eric wrote:
You are getting very good with that CNC machine Lawrence.
How long does something like that take from wo to go?
Eric
Thanks for the kind comment Eric-- lets see... as for your question... timing varies... with this piece I spent 10-15 minutes designing it on the computer, then 10 minutes or so picking out the piece it would go on (I tried to pay close attention to grain swirls and the inclusion of some sapwood to give it an added detail. I then picked out how and where the carve would go and then used hand tools to joint the board (my power jointer is only 6 inches so I use a hand plane to joint the board) and then run it though the planer, edge joint, and ts..
I then load up the prepped board into the machine and start it up-- at this point I had about 30-45 minutes of work into the piece.
The carve itself took about an hour and a half-- I check the machine every 15-20 minutes (temperature etc) and spent the rest of the time flattening the back of a hand plane iron and jamming to my worktunes ear protectors.
After the carve completed, I spent 2 minutes cleaning up the carve with a brass brush and then cut the piece to length (I carve it oversized to prevent snipe-like symptoms breaking bits... if you add 3.5 inches onto the ends of any carve it will remain under the rollers) I cut this extra off on the ts and then routed the chamfers on the router table.
Work time actually touching the piece- approximately an hour and fifteen minutes
time from start to end including carve time during which you can be doing other things- about 3 hours
Lawrence