I’ve been branching out a bit from my CNC router use in woodworking and into some heavy metal. Besides Floor and Pallbearer, I’m also talking about aluminum and brass. I’ve made a few brass branding irons. I used standard woodworking v-bits with good results. I just make sure I use one of my older bits. …
Author Archives: The Tinkerer
What’s So Special About Engraving Bits?
I was recently asked to create a pair of commemorative plaques. Essentially something like a diploma or other certificate, except these were to be carved into wood. No problem, right? I had carved plenty of signs before. Well, the difference here was the scale of the lettering and the detail of the carving. I decided …
Can Your CNC Router Replace Your Planer?
When we think of CNC routers and their capabilities we often go right to the feats of complexity and precision. Impossible inlays, hundreds of exact copies of parts, complex shaping and carving, and perfect joints but not everything you use your bot for needs to be so complicated. Flattening table tops is by far my favorite …
Cut on the Up and the Downstroke
After you’ve been using a CNC router for a while, you begin to look for ways to make your life even easier (as if having a robot do work for you wasn’t making it easy enough). For me, sanding is a necessary evil. Plywood is especially prone to fuzzy edges and chipped veneer both making …
A Guide to CNC Bits
CNC routers need bits. They determine the kind of carving you can do, the resolution of your finished designs, and how fast you can move through the material. They come with cutting edges that pull up or push down (sometimes both), they have square or shaped ends, they are made for speed or accuracy, and …
Tiki Head – stacked model case study
I was recently asked to build a tiki head statue for a local restaurant. The lure of rum soaked drinks made the job hard to turn down. I figured my recently acquired CNC router made the task possible for me since I have no formal sculpture training. As with most everything, it seemed simple before …
My new favorite CNC router accessory
Being a tinkerer, my wife often tries to surprise me with tools for gifts. She even wanted to give me a Thermal Dynamics a80 Plasma Cutter machine. Last Christmas she bought what has become my #1 favorite tool to use when working at the 4×8 CNC router. This nifty Rockwell Sonicrafter multitool is great for …
I like big bits and I can not lie
I had the opportunity to visit ShopBot headquarters a few months back. While chatting with their training master TJ, he bragged about his great big 2.5 inch fly cutter bit. I have to admit I was envious. My bit was half the size. I finally had the opportunity to pick up a bit to rival …
Far Side of the Moon
“What do you want? You, you want the moon?! Just say the word and I’ll throw a lasso around it and pull it down. I’ll give you the moon, Mary. Well then, you could swallow it, and it’d all dissolve, see? And the moon beams’d shoot out of your fingers and your toes and the …
Wooden Sink
Marble, stainless, porcelain, and even pottery, we’ve all seen sinks made with basic materials but few of us have seen wooden sinks. Mike from America’s Woodshop in Bloomington created a turned wooden sink for the DIY Network’s “I Hate My Bath” and it got us thinking about our planned bathroom remodel. We knew we wanted …