I can’t say I’ve done it yet (and certainly not on oak), but shellac is supposed to help a ton with this by sealing up the pores.
1 Like
Just for fun, I’ll share what comes to my mind to do as I use walnut a lot. I mix some burnt umber oil paint in turpentine for a first coat stain as walnut tends to lighten over time. This helps offset that and creates some contrast between the carved and uncarved areas. Next I use several coats of hand rubbed tung oil to get a nice semi-gloss protective finish. Then if I was going to add color, I would mask it and thin some hobby paint and give it a couple of light passes with my airbrush until I had a satisfactory amount of color, making it thin enough that the wood grain showed through.
Those are beautiful v-carvings.
1 Like
Looks great. Just wondering is that a raised inlay or a 3d carve? how did you get the contrasting colors?
Thanks
Jim
I pocked out an area and glued in the walnut. I think I made the tray as a 3d object which allowed me to add the topography on top of the tray? I may have to try that as a concept again.
Wow, I remember as a kid watching Ernie Banks and Ron Santo play at Wrigley.
Jewelry on a HDM? Why not?
Been wanting to attempt some jewelry ever since I watched a @wmoy YT quite a while ago. Copied his nautilus theme.
To get my feet wet I cut a necklace piece and an earring. Happy enough with the results to continue trying. Probably try some as inlays in wood projects too.
Design in VCarve pro, .024” 2 flute from drillman on eBay. Still tweaking s&f, broke two mills, one too deep, the other too fast. Right on par for me haha.
20 Likes
What are the limitations to making jewelry with the Shapeoko Pro?
Your imagination and problem solving skills. 
4 Likes
Yep. I cut those parts on my HDM that currently resides at work.
1 Like
I’d like to use my Shapeoko Pro to make a pair of silver earrings for my wife’s 50th birthday. Any advice on workholding, and speed and feeds?
1 Like
It all starts with the design, Do you have one you can show us?
I believe @wmoy used wax in the video I saw.
I used tape and CA for the copper pieces I cut. Used a dental tool to gently pry the completed pieces off the tape. The copper was re-purposed from another project and is 0.040” thick.
I’ll be curious to see what you come up with for your wife. Also, where you source the silver.
As regards …limitations on the SPro xxl, none I can think of. I’m sure you could cut the same copper pieces I did.
2 Likes
When you need to mill and remove small delicate parts held by tape and CA glue. I recommend using a small surfaced piece of aluminum clamped to the bed for your project. Apply your tape and glue then run the job and after take the plate off and soak it in 90% rubbing alcohol and it will come off super easy.
You can also use a spray bottle or brush and wet the piece on a non porous bed that’s not removable.
4 Likes
Why not use a water soluble glue like Chris Fitch does in his CNC basecamp series. He was doing a metal inlay. He glued the sheet stock to a sacrificial piece of MDF using liquid hide glue. After machining he placed the metal and mdf in a bucket of water overnight, dissolved the glue and had the part with no prying. I have not done this, but it seems like a lot better methodology than anything that involves prying thin metal.
John
4 Likes
@Able @Stankus Thanks gentlemen for the tips.
All this delicate stuff is new to me.
My usual tool for removing tape CA parts.
5 Likes
Why didn’t you just cut that right on the plexiglass?
You kind of have to dig out the vinyl inner parts that you don’t want in the letters so I didn’t want to scratch the acrylic. Also if I mess up the cut on the mat I’ll just start fresh with a new piece of vinyl. If mess up on the acrylic I need to buy more. The vinyl is cheap the acrylic isn’t. And I guess after this wedding I can reuse the acrylic by just removing the vinyl but if I cut directly on it then I couldn’t reuse it.
4 Likes
If it’s metal just wax it to a plate, I use 01 tool steel so I can hold things with a magnetic chuck.
After it’s cut just heat it up on a hot plate to remove and I soak it to remove the residual wax.
Something that is thin might warp so I would use some popsicle sticks with weights to keep things flat.
The sticks will come off pretty easy or just cut right through them.
1 Like
