gift box/candy dish

[traindriver]

A couple of months ago, I made a gift box to put a going away present in for a retiring co-worker and that gave me an idea for something else.  I made a prototype, and decided to paint it and give it to our plant's safety manager (UT grad).  The box was made by dishing out a base, then making two Texas-shaped rings with dowel holes to line them up.  I did it this way to see how well I could make a stack in case I wanted to make one deeper than a bit could reach.  I used cheap pine for the material, and was not impressed with the results.  The sections didn't line up as well as I had hoped they would, probably because I used cheap material.  I haven't made a vacuum hold-down yet, so it is possible that the double sided tape I used allowed the wood move enough to throw the stack up off.  For the top, I undercut the bottom so it would stay on, then flipped it over and routed the top and did the cut out.  I messed up my X origin on the bottom, so it was a little off relative to the top, but only by a millimeter or less, so it doesn't fit as tight as I wanted, but not bad.  

A couple of things about the top:  I always choose the "Offset" strategy for finish machining 3d models because it seems to work out better, and in this case, for some reason, Vcarve Pro decided to start the finish cut above the left ear of the longhorn, and machine outward, then once the boundary had been reached, started at the ear and worked inward.  I asked the Vectric guys at the show about this and couldn't explain it.  What they could explain is why there are odd lines in the top.  This is due to the fact that after each round, the tool moves to the start of the next path, and the line goes through all of those moves.  One of the guys at Vectric told me there is a way to make the tool pick up and set back down each round so the line is never created by putting a value in the stepover retract field in the "Area Machine Strategy" on the finish toolpath.  I will try that out this coming weekend and see how much time that adds.

[traindriver]

Finally got around to finishing the actual project that the prototype was for.  Made out of purple heart, padauk, and maple.  I opted to use rare earth magnets to hold the lid in place, rather than rabbet the bottom of the top so it would fit into the box like I did on the prototype.  

[zaxis4]

Very nice....did you do a bitmap trace of the outline to set up the tool path?

[traindriver]

Yes, I found the highest resolution .jpg I could and used the bitmap trace.  I did the same when I made this sign for my man cave.  I surprised at how well the bottle turned out considering it was from a .jpg.  Sometimes I have to do a little node editing, but usually not too much.

[zaxis4]

Vetric is such a great program. It is easy to use and does almost anything you want for your CNC.

[lynkspyder]

What a great project. Very nicely done.

[gerry]

That is one nicely made sign. Did you paint and sand or mask, then carve?

[traindriver]

Thanks for the compliments, guys. No painting. Just v-carve inlay. The plank is maple, the letters are padauk, and the bottle is walnut. There are a couple of good videos on youtube on how to do it, and it's super easy. First you make a vcarve and a mirror image male vcarve like this:


After the male inlay is glued into the plank and dried, I cut off the excess with a bandsaw and it looks like this (similar but different project):

and run it through a drum sander with fine sandpaper a half-dozen times to clean it up and with gloss poly on it, it looks like this:.  
Side note:  yellowheart inlaid into ebony is stunning.

[aluomala]

Traindriver, VERY nice work on that ClubCar design!! I have done a few inlays (on my very inaccurate ShapeOko2 DIY machine), so I am looking forward to doing work such as yours on my Axiom (if it ever arrives...).

One thing that I attempted, but never had any success with (likely due to zeroing and accuracy issues with my SO2 machine) was to engrave into the inlay once it was already set into the main piece (inlay in inlay, in inlay.... it's like "Inception"!!). But seriously, I was wanting to do nice Celtic scrollwork in my inlay, and then fill that with resin/metal-powder so it look like cast metal. Maybe I was biting off more than I could chew, but the concept (in my minds eye, anyway) was stunning, and I can't see any technical reason why it wouldn't work (other than operator error and/or a machine that wasn't accurate enough to handle it).

Allan

[RetiredAFChief]

very nice outcomes on all projects.

[arsystems]

Texas dish - awesome.... club car inlay - also awesome. I need my machine asap!

[branson]

Traindriver, I’ve done several inlays, with some very successful results and some not, would you mind sharing what settings you used in making these? Cut depths for male vs female pieces and what but you used?

[traindriver]

These are the settings and bits I usually use:

I watched a three or four youtube videos and saw a good one in which a British guy was using mm, and one in which a couple U.S. guys were using inches.  The ratio was the same, even though the distances were different.  When you glue the male into the female, it won't fit all the way flush - there will be a little bit of the male Vcarve that doesn't go into the female Vcarve, but that's okay, it makes a little gap that you can guide your bandsaw through to cut them apart after the glue dries.  That way, you don't have as much to sand.

The Russian guy at MTMWood on Youtube uses 30 degree bits.  I've done a couple like that, but it seems like the male part is a little more fragile due to the steeper bit angle.  

I recently started a project where I need to inlay 6 basic shapes in 6 colors for a game similar to dominoes.  Should be pretty straightforward, right?  I'm doing circles, squares, diamonds, 4 point stars, 8 point stars, and a 4 leaf clover shape.  How hard could it be?  Well, it turns out pretty hard when you outsmart yourself.  I assumed that all the shapes were symmetric, so I didn't bother with making mirror images.  After screwing up a couple of maple and walnut inlays, (clover and stars didn't look right), I turned on the node editing and discovered that they weren't symmetric after all (more nodes on one side than the other).  The lesson here is ALWAYS make a mirror image for the male part of the inlay, even if it appears to be symmetric.

[traindriver]

Jan 19, 2018 22:54:20 GMT -5 aluomala said:

Traindriver, VERY nice work on that ClubCar design!! I have done a few inlays (on my very inaccurate ShapeOko2 DIY machine), so I am looking forward to doing work such as yours on my Axiom (if it ever arrives...).

One thing that I attempted, but never had any success with (likely due to zeroing and accuracy issues with my SO2 machine) was to engrave into the inlay once it was already set into the main piece (inlay in inlay, in inlay.... it's like "Inception"!!). But seriously, I was wanting to do nice Celtic scrollwork in my inlay, and then fill that with resin/metal-powder so it look like cast metal. Maybe I was biting off more than I could chew, but the concept (in my minds eye, anyway) was stunning, and I can't see any technical reason why it wouldn't work (other than operator error and/or a machine that wasn't accurate enough to handle it).

Allan

That sounds pretty sweet.  I'd like to see that.  I don't see why that couldn't be done.  If you watch any of MTMWood's more recent videos on Youtube, he mostly does cutting boards with inlay, and some of the designs require three or four different colors (woods) and go on top of each other.

[Deleted]

Here is the MTM Youtube channel Traindriver is referring to:

www.youtube.com/channel/UCWBTyvNhUXq0ofu6ta1EAaQ

He does both V carved inlays and vertical wall inlays depending on the design elements, very nice work.

[aluomala]

Thanks for link, Fean. I had seen his work previously (mostly the eng-grain cutting boards, which I'm not particularly interested in at the moment) but found the one where he does the state emblem of the USSR (link). That is pretty much right up my alley! I am working on military crests from the Canadian military, and although I don't think I would do this particular technique a lot, it would definitely be worthwhile to pursue in the future. That isn't exactly a beginner level type of project....

As an aside, does anybody know a source for a smaller version of the hydraulic wood press that he is using at the 8:00 point in the video? I did a quick Google search and found mostly industrial grade (100 ton) presses, and "how-to" videos of how to make a cheapo-DIY press out of lumber (one made my eyes want to bleed, since the kid making it was using the claw part of a hammer to make holes in lumber). A small footprint deal would be best for my purposes, but I don't know if those exist.


Allan

[traindriver]

Ever since I saw that in his videos, I've been on the lookout for something as well. It looks kind of like a harbor freight press here with a homemade plate on the ram for pressing.  He also has one that is pneumatic that looks like it operates off of airbags for vehicle suspension or something like it.  I'm thinking that a scissor jack would supply enough force without the danger of damaging the wood by too much power, something like what this guy is using for a fruit press.  I have a lot of steel fabrication equipment, but since I'm only pressing wood for inlays, I don't think it needs to be super strong.  

[aluomala]

Originally, when I first did my first inlays, I used basic pipe clamps, with a rectangular plyowood board for support, and clamped that board downwards onto my project piece, and realized that there had to be a better way. I looked around, but didn't know what I was looking for (life, in a nutshell....). I remember vaguely seeing something that was used in the medieval times (some type of press for block printing, or similar, that had a handle that you cranked) and searched along those routes, and came up with nothing (no big surprise there...).

The press you found is similar to what I found online and at the local Canadian version of Harbor Freight (called Princess Auto). It was about $50 more (surprise, surprise), but actually cheaper than I expected. Again, the DIY route might be "cheaper", but I somewhat value my time (and sanity), so sometimes you have to pay a few bucks to save those things. Something that works (without a lot of modification) would be ideal, but failing that, a few pieces of plywood, some lumber, and a whole crap-ton of clamps will work, especially if this is a once-in-a-blue-moon type of endeavour (I don't have a whole lot of shop space to work with at the moment, so a press that takes up a lot of space, and is only used infrequently, isn't at the top of my to-buy list). Having said all that, if I had something that works, and is space-efficent, I would likely do more inlay work, since I think that it has a lot of bang-for-the-buck impact on projects.

[Deleted]

You can make an apple press style machine using cheap 2x4 lumber and a bottle jack that is held together with carriage bolts and can be knocked down for storage. Here is a good video to reference:



The MTM air system looks to use bladders that are used for jacking up things or to support an optics table. The important thing to consider in your design is enough support in your top and bottom plates to spread the pressure evenly. For a 12"x12" area, a 4-ton bottle jack would put out 55.5 PSI if you use the full surface area which should be more than reasonable. Harbor freight has a 4-ton one for $18 and larger ones aren't expensive, just take the tonnage, multiply by 2000 and divide by the width and length of your table (in inches) to get the resulting PSI.

www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result/index/?dir=asc&order=EAScore%2Cf%2CEAFeatured+Weight%2Cf%2CSale+Rank%2Cf&q=bottle+jacks

[buildswithbrian]

Traindriver, that is impressive stuff.... the inlay technique with mirror image is awesome
I hadn't realized it was even possible. I have yet to try an inlay yet myself, basically doing mostly 2d cutting with engraving and v-carving.
but I am so excited to try this.... I hate the meticulous painting work to paint fill a v-carved wood sign.
I think the inlay method you used on the club car project is (as you said) just stunning.

also the Texas themed candy dish is very nice work, I like the way you edged glued up the different wood species for the top.

thank you for sharing this
look forward to seeing more of your work