I was looking for something unique to give as a gift for the holidays. I used to cut trivets with my scroll saw before the shapeoko came along. For this effort, I decided to cut a series of circles on one side to a little over half the material thickness, then flip the piece over, and a cut a starburst on the other. The material is exactly 8.25" square, and close enough to .75" thick on my drum sander. Design is centered on the piece so that both sides share the same center when the material is flipped. The intersects of the designs provide openings to help dissipate the heat. My wife likes it so well that I’ve already made 10. I’ll cut 11-18 this afternoon.
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As a person with a trivet-making addiction, I find this a very cool idea, well done!
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Very nice! Looks like you can do it all with just a 1/4" spiral bit too, I love that simplicity of execution, I try to design with that in mind whenever possible.
How long do they take to carve?
what kind of wood are you using? Looks great BTW!
The starburst takes about 11 minutes. Then flip the board and cut the circles in 16 minutes followed by the final cutout in 6 minutes. I run a .25 downcut endmill with a depth per pass of .10 and a speed and plunge rate of 30. I’m guessing that’s a bit conservative and could speed it up somewhat.
Thanks.
So far I’ve cut (left to right) red oak, walnut and maple. Sanded to 220 grit and finished with mineral oil. I just uncovered a nice wide piece of cherry that should yield 2 more without a glue up. I’ll cut them tomorrow.
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