# Tails - Production mode!



## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Went into production mode for the first time on my CNC - it was a blast!! I'm making some trophy blanks for my local laser shop and these are B-52 tails awarded to some pilots and crew. I'll be making 12-15 every month so I'm kinda stoked about that. When I agreed to take this on I was going to use my more conventional tools but as I got closer to making the first batch I realized I can do the blanks on the CNC not only much quicker but more accurately, especially since they get laser engraved after I deliver them so accuracy counts.

I spent a fair amount of time in the beginning by getting very good measurements off my sample and creating the file in Fusion 360. But now that I have that done I can cut one tail or two at a time - it takes 5 minutes per tail so a two-up Walnut plank takes 10 minutes. Because I wasn't certain how well this would cut I have limited the feed to 75 ipm but with the up-cut spiral bit I'm using I feel like I could double the feed but I just don't see the need right now. I also used Fusion 360 and the CNC to create the fixtures I'll need on my crosscut sled to cut the bevel on the trailing edge and I'll use my router table to do the roundover on the leading edge. There's a base these set on and I'll use the CNC to make part of that along with the antenna (bump on the side). 

I do all the milling and joining with table saw, miter saw, and jointer and thickness with the planer and drum sander so for me the CNC is just another tool in the shop that gets me to a finished product in the fewest steps while keeping a very good handle on quality. It doesn't hurt that it's the coolest tool in the shop, either! LOL! I'm enjoying the fire out of this, especially for a home shop setup - :grin:

You can see a finished tail in the background but the base isn't visible here - 









A gaggle of tails!


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

Dave,

Ain't retirement fun????

Good Show!!

HJ


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Thanks, John, we're looking forward to the time when we are retired but not there yet. After the last 25 years of technology sales and how flakey that industry is we decided that I would stay home and work. I probably can't quite replace my income but we don't really need to at this point. I'm working 12 hours every day minimum in the shop (that's not a bad thing!) and have actually thought about going back to work for someone because the hours are easier! LOL!


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

Dave,

I go from morning (no arlarm unless it's hunting season) til 11 or so at night. But I choose how, what, when, and at what pace. Still can't figure out how I had the time to run a business. It ain't all bad.

Now, if only Scottart lived closer for those painting lessons.


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## MEBCWD (Jan 14, 2012)

Glad to see that you are now paying for your machine. good job on the tails.

You have already figured out that you will need other machines to finish a project like this and save time. You could do it all on the CNC but using the router table and table saw save a lot of time on a project like this.


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## old55 (Aug 11, 2013)

Nice job on the tails David.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

One of the most challenging parts to make on the B-52 tail award is the bump on the side, which on the real plane is an antenna. I didn't make the tail in the photo below but it was my sample and I have no idea how the antenna was made but I figured out a way to do it safely and in volume. I drew it up in Fusion 360 and repeated the profile, which I got from careful measurement of the sample, and put 10 on a piece of Walnut to be cut off later. 

One consideration was/is how to protect one of my favorite assets - my fingers! I don't like the idea of using my bare hands to hold small parts near anything spinning so what I came up with is not only safe but very productive. I cut the profile on the CNC and then over to the router table to round the edges. Also, I made a handle to hold this piece securely and the neat part is that once I cut the antennas off I can use the remaining rectangle to make two bottoms to the base unit, which is how I sized the entire piece and allowing for high utilization of the Walnut boards.

Here's the sample tail - 









And my setup for rounding the antennas (yes, I did the handle on the CNC and also labeled it... :thumbsup - 









So an hour later I have 30 antennas ready to slice off -


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

With age comes wisdom, Grasshopper.

You should get the "Scottart" award for this month.


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## MEBCWD (Jan 14, 2012)

Great solution to make the antennas and good use of the materials. That is a big part of project design for the CNC, knowing when to utilize the CNC and when to use the other machines in you shop.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

This has passed the CNC phase and on to more traditional tools in the shop but I'll update anyway - 

Here's a little more on making the Walnut B-52 tails; it was time to cut the taper on the trailing edge today and I had already made the fixture to hold the tail at the prescribed angle on my crosscut sled. So I used it today for the first time and didn't like the way it worked, figured I could do better. It cut ok but occasionally the piece that gets cut off gets caught in the fixture. In retrospect and doing a little reverse engineering it's obvious that there's no place for it to go so not sure what I was thinking when I designed this.

So I modified it by taking the main portion of the fixture off the sled and making it free standing. Now the offcut piece falls to the side like any other offcut would. This works much better and is much simpler in design. And as usual, I over-engineered the first design when I know that simpler usually means it's going to work 'mo betta' - ah, well, I'll probably over-engineer the next one, too... :nerd:

Original design - 


















Current design -


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## MEBCWD (Jan 14, 2012)

A lot better solution to cut the trailing edge, BUT the first jig is impressive with all the cams, knobs and aluminum angles and probably a lot more exciting to use when the cutoff has no place to go!


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## 4DThinker (Feb 16, 2014)

While I love both your jigs for cutting that taper on the table saw, you could also have cut each side on the CNC. There are at least two ways to do it if you are using VCarve Pro or Aspire from Vectric. The fluting toolpath and a linear array of line segments the length the taper is one way. The new Moulding toolpath and just two line segments (one to be the rail and one to be the profile to extrude down the rail) is the other. Aspire would also have let you build the edge as a 3D component then cut it as a 3D object. All would then need to be flipped over to do the other side, unless you have a way to clamp the tail vertically under your spindle with the tail edge horizontal. 

Your second table saw jig still does the job, and undoubtable much quicker than the CNC would. I'm always a big fan of efficiency if the results are comparable. 

4D


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Thanks, 4D! I confess to having a bit of fun building fixtures and jigs but the first attempt doesn't always work - I'm probably batting around .750 on the first attempt being successful, though, so that's not too bad.

Aspire would be nice but too pricey for me, at least right now. I'm using Fusion 360 and could have done it on the CNC but like you said it is much quicker on the table saw. I can probably cut my entire run of 12-15 tails before I would ever get the first one finished on the CNC. The advantage to the CNC, if I want to do it that way in the future, is that I can clamp it in a fixture on the CNC, start the program, and then go do something else in the shop. But hey, I'd get to design and build another fixture!! LOL!


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

It was time to slice these off and while I didn't really think they would come flying back at me I didn't want to take that chance. So I came up with a simple idea with a high percentage of catching all the parts with no hands near the blade -


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Everything is sanded and ready to spray. Looks like 8 is my number. I could fit another row of 4 in there but it would be tight.


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## MEBCWD (Jan 14, 2012)

Do I see 3 slots in the tails and 2 in the base for putting them together? Or are some for holding the tails to the board for finish?


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

MEBCWD said:


> Do I see 3 slots in the tails and 2 in the base for putting them together? Or are some for holding the tails to the board for finish?


Yes, you do Mike - good eye! They said it helps to keep from splitting the tail when they reassemble it after doing the laser engraving. I suggested they line up the hole better when driving the screw but they just smiled and said to add the slot, please. It only takes a few more seconds so no problem.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

I've now sprayed everything with sealer and fixing to spray gloss Nitrocellulose but this is the first opportunity I've had to use my new Astro HVLP gun - it's awesome!! A couple of years ago I picked up an HF purple HVLP for about $15 and while it was ok at best I couldn't stop it from leaking. So I reverted to my 40 year old Astro cup gun and while it sprays ok man does it use a lot of material! I didn't realize the difference between the overspray of a cup gun and the almost lack of it with HVLP. Plus, the cup gun goes through a lot more material to do the same thing so using the HVLP is saving money on finish. Now this new Astro HVLP is sooooo much better than the HF and it atomizes the lacquer beautifully. Besides that it's purty! LOL!


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## 4DThinker (Feb 16, 2014)

Thanks for the photos and videos, David. Always nice to see a process and not just one or two photos of a finished part with no idea how it was made!

Your vacuum parts catcher is a nice idea. In a similar situation last semester a student of mine suggested putting a long piece of blue tape on the cutoff parts to keep them from kicking back out of the saw. She kept tension on the end of the tape, and as the little parts we cut free they stayed stuck to the tape and lifted away from the blade. The tape was never damaged, and we were able to use it two or three times before needing a new strip. 

4D


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

I considered tape but since my shop foreman was available I put her to work - :grin:

Glad to know the tape works, though.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Killing time while waiting on these to flash off enough to take them to the drying room (daughter's old bedroom) so figured I'd post another photo 'cause Walnut is such a beautiful wood!!


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

Just going back to the vacuum catcher a sec. Couldn't you take a piece of course screen and bend it to fit over the end? It should just snap on and off.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

honesttjohn said:


> Just going back to the vacuum catcher a sec. Couldn't you take a piece of course screen and bend it to fit over the end? It should just snap on and off.


I could do that; would the video be as entertaining? :wink:


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

difalkner said:


> I could do that; would the video be as entertaining? :wink:


If it was short - - and you demonstated how it worked.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

I needed a drying rack with rectangular holes to hold the parts after I spray them and it was an ideal time to try out the full length of the CNC machine. This was a very simple project but since it was the first time to use the extent of the machine's length I shot a short video. Enjoy!


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## 4DThinker (Feb 16, 2014)

Nicely done. BTW, if you ever need to go even longer on narrow strips like that you can clamp them down diagonally on the CNC bed. A bit more challenging to align between the software and the bed, but I've used that trick to cut a 54 inch long fluting detail in a 60" long piece of shelf 2" wide edging. 

4D


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

difalkner said:


> I needed a drying rack with rectangular holes to hold the parts after I spray them and it was an ideal time to try out the full length of the CNC machine. This was a very simple project but since it was the first time to use the extent of the machine's length I shot a short video. Enjoy!


Nice video as always David . Your machine impresses me a lot . Just love that gantry 

When you had your fingers over by the previous hole trying to get that piece out , I was getting worried it was going to come over there and bite you lol


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

RainMan 2.0 said:


> Nice video as always David . Your machine impresses me a lot . Just love that gantry
> 
> When you had your fingers over by the previous hole trying to get that piece out , I was getting worried it was going to come over there and bite you lol


Thanks, Rick! The gantry is impressive, for sure.

Yeah, I probably shouldn't have done that, at least while I was shooting the video - LOL! I knew the next hole was away from me but it still wasn't that smart. And I knew it was still working on the hole to the left and not ready to move to the next one. That would have made a more interesting video if it didn't go where it was supposed to, though! Y'all would have gotten to see how fast I can move - :grin:


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## 4DThinker (Feb 16, 2014)

I don't know if you used tabs or not, but be careful about profiling through holes with a loose center block left over. I've had a loose piece get caught by the bit just as it broke loose and ended up jamming/snapping the bit. If the center block is small I just pocket out the hole instead. If big enough to possibly be used for something else I'll set tabs on two or more sides to keep the chunk in place. Easy enough to break free if the tabs are across the grain. Clean-up is easy using a 1/4" spiral flush-trim bit on a router table. 

4D


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Yes sir, I used tabs, albeit small ones. If I recall they were 0.25" x 0.03125" but it was enough that I couldn't just tap it and get it out - obviously, because I wrestled with it as you can see on the video. The piece of wood is 0.770" thick but I set zero about 0.005" above the top surface so there was actually a very thin skin plus the tabs holding the pieces in place. They were easy to remove with some side cutters and X-Acto knife, though. On another project I have had one piece with tabs break off and the bit knocked it out of the pocket but no harm to anything (or me). It's easy to see how it can happen, though. Next time I do small pockets I'll consider machining out the entire pocket.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

I missed the part about the new dust shoe that looks simular to a broom . Is this the new gold standard?


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

RainMan 2.0 said:


> I missed the part about the new dust shoe that looks simular to a broom . Is this the new gold standard?


Sorry, thought I posted that little tidbit. This was a 'dust shoe kit' from Lowe's - 










Ok, it was a $5 broom and some MDF - :grin: Good call, Rick! The broom, btw, is still usable in corners.

It was kind of fun having the CNC cut the 78 holes for the bristles. The whole thing took less than 2 hours and it works ok. I have another 'kit' from Lowe's that I'll try soon (flexible clear plastic carpet runner).


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## SteveMI (May 29, 2011)

I noticed in the cutting of the rectangular holes that the tool was raising above the material after each pass before lowering for the next pass. Did you have a reason for that? I have used that for "peck" drilling, but haven't for cutting.
Steve.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

SteveMI said:


> I noticed in the cutting of the rectangular holes that the tool was raising above the material after each pass before lowering for the next pass. Did you have a reason for that? I have used that for "peck" drilling, but haven't for cutting.
> Steve.


I was wondering the same Steve . I thought it could stay in the hole and go progressively deeper each cycle ?
I thought maybe that's how the software works ?


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

SteveMI said:


> I noticed in the cutting of the rectangular holes that the tool was raising above the material after each pass before lowering for the next pass. Did you have a reason for that? I have used that for "peck" drilling, but haven't for cutting.
> Steve.





RainMan 2.0 said:


> I was wondering the same Steve . I thought it could stay in the hole and go progressively deeper each cycle ?
> I thought maybe that's how the software works ?


When I ran it through the simulator in Fusion 360 I didn't notice it doing that so I'm not certain if I did something I shouldn't have in the settings or if this was just a quirk. I just ran the simulator again at normal speed instead of speeding it up and now I see that the simulator shows it lifting with each pass. It's not something I set on purpose, that's for certain.

Edit: Found it - there's a setting appropriately called 'keep tool down' and when I checked that now the simulator shows it staying down and it shaves a minute off the machining time. I'll watch for that in the future!


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

I figured it was only fitting to post a final photo of the finished products with engraving and all that, so here they are (I blurred the names of the recipients). My laser guy said for the first time ever he was able to set his machine for the first tail and never touched the settings again, that each and every tail was identical. In the past he's always had to tweak each run for each tail because they varied by a slight amount. They looked nice but were never identical. That's music to my ears!!


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

difalkner said:


> I figured it was only fitting to post a final photo of the finished products with engraving and all that, so here they are (I blurred the names of the recipients). My laser guy said for the first time ever he was able to set his machine for the first tail and never touched the settings again, that each and every tail was identical. In the past he's always had to tweak each run for each tail because they varied by a slight amount. They looked nice but were never identical. That's music to my ears!!
> 
> *****************************
> Just goes to show ya good operators are hard to find. Good job!!


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Dam , they look very impressive David ! Great job you did there . When I win the lottery , maybe I can fly you and John to Canada in order to teach me to


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

Gee Rick,

Didn't you have a winning lottery ticket last year sometime?


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

honesttjohn said:


> Gee Rick,
> 
> Didn't you have a winning lottery ticket last year sometime?


I only wish . I wouldn't be living in this s*** pile of a house if I did . I'd get 10 acres and build a shop that I can actually move around in . Thinking something like 60' - 40'


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## old55 (Aug 11, 2013)

We can only dream Rick.


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## politicaldog (Aug 11, 2015)

My naughty side is getting the best of me......trying to restrain........OMG I just can't

A Little Tail Never Hurt Anybody 

OK, I feel better now!! >


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