Things I Have Made in WI

That’s awesome work!

 

I especially like the jewelry box!

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Yellowstone Topographic Map:

My family and I went to Yellowstone over the summer and I have been interested in creating Topo maps out of wood after finding Noah Lorang’s articles on Make Magazine. After looking up what these cost to purchase finished I was also determined to make my own. It was a long process of learning but I was able to get everything figured out. Big props to EstlCam to be able to handle high triangle count STL files. Without that program I wouldn’t be able to get anything done in the resolution I wanted.

If any questions let me know.

If you are interested one of the best sites to get topo data from is http://touchterrain.geol.iastate.edu/ - if you have any questions about getting data email those guys. They are so helpful and great to work with.

Material: Maple

Dimensions: 8″L x 8″ W x 0.6" H

Finish: Satin Finish shellac for mine and then glossy shellac for the Christmas gifts

Bit Used:

  • 1/8″ 45 Deg V-Bit from the V1 Store
  • 1/4" 2-Flute End Mill for Roughing
  • 1/8" Ball nose for finish
  • 1/8" 2-Flute End Mill for Outline
Design: QGIS to get elevation data / AccuTrans 3D to convert to STL / Repetier to orient STL file / ESTLCam for CAM

Machining Time: 6 hours total - 45 mins for roughing / 4 hours for finishing / 15 mins for text / 1 hour for outline

 

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Awesome work!

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That dark streak really makes it a unique piece. I love it.

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Thank you very much!

Engagement Ring Box:

My buddy asked his fiancé to marry him on top of Grays Peak and I had some left over Maple and Walnut to use so I came up with this thing. It was my first two sided milling for the top part and boy was it a pain in the butt. I think I had about 10 scrapped tops that went to the burn pile from a stupid locating mistake. But I’m very happy with how it came out and I hope they will like it.

Material: Maple, Walnut, Permanent Magnets, Velvet from a cheap Ring box, foam

Finish: Satin shellac

Bits Used:

  • 1/8" 2-Flute Endmill
  • 1/8" 2-Flute Ball End Mill
  • 1/8" 60 Deg V-Bit
I used the site http://touchterrain.geol.iastate.edu which is the best site for ready to go ready to go STL topographic files for Grays Peak

Machining Time: 2 total hours for topo / 2 total hours for box

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That is how a keepsake is made, stunning work!

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My first try at laser etching anodized aluminum. Made a Skunk Works luggage tag. The famous skunk on one side and my contact info on the other. Used and ended up purchasing Lightburn for $40. Well worth it in my opinion and a good project overall. Looking forward to lasing more things.

 

Laser is a 3.5W banggood laser. Ran 1000mm/min @ 100% power with 2 passes.

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Looks awesome! I’m a big fan of Skunk Works.

I’m also giving Lightburn a try, it looks promising, but I can’t get the laser to fire. I’m using the same laser from Banggood with RAMPs and Marlin. Did you have to do anything special to get it working?

Thanks also for posting the speed and power settings!

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Really neat work, super clean!

 

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Thanks Shane. Are you able to get the laser to turn on at all with a M106 S5 or M106 S10? If not I found that the TTL cable on my laser had to be alternated. For example it is red and black but for the TTL cable the black is the (+) signal and the red is the (-) signal.

After that I just set it up normally and it worked. Also the Lightburn tutorials are very informative.

I have a roof rack that uses 8020 Extrusion Bars as crossbars on factory roof rails. I have previously made risers for it out of seaboard using my MPCNC. They were actually my very first project other than some drawings. With that said on roof rails the cross members weren’t even so I couldn’t lay things flat on them if I needed to. To remedy that I finally was able to cut my first aluminum by putting in slots on one side of the member that will allow me to adjust vertically the height of the cross bar. Had to also design a jig to hold the piece correctly. Was a pretty fun project to locate everything.

Cutter: 1/8" Single Flute upcut from V1 (worked perfectly)

Speeds: 1000 mm / min

DOC: 0.5mm (could have probably have done 1mm)

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Heck yes, good CNC project!

Got some 3mm baltic birch in from Amazon. Doesn’t seem to be the best quality, a lot of the boards are warped but I was able to get a few of these ornaments cut with my 3.5W Banggood laser. It took me 40 passes at 350 mm/min at 100%. I focused the laser on the top of the material and did 0 z-steps.

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Last minute Christmas gift. Carved the crest out of 1/2" MDF using a 1/2" 60 Deg V-Bit using Estlcam at 25mm/s and a maximum depth of 4mm and a 2% stepover. The carve took about 3 hours but I think the speed was a bit aggressive as time was of the essence. I also only went 4mm because on the backside is a keyhole slot 7mm deep and a 5mm secret pocket. Finally I finished it by first spraying with Ultra Matte Rustoleum 2X Primer + Paint and then dry brushed the raised surfaces with Antique Gold acrylic paint from Michael’s. I think it turned out better than expected and amazing what you can accomplish in a 24 hour time crunch.

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I think it looks great!

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Do you have any picture of the finished project?

Hey Gene,

Here is a picture of the top of it. Let me know if you require more pics.

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Its been a while since I have posted but I wanted to share my latest creation, a pickler triangle for kid who has become a climber Everything is made out of red oak from Menards, and all triangles and posts were cut out (this was the hard way). I posted the CAD file if anybody is interested in Fusion 360 format. I should note that its pretty tall and my wife wasn’t happy its this tall but we push the boundaries out here.


Pickler Ladder v24.f3d.zip (499.0 KB)

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Oh that looks fun. A friend’s daughter would really like that she is a ~1yr daredevil.