My first effort with rest machining . . .
I have a 3D file of St. Michael that I purchased on Etsy. As a retired cop, it holds special meaning for me and I have been wanting to carve it for a while now.
I spent some time this weekend trying to reduce the file size, both the physical size and carving size, to something a little more reasonable than 3.5 inches thick and over 20 inches tall. I got it down to 10 inches tall but almost fell over when the carve time was estimated at thirteen hours.
I heard about "rest machining" from PreciseBits.com and that it can seriously speed up a carve time. I did some research online and found that Legacy CNC, the makers of the GREATEST CNC ON EARTH, offered a couple classes on the technique. (Sorry, I got carried away there.) ;-)
I spent a couple hours watching videos and manipulating my file until I had it reduced to a seven hour carve time. Yep, from thirteen hours to seven . . . oh happy day!! I'm sure the file could have been made to carve even faster by a pro but I was pretty happy with my newbie effort.
So, here are some pictures of the carve in progress. I was not happy with my choice of bass wood. The bit would barely make contact with an area to be cut and a corner of the carving would just break off. I think cherry or maple would have been better choices.
NICE ADVERTISING RIGHT THERE!!
Like I said, the wood simply broke in certain spots but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. There was a small piece of wood missing on Michael's chest, and one of Satan's horns was missing the tip and he had a finger missing on his left hand (poor Satan). :-(
Anyhow, here is a picture of a quick glue up fixing Satan's horn and finger.
The final tool path remedied most all of the issues. I still cannot believe how brittle bass wood is. I also cannot believe how "stringy" it was throughout the carve. I took a small, unused glue brush (somewhat stiff bristle) to the surface of the wood and knocked most of the stringy material away. I spent about ten minutes on it touching up areas with a fine grit sanding sponge. I will work on it tomorrow and hopefully make it worthy of some stain.
I have a 3D file of St. Michael that I purchased on Etsy. As a retired cop, it holds special meaning for me and I have been wanting to carve it for a while now.
I spent some time this weekend trying to reduce the file size, both the physical size and carving size, to something a little more reasonable than 3.5 inches thick and over 20 inches tall. I got it down to 10 inches tall but almost fell over when the carve time was estimated at thirteen hours.
I heard about "rest machining" from PreciseBits.com and that it can seriously speed up a carve time. I did some research online and found that Legacy CNC, the makers of the GREATEST CNC ON EARTH, offered a couple classes on the technique. (Sorry, I got carried away there.) ;-)
I spent a couple hours watching videos and manipulating my file until I had it reduced to a seven hour carve time. Yep, from thirteen hours to seven . . . oh happy day!! I'm sure the file could have been made to carve even faster by a pro but I was pretty happy with my newbie effort.
So, here are some pictures of the carve in progress. I was not happy with my choice of bass wood. The bit would barely make contact with an area to be cut and a corner of the carving would just break off. I think cherry or maple would have been better choices.
NICE ADVERTISING RIGHT THERE!!
Like I said, the wood simply broke in certain spots but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. There was a small piece of wood missing on Michael's chest, and one of Satan's horns was missing the tip and he had a finger missing on his left hand (poor Satan). :-(
Anyhow, here is a picture of a quick glue up fixing Satan's horn and finger.
The final tool path remedied most all of the issues. I still cannot believe how brittle bass wood is. I also cannot believe how "stringy" it was throughout the carve. I took a small, unused glue brush (somewhat stiff bristle) to the surface of the wood and knocked most of the stringy material away. I spent about ten minutes on it touching up areas with a fine grit sanding sponge. I will work on it tomorrow and hopefully make it worthy of some stain.