MogulTx
04-29-2014, 09:44 PM
I have a nephew who was in Cubs and was "Crossing Over" to Boy Scouts. His Pack wanted to have a crossover bridge, to symbolize the transition from Cubs to Boy Scouts
They sent me some ideas from a Pack that had made a bridge, and we did some mods on that Bridge design to make this. It is made from soft maple, and was routed with a 60 V Carve Bit, using Times New Roman as the Font, for all the letters. The logos were copied into a drafting program from web sites and then I redrew each of them and crated a DXF file for them. They are cut with a 1/4" clearing bit and a 1/16" tapered round nose bit. ( Beckwith Decor... IIRC)
There are two "steps"- one at each end- that form the ends of the bridge. And three "stringers" onto which are V Carved these main points of the Scout Oath: "Duty to God and Country". "Duty To Others". "Duty to Self".
Then, on 12 removable planks of this cross over bridge, are carved the tenets of the Scout Law: Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent.
On the side plates for the steps, I carved the Cub Logo on both sides of one end, and the Pack number. Then, on the other end, since a lot of boys split up after Cubs and attend different Troops, I put a representation of the BSA with the Eagle and Shield with the Fleur d' Lis. Surrounding it. Of course all the edges were routed with a round over after mfr. And we found the guy had some issues with his plan, so it needed some mods after initial assembly.
One thing that I did was to set up to drill the "cleats" that would allow the removeable planks to be kept in place by making a special jig that held the cleats (with a wedge on the side to ensure it did not move)... well. It did. So some of the cleats did not seat exactly as I wanted. In the future, I would predrill the recess for the screw head and then clamp the plank in place and would "match drill" the cleats manually while on the assembly. This would ensure a custom and proper fit.
I poly'd everything after carving and then sprayed the relieved area with black spray paint. When dry, I sanded away the black paint from all the flat areas, and poly'd one more time.
I ran out of time and have one letter ont he BSA end where the machine was not Z Zeroed properly and it carved it too fat. I will be sending them a new end for the step! But I ran out of time for tonight's ceremony.. so you will see it in the photos.
I also cut custom plugs for all the counter sunk holes. Everything is Screwed together. Nothing is glued. ( In case they want to change anything). SO when I send them the new side plate, they can simply drive a screw into the plugs covering the side, and the plugs will pull out. I will send them new plugs for this, as well!
You guys do wonderful work, and I usually don't have pretty things to post on here that my ShopBot has done- so I am posting this. I figure the Scouting program has done a lot for the people who have grown up and are now ShopBotters, so a few of you may appreciate this idea.
I really appreciate the fantastic stuff I get from my ShopBot. And the fantastic PEOPLE at ShopBot and the support on the Forum.
They sent me some ideas from a Pack that had made a bridge, and we did some mods on that Bridge design to make this. It is made from soft maple, and was routed with a 60 V Carve Bit, using Times New Roman as the Font, for all the letters. The logos were copied into a drafting program from web sites and then I redrew each of them and crated a DXF file for them. They are cut with a 1/4" clearing bit and a 1/16" tapered round nose bit. ( Beckwith Decor... IIRC)
There are two "steps"- one at each end- that form the ends of the bridge. And three "stringers" onto which are V Carved these main points of the Scout Oath: "Duty to God and Country". "Duty To Others". "Duty to Self".
Then, on 12 removable planks of this cross over bridge, are carved the tenets of the Scout Law: Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent.
On the side plates for the steps, I carved the Cub Logo on both sides of one end, and the Pack number. Then, on the other end, since a lot of boys split up after Cubs and attend different Troops, I put a representation of the BSA with the Eagle and Shield with the Fleur d' Lis. Surrounding it. Of course all the edges were routed with a round over after mfr. And we found the guy had some issues with his plan, so it needed some mods after initial assembly.
One thing that I did was to set up to drill the "cleats" that would allow the removeable planks to be kept in place by making a special jig that held the cleats (with a wedge on the side to ensure it did not move)... well. It did. So some of the cleats did not seat exactly as I wanted. In the future, I would predrill the recess for the screw head and then clamp the plank in place and would "match drill" the cleats manually while on the assembly. This would ensure a custom and proper fit.
I poly'd everything after carving and then sprayed the relieved area with black spray paint. When dry, I sanded away the black paint from all the flat areas, and poly'd one more time.
I ran out of time and have one letter ont he BSA end where the machine was not Z Zeroed properly and it carved it too fat. I will be sending them a new end for the step! But I ran out of time for tonight's ceremony.. so you will see it in the photos.
I also cut custom plugs for all the counter sunk holes. Everything is Screwed together. Nothing is glued. ( In case they want to change anything). SO when I send them the new side plate, they can simply drive a screw into the plugs covering the side, and the plugs will pull out. I will send them new plugs for this, as well!
You guys do wonderful work, and I usually don't have pretty things to post on here that my ShopBot has done- so I am posting this. I figure the Scouting program has done a lot for the people who have grown up and are now ShopBotters, so a few of you may appreciate this idea.
I really appreciate the fantastic stuff I get from my ShopBot. And the fantastic PEOPLE at ShopBot and the support on the Forum.