New CNC Carving

[riggsp]

Just finished this carving after doing an upgrade to my CNC machine...Walnut with General Finishes Satin Clear Gel Coat.

 

[kserdar]

What CNC machine are you using?

 

[riggsp]

I have a 36" x 48" aluminum and steel homebuilt CNC that I've been using for 7 or 8 years. I just did a major upgrade to the control, drivers and software from Mach 3 to Centroid Acorn.

 

[JNCarr]

Very nice.
Do you know what is causing the inconsistent bands? Maybe it's just the photo, but there appears to be a thin (bit width?) line about 5% down, a wide swath 20% down and another deeper thin line about a third of the way down. Maybe these are in the file? Several years ago I experienced a z dimension drift while doing a heavily textured surface - turned out to be a loose set screw on the coupler connecting the motor to the z screw.

 

[Mrfixit71]

Was this your design or did you download it?

 

[riggsp]

Joe...I think those lines were caused by some movement of the wood as it was being cut...the flat area is less than 1/4" and the thickest point at the middle of the center pumpkin is almost 1"...some could have been caused by some bit drift as I was still tweaking some things because of the update, and I stopped and restarted a couple of times during the cut...I saw the lines, but decided to leave them instead of taking a chance at doing some damage.

Rich...I got that file second hand from a friend that downloaded it from one of his sources.

 

[kserdar]

Why the change from Mach 3 to Centroid Acorn? I have been using Mach 3 for what seems like 15 years.

 

[Grimmy2016]

What bit did you use? and what software do you use? I have a Seinci Longmill 30x30 but havent done too much due to work, but want to get started on some xmas gifts.

 

[riggsp]

Ken…I switched from Mach 3 to Centroid because my main control board went out…Mach 3 wouldn’t talk to the new board, so I had to make the change, and it turned out to be a good change because I have more capability as far as programming.

Scott…I use Vectric Aspire for my design software…for the 3D cuts on this, I used a 1/8” diameter 2 flute tapered ball nose bit stepping over .010” each pass…3 hours and 15 min to carve…then I used a .093” 3 flute tapered bit for the profile cut.

I’m getting ready to make Christmas gifts also.