Yeah I think it probably behaves like acrylic, which I have successfully cut before (low RPM and fast feed), though I have never done a surfacing pass on plastics so I’ll have to experiment a bit
follow-up: I used the machine this time to remove the excess epoxy, and it worked like a charm.
12.000 & 2000mm/min for the surfacing, no glued up endmill, very light fine grain sanding after that, easy enough.
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Julien, thanks for the view and what you did with this piece. I’m going to have to try that on my next set of coasters as it should be faster than sanding down to a fine finish. I am going to try and mix a clear batch of epoxy and thin it enough to use a sponge brush to apply it, hopefully without air bubbles.
It’s been a busy week-end, but I’m finally done with this series of coasters. I did three sets of 8 coasters, for friends that happen to be fans of Valentino Rossi. On the plus side, I confirm that bamboo and epoxy love each other. No need for sealer, zero bleeding, it’s almost too easy. Shaved off the excess epoxy with a surfacing operation on the Shapeoko, and now I wonder how I could bear doing it manually before. My only regret/failure is that some of the colors came out very faded, I guess the cheapo coloring thing was not very good quality. But otherwise I’m quite pleased with how they came out.
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What finish do you use on the bamboo coasters to prevent water rings?
Hi Wayne,
for these I just used mineral oil (applying a generous amount, then cleaning the excess with paper towels, then letting them dry, then applying a second coat of oil with the same process)
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I keep coming back to V-carving bamboo and using epoxy inlay. So easy and satisfying.
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I initially bought this set of coasters during a trip to Hawaii, the flower & turtle were printed (probably in China…) on top, so of course after 6 months it was all gone. I fired up the Shapeoko, V-carved the first two SVGs I found on google image that looked like the original ones, poured epoxy + black die like a madman, surfaced them, and voilà. Now they’ll last forever.
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Very nice. Is this Bamboo?
Yes, that is bamboo. I love Vcarving it as it requires zero clean up and no primer before pouring the epoxy.
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Nice ! How did you color the resin ? This is the one thing that I still struggle with to get consistent results.
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Jesse, try using a heat gun or torch to coax the bubbles out.
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I have found dyes seep into the woodgrain but pigment powders do not. I got a variety pack of colors from Amazon of “Diamond” pigments. The tiniest bit of powder goes a LONG way.
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thanks for the tip, I’ll try that
Hi read your article here. Have not tried this myself but, have watched several videos on coloring your resin. They say the chemical used in women eye shadow is same as in those powders you buy to color resin. Nice thing is you can buy a pack of multicolors to use. Hope gives any help. Jim
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I’ll be trying those and those soon. I can’t wait to get rid of the terrible (and probably toxic) bottles of chinesium liquid dye I have been using so far.
Since you are using the cnc to remove the excess and it works you can try sealing with dewaxed shellac (Universal Sanding Sealer Zinnser) on the project first followed by a couple coats of wipe on poly. The shellac and poly keep the epoxy from seeping into the wood and when you sand it all comes off back down to raw wood. Also surfacing with the cnc does the same as sanding. I have made a lot of epoxy filled inlay with the shellac and poly method. I use poly because it is water proof and can easily sanded off and reapplied. I use Transtint liquid dye for coloring the epoxy. The transtint is alcohol based and will work with any water or oil top coat. If the epoxy does not look shinny after sanding the poly top coat will being back the shine.
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I apologize, I didn’t see that you asked a question! I used alumilite clear resin, once mixed I used a drop of white opaque dye and then some green alumilite dye. I overfilled the vcarved designs then just used a benchtop belt sander to smooth them out.
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What little bit of working with resin I have done, I have used a fine mist of alcohol to get rid of the air bubbles…Worked great with smaller projects.
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