[JOAT]

No, I still do not want a CNC. But I am curious about a lot of things in life, so I thought I'd pass a couple of questions along to you guys.

This is a side view of the design for one of my Easter Island head banks, and a front view. Then there is a head with a rough, very rough, idea of what the finished bank will look like. The bank will be 5 1/2" wide, which will be 11 pieces of 1/2" plywood. There will be 5 masters (as I call them), or patterns, or templates, whatever you want to call them. The odd width is so I can cut a 1/2" slot in the top, and both sides of that will be the same.

How I will make this bank. The side view pattern will be glued to plywood, cut out with my scrollsaw, as close to the outer line as I can get it, then sanded to the final piece. That piece will be tacked to another piece of plywood that has been rough cut to shape, that routed out, and that will be my Plan B master, in case I screw up the original. I will then cut the original down to the next smaller master, rout that out, repeat until all 5 of my masters are done. Actually 6 masters, if you include the ears, which will be glued to the finished bank, using a kig to properly place them. The masters that will be hollow inside will have the center cut out leaving a 3/4" wall all around. These will be half done masters, because what I will do is to glue all five down, rout them so I have a 1" master, and those will be drilled for nail pilot holes, and used to rout out the pieces for the bank, which will be glued together, and viola, a bank. Somewhere along the line I will also cut a hole in the bottom to take money out.

OK, I got my final design sketched out on 1/4" graph paper, full size, in something less than an hour. I've sketched since I was a kid so might be faster at laying out a design then a lot of people. I will not include any glue setting time. I glue the design down, then cut my pieces out. I never did time how long it took to get all of the pieces for my masters cut out, but know I can do it in just a few hour. Then once the masters are ready, I can rough cut my pieces, rout them out, and glue them together in a glue-up jig. Not sure just how long it will take to rout these finished pieces out, but based on past experience, I'd say roughly under 2 hours, mostly depending on how much cutting is needed. Oh, I also did not include the time to drill nail pilot holes, which will be a one-time thing for each master.

OK, here goes.
How long would it take to set up to cut 1 of these pieces with a CNC?
How long would it take to set up for all 5 different pieces?
How long would it take to cut out 1 piece, from 1/2" plywood?
How long would it take to cut out all 11 pieces, all 1/2" plywood?

And, please don't tell me you can turn out piece after piece, all identical. I already know that, and I can also turn out piece after piece, all identical.

 

[4DThinker]

If you can scan your sketch, then you can import the digital photo of it into Vcarve. Thanks to you drawing it on graph paper it would be easy to scale to exactly the size you want. There is a trace vector option that might be able to do a quick job of turning it into vectors. if not, you can quickly draw over your sketch to create the needed vectors.

Each of the 5 unique pieces can be copied/edited from the initial master, then saved to their own layer so you can copy/edit the next one easily. Etc..

Once you have vector outlines of each piece, including the inside outline where the coins will end up, you can copy the duplicate ones, then lay them out on one sheet for efficient use of the material. It is easy to create toolpaths to profile cut through, around the outside and inside of each shape. Any shape that has an area/pocket you want to cut into but not through is just as quick using the pocket tool path. You can even quickly add 1/4" holes to each layer to help aligning them (with a short 1/4" dowel) when gluing them up. The holes can go through the inner layers, and half way through the two outer layers.
If

I'm guessing, but as I'm very familiar with the drawing tools in Vcarve/Aspire it might take me 1/2 hour total to create all the needed vectors if I had your initial sketch.

One piece, depending on which machine used, might take 2 minutes to cut around. A little more or maybe a lot less with an industrial machine. 2 minutes each for 11 pieces is 22 minutes. Shapes will be perfect. You might need to sand/trim off tabs that are used to hold the parts in place while being cut.

While the parts are still on the CNC bed, you could additionally round over the outer edges of the outer pieces.

Glue together, using short dowel pieces to help align all parts. Sand and finish.

While you are trimming, gluing, sanding, finishing the first one a second can be being cut on the CNC using the same file.

There will be time you need to add for clamping down the plywood, booting up the PC that runs the CNC, homing the CNC, then zeroing out X, Y, and Z for the project being cut. Add some time at the end for cleaning up the CNC and surrounding area. Add some more time to upload/share images of and VCarve files for the design on your favorite web forums.

If I was going to make just one, I doubt I'd use the CNC to cut the parts. If I was going to make two or more I definitely would take the upfront time to draw it up, then cut them all out using the CNC.

4D

 

[JOAT]

Interesting. And I still don't want a CNC. LOL I don't bother with dowels for gluing up tho, a glue-up jig, will align all the pieces nicely, if accurate - and I make sure mine are accurate, don't want to redo work. I hit my pieces with my ROS after the glue has set and good to go.

How much would a rig like that cost? I'm thinking way more than I have invested in my entire shop, including tools. I would say cost of the shop itself, tools, and in stock materials, comes to less then about $1200, as is, not counting materials cost over the years.

I take it you save all of this on your computer, so you can go back later and duplicate something. I just hang my masters on the wall. Oh yeah, any notes I have on a build I write on the masters, how many of each piece, and anything else I can think of, hard to lose notes doing that.

Thanks.

 

[UglySign]

..... "No, I still do not want a CNC"

Interesting.

"And I still don't want a CNC." .... LOL

Thanks.

Ever notice when you don't like a song for so long
after a while you end up diggin' it?

For instance, me? I could never stand the Talking Heads
until I actually listened to the lyrics and found them kinda
cool, but offbeat & corky. I dig them now.

JOATs gettin a cnc... I'm tellin ya

 

[4DThinker]

A CNC can be had for a few hundred dollars to 90k and up. A kit you have to assemble or a CNC that requires a crane to drop into your shop though the temporarily removed roof.

You know you want one, Joat. For someone who spends so much time in a specific forum your "don't want" claim falls shallow.

4D

 

[JOAT]

Ever notice when you don't like a song for so long
after a while you end up diggin' it?

For instance, me? I could never stand the Talking Heads
until I actually listened to the lyrics and found them kinda
cool, but offbeat & corky. I dig them now.

JOATs gettin a cnc... I'm tellin ya

What? You're going to give me a CNC? I really appreciate the thought, but being as how I don't have a boat, I really don't need an anchor.

PS: JOAT is NOT getting a CNC.

 

[honesttjohn]

We should start a pool. Pick a date when Joat decides he's getting a CNC.

He is intrigued and wants one, but now he's just trying to live up to his past reputation of bashing them.

Let's face it ---- JOAT WANTS A CNC !!!!

 

[UglySign]

Oh I miss the scroll sawin days. Im not sure
if I'd go back to it. Maybe down the road. Not into
following the lines anymore. I like land, solid ground
no planes or boats.

You're looking at your roof, aren't ya?:wink:

 

[UglySign]

We should start a pool. Pick a date when Joat decides he's getting a CNC.

He is intrigued and wants one, but now he's just trying to live up to his past reputation of bashing them.

Let's face it ---- JOAT WANTS A CNC !!!!

h'yeah so does Rick

Does JOAT have insulation?

 

[4DThinker]

Although there are many things a CNC can do, that Joat (and the rest of us) can also do, there are many things a CNC can do precisely and repeatedly that just aren't practical/possible to try and do without one. I regularly do joinery for my students that I doubt anyone ever thought of doing, with or without one. Internal/invisible overlapping tenons on the midpoint of angled, long circular tapered legs where a shelf bisects them is a recent example.

4D

 

[Semipro]

You right JOAT you do not want a CNC
1. they cost a lot money
2. most of the process is done on a computor
From what I have read these are 2 thing you are not interested in doing!

 

[cjhilinski]

An alternative no one has mentioned is making a mold and using casting resin (if plastic is acceptable instead of wood). If you already have the master, it's certainly a lot quicker to do molds. A CNC is just another tool and just another method of doing something in the shop. I make a product that includes a cribbage-board-style scoretrack with 42 holes. I used to spend hours standing at the drill press drilling those holes. Now I load up a piece of wood on the CNC and let it drill all the holes while I'm doing something else. I used to sand my product with a random orbit sander using eight grits and about 10 minutes per grit. I mounted my RO sander to the CNC and it handles the sanding while I'm doing something else.

 

[honesttjohn]

Good idea CJ !!!

 

[honesttjohn]

Does JOAT have insulation?

Joat's a tough old bird. He don"t need no stenkin' insulation!!!!

 

[UglySign]

I mounted my RO sander to the CNC and it handles the sanding while I'm doing something else.

Have you considered mounting a Makita 9471 to the CNC?

Dig into the grain some.... grain some Aluminuminuminum too.

Cant wait to try that.

 

[JOAT]

You right JOAT you do not want a CNC
1. they cost a lot money
2. most of the process is done on a computor
From what I have read these are 2 thing you are not interested in doing!

Yep. I'm saving my money for a mail order bride. Not one of those young ones tho, I'm going for older, like around 21. And don't want anything to do with a computer operated machine.

And, yes, I do have insulation. But I'm working on losing weight.

 

[UglySign]

Yep. I'm saving my money for a mail order bride. Not one of those young ones tho, I'm going for older, like around 21. And don't want anything to do with a computer operated machine.

Consider the inital, service and maintenance costs. CNC's bust bits not chops
and most of all you get the curves you want.

okie dokie then

 

[4DThinker]

Consider the inital, service and maintenance costs. CNC's bust bits not chops
and most of all you get the curves you want.

okie dokie then

I agree. The service and maintenance cost of mail order brides can be outrageous!

4D

 

[JOAT]

You name me one CNC that can cook, keep house, bring me coffee, go fishing with me, carry materials into my shop, and keep me warm, and I'll reconsider a mail order bride.

 

[UglySign]

You name me one CNC that can cook, keep house, bring me coffee, go fishing with me, carry materials into my shop, and keep me warm, and I'll reconsider a mail order bride.

OK... I give up. get a mail order bride WITH a CNC, best of all worlds.