Kids Step Stool

[NeathawkSigns]

I made 3 of these for my 2 year old daughter. I think you can fit 5 on a sheet of plywood. I eventually tried this on pre-finished 3/4" Birch plywood using a compression bit. This is my first attempt at using the Fillet function. The stool uses no glue and is actually quite sturdy. The idea was to make something for my daughter that had something for her to hold onto.

I've managed to get a good cut on the top and bottom veneer of the pre-finished plywood using the .25" compression bit, but there is a lot of tear-out in the middle of the plywood. Anyone have any suggestions? The local toy shop in town is interested and would like to carry these, but there is a lot of work in sanding right now so it really isn't cost effective to make them yet. I ran the bit at 200 inches/min (3.33 Inches/sec) .5" deep on the first run, then .25 inches deep on the second run (2 passes) at 12,000 RPM. If I remember correctly, this was suggested by Onsurd (the manufacturer of the bit).

16298

16299

Thanks!
Ryan

[chiloquinruss]

That is just about the neatest kids product I've seen in a long time. I can invision a whole line of critters, deer, elk, buffalo, elephant, and even hippo's! Very cute and very cool! Well done.

As far as tearout I cut a bit of cabinet grade but i always just use a down spiral. I always leave a skin and then a final cut if both sides are to be exposed. I seem to get minimal tearout especially in the middle part. Russ

[genek]

I made 3 of these for my 2 year old daughter. I think you can fit 5 on a sheet of plywood. I eventually tried this on pre-finished 3/4" Birch plywood using a compression bit. This is my first attempt at using the Fillet function. The stool uses no glue and is actually quite sturdy. The idea was to make something for my daughter that had something for her to hold onto.

I've managed to get a good cut on the top and bottom veneer of the pre-finished plywood using the .25" compression bit, but there is a lot of tear-out in the middle of the plywood. Anyone have any suggestions? The local toy shop in town is interested and would like to carry these, but there is a lot of work in sanding right now so it really isn't cost effective to make them yet. I ran the bit at 200 inches/min (3.33 Inches/sec) .5" deep on the first run, then .25 inches deep on the second run (2 passes) at 12,000 RPM. If I remember correctly, this was suggested by Onsurd (the manufacturer of the bit).

16298

16299

Thanks!
Ryan
very nice... May I make a suggestion.... make some eyes, mouth and a red nose..... this would really set it off for your daughter. again very nice.

[dlcw]

Ryan,

I run plywood all the time with a .25" and .375" mortise compression bit and get no tearout top, middle or bottom. I run a climb cut at 10000rpm @ 4ips and leave a 1/32" skin. I then do a conventional cut all the way through at 9500 @ 3ips and the cut is super smooth. I can go right to the edge banding machine without any sanding.

The secret seems to be the climb cut first and then the conventional cut. This not only creates a the super smooth cut but results in a more accurate cut as well.

[dougo]

Some little girl is going to love it. Good job..

[NeathawkSigns]

Thanks Don - if I remember correctly, I might have tried that. I will have to look back to my file and see. Now that I think of it, I'm not quite sure what I did.

Also - We made an elephant version of this, but didn't pay close enough attention to the layout so it's a little tippy. If I ever get around to it, I might try making some matching chairs - or correcting the stability of the elephant.