Tiny table legs

I made this speaker stand from wood I harvested on our property. The legs are about the smallest thing I've ever made but required as much work to make as full sized table legs. I used one board 11" wide and 1" thick for this project and have several tons of nice oak left.

Bits: 1/2" end mill, 1/4 ball" nose, bottom cleaning planar bit. Aspire 9.5

Blanks: 4 finish material, 1 from scrap as a test.
Attachment 32045
Being cut on the indexer
Attachment 32044
One leg sanded, three out of the indexer
Attachment 32043
Finished table (6" tall, 12"x12" top)
Attachment 32042
Underside
Attachment 32041

John, made an home-built indexer for my shopbot - am a true novice with the indexer, but excited about what it can do. Have a project to make a large candle holder for our church. My design includes tapered flutes as well as other designs - my challenge is understanding how to draw it - how did you design your tapered flutes? I am getting ready to upgrade from aspire 2.5 to 9.5 because of the indexer capabilities - any thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks, Don

Upgrading to Aspire 9.5 will answer your questions about tapered flutes. I don't believe really old versions like you have would be capable of doing it. To create the flutes, I first used a bottom cleaning bit large enough to cover the width of the area I needed to taper, then used a fluting bit. The bottom cleaning bit running a fluting tool path is the key there. In Aspire 9.5 the preview is amazingly accurate. You'll know you're in the right ballpark once you see it emerge in the preview. Unfortunately, the preview isn't perfect and you'll have to experiment with the actual bits to get everything right. I use cheap 4x4's for experiments. They work great and are plentiful.

I agree that it is time to upgrade my aspire - it is a fantastic program - i have be stalling because each upgrade ir $400 - very reasonable when i go from 2.5 to 9.5, but steep when if i go from 9.5 to 10. They mentioned 10 as a tease for the denver event in october, but when i contacted them, they said there were no current plans for 10. That being said, i think 9.5 advances indexing enough to get the upgrade.

i think i am beginning to see how to put flutes on a taped leg, just need to start designing.

btw - in that category of ‘it never fails’: i recall the suggestion to use 4x4 as test pieces, so when you suggested that, i hustled to the local lowes and lo and behold they no longer stock the untreat 4x4 - bummer. Will try another building supply on monday

appreciate your assistance, i know i will be asking more questions
thanks
don

I got mine at HD.

Edit: I just checked HD's website and they indeed still sell untreated 8' 4x4's for $14. In the new Aspire they have a gadget for rounding a square blank that is quite excellent.

Perfect - hd is just a simple 57 mile drive from here. Maybe the local ace or local building supply store. Again there is always amzon prime....

John,

I was wondering if you would mind sharing your file of the legs, I have had a hard time wrapping my head around this process although I have been able to would out the basic of using my indexer....

Joe

You'll need 9.0+ to open the Aspire file. It's pretty obvious how to draw the tapered flutes once you start working with the gadget.

Here's a pretty good tutorial and explanation of the steps required. Also there additional tut's on the Vectric website. Russ

http://www.222artisans.com/Rotary/RotaryYaxis.html

Thanks for the info Russ, I'll check it out but sometimes I learn much better with a real example.

John, I have Aspire 9.5 if you fell like sharing. My email is bravesoul1950@gmail.com just in case you wish to contact me. I won't necessarilycut your design but would problem figure out what you did so I can do something similar but different.

Joe

Sent via email. Couldn't see how I can attach an Aspire file here.
Here's a picture of the resulting file.
Attachment 32462

Thanks John, I will let you know how I progress after this bitter cold is down with us. Since this is my Hobby machine and now that I am retired I am in no hurry to go out to my shop in this bitter cold, I know it will be colder in your neck of the woods but this is past my limit being a southern boy lol.

Joe

It's down to 25F here. That's cold for us. Yesterday, I drove around with the top down in my convertible. Luckily, my shop has climate control and is a balmy 65F year round.

Good luck with the indexer! They are a lot of fun to work with. A nifty thing to use it for is doing two sided machining. The obvious benefit of the indexer is that the part can be flipped over with exact precision and keep registration errors to near zero.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by coryatjohn

It's down to 25F here. That's cold for us. Yesterday, I drove around with the top down in my convertible. Luckily, my shop has climate control and is a balmy 65F year round.

Good luck with the indexer! They are a lot of fun to work with. A nifty thing to use it for is doing two sided machining. The obvious benefit of the indexer is that the part can be flipped over with exact precision and keep registration errors to near zero.

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Its minus 17 here wind chill minus 46 Brrrr. 65 in my remote shop.

It was really cold down in Boca today. 58 when I got up:rolleyes:
Seriously hope none of you caught in this have pipes or other issues pop up.

Ok, i have finally upgraded to 9.5 and it ‘paid for itself’ by easily converting pdf to dxf for a building project i am deeply involved in at church. And i have had a little time to play with the indexer section - to paraphrase Neil Armstrong - going from 2.5 to 9.5 was a giant leap for Don.

i can not help but notice that three players in this thread are fellow Volunteers - Joe is just ‘down the road’ in Cleveland, but John is a healthy 322 (our i40 exit number) mile drive. Not much to see in my small shop in my lower level, but i would be open to visiting your shops - wondering if any of you plan to go to McGrews this year? (Not sure when he plans to have next event).

when i get some designs on my indexer project i will share them. John, now that i have 9.5, if you are willing to share your tiny legs file, i would be appreciative

cheers
don

I don't see a way of posting a file other than an image.

Don,

Since I have retired I use my shop for hobby work with only a few paid jobs here and there but I would be open to a visit if you want. You would have to excuse my mess. I am probably going to start selling some of my unused tools this year, will have to start cleaning up my shop first so I can get to them. You can email me at bravesoul1950@gmail.com

Joe