Ambitious first project - need expert advice

Software Carbide Create
1

Hi - we purchased a shapoko pro 5 and have cabide create pro…
after some expert advice please.

We are planning to CNC out an coastline for a boardroom table.
dimensions are 5m x 1.2m after a resin pour.
the wood we have currently is 6m x 1m

we envision that the carbide file would have to be broken up into 5x parts as we move the wood along the cnc to cover the full 5m.

we have a youtube file concept render - if you have a look at this, we decided on the second model in this video. this should give you a good idea of what we are after.

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We are wondering if there is an expert that can clearly see how this should be done, get in touch or start us off on the right foot? with the wood at this expense we only have 1 go at this!

2

To start, you’ll want Carbide Create Pro and to tile:

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3

tiling as William said, Kevin’s video is excellent. Make at least one test piece from something cheap. Have a lot of space before and behind the machine, and enough support. Don’t ask how I know.

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4

tiling goes really well provided you have a fixed Y rail to ride against and index marks for each zero .

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5

Several separate issues here.

Weight and length: I would make sure that the outfeed, and infeed tables can support the full weight. you didn’t mention if you have the legs or built your own table. Check with support on the weight limits.

Registration: I would recommend using precision dowel pins, and build a fixture so you can register as you mill the registration holes as you mill them along the length. I would also set zero on a pin.

I would run a scaled down test to check the geometry and then scale up. I would run a full scale test on a cheaper wood, or foam.

Do some test cuts on similar wood, or on a part that will be milled away. Some wood can have harder spots. Since the material is more valuable than the time, I would run very conservative.

Don’t spare the tooling: Buy good endmills, and use new endmills for the final job. If the wood is more abrasive, you might switch out tooling for each section. You can still use it on other jobs.

Best of luck, and looking forward to seeing the results.

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6

thats awesome folks, thanks so much for the tips, will take them all onboard for sure. great starting points and good insight as to what to look out for.

will post end result (hopefully)