# Easier said than done.........



## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

Make a 3d carving from a picture. Can't be that hard - especially when you have an Aspire guru like MEBCWD who, thankfully, has reasonable fees and is understanding and patient. Not quite that easy either.










Had a guy at the Toledo Polish Festival (repeat customer from the previous year) give me a picture of a coat of arms he wanted 3d carved. I told him making the file wouldn't be cheap but he wanted 4 of them so that spread the cost out. He paid in advance and said "no hurry - make them look good." Made a call to that nice MEBCWD with my usual plea for help.


















First file sent with a rendering of what the finished model should look like.










Not that easy. Took a couple of test cuts and a few "adjustments" along with some contact with Vectric and Beltramidave where we learned how to make multiple cuts without the machine jumping around the material several times leaving some serious lines that would have never cleaned up good. Anyway, we got it......I think.










Just off the bed.










Times 4.










Stained with 1st coat of poly.










All done ready to ship......finally!!!! Couldn't have done it without all the help. Thanx guys!!!!
They measure 12 x 16 each and were cut from a butcher block countertop 1 1/2" thick. Golden Oak stain and 4 coats of Varathane oil based poly. Shipping weight was just under 20 lbs. He wanted something that could become family heirlooms.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Fantastic work collaboration, Guys!!! Those look really nice, John, really nice!

How long did they take to cut?

David


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

difalkner said:


> Fantastic work collaboration, Guys!!! Those look really nice, John, really nice!
> 
> How long did they take to cut?
> 
> David


About 4 hours each. Could have been faster if the speeds were upped. Just stayed in my comfort zone.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

honesttjohn said:


> ...Just stayed in my comfort zone.


The working together was smart and staying in your comfort zone on execution was smarter. Nice work.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Wow great outcome! Nice work


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## 4DThinker (Feb 16, 2014)

Very impressive! Going from a drawing to a 3D panel is one thing I'm fortunately not asked to do very often. That requires what I'll rate as God-like talent. Whatever you paid MEBCWD for the miracle he did was worth it. 

4D


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

4DThinker said:


> Very impressive! Going from a drawing to a 3D panel is one thing I'm fortunately not asked to do very often. That requires what I'll rate as God-like talent. Whatever you paid MEBCWD for the miracle he did was worth it.
> 
> 4D


You betcha it was!!!!!!

But...........we don't want him to know how fantastic he really is and become too good to help us less fortunate souls out. Besides, I already bow down to Scottart. This is giving me a complex. lol

Rick, you have to convert Loonies into USD.


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

Very nice. When you going to paint them?


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Another good job, well done John.
Herb


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## BCR (Mar 30, 2009)

Very nice work, it is making me look more and more at seriously buying/building a decent CNC machine.


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## beltramidave (Jan 6, 2016)

Great job, John! You don't give yourself enough credit.

Mike did an excellent job transforming that drawing into a model as well. I too only hope that I can do that someday. Wish he was coming to Denver, would be fun to pick his brain as well. 

You certainly stay busy for a retired guy. Got that third machine ordered yet? Saw a 24x24 Avid Pro kit for sale on CNCZone the other day. Brand new, never assembled minus motors controls and wiring...


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

JOAT said:


> Very nice. When you going to paint them?


Already stained and polyed. He wanted classy and gift givable -- not finger painting 101.



beltramidave said:


> Great job, John! You don't give yourself enough credit.
> 
> Mike did an excellent job transforming that drawing into a model as well. I too only hope that I can do that someday. Wish he was coming to Denver, would be fun to pick his brain as well.
> 
> You certainly stay busy for a retired guy. Got that third machine ordered yet? Saw a 24x24 Avid Pro kit for sale on CNCZone the other day. Brand new, never assembled minus motors controls and wiring...


He's better than good, with the patience of a 1st grade teacher.

No more new machine talk til we check out the lasers in Denver. I'll most likely pull the trigger on one of those then. But I'll look at that one. Always can find room for a "small" addition. lol

Gotta practice my big eyed sad puppy look and speech - the one that starts "But honey, we could do so much more with one of these........."


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## MEBCWD (Jan 14, 2012)

beltramidave said:


> Great job, John! You don't give yourself enough credit.
> 
> Mike did an excellent job transforming that drawing into a model as well. I too only hope that I can do that someday. Wish he was coming to Denver, would be fun to pick his brain as well.
> 
> You certainly stay busy for a retired guy. Got that third machine ordered yet? Saw a 24x24 Avid Pro kit for sale on CNCZone the other day. Brand new, never assembled minus motors controls and wiring...


Dave maybe it is good that life has thrown me a few curves this year and I had to cancel my plans for the Vectric Users Meeting, you would probably never be the same after digging around in my brain!

I'm hoping things will be back in order as we enter into the new year and I can get back into the swing of things.


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## MEBCWD (Jan 14, 2012)

Don't let John fool you, he has learned cleanup and creative sanding so his projects always look great. He is saving all of his painting skills he learned from Scottart so he won't make us too envious of his newly learned talents.


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

"Skills" is not a word I would use with my painting inabilities. But Scott did say I was the best "worst" student he's had.


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## marecat3 (Nov 30, 2010)

Great job


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## David Bradford (Sep 12, 2019)

Nice job, I can't wait as we are getting a 5 axis CNC in November and cant wait to see what we can do with it.


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## 4DThinker (Feb 16, 2014)

David Bradford said:


> Nice job, I can't wait as we are getting a 5 axis CNC in November and cant wait to see what we can do with it.


I suspect getting confused and impatient will be in the list. I can handle 4 dimensions just fine, but throw one more in and my brain overheats. Hopefully the software you get with it will do most of the thinking for you. On the 3-axis CNCs we use I've added an adjustable angle jig that you can also mount parts on at an angle. That lets me approach the wood at a compound angle but not move the wood dynamically while the bit is moving in 3 axes above it. I've had onlookers accuse me of doing 5 axis work on the 3 axis machines but I've really only broken free of mounting the wood flat relative to it. Simple drafting I learned back in high school is all I need at that point. To have a bit that can move in X and Y and Z while also tilting and rotating at the same time is two too many axes for me to contemplate. A little jealous I am though, cause when you do master 5 axes you're just one step away from mastering time travel.


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## David Bradford (Sep 12, 2019)

4DThinker said:


> I suspect getting confused and impatient will be on the list. I can handle 4 dimensions just fine, but throw one more in and my brain overheats. Hopefully, the software you get with it will do most of the thinking for you. On the 3-axis CNCs, we use I've added an adjustable angle jig that you can also mount parts on at an angle. That lets me approach the wood at a compound angle but not move the wood dynamically while the bit is moving in 3 axes above it. I've had onlookers accuse me of doing 5 axis work on the 3 axis machines but I've really only broken free of mounting the wood flat relative to it. Simple drafting I learned back in high school is all I need at that point. To have a bit that can move in X and Y and Z while also tilting and rotating at the same time is two too many axes for me to contemplate. A little jealous I am though, cause when you do master 5 axes you're just one step away from mastering time travel.


I have seen and been given an introductory preview of the software and it is intriguing so far. We already have a 3axis and a 4 axis machine but I suspect there will be a fair learning curve to this.


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