CNC

CNC “Artwork” – round 1

Sticky 1 Comment

Milling wood is fun. However, my current challenge is finishing designs with the proper contrast.  This is the first project that I made, and left it without a  finish.  A decent start, but the design does not stand out.:

There are numerous options, but my primary goal is to minimize the amount of free-hand work for the sake of maintaining sanity.  To that end, I have tried out two options with reasonable results:

1) Staining the piece of wood dark or black before milling:  This piece has clear imperfections since the stain was only put on in one coat before cutting out the design.  Thicker coats would hold up better when sanding the finished piece.

2) A multi-step process: coat with polyurethane, mill with CNC, stain black, and finally sand off the stain that is on the flat, clear surface for contrast.  This is much more work, but appropriate for some projects. Here are the last two steps…

Staining after milling:

After sanding the surface stain off:

 

CNC

Adventures in CNC

Sticky Leave a comment

A fun project that I have been working on for a few years is my CNC machine. A lot can be learned through trial and error, but progress was slow for quite a while. To jump-start the process, I ended up using a fairly basic kit from eBay. Actually, it is two kits… one for the frame, and one for the Gecko drive components.

Here is an initial shot of the machine:

The first step was to construct a mount for my router. I used 1/8″ aluminum angle stock and attached it to the stock Bosch base for the palm router. I like the router so much that I bought a second router base to use the router off the CNC machine as well.

A “dust boot” was then added from a door sweep. this worked very well to contain dust, but had to be removed in the end since it interfered with cutting. The bristles were too stiff, and it caused a minor amount of deflection in the mount while routing. My goal in the end is to put this into an enclosure, so the boot is not particularly essential.

The critical part is the vacuum mount. The parts were salvaged from a broken upright machine, and silicone caulking holds the plastic in place. It is nice to be able to remove the hose when necessary. Without the dust boot the vacuum picks up most of the debris, but I am still looking for a better solution.

Clamps were purchased from Rockler (one can be seen in the shot above), and they are pretty nice. However, when cutting out small designs, they got in the way. So… I designed some low-profile clamps using bolts and plywood strips. Two screws protrude a bit from each piece to “bite” into the wood being clamped down. The process leaves a few very small scars on the sides, but is very effective. Most importantly, the machine mount does not hit the clamps while cutting!

A t-slot cutting bit was used to make the channels for the bolts. It works well enough for now.

Next up… Attempts at “Art”!

woodworking

Building a Storage Bed Frame

Sticky 19 Comments

This project was done as a joint effort with my friend Allison.

The design comes from Knock-off Wood.  If you haven’t seen Ana White’s website and reader submissions you should do that immediately.  She is quite an inspiration.  What follows is a close reproduction of the plans, except for a modification to the center-support to make it more user-friendly.  You will have to check out Ana’s design to see the differences.

Allison took all of these pictures, so our write-ups are going to look rather similar.

————————————————————

Step one: making the cuts

We had the guy at Lowe’s make several of the rips on their panel-saw to save us time.  Back in the shop, we then finished the final rips and several shorter cuts before starting the assembly.

————————————————————

Step two: glueing and screwing the “benches”

We started the assembly with copious amounts of glue and screws.  Here you can see Allison employing the guide that was used to apply the glue accurately, and then align the holes for screws on the other side of the panel.  This was a huge time-saver.

————————————————————

Step three: testing and posing

After putting together a few benches, we tested them out and posed a bit for the camera

————————————————————

Step four: constructing the center support

Comments from Anna’s readers and design modifications led us to believe that it was important to ensure that the mattress could breathe adequately.  We used a 2.25″ hole-saw to make beveled edges, and then linked the holes with cuts from the circular saw.  When you see the ventilation added to the benches, notice that we used only the holes… we had grown tired in the 100 degree heat and skipped the additional step there.  We also opted to keep the holes closer to the vertical support on the inside of the benches to reduce possible flex near the openings (probably not a serious concern).

Another requirement was that the bed could be taken apart without power tools.  This lead to a re-design from the original 2×4 support that was supposed to be screwed to the three benches for assembly.  This version uses a 2×2 frame (with a 2×4 in the middle to join the two pieces of plywood) resting on top of 2×2 supports glued/screwed into the backs of each bench.  A key piece is that plywood “hooks” were added to create a structure that holds the three sections together tightly once dropped in place.  This took a bit of sanding and tweaking, but worked out quite well in the end.

Once set in place, you can see how the hooks keep the bed square and the sections aligned in all directions once the center piece is dropped in place.

————————————————————

Step five: trim, wood putty, and sanding

We used 1×2 and 1×3 pine furring strips to trim out the front of the benches.  It was quite handy to have a few two-foot clamps to keep everything straight.  If you look closely, you can see that we used 1×3 strips on the top edge instead of the 1x2s that Ana prescribes.  This was done to add a lip to keep the mattress from shifting.

Square-drive “trim head” screws were used on the strips to keep the holes small, and then wood putty was used to cover all of the screws. Even the screws that are covered by the mattress were patched and sanded to minimize damage to bedding materials.

————————————————————

Step six: paint and final assembly

Even with a single coat of primer, the bed looked great.  I would do a project like this again in a heartbeat.  It is worth repeating how essential Ana White’s plans were in making this a reality!

google hacks, technology

Test for a Custom Google Form

Leave a comment

Custom Form Demo





This form is for demo purposes only. Entries will be displayed in a published spreadsheet found below.

Submitting this form will redirect you to the Google docs form tool @ http://sneakysheep.com/google-docs-form-tool.php