3D topo Katahdin Cocobolo

[scottp55]

Tallest Mountain in Maine, and kind of a "right of passage" to climb Katahdin for us 7 kids(translates as "Greatest Mountain").
Dad said he needed a piece of wood to "knock on" in his truck, sooooo...
Cocobolo was a gift from a guy who makes Scottish "Short Pipes" for a day Demo'ing Desktop.
Couldn't seem to get the hang of Paul Rowntree's Big Topo(might have helped if I had read .pdf and done his sample all the way through :oops: )
But got this off of Yeggi;
http://www.yeggi.com/q/katahdin/
Going to have to "Tip" that guy:)
Onsrud .25" 30engraving bit with .005"flat.
20% stepover at (IPS) 1,1,18K carving against the grain with no roughing cut.
Straight off machine with no sanding, light coat of my Linseed/Beeswax brushed on last night.
scott

[Greybarn]

Awesome! I live in Maine and have climbed Katahdin a few times.

[cr2]

A very nice idea...and well done.

[scottp55]

Thanks guys!!
Been prowling the stacks looking for a larger piece of wood with a decent grain pattern to make a bigger one for ME :)
scott

[scottp55]

8/4 scraps twice the size of Dad's were thin on the ground, except one piece of Lacewood.
Hope the heck it comes out decent....should be done about 6am:(
Going to be a long night:)
Fingers crossed.
scott

[Brian Harnett]

That came out nice. I would like to do my area but have not taken the time to learn how to do all the work on big topo, maybe over the winter when it slows down a bit.

[scottp55]

Yep, I think your area would look good(Just Google Earthed it:).
Paul and LGM have been tweaking BigTopo just recently to make it easier;
http://forum.vectric.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=25318
And that X,Y,Z scale factor sounds interesting.
LGM just did some foam(and he must have been thinking of me when he said READ the .pdf, and DO the example:) ;
http://forum.vectric.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=25562

Lacewood was a BIG mistake to start. Put a thinned coat of Tung on it to keep dust down, but went to look at 10pm and it had pulled up grain fibers like crazy.
Paused to see if fibers would brush off(NOT)....and THEN pressed Quit instead of Resume......and called it a day after duplicating toolpath, and changing it to an Offset/Conventional cut.
Started running that today at 10 after having a fan on the Tung all night to let it cure a tad...seems to have helped a lot!
Another hour to go.
Should have left only a .02" skin, and maybe have used a VERY thinned Laq coat(or 50/50 thinned oil) to beef up those "Spots" in Lacewood.
Where Tung penetrated on endgrain, it appears VERY smooth.
Dense, close pored wood from now on, and I'm going to keep my eye open for for a slab with close to horizontal growth rings as I think it may resemble/accentuate countour lines. Wishing I had some plain Vanilla Maple slab now:) Quilted and Claro aren't really suitable, and the Teak would look nice but kill bits.
Pics later,
scott

[scottp55]

Used an offset toolpath on this(conventional and down to 1.5,1.5, 18K) to see if with or against the grain is best for Lacewood.
Area on right was against the grain, but I had paused machine and used a stiff shoe brush that had a little Linseed/Beeswax on it, so not a true example.
Worst fuzzies were with the grain, where sharp verticals were.
When I noticed that line, I tried a Spacebar Pause to Nudge, and there WAS no Nudge in the box? Latest SB3. Did nudge go away on latest version?
Maybe I need a new install?
Pics were last night with just a 90PSI blow off.
Burnishing/rubbing/sanding now, and looking a little better.
scott

[scottp55]

I over reacted (again:()
A GOOD stiff Horsehair brushing with a Shade of LinWax and then burnished with a Bamboo skewer worked great:)
VERY light burnish, as that pithy area is easily deformed.
Whew:)
scott

[dmidkiff]

Both turned out great. Not sure which one I like the best. Sounds like more work went into the Lacewood. The one with the shortest finish time would be my favorite.

[scottp55]

Thanks David!
Dad just left with his Cocobolo in his shirt pocket:)
His was done except for brushing on the Linseed/Beeswax butter right off the machine with no sanding:)
Waiting for Tung to cure another day on Lacewood before final nitpicking, and 2 more coats of 80/20 thinned Tung when happy...that's my favorite:)
NO upspirals when machining Lacewood I should mention...started Roughing with a 3/16" upcut and was Fine until it hit a 3D section, and TORE it up so it looked like a dead Chia pet:( Onsrud .25"downcut was WAY better.
May try a portion of large Claro slab so I can use the Onsrud 1/16" TBN next. 8/4 and about 15 inches wide, so it could be big and deep.
Going to keep eyes open for large slab cut offs I think, and learn BigTopo so I can do Mt. Desert Island.
scott

[scottp55]

The designer TPSully said they were "Fantastic" :)
Just looking at his other models that imported perfectly into VCP8.5. NEAT:)
http://www.thingiverse.com/tpsully/designs/page:1
scott

[scottp55]

Never cut Claro Walnut on CNC, so this was a test on a 3.2X4" scrap.
Same gentleman linked above (TPSully) answered a request I had made, the day after I e-mailed him(while I was struggling with BigTopo)
I asked for Mount Desert Island(Acadia National Park) and got it:)
JUST off machine, and only brushed/blown off.
scott

[scottp55]

Just started a 7X9X.9" MDI one in this Sugar Maple.
Prepped and carved back last night, and started front early today.
Cutting pic is at 33% done, hoping the dark wood holds out long enough to get all the peaks.

[scottp55]

Straight off machine with a good brushing.

[scottp55]

Brushed 80/20 linseed/beeswax butter on...waited 30 minute and brushed off.

[Thomas Cook]

Very nice Scott. I've got to find some time to try these. That sugar maple is my favorite wood to carve, it holds the details so well.

[scottp55]

Thanks Thomas, But one thing I learned on this cut, was that the Brown/Tan heartwood you sometimes find carves TOTALLY different than normal Maple!
Carves like glass, with NO fuzzies...much more like the Cocobolo than regular Maple.
Going to have to keep my eyes open for "Discolored" Maple slab cutoffs:)
Enjoy your "new"Desktop!
scott