Hi guys,
I'm looking for a little more help with my soccer crest/shield/emblem.
I managed to cut it out today. YES I know there is a multitude of things wrong with it, which is why I need some expert help
I am still a newbie and I'm using V-Carve Desktop. so go easy on me



Firstly the 3D Tudor Rose model/indentation is too large for the piece (I will make this smaller that's not a problem) but maybe it is recessed too much I feel and I'm losing a lot of definition here, How do I correct this. (it's a genuine V3M file).
As the test material, I was using for this trial was MDF I lost a couple of the small bars in the milling because they are quite small especially when the V Bit is putting on a chamfer. I won't be using MDF for the final piece so any suggestions for which wood species I should go for. I don't want these small pieces breaking off on the final piece so any advice on that score would be ideal also
Thanks in advance for all your suggestions it is very much appreciated as I try to get to grips with the software and my limitations
Regards
C

 

3mm endmill for Roughing pass and 3mm ball nose for Finishing
I need to get into the contours more either by lifting the rose up within the material or going deeper with the carve somehow. If I go deeper then the dish will be deeper and I don't want that. (there is already a steep ridge in the edge, I wanted a smooth slope) Unfortunately, it's a little frustrating as I'm still very ignorant of the subject.

 

I have 1/4 and 1/8 collets
and finer endmills down to 1mm and ball nose the same

 

I think I might have worked it out @Alex Chambers, I have the option to raise the base height of the model within the material. I just lifted this in the software by 2mm and recalculated both the toolpaths. It seems to have the desired effect in the preview. But before I transpose it onto my new piece of timber I will try it on a piece of same size offcut just to be sure. The problem now is which timber to use so that the smaller nodes of the emblem don't break off in the milling process as they did with the MDF. (I kind of knew that was going to happen)

 

I'm not really bothered about the white and the blue @Alex Chambers (as per LUFC) there is a lot to be said for a nice dark highly polished hardwood but that would be a premium price. Maybe a timber species that doesn't chip out easily as you say and stained would be fine when used with fine polishing grit papers.

 

Definitely, I see they do Hobby Packs, excellent....

 

I'm getting tired of working with MDF, so much dust, but I suppose it's better ruining a piece of fibre board than a nice slice of hardwood.
I will pay a visit when I'm over @Alex Chambers.
I wish I had this machine when I was knocking out Bath Butlers lol

 

"John Norwood"
John Norwood was my grandad, a dapper character who was a keen gardener, he grew all his own vegetables back in the day. Sadly those days have gone but I seemed to have developed that same trait somehow as I also subconsciously carry on that family tradition.
Well a few seasons ago I decided to make a tribute to old John in my own garden, so what I came up with is pictoralised below. He would have loved that even though he would have commented about the waste of terracotta pots.
I looked out the window this morning and John was definitely not looking his dapper self. What could I do to improve his mood. Now I have this CNC machine lets give him a nice Tie, I thought.
So I set about finding something I could use and to my surprise, there is a Bow Tie (FREE) project on the Vectric website. I downloaded it and looked around for a nice quality piece of scrap timber.... I found some nice slips of OAK, perfect I thought, beautiful markings. I cut it to size and fastened it down to the CNC table with carpet tape and set about modifying the tooling for the piece. The finished tie would come in around 117mm x 60mm x 8mm once I'd finished messing around. with tooling of 3mm Endmill for Roughing and Cutting out and a 2mm Ball End for the Finishing pass, This wood cut beautifully at 900mm/min Feed and 420 Plunge for both bits. I was impressed with these cheapo Chinese bits nice and smooth cuts...I'm liking OAK a lot. After around 2hrs the job was complete and after light sanding, I applied 4 coats of Furniture Wax to bring out the grain and also to provide a little moisture barrier as this wood was returned outdoors.
I quite enjoyed this small and easy project and I think John is well pleased with his new "3d Dickie Bow"
Regards
C

 

Ah harrr Jim lad!
My latest project on this fairly new Workbee machine sees me walking the plank as it were.
Note to one's self, Don't promise your grandkids something because they will hold you to it hahaha
Yeah, that's me. Two small guys who think they are Capt. Jack Sparrow and keep breaking their swords (plastic) so grandad opened his big fat mouth and promised to make them one each (thinking they would forget all about it in a few days) Wrong!
I found a 3D Cutlass model and scaled this up to fit two small dudes.
I am about to cut one side and flip it and cut another mirror image and glue the two parts together to complete the sword.
Hoping that it all turns out fine
Can anyone see any problems with my methodology?



Regards
C

 

Don't worry Alex. I will make them as safe as possible. I wasn't born in the age of cotton wool kids they will be made aware also and educated in the art of being a considerate pirate.

Each side comes in around 8mm so should, hopefully, be sturdy enough

 

I'm big and wise enough to know when there are long knives about lol

 

Very True

 

Using the Duet Control Board, is it possible to pause a job, turn the machine off and come back to the job tomorrow?
The job I'm on is taking longer than I'd envisaged so I would like to resume in the morning
Is there a way @Alex Chambers
And if anyone else can provide a "How To" on this I'd be very grateful.
Regards
C

 

Sadly No! Alex.
Whatever way I'd set up the roughing pass for the cutlass it was taking forever. At the end, when it was getting to 79% plus completion the endmill was just nipping away at the edges plunging a smidge deeper each time until it reached sharpness I would imagine...I didn't want a sharp edge anyhow so I just aborted at the end of a cycle, with probably only one complete cycle left to perform. It wasn't milling any material really, nothing that would detract from the overall model. This morning finds me running the finishing pass and all is looking well thus far, still quite a few hours left to run, then I will cut it out, sand and glue the two halves together, after which comes the paint and varnishing.
So to reiterate. I didn't get to run the pause cycle. I did hit the PAUSE JOB button but it homed to XYZ datum position for the job. and I wasn't sure if it would hold this in memory or not. There is a segment in the manual which relates to saved work after an accidental power loss but again I wasn't sure how this related to my predicament and how to manage such an event, me still being new to all of this. I hope someone can comment, for both our sakes as it would be handy to know. But with the Duet still in its infancy on the Workbee its hard to say.
Regards
C