Question on carving face on wood ?

[POPS 64]

Hello guys I need guidance . I've done a ton of lithophanes and 3-D carvings but have never tried I on wood.I could use some helpful hints. I've been asked to do a memorial plaque for a loss of a dear family member. He was loved my work so his is a honor for me and I want to do it justice. So what's the best wood , bits , finish , settings , is it the same as a litho in PVC ? Welcome all and any hints . Thank you . Jeff:confused:

[cowboy1296]

My personal favorite is black walnut. TJ just did a tutorial on 3-d and maybe by now it is loaded on to the website at shopbot. Now i think that he was cutting in HDU and black walnut is a little harder.

I use a quarter inch ball nose/end mill for roughing. My cut depth is limited to .07 of an inch at a time and i use a 40 percent stepover. My feed rate for roughing is 3.3 inches per second . My router speed is set at 10k for everything.

I use a 1/16 and a 1/8 tapered ball nose for finishing and my step over is 7 to 10% depending on the bit. I have had issues in the past trying to use both bits on the same project getting a perfect z zero. So if i need a 1/16 for part of the file i do the whole thing with the 1/16.

With black walnut you dont have to use stain or at least not much of it. Just a few thin layers of some kind of seal coat. Of course the lettering needs to be stained.

Now i am interested in what others say regarding 3-d because i learn something almost every day.

The military plaque is still being finished.

[kurt_rose]

Very nice work Rick. Those plaques are awesome! Did you design that rope border yourself our did you buy it as a 3d model?

[cowboy1296]

Thanks. I have joked with people saying that you could use cooking oil on black walnut and it would look good. That said i dont think i would try it. The rope border came from vectorart3d.com. i want to think that it was part of the package when i upgraded to aspire. I have watched the videos on how to make it but i think that i will stay with theirs for now.

[POPS 64]

Thanks Rick I'll have to try some black walnut . And very nice carvings they look great. I should of clarified better I've done lots of carvings in wood . The help I need is carving face images into wood . I'am used to corian with the PVC . So help with faces on the wood thanks. Jeff

[cowboy1296]

Faces i have no experience with other than what is available on vector art 3d or 3d model club. Good luck and make sure you post pictures on here

[steve_g]

Jeff…
Are you wanting to do something similar to a photo V-Carve? If so, your substrate will need to be able to hold a lot of detail and your V-bit will need to come to a true point! Your wood will need to be a really tight grain like rock maple. You might even consider doing it in a plastic inlayed into wood…
SG

[Chuck Keysor]

Jeff, if you want to do a relief carved face, there is an Aspire training video on that specific topic. As I recall, they show how to model and carve George Washington's face. Such work is probably challenging, as the human face is really hard even for very skilled artists to carve in a realistic manner. Good luck, let us know how it goes, Chuck

[POPS 64]

Thanks for info guys I appreciate it.Going to have to do more research I think there using photo v carve . I've done alot of lithophanes on corian and was think ing it would be similiar. Because there looking for the picture to be on a plaque with a list of things they want said. thanks guys

[myxpykalix]

This is nothing i have tried and don't know if it will work but you might try this.

Take your picture and make it into a lithopane file with whatever you use.
You now have a file that has slightly lower depths for the light areas.
Reverse that
Then scale your Z height

[POPS 64]

Thanks Jack between this some research I've done , and I'll do some reading on vetric I'll give it my best shot , and hope for the best. Thanks when I get it figured out I'll post what I come up with. Thanks

[Brian Harnett]

I have done a few though mostly lithophanes, I use the shop bot image converter with a 1/16 ball nose the picture needs good contrast. white and black depth is opposite of lithophane settings.

Worth a shot you have the software already.