany, which I'm pretty much keeping for my own use in the "man" cave /reloading room. Which is off center, contains a bad table saw cut, and bit of tear out because I simply went too deep with the bit.
On the the last design Bob really assisted on the layout of the text in relationship to the inlay, as well as introducing the actual inlay idea. Providing guidance with spacing etc etc. Which is way more critical than I had really realized in the onset of doing these simple silly projects.
During the pocket operation (for the inlay) of the last one I actually snapped a mill end (a really small diameter bit, oops there went $25.00 LOL).
When I was using openbuilds I didn't pay attention to depth of the cut, that is what got me. So I finished it with a 0.2mm larger bit, and recovered.
Pro's and con's from my stand point on the last design.
The last design I think is actually quite good, and I was able to maintain the origin better than the first attempt. Evident with the outline cut of the inlay with a 20 degree v-bit, to help with the contrast. The down side of the inlay pocket is the time to create the pocket for the inlay, as well as the Red Oak tearing out on certain fonts, which is why one notices the change to a less decorative font. I suspect I could cut this down a bit with changing the tool paths a bit to use a more efficient series of cuts before doing the pocket.
A shift to some other wood types I'm sure would mean I could get by without doing a inlay to create a contrast to enhance the details. Thus making the project more time efficient. Not to mention I know the fonts / text would be more pronounced.
Where does that leave me now.
I've since broke down the CnC router to move to a different table, versus sitting on the tool cabinet (it literally was filling the drawers in the tool cabinet with saw dust, I wasn't happy with that). With that move I need to actually do some dust collection, which I had not been doing, before powering back up. I'm thinking of actually using a cabinet or rather a enclosure to do this to help with the dust. That will involve time and $$ (not much really in the $$ side, more in the time).
Now the downside of the design, @Bob_Atl design in his post uses a pocket with the face which has very good qualities. I have in the past did the exact same for coatsers which I found that with that design. I could not finish the face with it being in a pocket efficiently. This leads to two solutions that I can think of.
Ok looking at the post I'm probably boring the daylights out of everyone with details they really are not interested in. So with that in mind if you made it this far in the post Thank you for putting up with my long winded post.
Now to play with the Ackley and the Barnes bullets that I got from the classified on here woo hoo
Respectfully
Mike
After a long conversation with @hunt0168 , basically calling on his expertise in the graphic design world.
I think he and I (mostly him) came up with a good design.
The Red Oak on the left with the mahogany inlay is the last design that Bob and I discussed. (which should be credited to him, I basically took his input and just like the Nike commercial did the "just do it" )
The one on the right is is the one that I started with in the conversation which lead to the design on the
The big Department of the Army coaster is one of my first attempt on a piece of scrap (?) mahogany, which I'm pretty much keeping for my own use in the "man" cave /reloading room. Which is off center, contains a bad table saw cut, and bit of tear out because I simply went too deep with the bit.
On the the last design Bob really assisted on the layout of the text in relationship to the inlay, as well as introducing the actual inlay idea. Providing guidance with spacing etc etc. Which is way more critical than I had really realized in the onset of doing these simple silly projects.
During the pocket operation (for the inlay) of the last one I actually snapped a mill end (a really small diameter bit, oops there went $25.00 LOL).
When I was using openbuilds I didn't pay attention to depth of the cut, that is what got me. So I finished it with a 0.2mm larger bit, and recovered.
Pro's and con's from my stand point on the last design.
The last design I think is actually quite good, and I was able to maintain the origin better than the first attempt. Evident with the outline cut of the inlay with a 20 degree v-bit, to help with the contrast. The down side of the inlay pocket is the time to create the pocket for the inlay, as well as the Red Oak tearing out on certain fonts, which is why one notices the change to a less decorative font. I suspect I could cut this down a bit with changing the tool paths a bit to use a more efficient series of cuts before doing the pocket.
A shift to some other wood types I'm sure would mean I could get by without doing a inlay to create a contrast to enhance the details. Thus making the project more time efficient. Not to mention I know the fonts / text would be more pronounced.
Where does that leave me now.
I've since broke down the CnC router to move to a different table, versus sitting on the tool cabinet (it literally was filling the drawers in the tool cabinet with saw dust, I wasn't happy with that). With that move I need to actually do some dust collection, which I had not been doing, before powering back up. I'm thinking of actually using a cabinet or rather a enclosure to do this to help with the dust. That will involve time and $$ (not much really in the $$ side, more in the time).
Now the downside of the design, @Bob_Atl design in his post uses a pocket with the face which has very good qualities. I have in the past did the exact same for coatsers which I found that with that design. I could not finish the face with it being in a pocket efficiently. This leads to two solutions that I can think of.
Ok looking at the post I'm probably boring the daylights out of everyone with details they really are not interested in. So with that in mind if you made it this far in the post Thank you for putting up with my long winded post.
Now to play with the Ackley and the Barnes bullets that I got from the classified on here woo hoo
Respectfully
Mike
Last edited:
Sgt_Mike
Well-known member
@cherokeetracker01
Sir I have NOT forgotten our project... and as soon as I relearn Freecad, a bit I will get on it.
While thinking of it I do need to order some bits to do what I'm thinking of as I don't have those styles of bits.
Which may not work as I want. So I'll keep the design aspect kind of hidden a bit until I can find out if I can actually cut the material I'm thinking of.
Sir I have NOT forgotten our project... and as soon as I relearn Freecad, a bit I will get on it.
While thinking of it I do need to order some bits to do what I'm thinking of as I don't have those styles of bits.
Which may not work as I want. So I'll keep the design aspect kind of hidden a bit until I can find out if I can actually cut the material I'm thinking of.
cherokeetracker01
Member
It's all good. I am patient. Nobody ask me, but those coasters are really cool looking.
timflexa
New member
Those red oak coasters with the mahogany inlay turned out really sharp, Mike! The contrast between the two woods really makes the design pop. I'd probably lean toward the left one too – cleaner look without being too busy. Good call on moving the router to deal with that dust situation, nothing worse than finding sawdust in every drawer months later.