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)
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.
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.
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.
Very much appreciated Ryan. I guess I should add a few notes. I did this on a MPCNC and the tiling method. This would obviously be much easier to do on a Lowrider and way less time.
I cut the legs and triangles using Estlcam as I need to brush up on my Fusion CAM again but because I did that I exported a DXF of each component and imported it into Estlcam. When I brought in the legs I had to reorient the component and it might have not been dead nuts on. Next time I would also break out the legs into their own individual components and the reorient their axes so that when I did export the DXF it would come in straight up and down.
Here in WI the overall cost of the components is about $225 and if you were to Etsy one of these it would cost roughly the same but wouldn’t be as tall. However, what you don’t see is 3 4’ boards sitting in the burn pile because I screwed up that many times…. Haha oh well. Next step is to put a slide on it.
BOM as it stands:
x4 1x3x4’ oak boards
x1 1x10x3’ oak board
x19 1” x36” long sanded oak dowels
x2 5/16” x 1.5” long binding post screw
x38 #8x2” long wood screws
x4 #14x1-3/8” long wood screws - I’d maybe do 1/4” lag bolts next time
x2 (only really need one) 5/16x 2” long pin with clip for safety
Great stuff guys. I’m a Madison based fellow cheesehead - probably embarking on an LR3 journey this spring (2023). Any chance anyone lives close? Would be great to have a local expert to bounce ideas off.
I’m in Sun Prairie. I’ve got a Burly MPCNC running on a CNC Shield and grbl firmware. I wouldn’t put myself forward as an expert on LR stuff, but would be happy to help however I can.
Hi Tom - that’s great to know - McFarland myself, so definitely not far. I didn’t think this (V1CNCs) was a big enough thing to have anyone local, but I should have guessed that the Madison area has some makers. I’m going to bookmark this and stay in touch as my build starts this spring if that’s ok with you.
Hey Ken. Mike here. As Tom was stating I did live in sun prairie as of a month ago and now I live in Lyndon Station. I can help with what I can for the questions that you may have. Pleasure to help and meet you.
Thanks again @myuhan and @ttraband. I can tell this is a pretty awesome community already. Reminds me very much of BassBuzz.com forums for bassists - bunch of folks figuring out stuff together with a few wizened experts guiding them along.
