Completed Signs

[csmg]

Good morning, Although I have made many things with my AR8 Pro, I haven't sent photos of the projects.  I made these 2 signs for my son.  We decided to use Birch Plywood and I will tell you, I won't make that mistake again unless I get a true quality birch plywood.  To many voids that I had to fill.  From a distance, they look ok, but up close, I can still see some of the filler in areas where it was hard to sand.  Lessons learned....


CSMg

Attachments:

[redwood]

I assume that you meant Birch plywood.  I've never heard of Birth plywood.  I just used some maple plywood and had the same issues with voids.  I'm in a pretty rural area and my choices for suppliers is very limited.

[aluomala]

I think that Baltic Birch is the plywood you would want to use, as I believe it doesn't have the voids that some plywoods (most?) do.

[csmg]

Redwood, yes, I did mean birch plywood. Typing on an IPhone is not my preferred method. I went about .25 inches deep and that was enough to cause the problem. I prefer hardwoods over any kind of ply when making signs.

Alumala, I use Baltic Birch all the time on my CO2 laser and it is full of voids on 3 and 6 mm so my assumption would be the same issues on 3/4" If you know different, I would be interested.

I have had my AR8 for just shy of 2 years. I have had small issues and I still have an alignment issue that I just can't seem to shake. After taking my spindle off, I cannot get it aligned to cut flat. I am using aluminum foil as shims per Chad's advise but I can't seem to get it corrected. I guess I am somewhat of a perfectionist and want to have a flat bottom. I will get it right at some point. I am thinking about the laser attachment because of gaining the extra size than what I currently have on my epilog 12x24.

Thanks for pointing out my spelling. I didn't catch it.

[aluomala]

csmg, I haven't used baltic birch for carving, just for cutting out pieces for signs, etc. I was under the impression it had no voids (never saw any on the edges of pieces I cut, or nothing to write home about, but I suppose when someone says "no voids" they probably mean "less voids than normal plywood".

Still looks good though. I wonder if filling it (the voids) with some type of glue/paint/resin that would conform to the holes and smooth it out would work, or maybe too cost/time intensive. I hate sanding/filling, so it might be worth looking into if I do a similar project. I had plans to make bigger projects out of baltic birch, so I might do a veneer and glue pieces on top of that instead (for pieces that would have lots of flat spots).

Allan

[redwood]

The issue of course is that you might not know that the void exists until you carve into it. Certainly, you could patch it and recarve that area, but that is a pain and if you are staining it, it most likely will never look perfect.

These cornhole boards are the first time I've used plywood for carved project. I live in a pretty rural area and the only supplier within a hour is a Lowes, and a small one at that. Not much selection to choose from.

[csmg]

I am fortunate to have a decent amount of maple and oak that I bought a year ago but timing was not on my side. The people asked for that material and of course I said "OK" and went with it. It would appear that my skills have allowed me to do just about anything with my CNC at this point. I do run into the occasional moments of a design issue. However, I have to work on my speeds and feeds and learning that side of it. If it were metal, I learned that skill many years ago with our mills and lathes but obviously, this is different.

Hey thanks so much for the replies. I truly appreciate from everyone.

Mike