32 hour carving

[danhamm]

1.25 mahogany, 20 x 28 carving, quite pleased with it.

[myxpykalix]

beautiful Dan but an awful lot of hours carving:eek: Hope you didn't pull a marathon sleeplessness to keep an eye on it:rolleyes:

[mikeacg]

Looks great Dan! How do you run long projects like this? Pause it when you get tired or stay with it the whole time?

Mike :)

[gc3]

well done!!

[gibl5s]

1.25 mahogany, 20 x 28 carving, quite pleased with it.

Wowwwww that is no doubt the best that I have ever seen. You should be proud ofyourself. When you wake up from yourrest you HAVE to share the where abouts of this. Wow you sure got my vote!!!!

[scottp55]

Beautiful Dan!!:)
Don't know how you guys hack those cut times though!
Great work.
scott

[Joe Porter]

One of the nicest carvings I have seen on this, or any other forum...joe

[Brian Harnett]

That looks great, I always sweat somethings going to go wrong on anything over an hour.

[kevin]

Dan it does looks killer .I'am with Brian I sweat after a couple of hrs

[terryjones]

Dan,
Very nice :). Absolutely gorgeous. Did you oil it?

[danhamm]

Yes, 2 coats of oil...I have paused the machine but I didn't on this one, I have some safety precautions the dust collection equipment is outside and in a 1000 gal. tank and wireless fire/smoke detector plus sprinkler heads directly above the machine, also using a .0625 tipped bit, this isn't the longest run time Ive done. I sure like your responses though..lol
From it I received 2 orders same file only larger and one with a sailing ship in it. nice Christmas order.. thanks guys...

[khalid]

32Hour is too much time.... What Feed and tool bit diameter you used?...

[cowboy1296]

I did a couple that neared 20 hours. What is the size of that carving? I am getting a lot of fuzzies lately so knowing your step over would be nice too? Its very unusual for my 3-d carving to not warp a little? Did this one warp on you any at all and if not what did you do to prevent it?

Great work.

[danhamm]

Rick. many ways to skin the cat...re-warp, one way is to use a thin bit and makes slices with the grain on the back to a safe depth, some glues shrink when drying, or use struts @ prewarped or straight that look good to hold it flat.

[gibl5s]

Dan, where did the file come from ?

[danhamm]

I purchased it from a Russian 3d site.

[myxpykalix]

On some of my carvings i have intentionally left the back a little thicker to try to avoid warping.
I often think about ways to combat warping and one idea i thought of, but never tried yet was to take your material, carve your design on the front then turn it over and carve a few channels in the back. In those channels you could lay a metal rod or something. Then lay a thin piece of material over the back and glue it on encasing the rod inside hopefully to hold the piece from moving.:confused:
Don't know if that is even feasable, but one of those things you think of when trying to figure out what might work:eek:

[cowboy1296]

Yeah Dan i have seen the sites on ebay, over 1300 files. I think that they have a scanner working overtime.

This one i just sent to Houston which is a gift for a marine from his uncle. It warped a little more than most but it does not take away from the plaque.

[danhamm]

That's a nice plaque Rick, nice and clean.

[cowboy1296]

It was still wet when i took that picture, it actually dried better.

[englert]

Semper Fi! Awesome gift for the Marine.

Dennis Englert, MSgt USMC Retired

[danhamm]

Another one, on the big machine cut time in half.

[shilala]

I've found that if my base is 5/8 the depth of my 3d model, no warp.
So if I'm using 1" stock, I'll only go 3/8" deep with my 3d model.
I can get around that, too. If I make a 3/4" 3d model on 1" stock, I'll just frame out the back of the sign with the approprate "extra thickness".
I've watched very carefully to come up with that 5/8 number, but your mileage may vary.

If a model is unbalanced, with more 3d work on the top of the sign (running with the grain) than the bottom, the bottom may want to cup while the top is fine.

I glue, clamp, countersink, screw, and plug my framing on the back.
Then I always finish it just as if the back is the finished product.
It's a lot of extra time and grief, and it often makes no difference to anyone but me.
The extra work makes the stuff I do ageless, and that's what I'm after. And problems suck. The extra time and lumber I put in has yielded a history of zero problems, so I just keep doing it. :)

[danhamm]

Scott, I guess its your way of asking how I manage the relief warping of my carvings.
Over the years I have different methods for the variety of different applications we get involved in such as relief carving for doors and large plaques we make for presentations.

On most relief carvings you are correct, I usually epoxy a stained hardwood ply pre carving to the back and make it part of the piece, if carving a 3/4 inch material it would have a 3/8 or 1/2 inch prestained ply epoxied on it before carving and if carved 1/2 to 5/8 its very inert, but messes can be created using glues as they shrink when drying and create there own stresses also pre-cutting groves and epoxying is not and exact science, so if you have a way that's working for you "salute".

[cowboy1296]

I get a lot of pictures of my plaques being presented. But in this case the uncle sent me a video. It did my old Marine heart good to see the young Marines reaction.

[blackhawk]

Dan - What type of hourly rate do you use on these long runs that you make for sale? The longest times that I have ran in 3-4 hours.

[danhamm]

Maybe a better question to ask is "how much does your machine make sitting doing nothing"

Now the real answer is, I don't know...we seem to be doing alright have no bills, all brand new machinery 2 lasers 2 cnc's and because of the season both cnc's are going flat out the big one 24 hours a day, "If" someone were to ask how much per hour I would charge them to do cut a job, my answer would be the machine gets 50.00 and I get 25.00, but most of the time there are many jobs being done at the same time.
But, the biggest thing is I am doing what I want to do, never wishing I was somewhere doing something else.
I think if you are mentally trying to get a certain price from the machine and yourself, then its probably best to sell it, as I seen so many pieces of equipment just sitting getting old because the price point wasn't good enough.

[chiloquinruss]

"the biggest thing is I am doing what I want to do" The best answer I've seen on this forum in a long time and most answers are pretty good! :D Russ

[danhamm]

Thanks Russ, I ran one more of the same design, smaller different wood again, am very pleased with all 3 cuts, am going to do one more "for me" will do it when things slow down a bit and it will be 34 x 48 in size and 2 inch depth.

[MogulTx]

Excellent outlook Dan. And great looking work, too! Merry Christmas to you!

(And don't wait too long before cutting the nice project for yourself. We sometimes tend to put ourselves at the end of the list--- and never get down to the end of the list!)

Monty

[danhamm]

Thanks for the comment Monty, I am well into a long cut but she is getting closer...

[scottp55]

Dan, Is that one "Yours"? :)
Maple?
Like your answers:) (and LOVE your work)

[MogulTx]

I LOVE watching a design come together... it is almost like there is a fog over the work piece or my eyes... and then my eyes get clearer and clearer until I can see what the wood is meant to be! It is a fantastic thing to watch happen. It is so much more fun to MAKE it happen!

Good stuff! Merry Christmas! Post pictures when she is done!

Monty

[danhamm]

Merry Christmas, Guys and Gals.

[Brady Watson]

Hey Dan - Looks great! Merry Christmas

-B

[danhamm]

Thanks, Merry Christmas Brady.

[elcar903]

amazing job :)

[bleeth]

An amazingly realistic looking bottle of MGD!
(Very nice as usual Dan)

[danhamm]

Lol, its the only way I can get noticed Dave....But after something that long, it has to be Miller Time.