Sometimes the wood stock dictates the design. 18" x 12" x 1 1/4"
Double sided moulding cut in Ash.
More from the log pile.
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As always, the finish becomes the project! +1. (⅓ design, ⅓ cutting, ⅓ finishing)
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I made this LED sign for our grandsons mother,he has just passed his commercial pilot’s license in a helicopter.
6 mm Cast Acrylic
120 degree MC Etcher
This is as it came of the Shapeoko.
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I have recently purchased an etcher and some acrylic. Would you mind explaining your process please.
I wrote a bit about this at:
Note that if you have Carbide Create Pro you’ll probably want to use the new Engraving toolpath.
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Where did you get the flexible LEDs?
Looks great. Which lights did you use and how did you incorporate into the base?
I recently bought this strip and plan to cut it shorter.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B013DHLHY4?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title
Most of the strips out there are really long but cutable but to get multiple you would need to have additional power supplies and wire them up. For $10 this seemed like a decent deal. It is dimmable but not color changeable.
I spent the day machining some parts for a buddy that is converting an old push mower into a self propelled electric one. He needed multiple pieces for the motor mount for the drive system.
He did all the 3D modeling and then we put it in CC. We decided to use PVC and had to glue a couple thicknesses to get 1.5” thick. We were not going for high precision here so we stopped at .03 stepover on a 1/8” ball nose bit. The latter pieces are about 6.25” by 10”. Each of those had a “flat” side and a contoured side with an imported STL.
Both sides of part 1:
The lower surface on that looks a little furry. That is because we hit the glue line exactly. Should have thought about that and gone a touch deeper.
The interesting side of part 2 and a test fit on the mower.
Full set:
Together:
The one thing that gave us issues was the 3D contour with the round over on the edges. The bit wanted to go all the way down the sides. We had to mess around with the thickness of the 3D model but it still spent a lot of time traveling down those outer faces when it could have stopped just after the roundover.
This kind of shows what I am talking about. I have a version of the C2D file before we tweaked it which shows the 3D finishing path diving all the way into the tabs.
He did a test fit tonight:
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Hi Cullen,I buy the LED in 5 metre strips and cut to length.I gave up soldering wires to the strip and use what they call is a beetle clip,works 100% of the time.One thing I do to stop the the individual leds showing up the acrylic is to use a diffuser and that is an aluminium profile with the diffuser clipped on top,works very well.Depending on the environment I use a bright light or say a cool white.
The base has the insides carved out so everything fits.
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Hi Roder,just buy them from local electronics people,they are not that expensive.
Hi Michael,I use Pro version and engrave function.I use the depth of cut .381 which is the default setting and depending on what you are etching keep the crossover low,takes time and I find cross hatch works well for me.
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I was thinking about a diffuser like you mention. Can you explain more or show a pic?
My current use case is for a glass trophy. It has a huge glass base and then the etched piece on top. The plain strip does show the individual LEDs So having a diffuser would be good. I was thinking about trying just a frosted piece of acrylic on its side below the glass base.
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Hi Cullen,if you could wait till tomorrow I will show photos of both sides of the base and the aluminium profile.
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Absolutely no rush. All info is appreciated whenever it comes. I am not starting that project yet.
That’s gorgeous! You managed to get a hand-carved relief look on a CNC. That adds to the charm and beauty to the piece. Good on you.
M
Thanks. It was fun and a couple of firsts for me.
I need to make a couple more. The second attempt didn’t go so well due to insufficient work holding but I will try again after a couple of lessons learned.
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Made this for a buddy who is (obviously) a fan.
3/4" maple panel glued up ~13x24". 3/4" bowl bit to hollow out
Did two tool paths. One for roughing, and one for finish. Results in great time savings and a very nice finish. Then did Vcarve for design starting at “new” bottom as top of stock. (see file)
Tray - Raiders.c2d (560 KB)
Design file to share…
Best,
M
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Hi Cullen here are the two halves for the base and you can see the aluminium profile with the diffuser above it,just clips in
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Looks great thanks. You are able to find that aluminum and diffuser online? What are some good search words? I found the beetle clips, unfortunately not at Amazon but a couple of other sources.