CNC router

[toolbeltman]

Those came out Great...

[amazingkevin]

Your work is extrodonary!These simply cannot be replacated in any other way i know off.what a toy!I'd wonder what kind of price would go on the praying hands for referance!Looks like your on your way to fame and fun making big money now !These photo's of yours are the ticket to real eye candy for sore eyes! Made my day and then some just to see these!The smile must last on your face all night and still be there in the morning useing this machine!I'm over whelmed big time to see your work! great job sir!

[Oges]

I have been dreaming of and drooling over one of these since seeing it in the lastest catalogue from Carba-tec, definately on my wish list. You are coming up with some great looking designs, well done.

[Xray]

CNC routers are extraordinarily cool tools, no questions about it. I have no intentions of tossing my scroll saw though, on the contrary, I think they will compliment each other as time goes by.

The more tools that a man has in his arsenal, the more he can accomplish - And if you can get past the learning curve and, of course, the expense, they are a great investment.

I'm having fun, hopefully I'll turn a few $$ on some of my creations, and maybe branch off into 2D sign making, a pretty big market for that.

The praying hands, I'd need to get minimum of $30 to make it worth my while. I have $5 in wood, 1.5 hours cutting time, and about half an hour in finishing in each one.

The walnut USMC plaque pictured above I just gave to a friend of my dads, former Marine, and he was flabbergasted ,, So alot of this stuff I'll just be giving away to family & friends.

 

I had a great idea that I think will pan out. The walnut crucifix came from a block .80 thick. The cross when done is .45, and of course Jesus himself higher than that. So I had a buddy plane down a walnut board to the .45, and a identical poplar board to .35. I glued them together, and when I cut this one, the cross will be walnut and Jesus will be white poplar, should look pretty eye popping to have 2 dissimilar woods like that blend into one.

The boards are glued with clamps on as I speak, gonna give it a shot tomorrow, unless something goes terribly wrong I'll post the result.

[Xray]

A couple more I have done recently,12 inch padauk cross and a poplar Jesus portrait.

[Xray]

A JC cameo out of poplar, couldn't get a pic which does it justice, very nice.

I've been doing signs lately, not much 3d ... But I want to start stockpiling the 3d stuff for sales around Xmas.

[Xray]

On a religious roll, this is a 2 ft crucifix cut out of MDF. Primed and sanded, it remains to be seen if I'll ever complete it.

[Dan-Woodman]

Great looking projects, just wanted to share a photo of mine I did with my Carvewright I got back in '06.

later Daniel

[Xray]

Cedar is probably one of the last things 3D makers think of when thinking of material for models, but I've always wanted to give it a try.

Glad I did, some pretty wild grain patterns, and overall pleasing look. Shapes very well ... The knot, at first I was not going to include it, but I thought it would give the piece character, so long as it didn't fracture while cutting. Didn't want it on the face though, the location worked out just right.

[Travis]

I like the knot inside. Turned out beautiful.

[Xray]

Knots are usually avoided like the plague, but I like to work them into the design when possible.

Its knot that much of a problem ! Ahemmm ,,,, Also, I would have had to scrap about half a foot of wood to bypass the knot, and I hate wasting wood.

[Oges]

Nice work on the latest projects

[toolbeltman]

Came out great Xray....thanks for posting

[Xray]

Heres one posted for the killer grain effect, poplar

[Xray]

A little selection of things recently made. I am running out of room to display these, haven't tried selling any yet but I imagine at some point in time I will.

For now, I am just enjoying making them.

Quite a selection of various woods here, purpleheart, yellowheart, bolivian rosewood, zebrawood, cedar, poplar,wenge, padauk and Afrikan mahogany.

[Marshall]

[Xray]

Great tool, Marshall.

Highly recommended to anyone who has a spare $5to20 g's burning a hole in their pockets.

Hasn't impacted my scrolling much, many things I prefer to do by hand, many things you can do on a scroll saw are not practical on a CNC, such as fretwork.

I'm at the point now where I can set up my cuts, and just walk away to do other things while the CNC does its thing. I am often scrolling while the machine is cutting .... So it doesn't burn up too much of my time. The average 2 hour cut I'll have maybe 10 minutes of setting up & finishing, other than that, it pretty much runs on its own.

[Marshall]

Xray : these are pretty to me , you have to remember that if they look perfect - they wont look right - I like the roughness look ...one fine looking job from here .........................MB

[Xray]

Here is the latest CNC I have been getting into, edge lit acrylic signs.

A design is basically etched into one side, and when lit from the edge, they look pretty spectacular. I got a load of free 1/2 plexi at the job I'm working at, so I'll be doing alot of these.

Made this for the guy who gave me the plexi, he runs the Caddy booth at an auto show. This ones about 12x12", only took about 20 minutes to cut.

I can see alot of selling potential for these, if I can think of a way to make a base for them, along with LED lighting.

I just beamed a laser at the edge to demonstrate the edge lit effect, but in practice, LED strips would be the way to go.

[Xray]

Couple of my latest, starting to get into some more advanced projects with a $2,000 software upgrade.

[amazingkevin]

That is some impressive work XRAY!The only differance between a man and a boy is the cost of his toy.Can i play with your toys too?You've got to be one happy camper right now.Looks like another notch on your belt for accomplishments!The picture of your machine is far from the weekend warrior type of tool.Yours is very proffessional looking and worth every penny.Don't be shy on keeping us informed on your progress and tips on other machines to stay clear from.i'm in the dark completely on this type of work.Make my day with your pictures of your work !

[Xray]

Thanks Kev.

This thing is alot of fun, but really nothing more than a glorified power tool. The real challenge, and expense after the initial investment of the machine, is creating the files for the machine to cut.

I'd answer any specific questions to the best of my ability, but I wouldn't want to turn this into a "CNC 101" thread, thats just too wide open. As you might imagine, there are dedicated CNC sites for those considering taking the plunge.

As with most anything else, it can be intimidating getting in. but with hands on experience, its not too bad. There is no practical limit to what you can create, so there is always room for growth, and moving into other areas. This thing is capable of cutting light gauge metal, for example. Something I never have done, but want to get into.

I also recently bought a vacuum former, so I will be able to make molds of some of my creations, and start making plaster copies of them. I have some patina paint that simulates iron, copper and other finishes ,,, So that'll be real neat if this turns out like I plan.

[Xray]

Crucifix made out of poplar, using a super fine detail bit [.03 tip].

Took over 4 hours to cut, though its only 6X10 ,,, But the results were worth the wait.

[Travis]

That turned out great! I always thought it would be fun to use a CNC to carve wildlife into raised panels on cabinets.

[Xray]

I love wildlife, but when it comes to carving, I find myself drawn more to the icon sort of thing.

Wildlife creations would probably sell though, so far the deer above is the only one I have tried, I have a flying bass and stalking bear pattern, haven't even tried cutting them yet.

Some guys make some real elaborate wildlife things, panels as you say, and fireplace mantels.