Process Overview

[jhf]

I was not sure where to post this, so I hope this will do.

I do not own a shopbot, but I am in the research/evaluation phase. It seems like a great tool - once you know what you are doing. I wanted to post this question so I could get a feel for how things work and some of the processes involved in using a shopbot. Below I have posted a very crude image that is not to scale. Basically lets say I wanted to make this picture frame for my son. Imagine the blue rectangle is a beautiful piece of 3/4" oak (or any hardwood). It is 18" long, and 12" wide. I want the frame to be made from this piece with a finished length of 11" and a width of 8". I want the outside edges of the frame and the inside edge of the oval routed with a nice decorative bit. On the backside a square would need to be routed out to fit a picture. Then "Justin" would be carved in the bottom and the two soccer balls would be carved in the top.

If it wouldn't take too much time, I would like a quick summary of how you guys would go about doing this. I would love to see things like: hold-down method, bits you would use, software used and what for, feed rates, rpms, total estimated time for this, and any other tip/tricks/information you think is useful. Also, can all of this be done with the bot or would other tools be required?

How would you rate this type of project:

[kerrazy]

I'll take a stab at it.
First I would mill the frame and the soccer balls seperate, otherwise you would need a 1.25 thick piece of hardwood.
I would get my frome to the dimensions needed working from the inside out ( oval of frame milled first, name incised into material and then I would flip over the piece and hog out the relief for the picture to be inserted and then cut my final dimension of the outside of the frame. I would then Depending on the profile around the frame would determine if I would use a hand router or use the ShopBot. If it was a simple bevel I would use the shop bot if it was a cove or ogee I would be able to cut it quicker by hand with a router.
The soccer balls I would create in another program and then cut seperatly and apply to the finished piece. This would ease in the finishing as well.

For the basic fram work, Parts wizard that ships with the tool will do all you require. For the soccer ball, I would suggest some 21/2 D software, like Rhino/Visial Mill combo, or ArtCam Pro.

Esitmated time on this piece, about 15-20 minutes for basic fram, another 20 minutes for the soccer balls, plus finishing and any hand work required.

Project rating.... Easy

[gerald_d]

Jason, a SB can do that - but the question is: are you willing to spend months learning Rhino/Visial Mill, ArtCam Pro before you can get within Dale's time of under 40 minutes?

If client walked into our shop today and asked us to do this job, we would turn him away. At the most, we would cut the oval and engrave the name for him in say 20 minutes. But the soccer ball type stuff we send down to a hand-carver.

[jhf]

Thanks for the replies.

I guess I am confused on the soccer balls. I assumed that you could take a vector based clipart image of a soccer ball (or dancing hotdog, or whatever) and manipulate that into shopbot code, and carve it out fairly easily/quickly?

Also what bits would you use for:
Carving the name
The oval
Square on the back
Cutting actual frame out
Soccer ball - if possible

[stickman]

Here is how I would tackle this project.

I'd hog out the back for the picture first.

Flip the piece over and cut the name, either with my V-carve Bit or with an 1/8" bit to an 1/8" depth.

Next I'd use a 1/4" spiral, either in the up or downcut. Use that to cut the oval out, hog out an area for each soccer ball, 1/8" depth. And then cut out the entire project.

I'd take it over to my router table with an ogee bit and shape the sides and the opening.

I'd then cut the soccer balls from 1/4" thick hard white maple. Using an 1/8 bit and maybe even a V-Carve bit. Sand the edges good, paint or stain the black areas and clear coat the rest of it. Glue these to the areas I hogged out. I'd probably glue the soccer balls in after I stained the main plaque. Keeping the stain and finish out of the pockets.

I'd probably do this all with Part Wizard and AutoCAD.

[gerald_d]

Jason, how do you want the soccer balls to look? My answer was on the premise that you wanted a hemisphere raised from the surface (half-sphere) - as is indicated by the light and shadow in your picture above. And then you want pentagons and hexagons engraved onto that spherical surface. Plus the pentagons must be black and the hexagons must be white. i.e. full 3D carving.

[kerrazy]

I'm with Jay so far as bit selection;
I would use a 90 deg v-bit for the name, and use a 1/4 inch end mill for all other cut and relief applications.
For the balls, Not so simple, I would use a 1/16 ball mill to cut those as it is very detailed, Frankly you could probably buy kids toy soccer balls of hard plastic and then just epoxy them to the surface cheaper than creating artwork and then machining and finishing them.
Dale

[stickman]

Dale,

I live the toy soccer ball idea.

Jay

[jhf]

I guess I pictured the soccer ball looking similiar to the images below but obviously in the shape of a soccer ball. Similiar to the circled 3-d would be the best, but even something like the v-carve with maybe just the outlines of the pentagons carved is what I was thinking.


6968