Coworker asked me to make a “W” with a fall theme as a decoration for her daughter’s wedding. Wanted the biggest letter I could make out of a single piece of wood.
1x12 clear pine
uncountable number of hours digitizing leaves and editing vectors
4 surfacing passes plus 16 other tool paths
1/4" endmill, 1/16" endmill, 1/16" tapered ball nose, and a 1/4"-90deg v-bit
Three pieces glued together with alignment dowels
Finished with grey stain, then sanded to make the leaves pop, laser etched logo on the back and hand rubbed poly
Thank you. I think I will attempt to try something like this for my wife since our last name starts with a W. I appreciate you showing examples of your work for new guys like me to learn from.
If you want the vector file I did of the leaves, let me know
This piece is done in three layers, so one side of the back, both sides of the middle and the back of the front piece all have to be levelled so they match perfectly. No need to worry about “double sided machining techniques”, just run a levelling pattern over the pieces until they’re flat, take it off the wasteboard and flip it over. Your cutout of the three pieces is the same, except you put a design on the front piece. Drill alignment holes through the middle piece (location not important, somewhere sensible that will work for your particular piece). You use those holes as a template to drill matching pockets in the front and back so you can insert dowels and ensure all three pieces stay perfectly aligned when gluing.
For the heart, yes… but the leaves on my project are done with a 1/16 square end mill to clear out the spaces between the leaves, and a 1/4" 90 degree v-bit for the leaves themselves. Not sure if you understood that part or not. TBH I prefer v-bit creations over 3D elements.
