CNC – another satisfied customer

I love it when a plan comes together.

This is a 6″ wide, 3 foot long chunk of the side of some old barn that someone tore down and left the pile “free wood”. The planks are a foot wide by 10′ long or so, I have to pull all the nails out so it lays flat and also so I don’t mistakenly run the router bit into it. Things happen.

I couldn’t get all the nails out of this one (I’m not an expert, and a couple of the smaller nails were almost rusted through), so I chopped the naily bit off with the tablesaw, and found a good 3′ section, and screwed it down to the table (I just use decking screws in “known safe” areas, for now).

The board is not planed. That’s the original paint. Yes, it could be lead, don’t lick it. Did I mention how much I love the Dust Deputy?

A few action shots:

I cut the wider legs of the letters first.

This turned out to have an interesting and useful side effect, which I may put into my normal process; in a moment. More action shots:

… then fill in the rest of each letter using “Engrave”

Engrave follows the outline of the font, and can produce fine detail, down to the resolution of the bit. As a rank amateur CNC operator, I only have endmills that are the same diameter (more or less) as the stock collet on the router, 1/4″. This one’s a 15/64″, which are slightly cheaper, generally, than 1/4″ ones.

The original design had more lettering in a second row, but the uneven surface and my novice skills botched the second cut. I need a distance finder that’s a bit more accurate, if I’m going to cut wood that’s not as sensibly close to flat as I can possibly make it. The first row, cutting a little bit of each letter, then moving on, before committing to the entire cut… I think that helped give me confidence that the cut was going to work, with the depth set correctly, &c.

The second row was purpose-made to fit the 1/4″ bit. So no first pass was required. I probably would have noticed, and could maybe have fixed it, before fully committing. But, that’s the lesson for next time. This time, I had a present to deliver. 🙂

I was once told, by a wise Jedi, that a good carpenter hides his mistakes.

One more trip to the tablesaw solved that little dilemma.

I like that I can produce something like this, with a few days’ notice.

The CNC performed pretty well. The new Z-nut performed as well as I could hope.
I think the Y table could stand to be re-cut and re-installed. That’s a decently big project, with all the teardown &c. Maybe run a few aircut drills. Maybe having a touchplate would help? Could be a small project, if the line is already laid in from the G540.

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