Thread: Some CNC router projects.

Hi Greg,
Using VA3D at the moment. Wasn't sure how it was going to pan out so rather than shell out more dollars I did this as a trial. I'll be buying Cut 3D soon.
cheers,
Rod

Good stuff Rod its addictive the 3D stuff I found.

I am so looking forward to getting to Coffs so I can get back to it.

What Stepover did you use and what Bits how long did it take for Vectric to send the disk.

Sean

The 3D starter disk was from VectorArt and they were very good to deal with. He arranged considerably cheaper transport than quoted on his web site and the disk was here in about one and a half weeks. It did take a while to sort out the transport before it was sent.
I used 1/4 inch ball end mill bit for roughing down to 0.1mm and then 1/8 inch ball end for the finishing at 40% stepover. I have not cleaned up any of it and what you see is off the tool. It was all cut at 1m/min and I could have gone faster - will next time.

I was told when I got home that I had a couple of hours to do a job for somebodies birthday. It was mixed messages and I thought it was a keyring but it ended up being a bar sign that was required. Thank goodness for spray lacquer as I would not have done it in time with any other finish. The birthday boy got an extra present too.
Very basic stuff but it does show what can be done in a short time. Designed, ran the jobs and finishing in two and half hours. Yeah I was late but I had to take my wife to work in the middle of it all.
Keyring is white acrylic and both jobs were painted with black acrylic in the engraving.

I have been wanting to give Lithophanes a go for a while and could not source any Corian.

Corian is the preferred material. You can also use white acrylic.

Someone gave me some offcuts that they had so here is my first go at doing Lithophanes.

Glacier white is the colour I think. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it came out.

I do not have a small ballnose tool so I used a 60 degree vee cutter and told the software it was a 1mm ballnose. 10% stepeover.

It only took seven hours to cut.

I have showed it to a few people and at first they look at it quizzically and then they hold it up to the light and are just amazed.

The photo just does not do it justice. You can see the individual blades of grass.

Greg

PS: An old family photo. My brothers and me. Mum will love it.

.

Hi Greg,

Looks pretty darn good

What size is it?

That really looks the goods to be sure, can you give me an idea on feed rates etc that you used.

I would love to do one of our dogs soon for the wife.

Hi Greg,
Fantastic and preserved for a long time now. Can you engrave on the edges the names and date and where it was taken. It will surely become a treasured family piece that will be passed down.

Are you planning on mounting it and lighting it artificially?

Bob

It is about 230 x 160 cut from 1/2" corian

WillyInBris

As I remember it was 1200mm/min with a 60 degree vee cutter. 0.1mm stepover

It needs to be about 1mm thick at the thinnest and 3mm deep or 4mm at the thickest so I had a lot to cut away.

Next time I will cut it down to 4mm thick with an end mill before starting the carving.

That will not mean it will cut faster as the vee cutter did it in one pass anyway.

But it was very noisy cutting that way and at seven hours I will drive the neighbours mad.

Rod

No Mum will think it's wonderful as is. She can stick it in the window.

..just had to signup to say how inspiring your threads have been in this forum rodm

if i were to attempt a CNC machine build like yours to do stuff like wht you showed here ...how much monies should i set aside?

i am in perth btw so i prob have to use pretty much the same sourcing of materials as you would/have

Welcome aboard R3R
Like all things it is variable depending on how you make it and how well you do purchasing the components. Best guess is $2k to $3k.

woah ...you are not kidding?!

i was prepared to see 5 digits ...but 3k and under stokes my enthusiasm ever more!

....hmmn....where to start ...wht to do ......

I'll send you a PM

Here are a couple of projects that will show up at the Melbourne BBQ on the 24th.
The horse was disappointing as I hit heart wood that wasn't all that obvious on the face. It was once the job was cut.
Looks a bit like a bullet has gone through his head or do I watch too many movies?
The lady has already been posted on the build thread but I have put it here to show newcomers what these machines can do.