[honesttjohn]

This is the Last Supper I did for the lady in Wyoming. She wanted it to match her new dining room so we settled on her doing the finishing and I upgraded the wood from pine to baltic birch since she already paid Etsy. I took one of those 1 x 12 x 48 baltic birch panels from Menards, cut it in half and glued it up. Finished size is 22 1/2 x 11 x 1 1/2. Made for a nice solid piece that will show off nicely. A lot heavier than those 1" pine panels, but it didn't bend and don't think it'll warp. Dropped it off at UPS today. Shipping was a bear with the added weight. UPS was actually $5 less than USPS.

 

[honesttjohn]

This was an all day affair, just for the finish cut. Couple hours the nite before for the roughing with a 1/4 end mill and set it off the following morning with 1/8 ball nose - was done before supper. I probably could have used a 3/16 ball nose but wasn't sure. Would have saved a little time. I'm sure a 1/4 ball nose would not have shown the detail as good as the smaller bit. Besides, this was an experiment with the baltic birch. It cut real well, but I also used the smaller bit with a 10% stepover to avoid any splintering that could very well have occurred.

 

[honesttjohn]

Rick,

I just think the air cooled spindles are just easier all the way around. And I've run mine as much as 20 hours a day sometimes with no problems.

But ... on another note --- been considering a bigger machine and was leaning towards the Saturn II. But it is quite heavy and bulky the way it comes. Don't know how I'd get it in the basement. Soooooo I thought back on your discussions and CNCrouterparts came up. I can do the 4 x 4 Pro. Just have to put the frame together and hook the boxes up with the right wires. They have it now where you don't have to be a lectrical genius to get one of their's up and running. I would have to learn Mach 4, though.

More food for thought.

 

[honesttjohn]

Nice work, as usual, John! Have you considered stepping up to Maple instead of Pine?

David

I really like cutting maple, oak, birch, most all hardwoods. I just used the pine because I could get the panels thicker than the normal 3/4. And already glued up. I'm cutting an oak Last Supper right now. I'm just trying not to get in the planing, jointing, and gluing business too.

Rick, that's about as far as I want to go on my own. My iddy biddy brain couldn't handle much more. Of course, once I got a 4 x 4 I'd have wished I got a 4 x 8 or 5 x 9. As long as the hook ups are straight forward and the wires are different colors, I might be able to make something like that work. I'm wondering if their $1600 spindle is that much different than the ones that Probotix gets from Automation Technoligies for $500.

 

[honesttjohn]

I would probably go with a Sunfar 300 or 500 VFD. My Probotix has the 300 and has worked since I've had the machine.

 

[honesttjohn]

That's not ply. Those are glued up baltic birch boards. Solid wood. Heavy too.