Thread: We Have Skills Too !!

Superb work Mike.


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You're some kind of amazing craftsman Mike. That turned out every bit of spectacular. It was great watching you work on that, thanks for taking the time to post all the pics and updates. Congrats on a job well done, she's going to love it!

Thanks gents. Appreciate all the kind words. It was a challenge that I'm glad to have tackled.
Learned a bunch about box making, as well as router limitations and strengths.
I look forward to applying this new found knowledge to razor related endeavors next.

Crud in the linear bearing! Thankfully it was a simple fix!

Great work!

Originally Posted by dinnermint

Crud in the linear bearing! Thankfully it was a simple fix!

Great work!

Thanks for the help, Twas mechanical in nature after all.
Found it by air carving, or setting Z about 4" above the work surface and running the program without touching the work surface what so ever. Heard the slightest of groaning noises after maybe 20 minutes, but only on the up motion.
That was enough for me to pull off the spindle motor and stepper lead screw to run the carriage up and down in my hand, that's when I found the problem. Quite literally with only enough time to do one last carving and still get everything assembled.
Ordered replacement bearingsx4 as well as new shafts, to be safe, but got through the job at hand with excessive amounts of PB Blaster after I blew everything out with compressed air duster.
Just waiting on my oldest to get home so Ruth can open all the swag she received from the family..
Looking forward to my sons present for her as well. I have it on good authority it's all the fixins for Moscow Mules..

With Mother's Day this weekend, I couldn't rest on my laurels as far as last weeks box, so I revisited the original pvc pipe tea lite idea with some new appreciation for the bits and the cuts etc.
Go back to page 54 for the first one of these I did and below current results.



Made one for both my wife, and her sister, as they are both awesome moms.
Pretty happy with the results in pvc now as well so can reconsider this rigs ability to really trick out some handles, if not actual scales in resins and plastics..

Have a great weekend men. Get some projects done!

I made a harmonograph out of scrap wood and stuff I had laying around the house. It's my first attempt at making one of these so I'm calling it a "rough draft". I wanted to make one that could be broken down and moved or put away so the major components all come apart. I made gimbals out of screws and washers to allow 360 rotation of each pendulum. The pen arm has an adjustable counter weight to reduce drag from the pen tip on the paper. There's adjustment holes on the pendulums to move the weights up of down for different effects.

If I make another I would like everything to operate more smoothly. Proper super smooth gimbals would be a start and everything made lighter, maybe made of telescoping aluminum rods or something. It would be nice to be able to break it down and fit it into a small space, smaller than this one does for packing in the car and such.

Anyway, this is what I have so far. Right now I get one descent drawing for every 4 or 5 attempts. Setting the pen down while in motion is tricky and also sometimes the weights hit the sides and mess it up. Some of the combinations of height settings for the weights produce terrible drawings so there you go. If you are interested, there are some excellent builds on youtube etc. and many different variations, more pendulums, hanging, etc.

Neat project G.
Is that designed for vibration analysis?

Thanks! I don't know about vibration analysis but I know there's math in there. These were invented around 1840 and visually show the motions of the pendulums and the curves they create while interacting. Other than that I'm not really sure they serve any practical purpose! The one I made is, well, a bit "clunky". The more that friction is reduced, the better the result will be. I really like this guy's harmonograph... it stays in motion much longer than mine, plus it fits in a bag.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czpeDPYGNL0

Mucking about with my little cnc rig trying a larger piece for a buddy at work.
He wanted me to try to make a sign post type placard for their cottage.
When I built this machine I was thinking small, 8" or smaller, finished works. And I built it accordingly because smaller movements are easier to control and reduce tolerance variances and such.
Anyway, this is right at the extreme limits of how big I can work with so am testing the font on a scrap piece of ash before routing it on the store bought pine plaque

I'm using a 60' V bit with a 10mm dia to achieve the font curves and script 'swoops'. Aside from something strange on the F, it's almost there.