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Thread: 3D Barrel Racer in 9 inch log cookie

  1. #1
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    Default 3D Barrel Racer in 9 inch log cookie

    I sawed a log cookie, dried it in my experimental kiln (nonworking freezer), and carved a donation for a Wounded Warrior auction using 1/4 EM for roughing and 1/16 BN for finishing.

    I wasn't sure what to expect since my first carving was in Design and Makes 'in an oval' option, which made for a smooth backdrop to the other subject. This time I just chose the 'subject only' option, which leaves an area outside of the subject cut by the roughing EM.

    Is there a way to get a smoother roughing base that is left over without changing bits?

    Also I had one error message in ShopBot 3 in the execution, a Parameter Error: Parameter Value Below Range for VS--Setting to Lower Limit (.05)! to which I chose 'OK' and the program continued. What was that? (My guess is Variable Speed, but how to alter??)

    I cleaned up (some fuzzies and such) with Dremel tips, did a hand chamfer on the profile edge, and after oohing and ahhing after Cowboy's 3D finishes and consulting Flexner's finishing book, improvised with what I had on hand, 2 coats of Minwax Poly Wipe (I'll try Arm-R-Seal some day).

    I was scratching my head as to how to make the subject stand out from the grain rings of the log cookie, so tried painting stained Briwax on the subjects with small/fine paint brushes and a hair blow dryer to melt the wax to help the subjects stand out. Then every thing finished with clear paste wax. I still plan to finish buffing this on a buffing wheel (lathe).

    If I do a 3D log cookie again, I might try to CNC chamfer the profile outline, though the uneven hand chamfer is prolly ok for the 'rustic' look. Comments and suggestions welcome.

    Barrel racer cookie 128kb.jpg
    ShopBot Desktop MAX, spindle, 3" Indexer, Aspire 9.5, and a big learning curve...

  2. #2
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    Nice looking piece there, but yes, it could benefit from some changes to how the pocket/dish was done and that is one of your questions. Take a look at the training videos having anything to do with making dished models. At times, I'll just make an oval or round dish and at other times I'll make a random or exaggerated model offset shaped dish (see example). Make the dish with create shape from vectors (dome subtracted) or a center filled 2 rail sweep. This will give you a better/cleaner wall since it will not be a straight wall.

    One thing I do is to take a good straight on photo at the proper orientation for X and then bring that photo into Aspire, scale it to the approximate size, set the object properties to 0% fade or what works best, and then use that for designing the various parts of the project.

    The error message was likely due to a low feedrate setting for an axis in your toolpath tool settings. Make sure you set the feedrate values to inches/sec, not inches/min.
    Scott




  3. #3
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    Thanks Scott, I'm still not experienced enough to understand all your suggestions yet, but I'll get there. Your examples are really cool.

    A baby next step for me would be to figure out how to add a subject to any dish circle, or better yet, to any 'dish', I recall seeing a vectric forum tutorial (I think) on that. I did a practice concave circle (for a future ulu cutting board project) earlier, and at least the circle shape would work better for a log cookie, but I don't yet know how to add/merge the subject to the dish.

    But I even like better the 'exaggerated model offset shaped dish' (not sure I saw a Vectric tutorial on offset dishes?? I have watched most of them once). Does one just pick a large offset value, but then both the Rough and Finish offset values would have to be equal?

    I now notice that my roughing offset value was 0.2 inches whereas my Finish offset was 0.05 inches and maybe that difference also accounted for the rough base, seeing as the BN finishing bit didn't then cover the same territory (I shortcut it, inadvertently). Thanks.
    ShopBot Desktop MAX, spindle, 3" Indexer, Aspire 9.5, and a big learning curve...

  4. #4
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    Smith, it's as simple as you say; make your dish and select or make your 3D figure and use the "Add" combine command to the existing component (dish), and it will sit right where you place it. Now, the figure may be too high for the dish or too big or too little, that is where the tutorials come in. I know you have studied them, but this takes awhile. http://support.vectric.com/tutorials...ish_3DMOD.html This is the Combine mode instead of Add. This is the Add mode on steroids. This is a good tutorial for what you are talking about. I have two monitors so I can follow the tutorial as I practice on my project.
    If you look at Vectric's You Tube channel, there must be 200 hundred tutorials starting from day one to present. Adrian on the Vectric Forum doesn't like for me to mention this because some or a lot of the tutorials are out of date, but it helps me with the nuts and bolts and brings me to the present.
    This really helps me...Hope this is of some help to you...joe

  5. #5
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    Thank you, Joe. I'll try watching on an iPad alongside my computer. Thank you for the link. Along with Scott's 'exaggerated model offset dish' idea, I have direction to get closer to what I envision. Any other comments/suggestions from anyone? I need to figure out how to execute Scott's suggestion. Thank you.
    ShopBot Desktop MAX, spindle, 3" Indexer, Aspire 9.5, and a big learning curve...

  6. #6
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    Aspire screen shot.jpg I just started working on this today. Downloaded the picture, then vectorized it and then freehanded what will be a dish around a simple raised shape. I hope... Start with the straight line tool and kind of rough out a perimeter and then go to node editing and smooth the nodes and you will be surprised at what you may end up with...joe

  7. #7
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    The way I make a dish that is an offset in the shape of the model is like this....

    Have your component (in this case, the Barrel Racer) placed in your job as well as adding a zero plane. Select the Barrel Racer in the 2D view and on the modeling tab, click on the 'create vector boundary from selected components to make a vector boundary around the component. Select that vector and do an offset to the outside (no sharp corners) about twice what you want to have the dish gap around the model and take that vector and offset back in half that distance. This will give you a decent outline vector that is a larger loose shape of the component. At this point, you can make a dish with that outline with either the create shape tool or my preference is to use the two rail sweep. With the create shape, you'll have to play with the dome % to get what you like for the dish sides and also choose to limit the depth to just over the height of the Barrel Racer component. The bad thing about this is that the shape that you'll get will have some 'pinching' that looks bad. This can be sculpted to smooth it out and look better. With this method, it can be good to also do the 'multiply' trick to keep the Barrel Racer from being curled up at the edges and also keep it below the surface (see the multiply training video).

    I prefer to use the two rail sweep with a cross section that is the desired shape and height/depth that I want the wall of the dish to be (chose to fill the center also). This shape then has to have a negative base that is the same as it's height to drop it into the zero plane or the zero plane has to have a base height that is the same as the dish and the dish set to combine low. This is hard to explain, but after playing around with it, you should be able to see what's going on.

    Then I bake the dish shape with the zero plane so that I can sculpt the edges as desired. When it comes to machining this, I use a tracing trick to give me another vector boundary for limiting the toolpath to just the sculpted dish area. Trace the model bitmap in the 2D view just like tracing an imported jpg or png to get a machining boundary (thanks Michael ).

    Here's a sample picture of doing this on the Barrel Racer. This is a bit rambling and may be hard to follow, so if needed, we could take it a step at a time. Link to vectors created and used.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Scott




  8. #8
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    Wow. Thank you, Scott, for your time and detailed explanation. I will see what I can do. Thank you again.
    ShopBot Desktop MAX, spindle, 3" Indexer, Aspire 9.5, and a big learning curve...

  9. #9
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    Regarding my previous post; This is the Combine mode instead of Add. I meant for this to be the Multiply Mode, not Combine. But, that is the proper tutorial and another good tutorial is http://support.vectric.com/tutorials...ess_3DMOD.html This talks about making the pocket based on the model outline. I hope I haven't created more confusion. Basically, just listen to what Scott says and ignore my feeble attempts to help and you should be OK......joe

  10. #10
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    Thanks Joe, I just watched the link you posted, and I was able to follow along, so I will probably try that out first. I hope I am able to recognize any 'pinching' Scott mentioned...I'm not sure I follow what pinching would look like, but anything will be progress for me.

    Maybe I will also try painting on top of a poly wipe sealer with a gel stain , to see if the gel stain will go on 'darker' with one coat. I had to do 2 to 3 coats of the colored Briwax to see a difference, and I'm hoping to shave some time.

    I would still finish everything with a clear paste wax and buff. My goal is to have the subject stand out from the busy grain background of the log cookie. Then, I think I will try a 3D on a slab of wood, where with face grain, there would likely be less 'competition' between the subject and grain pattern. Thank you again.
    ShopBot Desktop MAX, spindle, 3" Indexer, Aspire 9.5, and a big learning curve...

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