? about engraving into stone, Bill

[will]

I have recently acquired an Older ShopBot,
but know very little about how it can be
used at this point.

What I am hoping to find out is if any one
in this forum has used their ShopBot to en-
grave in soft stone like marble or limestone?



Thanks for any and all advice, Bill

[billp]

Bill,
Welcome...If you use the Google search engine and type in a variety of words; marble, sandstone, slate, etc. you'll find a number of threads which will show you how people have been carving the above mentioned materials. Carving in marble with a Shopbot has been going on for many years, and it's not a lot different than carving hard wood...

[shoeshine]

couple of threads on this:

here's the one where I ask almost the same question.

http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/messages/29/42913.html?1245255608

these are slate tiles I've done.


8117

I highly reccomend centurion solid carbide v carve bits for stone. they do not have flutes, just a scraping edge that works well.

[br928]

Bill,

Here is one in marble for the Super Bowl Champions.


8118

[navigator7]

Man Stan....you got my juices flowing!
A bot is in my future but not today.
Among many things, I do a decorative concrete staining.
I'll be spending a lot of time with this thing:
The Wasp

8119
http://www.kaleidocrete.com/products/wasp.php

...to clean up some poorly stamped Arizona Sandstone concrete.
The tool is amazing.....but I spent my time imagining this tool affix to the Zee axis of a SB.

In the right materiel and the right application, this tool might offer something a spinning bit just might not do.

[br928]

Chuck,

That tool could easily be adapted to the ShopBot.

I am in the process of building another machine from ShopBot parts. Still in the design phase. This one will have the ability to cut granite with diamond tooling.

[navigator7]

Stan,

Do they make a stylus with diamond?
I find this idea really interesting.
Particularly the amount of detail you might be able to get in a small area.
I was able to write my initials in some of the aggregate within the concrete.
We are talking pea gravel aggregate.
Concrete spalls......but the company linked above actually earns a living selling products to people renovating old concrete and imparting design.
The SB could even make the plastic stencils for concrete.

What are your thoughts on using an SB to grind custom shapes in molder or joiner blades?

[chipster]

Do you mean like this one?

http://www.widgetworksunlimited.com/CNC_Diamond_Drag_Engraving_Bit_p/cnc-dmnd_engrv.htm

[br928]

Chuck,

Looking at the videos on that website I saw them using a CNC router. I assume the were cutting the custom stencils they sell with it.

With a little ingenuity one could drive their machines with a computer and not have to use stencils.

I don't understand the question about the Bot grinding custom shapes.

[navigator7]

Stan,
Currently, most guys have to send their molder blades out to get ground. If you want a custom shape....you send out.

I was just wondering if a fella could grind molder blades on a bot if properly fixtured?
Thanks

[shoeshine]

Chuck,

though I'm sure it could be done, far stranger projects have been taken on by botters. I would think that it would require a lot of re-tooling to handle a grinder and tool steel.

If molder blades were your purpose, and CNC seemed the best option for multiple complex shapes, I would probably look to a micro-mill. something designed to handle the torque needed.

[geometree]

The shopbot can do lots of things very well. Grinding tool steel isn't one of them. The motors and software may be up to it, the moving parts are not. I run a molder and grind knifes on a manual tool grinder that follows templates cut on the shopbot. To make a pair of knifes from a shopbot cut template takes ~30 minutes and a resharpening takes less than 5min. Unless you intend to make molder knifes all day everyday I can't see trying to automate it.

[drodda]

Chris,

How many of these can you cut per bit? at $35 per bit I am trying to get an idea of cost per carving in slate?

Has anyone used the bot to cut clear through slate and make a shape such as a footprint from the slate? My wife wants footprints to put in her garden made from stone. I was considering making a mold and pouring concrete but now that I have seen this it is making me think about just carving the footprints from slate. Or perhaps taking a footprint from my daughter and scanning this into the computer and carving a 3-d footprint in the top of the slate.

Just wish I was less busy so I could play more with the bot. There are so many things that a slow day with a bot sitting around can create.


Thanks for sharing,
-D

[jay_d_wyant]

Here are a couple different shapes cut and v-carved on the bot.
8120

[navigator7]

@ Shawn,
Much better solution!
Create a template on a bot that can be used as a guide in a grinder meant for such things. Exactly what I wanted yo know.
Chuck

Nice portfolio, Jay!

[Gary Campbell]

Dave....
MAKE THE MOLD!
Gary

[shoeshine]

Dave, I am still using the same bit after near a hundred of these. Admittedly the point is not qute as sharp as it was, but for this project (garden walk) the detail is fine.

I would say though that if you are making multiples of the foot. I would make a mold as these take forever to cut.