Andrew, those are nice. Which CNC do you have?
Andrew, those are nice. Which CNC do you have?
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"It's paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn't appeal to anyone."
Andy Rooney
I have a Shopbot Buddy, with a 48" by 48" cutting area. 4 HP HSD spindle, and a 10HP regen blower with universal vacuum hold down. I modified my machine, it now has a T slot aluminum deck. I use it more for furniture parts (like chair seats, backs, table legs, newel posts etc) but also do a decent amount of plywood cutting (anything thats not square or rectangular).
We used to make these boards on a shop made router jig. And (round ones) on the wood lathe with an off set fixture. Tedious and dangerous (Ive had them break off the lathe on me). CNC makes this easy... I actually am waiting for a custom 3/4' shank, 2" diameter router bit with carbide insert cutters to arrive soon from Royce/Ayr... - specifically for cutting the deck on my sloped boards. Im currently using a brazed carbide bowl/tray bit. Every minute I can save in machine time, and sanding time - is money in my pocket I figure it will cut my machine time in half to just a few minutes per board.
Cutting boards isnt my "business"... but as a general woodworking shop, I make a lot over the year for people who just ask us for them. Great way to use up off cuts!
As an aside, I find the Boos block creme (beeswax and mineral oil) a really nice product and usually sell one tube with each board. And always tell them two things... (1) please, dont put your boards in the dish washer (its happened before..) and (2) rub a bit of oil on them every few months. It really does prolong them. My mother has a baord I made her when I was around 10 yrs old... I just turned 46 last weekend. Its maple and pau ferro, I still remember making it. Oiled with Crisco
Andrew J. Coholic
Those sloped top boards are nice I've made a couple myself.Using a router and platform it very time consuming.
I was calling them the pocket board.
What have you named yours?
You do some work Andrew
Aj
Andrew, do you fixture to generate the slope or are you using Z moves?
Anytime I have tried to generate a slope on a flat surface using Z moves I get a terrible surface finish.
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"It's paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn't appeal to anyone."
Andy Rooney
I used to carve them with a 3D program, flat on the bed, using a 5/8" carbide spiral ball end bit. Worked well, but slow ( 25 minutes per) and more sanding to do.
Now I use an angled fixture and a 1.25" diameter, radiused edge bit ( commonly sold as a tray or bowl bit). Takes about 7 minutes for a board. Better surface finish. With the new bit I'm hoping to cut that time in half. With even better surface finish and less sanding time.
Andrew J. Coholic
Bruce,
Go to YouTube and type in MTMWood. Then sit back and be amazed.