Hi all,
I read the many threads asking for help planing large boards. I have a gorgeous 14" x 21" x 1.8" redwood slab that was irregularly planed and lumpy in some spots. I was able to successfully plane it beautifully, shaving 0.2" off of each side of the slab. Some notes:
- I used Easel to make a pocket slightly bigger than the board so that the X/Y min/max would end with the center of my bit on the corners of the work piece.
- I held the piece down with double sided carpet tape from Home Depot, and clamped 2x4 pieces down on the back and either side sandwiching it snugly but keeping the clamps out of the way of the bit
- The bit I used was a Whiteside 1/4" 6210 surfacing bit. It has a 1" cutting diameter. I added this in Easel as a straight bit.
- I went with the Easel suggested values for feed. I probably could have ramped it up, but slow and steady wins the race. Dewalt 611 set to 1 as the manufacturer suggests 15k RPM for the bit.
- Since I’m using Easel Pro, I used a Y-axis raster fill with the grain
- CNCjs for the actual cutting and monitoring through webcam
The planing is absolutely perfect, even better than I’d expect from a good planer (which this slab wouldn’t fit in). It feels as smooth as if I’d sanded it with 220 grit. Really really impressed with the utility of this machine.
My only regret is not having my dust collector in place first. This job generated a TON of fine dust.
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Norm goes “hold my beer!” That dude’s planer can take the entire conference room table with the legs on it in one shot!
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Nice! TY Steven! Slow but not so heat building slow right? New to cnc wood milling but not to laser, i would imagine too slow builds heat that could burn? Like I was taught with hand hardwood routing, to keep the router moving at a steady speed? Or does that sacrifice edge finish? I am inlaying and cutting pockets for Black Walnut and Red Mallee Burl. The older I get, the more humility it takes to ask questions. To me this is growth. lol. Thanks in advance. Kurt. PS I know this is an older post and I’m late to the game but hopefully you’re still; around inventables to answer. 
Since RPM is fairly high (typically 16k RPM for the Dewalt) its best to keep things moving at a medium-fast pace as depth is shallow. What is fast for my machine may be not so fast on yours so your milage may vary. Easel do support feed override (10-200%) so one can play around a little…
I´d start with 60IPM myself and take it from there.
If the router in in perfect tram one can increase stepover from the default 40% to say 70-80% to decrease the path needed to complete the piece.
how do you change stepover with easel pro?
@Randall
Machine>General Settings
Seeing how you are using this CNC - is it possible to slide a 8’ x 2’ slab in and carve a logo?
Yes.
It’s called “tiling”.
How about setting a small format cnc on top of a large slab and carving a logo.
As long as it could work mechanically, it’s the same process.
What are you really trying to ask here?
I want to set a small format cnc (12"x12" or so) ON TOP of a large table and carve a logo on the table. I realize the z travel would have to go down farther than normal and that I would have to clamp down the cnc machine.
Thanks
Hi Byron,
The best way to achieve what you want to do is to purchase a Shaper Origin. That is a handheld cnc router that can carve into any surface, so the size of a piece doesn’t really matter. What does matter is the cost. I’m not sure what the price is in the US, but in Canada they start at around $4k. Perhaps not what you are looking to spend, but it is an amazing tool that is easy to use and works right out of the box.
Another product that you could engrave onto a table top with, is the Maslow M4. You would need to make four anchor points at each corner of the table (you could use clamps), and the sled will sit on top of the table. The Maslow M4 is worth about $600 US (I think), but you have to assemble it yourself, and you are going to need to have some technical know-how.
The problem with any gantry style machine is that the spindle is simply not going to be able to travel deep enough to reach the table.
Cheers.
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Assuming you have the mechanical part figured out (Z depth and machine rigidity), this is possible. Your registration would need to be very precise, especially when working in two axes.
Can you share the logo? There are sometimes easier ways. Are you filling with epoxy?
The Shaper Origin, if within price range, is a decent option, but you can run into issues with large pockets. I wouldn’t bother with the Maslow.
I want to carve the outside, then fill with resin - after it is cured, carve the rest and pour.
Is the logo pixelated and splotchy by design?
It is not - my question is strictly about the cnc machine and setting one on top of a wood slab. The logo is fine
You can do it.
The reason I asked about the logo is because it is often simpler to make a template by CNC and do the routing by hand. I cut acrylic and polycarbonate templates and use a palm router to cut oversized or awkward jobs by hand.
My question about the logo was to see if a template would be feasible.
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While I can appreciate that pretty much anything can be accomplished if you try hard enough, and making a template to use a hand router is definitely a much more cost-effective way of achieving a simple carve, it is quite simply not the answer to Byron’s question, and is not a cnc solution.
Can you use a gantry machine on top of a piece to carve something? No. I mean technically, you probably could find or have made a long bit that could travel far enough to reach the workpiece, but the accuracy would consistently be hampered by the flex created in the amount of the shaft of the bit that is in the air between the spindle and the workpiece. The bit would bend, or even break.
All of this is not to say that you can’t do what you want to do. You can. But it will need to be done in a different way, and you will need a different tool.
The Shaper Origin is the best tool to do the job that you want to do. The machine is ready to do what you want right out of the box, but you will need to learn how it works. It is a great tool and pretty easy to use, but it is expensive.
Neil might not like the Maslow, but it can certainly do the job. I do not own an M4 yet, but I could do it on my M2 if the legs can come off the table, and I can mount and compensate for the thickness of the entirety of the top. The M4 is able to work on a horizontal surface and you could carve right on the table itself with the legs still on it, as it naturally sits.
What Neil has suggested above with a template cut on the CNC and then followed with a hand router is probably the cheapest way to do it without buying expensive new tools, except for a hand router if you don’t already have one. I would certainly suggest practising on some scraps first if you have never hand routed something, because it is not easy.
But I already answered his question. Then I moved into trying to help out with other possible solutions.
But there are portable machines built for this purpose. Do you mean to say that a stock X-Carve is not set up to do this?
