Thread: Some CNC router projects.

Tried a bevel inlay tonight of a flutterby. I am pleased with the first attempt and apart from a small chip in the abdomen the fit is perfect. You can see the chip in the first photo so perhaps there are better timbers to use for this than pine. I cannot detect the variation in materials on the surface. The bevel is the key to a tight fit and it was all designed in VCarve.
The series of photos explains it better than I can.
Note that the inlay is quite deep at around 10mm for the insert and 8mm for the pocket. Once the glue is dry I cut the insert flush with the base then sanded.

Good work Rod Bloody fantastic indeed.

The inlay looks the goods will have to try that one day.

The wife and I have had a bit of a chat and I wont be able to get down to Melb this time but I will for the next BBQ.


Sean

Hi Rod,

Looks good even with the abdomen missing and Ned looks really good with the better timber

Thanks for the feedback and unfortunately I have to accept how they come off the machine as I have left my run a bit late to do repeat jobs now. Two days to go to the Melbourne meet.

No worries Sean I'm sure we will catch up with you at some time in the future.

Originally Posted by rodm

Poor Ned has been carved in a better bit of timber so he looks a lot happier now.

Looks like he took a panadol. Headache is much better.

Great work as usual, love the inlay. Been playing around with basic inlays, definately have to try that type of inlay tho. Again your work seems to only inspire myself as im sure many others.

Hope you all have a great BBQ i would have loved to meet everyone, alas work is keeping me busy but ill definately try for the next one and hope work is not as bad then. Either way i hope there will be a DVD of the BBQ with all the excitement and knowledge from the day available for a small fee for people like Sean, myself and im sure many others who cant make it there.

Keep up the great work and enjoy the weekend.

Thanks Daniel
I am really looking forward to the Melbourne meet. I still have one more job to do before I leave so it looks like a few projects will go without any finish on them.
Pity the planets didn't allign for you and Sean to go but you can't expect everbody to be available and have funds for flying and accommodation. As you say there is always next year and going by the number attending this year it seems more people are trecking down the CNC path so it could even be bigger.

Rod,
I really like your inlay and can't wait to try it out. I was the old guy with the white goatee at the Melbourne meet that walked around rubbing the butterfly inlay most of the day!
I make some timber dovetailed boxes and the idea of doing some inlays on the top panel is really exciting. Possibly even names etc. You can see some of my boxes on ... users.cyberone.com.au/ahunt/wood.html ... I have also worked up a 'Makers Mark' in VCarve that I want to engrave on the bottom of the boxes before I sell them, give them to charity or just give them to family and friends. I tried to attach a zipped .crv file for you to look at and comment on, but it exceeded the 100kb size limit.
Regards,
Alan

Great Job on the inlay Rod. I will have to give the bevel inlay a go as well. I was thinking that it might have been a bit hard to maintain the integrity of the image as it changes as you go (sand) deeper - what I didn't realise is that bevel is quite a sharp angle. I have had good success with my method of cnc inlay but this might be a better way to go for large images.

I finished the latest guitar today and here is the headstock inlay (MoP).

Hi Alan,
I do remember having a chat to you later in the afternoon. Love you boxes and the inlays would compliment them nicely.
The butterfly was my first attempt and I did it two days before I flew over to the Melbourne meet. The job was very hurried and I was not happy about the chip but I didn't have time to redo it as I had other demos to prepare. It would work equally as well for lettering, in fact easier than the model I selected. Obviously I wanted a higher degree of difficulty to demonstrate the capabilities of Vcarve.
I plan to do a lot more experiementation with inlays in future.
Send me a PM and I will send you my email adress and you can attach the file. I am very interested to see what design you have come up with.

Hi Jason,
Superb work on the MOP inlays. If it was me I wouldn't change your method as you have got it perfect as it is.
Love to see more pics of the guitar.

The bevel is 60 degrees but even so I imagine if you did sand it back quite a bit the image would alter in size. You have good vision as this is something I had not thought about.

Hi
One of the other members gave me the address to your post site as I am looking for someone to carve an inscription onto the lid of a wooden box. Basically, something in fancy writing with the words 60th Wedding Anniversary and a date (8th March 2007) and either a ribbon draped under the words or a single rose on the side. Anyhow please let me know if you have the time to do something like this (looking at the whole thing, box and all being completed before Sept 2008 or Feb 2009). And also, if its do-able, a rough estimate on the price (the piece will be about 40cm x 30cm and the inscription somewhere in there). Also is there any particular thickness the piece needs to be?
Thankyou

Hi Samanthawest,
I don't do the type of work you are requesting but I know somebody that does. I have seen him do a box as you describe with a knife inside for a wedding heirloom. It was magnificent with an inlay done for the knife and the idea was to pass it on to the next generation when they got married.
Exotic timbers are not cheap and hard to source so there would be an expectation for an upfront fee to cover costs.
Carving the lid is not a problem and he has a CNC machine to do it.
I have attached a quick sketch so you can form your ideas and see a sample of what can be done. 3D rose is also possible but the lid would have to be quite thick to be able to do this.
Contact me via a PM and I will send you his details.

This is a console for a machine I have built and will be a protoype until I can sort out how all the elctronics works.

What I want to show here is how easy it is to cut a complex and busy panel with a CNC machine. That is 3.2mm aluminum plate and there are 41 square holes, one circular hole with three bolt holes. All up 58 minutes to make this while I sipped on a cuppa watching. It's hard work this CNC.