Carving Marble

[rcnewcomb]

After attending the Minnesota Camp I decided to try my hand at carving marble and applying Sculpt Nouveau. I used a 1/2" Craftsman V bit (I didn't want to risk one of my good bits) and used Vcarve Wizard for toolpathing. I then used a bronze finished and applied the patina. This piece is "6 tall and the vcarving is about 0.125" deep (max).

2305
The shop I got the scrap piece from will sell me cutoffs and sink cutouts for $25/pallet. Now if I can just figure out how to distribute what I carve...

[tony_mac]

Nice work Randall!

What spindle speeds and feedrates did use?
Did you use multiple Z level passes?

How are you getting on with the software?

Tony

[rcnewcomb]

This particular piece was cut with the following settings:
PC router at 13,000 (I'd like to run slower but the PC loses too much torque at 10,000)
Feed and plunge rates of 0.1 ips
I used the default settings for stepover and stepdown from the vcarve wizard tool database for the 1/2" 90 degree bit. I'm sure I could use faster feed rates if I had a better hold down system. I screwed down scrap wood around the marble to hold it in place.

I held a shop vacuum nozzle near the bit which kept lots of air moving. The bit and collet were warm but not hot at the end of the run.

Regarding the vcarve wizard software, I'm pleased. It has been good to use. It also landed us our first paying job and now half of our work is now based on v-carve capabilities.

[tony_mac]

Hi again,

I've recently cut some slate that was simply held down using double sided sticky tape. This works really well if the reverse side of the material is smooth.

Tip - VCW allows you to specify your own material library, allowing jobs to be previewed more realistically in the software.

This might be useful if you purchase a particular type or batch of marble and wish to show customers preview images of their designs cut into the actual material.

Simply take a digital photo of the marble and save this into one of the Textures folders.

For more details see,

http://www.vectric.com/vectric/images/tmp/adding_new_materials.pdf

Great to hear VCW is helping your business!

Regards,
Tony

[johnm]

Folks -

Okay, I'm going nuts here... How do I set up registration on panels (or boards for that matter) so that I can carve a design, a name or something on one side and then turn it over for machining the other face? I don't have to have the registration down to the nth degree, but would like to keep it square. I've been futzing with it all afternoon and figure that there has to be an easier way.

Ideally, I'd like to use some dowels as registration pins to orient and secure the work panel to the spoilboard...

TIA

John Moorhead

[beacon14]

use the Shopbot to drill holes where you want them in the spoilboard. Then use the Shopbot to drill matching holes in the workpiece, when you machine the first face. When you flip the piece and use dowels to align the holes the workpiece will be exactly where you want it.

[ron brown]

May I add thinking about HOW you are going to hold and machine. I have left tabs that I cut off after the project was finished, corner-blocks and jigs that hold entire signs to assure alignment.

Also, when you "flip" the part - don't invert it. Makes me mad at myself when I do it too.

Ron