Hi, I'm a music teacher at an elementary school. We are building marimbas (big xylophones) for our students. Up to this point we've done most of the work by hand and are hoping to save our volunteered labor hours with the power of CNC!
We have access to a 5x10 shopbot at the local maker's space and I completed their basic one day training - which was quite skippy on info. I have played around on the machine and vcarve software and feel reasonably comfortable operating it.
I'm looking for recommended techniques (boring vs pocketing drill holes) and bit, speed and feed advice for the following cuts on 1 inch thick baltic birch plywood.
1. 1/8" Through holes
2. 3/8" Through holes and .5 in deep blind holes
3. 5/16" Through holes
3. 1/8" deep pockets with 3/16" corner radius
4. 1/2" deep pockets - smallest width 5/16"
5. 1" Through cuts
After CNCing, the part edges will be rounded over with a handheld trim router. For #5, (the 1" through cuts) we are hoping to get a very fine finish that doesn't require much if any sanding - maybe that's too much to ask for? If there are bits that work for several of our processes without needing changing that would certainly be helpful.
I'm attaching a couple pics of the instruments to give an idea. All the marimba keys are tuned by hand carving. We are hopping the CNC can take over the bulk of the work involved in making the frames.
Thank you in advance for sharing your knowledge,
Tobias Sparks
playmarimba.com