Visit to a Demo'd Customer

[birdsofplay]

Wow !!!
I just visited a place that I'd demod my SB to a while back. There I finally had a chance to see the new hardware and the Steel table.

Zowie !!! I got mine back a coupla years ago and have modified the cables OUT of it but still using the older motors and wheels.
I was really impressed with the looks of the newer styled assemblies and the SIZE and power of the new motors. The whole thing is MUCH more rigid than my original set up.
The Steel table REALLY sets the stage for a nice looking machine too.

Anyone getting a new machine will ceratily be pleased. The SB is still, By Far, the best Bang for the Buck available IMHO

[bruce_clark]

Bob,

Yes, I must agree there with you 100%. I too had
an original cable drive. I upgraded to the rack
and pinion with the bigger motors and powersupply,
there is a world of difference.

My biggest problem now is figuring out how to
clamp stuff down without my toolbit hitting it. I
keep thinking about vacuum table, but have not
made the "leap" yet. We shall see...

Bruce Clark
bwclark@centurytel.net (mailto:bwclark@centurytel.net)

[ramdesgn@juno.com]

Bruce, to located fasteners out of the cutter path, locate them using your CAD drawing and let the router move to each location and cut 0.10" deep to mark that location. At the end of the "fastener locations" run, program a "pause" to allow time for installation of the fasteners. Resume your program. You will need to first locate two fasteners that you know are far outside the path. Works great for me!

[bruce_clark]

Thank you everbody for giving me good suggestions.
Now, first I must say that 90% of the stuff I do
on my ShopBot is 4'x8' material and this is easily
held down with C-clamps on the perimeter.

Now, recently, I have been trying my hand at some
simulated "chip carving" and have been using
12"x12" boards. While this does leave a fair
amount of space for screws, that involves pre
drilling, screwing, and unscrewing (call me lazy).

This is what promped me to look into a vacuum
system. It would be ideal for the large work and
I _think_ it would also hold the 12"x12" stuff
too. I will have to do some research into that...

Mr. McGuire, your idea of fasteners/clamps at
areas where there is no cutting is a good one, but
that caught me off guard once. While cutting a
4'x8' board (making a puzzle Triceratops) my
cutter happened to raise up (but not high enough)
on its return home (JH command) to no avoid the
C-clamp that was in it's path. End result was
one milled C-clamp (yes, my ShopBot will cut cast
iron) and a wrecked 2 flute carbide bit.

Lastly, I like the idea that someone had about the
dowels/pins and cam levers to hold small pieces
down. I may look into that, but think that may
cause a lot of change over hassles from using full
sheets to small work. Another idea might be to
look into some Al T-slot material. I will look
into that and see what I find.

Thanks again for the good suggestions,

Bruce Clark
bwclark@centurytel.net (mailto:bwclark@centurytel.net)

[birdsofplay]

Bruce,

I turned some Pipe clamps into "Cross table" holders. I anchored one end of the pipe via flange
just under the planed area, and the other end with a custom made support. Spacer and Uclamp would work too.
I used the type of pipe clamps with the Fixed foot or DOG srewed to the other end of the pipe and the adjustable screw in the slider portion.
Sure, I have to provide some "thief" board in between the metal parts and if hold DOWN
vs position is a major priority then this might not be as good of a choice as other ideas.
Still, it is working OK for my purposes and was relatively cheap to install, and out of the way if I dont use it.

Quick Clamps are a good choice too. The jaws are plastic with rubber tips all on steel bars.
I have managed to hit every one of them at least once but never ruined a router bit doing so.
You can buy new rubber tips too.

[seaside@esva.net]

Bob and Bruce,

Bill Palumbo has a clamping setup on his ShopBot that uses those flat aluminum bar clamps. If you're interested in seeing how he did it, I've got some pictures of his table on my web site at http://www.seasidesmallcraft.com/tablclmp.htm.

Bill

[birdsofplay]

Chip Carved Style

The recent pix of David Allens chip carving rekindled my interest in this technique

I have a way to do it, but it's time consuming.

The pix of my results are at the bottom.

This is what I am currently doing in my CAD ...

1. I trace the center line of my patterns.
2.Drop lines into Z from "selected" points on those traces.

3. Then create a B-spline off the ends of those Z lines.
4.Then remove the oroginals and tracings and convert to DXF.

Labor intensive... YES.
But Cut-time and tool-path are "VERY efficient".
AND .. no tricky, involved convertions back and forth.
No prior adjustments to a raster file are needed and NO TIME SPENT fooling with glitchy
freeby or shareware programs.

No searching for the "Holy Grail" of automatic 3D,
Since I dont believe that this is ever going to be
sufficient for the effect that I am seeking.

Certainly some of the 3D techinques that have been put forward are viable for "Other effects" and well worth the time and investment if thats what you want.

So MY question is ...

Does anyone have a better/cheaper way of accomplishing the ChipCut effect ?



622

623

[birdsofplay]

BTW
There are 3 seperate patterns ,
A corner pattern, a drawer front,
and a Door splash.
All quickly done in a cheap pine board
and then quickly/lightly wiped with a little stain
to make the picture show up a bit better.

I used CAD to arrainge and scale them to the
specific target board or use.

I tried to scale down the pix for easier/quicker viewing, appologies if this was a problem for you
guy with slower connections, like myself.

[Rick]

Bob, I found this link where they use templates to engrave patterns on doors, after seeing what you did I know a S/B will cut it! Rick
http://www.doordecors.com/photos.htm

[birdsofplay]

Hey thanks !

IF the truth were known, those designs that I showed above were taken from some woodworking catalog a while back.
I keep a whole directory full of em :-)
The "floating" router bit and templates product.
I figured it was a doable thing with SB but never actually got 'round to it , till now.

I'll just have to add those Pix to my "ideas directory" next.

After all my "whining" I guess it's actually not that bad to do them the hard way. It took me
about an hour of fiddleing +- to crank one out.

Thanks for the URL