[Adimatte29]

Hello and thanks I’m advance. I have tried searching threw the forums but not getting what I want. To start off my goal is to mill some wooden fishing lures. I am looking at two machines . The first one is a nextwave shark or a millwright. Both of them I would add a fourth axis. Or is there another brand that you would suggest. And I think vcarve pro would work? So my questions are. Is this even plausible to do with either of these machines? And is vcarve pro capable of doing what I want it to do? Or is there a better software you can suggest. Before I drop all this money I just want to make sure this is even plausible. Thanks again. New guy just trying to learn.

 

[gwilki]

A picture of the type of lure you would like to make would help. That said, VCarve Pro can easily handle two-sided carving, which I would think would serve you. I'm not sure what purpose a fourth axis would serve.

 

[MEBCWD]

The Next Wave CNC Shark machines will do what you want if you use the correct software for design.

You would need VCave Pro to design projects for a 4th axis. The Next Wave CNC Shark 520 comes with VCarve Pro software and the CNC Shark 510 comes with VCarve Desktop so you would have to upgrade to VCarve Pro to do the project designs if you get a CNC Shark 510.

As @gwilki pointed out you could also use the 2-sided carving part of the VCarve software for project design on most lure projects. The 3D part of the project would need to be done in a 3D CAD program like Blender(it is free), and then imported into the VCarve program. You could also use Aspire to create the 3D part of the project but that upgrade is probably more than you want to go.

 

[jw2170]

G'day @Adimatte29 , welcome to the forum...

 

[pal]

Hi Adimatte29 welcome to the forum.
There is a cnc forum on here i would be very surprised if one of the members weren't able to answer your questions there

 

[difalkner]

Moved and merged into one thread.

 

[old55]

Welcome to the forum @Adimatte29

 

[Adimatte29]

Thanks you for the responses my other question I have is mebcwd brought up using blender. Would that be a user friendly program to use. I have heard
Of fusion 360. I haven’t used either. I understand there will be a learning curve with anything. Just want to use the best user friendly program. Thanks again for all the quick responses

 

[John Smith_]

Adimatte - I can't help but wonder why you want to invest all this time, energy and money into a system to make fishing lures when there are kazillions on the market already. Could you enlighten us a little on your ambitions ??

 

[difalkner]

Blender Guru is a good source for how-to videos on Blender. Lars Christensen has good videos on Fusion 360. There are plenty of other instructional videos on both software packages although in many ways they are wildly different programs.

 

[Adimatte29]

@difalkner thank you for the tips. @ John smith_ I understand there are kazillions of lures on the market but does it matter? I already airbrush for a hobby. And a huge fisherman. I think it would be awesome to produce something from start to finish and in all different designs. Just another hobby. It gets cold and boring in winters

 

[John Smith_]

@difalkner thank you for the tips. @ John smith_ I understand there are kazillions of lures on the market but does it matter? I already airbrush for a hobby. And a huge fisherman. I think it would be awesome to produce something from start to finish and in all different designs. Just another hobby. It gets cold and boring in winters

I was sort of hoping that was your goal. . . . for personal satisfaction rather than trying to enter retail market.
Looking forward to following some of your projects when you get started.
What is your favorite type of fish ?

 

[MEBCWD]

I have also thought about making fishing lures but I do have Aspire so I can model the lures to be carved on the CNC without using other programs.

Using two-sided carving instead of using a 4th axis would work for solid-bodied lures, but if you use 2 sided carving but set the file up to cut half lures then glue them together you can also add sound chambers to the lures and channels for the tie-on and hook hanger wire.

Another thing you can do is make molds for plastic baits and molds for sinkers and weights. You are only limited by your imagination.

 

[MikeMa]

There is a guy local here who designs, carves, and paints fishing lures. Sounds like there is a pretty good market for custom made lures vs. mass produced ones.

 

[Souza1969]

All your 4th axis does is allow you to rotate your part. And that axis doesn't need to automated, it can be manual. I've done it with aluminum in a Bridgeport milling machine by using a rotary table up on edge with a 4 jaw chuck attached. I'm guess fish lures are very big? If for some reason there's deflection you could support the non held side with a live center, allowing it to turn with the rotary table.

 

[PhilBa]

Like others have said, double sided is the way to go. You can make a number of them using a single blank - this will reduce the overhead per lure and is simple to set up. There are lots of tutorial videos out there.

Probably your biggest challenge is 3D design whether you go 2 sided or 4 Axis. Aspire is pretty expensive (more than the machines you mention) and blender has a relatively steep learning curve.

As to the machine. The ones you mention will work though neither is super rigid. In fact, just about any CNC machine out there will work for you. I am a bit biased against the Shark as it uses proprietary HW and SW.

 

[Souza1969]

Check out Solidworks, Dussault just changed the licensing of the software. They offer a makers license, that you only pay when you use it. I've been using CAD since 1984, when Autodesk for introduced AutoCad. Solidworks is very intuitive, if you can think three dimensionally. I've got over 20 years with Solidworks under my belt, highly recommended it. I'm a mechanical engineer by degree.

 

[Oscar36]

CAD software and artistic 3d modeling software have different processes for modeling 3d but both can do the job very well. You just do it differently.

I am a Blender3d user and its my go to software. I also have Zbrush and 3dCoat (also artistic 3d modeling programs). I know the fundamentals of Fusion 360 but I personally dislike using it (or any CAD program) because you have to be precise. I do a lot of Kentucky windage on the fly with my 3d modeling.

You can make any 3d model you want with Blender. The problem is you can also video edit, animate, digital sculpt, sound edit, composite, UV unwrap, do physics simulations, program (python editor), create games (full on game editor),... etc. with it. It is a massively complex program. If you just stick to 3d modeling it is definitely doable to learn fairly quickly. Blender guru is pretty awesome for the basics. The rest is going to take a bit of time.

It is 100% free so the only cost is time.