V carve in marble

[wiese]

On a few occasions, Bill Palumbo has displayed his handy work in marble. I finally found the time to do some tinkering today. I masked with adhesive shelf liner, 60 degree V bit at 13000rpm at 1.5 in/sec. I used two passes to get to the final depth. The only problem I encountered was that the tip of the bit did not hold up. McKenna was the first name I cut and the corners are nice and crisp. By the time I cut the third name, the tip if the 60 degree V went away and as a result, the corners are a little soft.

1783


1784

[billp]

Jay,
They look great! I'm guessing that it was the 60 degree angle of your bit that caused it's early demise. I usually used a 90 degree, and I think the wider angle may have helped to "spread the load" across the face of the bit more evenly.

[shoeshine]

Jay, I highly recomend centurion vcarve bits for stone. They dont have flutes, they are just a solid chunk of carbide ground down to a 3 face taper. This different geometry helps maintain the integrity of the point. I've probably done 100 slate tiles with my one bit with only slight degredation. they are relativly cheap as well.

[navigator7]

Just a general question....Do you put a strip of clay down around the carving and put in water or ice when carving stone?

Or do you mist?

[wiese]

Chris,
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll check it out.

Chuck,
I didn't try it, but it seems like it would make a mess. I cut mine dry and wore a respirator.

By the way, I misspelled one of the three names that I cut. Do over! I'll have to have a word with my research department.

[navigator7]

Hi Jay!
A mess?
Is that the term used after carving a misspelled name?
(Sorry.......had to do it ya know ;-)
When core drilling with diamond bits....we placed a ribbon of clay around the hole, (a dam) to hold in water and contain the spoils and splatter. Your wife's spray bottle works good too.
(Even ice)

From my machining experience....we machined dry and wet......but never introduce water or coolant after the bit gets hot. All or nothing. Introducing water on a hot cutter can fracture it....making scrap...or....a mess. ;-)

On the topic of messes......My lifetime experience has a direct of correlation of mess to income. The bigger the dumpster loads hauled away the more money potential! The key is to make sure you are dumping the right stuff.

Looks like you are putting the blame on the Research Department? They get the big bucks and you get a broken bit. Just ain't fair is it?
;-)

[pro70z28]

I have to give that a try. Where do you find the special bits for stone?

[rcnewcomb]

You can use carbide bits on marble and limestone.

If you wish you can use diamond bits, but they are 8x to 10x the price of carbide.

[harryball]

Looks great. I am about to attempt something similar. Did you cut Conventional or Climb?

/RB

[wiese]

I used climb.

[harryball]

Alrighty then...


1785

Trying to decide what paint to use now. What did you use / what will hold up outside? I'm wondering if good ole exterior latex will to the job.

/RB

[khaos]

Gold is Gold. Paint ain't. You could gold leaf that.