What to do when work is slow

[gc3]

Work has been very slow for us this summer...so I have been spending a lot of time in the shop carving up scrap pieces of whatever trying to learn all about the machine and software. This one I did last night while watching monday night football

46279.jpg




Gene Crain
www.plantasymaderas.com

[gc3]

...OK Guys all of my posts should get at least 1 response no matter what you think...





Gene Crain
www.plantasymaderas.com

[khaos]

K well I liked it I also like the image of the mahi coming to the boat

[road_king]

NICE WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!

What Software are you using? I need to work more on my computer. I am using ASPIRE.

Again, NICE WORK.

GB

[joe]

Gene,

Good portrait!

I don't know about you, but I have a list of display samples, in the back of my mind, to work on when work slacks up. What amazes me is how much I learn when I take on one of these. I bet you had that kind of experience on this project.

Keep it up and post more of your work.

Joe
www.normansignco.com

[courtney2018]

Looks awesome! About what dimensions is the piece that we can see in the picture? And what size bit did you use? I don't have Aspire right now, but I might be getting it eventually. I'd like to be able to carve with this kind of detail in my guitar bodies.

[gc3]

Thanks guys

The carving size is 11x24 using a .25" bullnose bit, V3M, vector art machinist, software and the vectorart3d file. The new version of V3M allows you to scale the file to any size you wish. My biggest learning curve still is how to balance the cutting speeds vs the machining time and still get a good finish...changing the ramp and speed values sure do help with that





Gene Crain
www.plantasymaderas.com

[gc3]

...forgot to say above that the wood in Makore, African Cherry which carves very well with little or no "fuzzies" on the down side of this wood is that it has a high silica content which dulls cutting tools very quickly.

Here is a photo of what I cut yesterday

46700.jpg




Gene Crain
www.plantasymaderas.com

[myxpykalix]

Gene the above picture is appropriate in the post of "what to do when work is slow"...nothing wrong with having a little fun while work is slow huh?

[GlenP]

Hey Guys, if this wood has high silica content do you need or should you wear a mask or something to protect from inhaling the dust? I also do sandblasting on signs and we use aluminum oxide instead of silica sand mainly because the of the high dangers of silica. If I remember correct it can cause a disease which is called silicosis, it causes bleeding of the throat and I think it is incurable. Not sure if this is the same but if it is be careful. Nice job on the carving.