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CNC Produced Tooth Fairy Boxes

PostPosted: 25 May 2022, 22:18
by Malc2098
Well, I had to get mangling sooner or later. So, here's my first bash at producing wooden stuff with the CNC Router wot I bilt!

This has been such a steep learning curve and the Cad/Cam software has been no exception. But, if I want to produce components for musical instruments, I have to start somewhere, and as I've been blessed with two beautiful granddaughters in the last couple of years, a pair of named tooth fairy boxes sounded like a simple start. Yeah, right!

There's drawing, there's terms like vectors, there's tool paths, there's tools, there's feed rates, spindle speeds; the list goes on.

The software I decided on was Vectric's Vcarve Desktop. I had tried Fusion 360, Onshape and something else, I forgot. VCarve's free trial edition I found more intuitive for my brain.

I drew a rectangle 65mm x 50mm, rounded the corners, created a profile toolpath that routed the outline down the boxes depth of 20mm. The created a pocket tool path that routed out the inside of the box to a depth of 15mm, following the shape of the outside at 5mm thick.

Then I drew a similar rectangle with rounded corners for the lid. Wrote one of the girls' names on it and create the tool paths to shape the outline and engrave the name. Then I 'turned it over' and created a tool path to rout out the lip of the lid to fit the inside of the box.

That was for one box. But I needed two. The a friend said she'd like two for her two grandsons. So Now I needed four! Well, the software accounts for that. It's a bit like creating a table in Word, with rows and columns, so I set up 1 row with four columns and placed four boxes in that array, and then four lids in another array.

This is what happened.
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You can choose what font you want and you can choose to engrave just the outline of the letters or rout the letter.
Then I turned the stock over and started routing the lips.
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Then I profiled the outlines.
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I had ripped the stock into two pieces so that when the lids went on their respective box bodies, their grain would more or less match. The bodies' stock was in the background of the last few pictures, so that I knew which side to rout.
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Spot the CUF's work.

I've got an air cooled spindle so I touch it from time to time to monitor its temperature. It was a little warm, so I asked the software to pause, and on resuming, that happened. I'm still learning and have got more stock waiting in the sidelines.

Time to profile the outline of the boxes.

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And here is the result of the CNC work.

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And here's two of the finished in food safe wax.

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Re: CNC Produced Tooth Fairy Boxes

PostPosted: 26 May 2022, 05:39
by Peri
Two of my most favouritist things in the world - woodwork and cnc !

Well done mate, nice :)

Re: CNC Produced Tooth Fairy Boxes

PostPosted: 26 May 2022, 07:34
by Dr.Al
Really nice to see it up and running and making stuff. Bravo!

Re: CNC Produced Tooth Fairy Boxes

PostPosted: 26 May 2022, 08:01
by TrimTheKing
Very good mate, nicely done.

Re: CNC Produced Tooth Fairy Boxes

PostPosted: 26 May 2022, 09:30
by Robert
Well done Malc!

Double sided tape onto the bed? guess it has to be strong stuff. Is it a pain to get off afterwards?

Do you wish you'd gone for a water cooled spindle now?

So many questions..and just a touch of jealousy :)

Good to see it producing.

Re: CNC Produced Tooth Fairy Boxes

PostPosted: 26 May 2022, 11:54
by AJB Temple
Very interesting.

I have long wondered about this for doing inlays of MOP and Abalone. Easy enough for anything with rounded edges, but what would be the procedure for doing sharp corners?

With the boxes presumably you can set the machine to do four passes going past the corner, and ending up with a sharp edge on the outside (as opposed to a singe rounded cut) but for an inside sharp corner it would have to be finished by hand. Limited by minimum cutter size I suppose.

I wonder how people like Gibson do the trapezoid inlay cuts for fingerboards, as they are very sharp, or PRS with the foliage designs with a lot of corners.

Brilliant thread. You've dealt with a lot of set up challenges here. Much admiration for that. Too daunting for me to attempt - I could only buy a CNC if it came as a kit with all of the problems solved.

Re: CNC Produced Tooth Fairy Boxes

PostPosted: 26 May 2022, 14:43
by Malc2098
AJB Temple wrote:Very interesting.

I have long wondered about this for doing inlays of MOP and Abalone. Easy enough for anything with rounded edges, but what would be the procedure for doing sharp corners?

With the boxes presumably you can set the machine to do four passes going past the corner, and ending up with a sharp edge on the outside (as opposed to a singe rounded cut) but for an inside sharp corner it would have to be finished by hand. Limited by minimum cutter size I suppose.

I wonder how people like Gibson do the trapezoid inlay cuts for fingerboards, as they are very sharp, or PRS with the foliage designs with a lot of corners.

Brilliant thread. You've dealt with a lot of set up challenges here. Much admiration for that. Too daunting for me to attempt - I could only buy a CNC if it came as a kit with all of the problems solved.


Adrian,

This what modern CNC routers are capable of. 0.065mm tolerance is used to enable the inlay to fit into the headstock. This was machined earlier this week at a luthier's where I will be spending a week's course next month.

Oh, and some of the cutters are less than 0.5mm diameter.
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Re: CNC Produced Tooth Fairy Boxes

PostPosted: 26 May 2022, 14:57
by AJB Temple
Thanks. That is much tighter than I had realised. I had in ming my smallest router cutters.

Re: CNC Produced Tooth Fairy Boxes

PostPosted: 26 May 2022, 15:14
by Malc2098
Robert wrote:Well done Malc!

Double sided tape onto the bed? guess it has to be strong stuff. Is it a pain to get off afterwards?

Do you wish you'd gone for a water cooled spindle now?

So many questions..and just a touch of jealousy :)

Good to see it producing.


Thanks, Robert. No, not DST, but masking tape and CA glue. But the masking tape has to be well rubbed on to the spoilbaord and onto the stock to work well. Unlike DST, it leaves little if no residue on the workpiece.

No, I really don't have enough room for a water tank, pump and the pipework. It cools down pretty quickly. I can go in for a cup of coffee and it's cooled by the time I get back. I can feel the cool air sucked up from the bottom out of the top. I'll have to keep an eye on dust and start a DX setup to prevent dust getting sucked in.

Re: CNC Produced Tooth Fairy Boxes

PostPosted: 26 May 2022, 15:15
by Malc2098
Mark, Al and Steve,

Thanks.

Re: CNC Produced Tooth Fairy Boxes

PostPosted: 27 May 2022, 08:13
by Phil
Malc, that looks great! :eusa-clap: 8-)

Must be very satisfying seeing all your hard work pay off.

Re: CNC Produced Tooth Fairy Boxes

PostPosted: 27 May 2022, 10:21
by Malc2098
Phil wrote:Malc, that looks great! :eusa-clap: 8-)

Must be very satisfying seeing all your hard work pay off.



Thanks, Phil.

Re: CNC Produced Square Corners

PostPosted: 28 May 2022, 22:22
by Malc2098
AJB Temple wrote:Very interesting.

I have long wondered about this for doing inlays of MOP and Abalone. Easy enough for anything with rounded edges, but what would be the procedure for doing sharp corners?

…………………..

I wonder how people like Gibson do the trapezoid inlay cuts for fingerboards, as they are very sharp, or PRS with the foliage designs with a lot of corners.

…………..


I've just found out that square inlay pockets are created with shallow angle Vee bits that ride the Z axis down (or up) at the corners to create a sharp corner, albeit at that shallow angle.

The inlay is then profile cut with the same angle cutter, but as a 'negative', so that when it is turned over, it fits in the pocket exactly.

It seems that that process can be applied to any shape, not just squares or rectangles. I might even try it with my logo when I get better at this CNC malarkey. ;)