Did a final, slightly altered version of my first project, with a bit of Danish Oil splashed on for good measure. I’ll be moving on after this, but for my second cut ever, I think it’s passable. Did this one in Hickory. Man, true hardwood carves way different and soft woods. The board latched onto the cutter and climbed right out of the clamps I was using. Scary!
Lessons learned:
Make sure you have both lateral stability AND your work piece is clamped securely in the Z direction also.
Don’t limit depth when V-carving text. You may want to limit depth when V-carving areas wider than the bit.
Don’t cut slots that are the exact same width as your cutter. Instead, make a pocket cut .5 mm wider than the cutter.
Never give up; failure is a great teacher.
DO NOT leave your machine unattended when running.
Cutting a true hardwood is way louder than cutting softer woods.
Don’t rely on the locking button and one wrench when securing your bit into the spindle router. Always use two wrenches.
Don’t forget to lower maximum depth of cut when cutting into the bottom of a pocket. I forgot that on the smaller text as you can see.
Go slow when learning how Carbide Motion operates. Did not understand that every tool change request results in a trip to the BitSetter for measurement. Long-story-short, once drove a spinning bit into the BitSetter button. Thank God it was a 90° V-bit instead of a 1/4" flat bit. Just a small pin-point dimple on top of my bit setter button. Whew!
I’m sure are is more I am forgetting. Meanwhile, my third cut will be for cash money. I already have a paying customer. Amazing. Again, thank you to everyone who offered advice. Much appreciated.
I think you learned some good lessons. The school of hard knocks teach you what you need to know. I know because I have graduated Magna Cum Laude and have the knots on my head to show for it.
Seems like you did learn a lot so go go go. Hickory is pretty high up on the Janka scale for wood hardness.
Check out the chart on this website to compare. The Hickory is at 1820 and the hardest is Brazillian Cherry at 2350 and fir at 660. So percentage wise hickory is relatively hard. When picking a tool you can choose hardwood or softwood. The F&S on C3D F&S are relatively conservative but you could decrease when cutting hickory through editing the tool path or just change the feed rate in CM while cutting if things are sound pretty loud.
This is good stuff. Congratulations on someone voting on you with their “cash money!” +1
However, limiting pass depth (in the tool specification) is very important on heavy vcarving with hobby-type machines (especially in “true” hardwood.) I’m not sure one can do this in CC.
If you limit pass depth, you won’t have to worry about what is called “slotting.” Set the pass depth to what the machine / bit can handle per pass, and the software should honor that.
Andy, you were right. That .25" #251 spiral downcut bit is the bomb! The edges of the pockets came out crisp and clean. I noticed the Sweepy Dust Boot had a bit more trouble containing the chips, but not too much so. This is a shot of my second project: a simple tray for a teacher’s desk.
I’m following Kevin B’s. advice, gift one away - sell 5. Hopefully, when her teacher friends see it on her desk they will say, “Beautiful! Where did you get that?” I’ll be here to answer the call.
I even tried some chamfering on this one. I got really lucky on the final cutout. It did not cut 100% through to the waste board. What remained aside from the tabs was literally only a few wood fibers thick. My waste board is unscathed. Amazing! Having fun!
