Starting my build...

[fretman_2]

Yes...the tool path was follow path. I purchased the bits from drillman1 on eBay...CARBIDE PLUS | eBay Stores

cool! What tool path are you using to do that? Just a trace?

Good source for those small 30* bits?

[Biggs427]

I really like your last one!!

I wish I were talented to design nice engraving like you do.

If a design can be driven by a mathematic formula I'm the man but as soon as any artistic skills are involved I fail miserably. LOL

[fretman_2]

Well...you don't need the ability to draw. There's lots of designs on the internet that will lend themselves to CNC engraving. Just Google flourishes and you'll see lots of things you can copy and paste into Inkscape or some other program. It's slow going at first, but with time I'd bet you can accomplish the design work. Having the desire to do it is the main thing!

I really like your last one!!

I wish I were talented to design nice engraving like you do.

If a design can be driven by a mathematic formula I'm the man but as soon as any artistic skills are involved I fail miserably. LOL

[fretman_2]

I added a laser to my CNC machine. It's a 2.5watt laser with driver purchased off of eBay. The mount is removable by virtue of 4 screws on the side of the spindle mounts. Still working on quick disconnects for the laser power and PWM inputs. My CNC is controlled by an Arduino UNO R3 running GRBL 1.1f. I'm using pin 11 to provide PWM input to the laser. For those of you using an Arduino Uno and GRBL 1.1f, M3 S1000 provides full power to the laser, S500 half power, etc. S5 turns the laser on just enough for focusing the beam. Of course, S0 or M5 turns the laser off.

If you're curious about the PWM voltage at pin 11, S1000 is 5v, S500 2.5v, etc.

I also purchased a laser window from JTech Photonics to provide me an additional measure of safety on top of the glasses that came with the laser. I used LaserGRBL software that converted the image to GRBL and controlled the laser and CNC. The image is the Navy Sonar Tech rating badge. I ran the laser at half power.

As you can see...no one's ever accused me of being neat and tidy with my installation and wiring!

[fretman_2]

Got a new guitar build going on...this one will sport a honey amber finish.

Freshly CNC'd with mineral spirits wiped on to make the grain pop.



Testing the finish...

[bostosh]

Looking really nice Fretman ! Love those wood finishes.
Show and tell time.................
5 hours each starting with the 12" Vixen file, Block sanding 150-2000
Now back to the machine...............

The Hybrid

[fretman_2]

Wow...hybrid as in fiberglass or carbon fiber?

Looking really nice Fretman ! Love those wood finishes.
Show and tell time.................
5 hours each starting with the 12" Vixen file, Block sanding 150-2000
Now back to the machine...............

The Hybrid

[bostosh]

Composites ? Nothing that fancy,
i had enough of that in aerospaceland.
This is just to replace the expensive wood on top.with a
aerospace structured chambered top part.onto everything else normal wood.
Here is the bottom half. (( am i giving away all my secrets yet ? ))
Do you want to carve three of these ? your top carve looks very good !
That's a 1/8 groove around the perimeter, and a custom shape outside.

[fretman_2]

I had actually drawn up a chambered body for this build and decided against it. The top on my build is actually flat...not a carved top. I'm embarrassed to say, I haven't yet done any 3D work on my CNC machine. I'm, very slowly, teaching myself how to profile a guitar neck in Fusion360. I started out building Telecaster guitars and most of what I do is related to that...slab sided body, 21 fret heel adjust truss rod, bolt on neck, control plate on top, etc.

Composites ? Nothing that fancy,
i had enough of that in aerospaceland.
This is just to replace the expensive wood on top.with a
aerospace structured chambered top part.onto everything else normal wood.
Here is the bottom half. (( am i giving away all my secrets yet ? ))
Do you want to carve three of these ? your top carve looks very good !
That's a 1/8 groove around the perimeter, and a custom shape outside.

[manofmanyhats]

What kind of wood is the last one? It is beautiful. Also, could you point me to where you got the laser? Thanks.

[bostosh]

Fretman, is your machine capable of 3D? and streaming in lots of xyz's This stuff is no problem.

[louieatienza]

Looking really nice Fretman ! Love those wood finishes.
Show and tell time.................
5 hours each starting with the 12" Vixen file, Block sanding 150-2000
Now back to the machine...............

The Hybrid

Sweet!

- - - Updated - - -

Got a new guitar build going on...this one will sport a honey amber finish.

Freshly CNC'd with mineral spirits wiped on to make the grain pop.



Testing the finish...

Flame maple? Nice color...

- - - Updated - - -

Fretman, is your machine capable of 3D? and streaming in lots of xyz's This stuff is no problem.

Hey, what CAM are you using?

[fretman_2]

I purchased the laser off of ebay...here's the listing...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Focusable-4...72.m2749.l2649

Thanks! The top wood is two piece flame maple.

What kind of wood is the last one? It is beautiful. Also, could you point me to where you got the laser? Thanks.

[fretman_2]

Thanks Louie! I bought the flame maple off of eBay. It's not a perfect match and the pieces are not flamed all the way through, but the mineral patterns were unique enough that I thought it would look good. I'm using something embarrassingly simple...MakerCAM which is a web based CAM. It's comparatively limited, but simple to use. I want to learn Fusion360, but I'm at the way lower end of the learning curve with it.

Sweet!

- - - Updated - - -



Flame maple? Nice color...

- - - Updated - - -



Hey, what CAM are you using?

[fretman_2]

I do suppose it's capable of 3D...I don't see why it wouldn't be. My controller is an Arduino Uno running GRBL and I don't know if that would be a limiting factor. The laptop I'm using is a very low end Windows 10 unit, but it's always worked.

It's my lack of knowledge about Fusion360 that's the issue. The guitar bodies I produce are slab sided so 3D isn't an issue there. But I would like to be able to produce consistent profiles on the necks I make. Right now I 2D cut out the neck shapes, then shape the profile by hand after I glue on the fretboard and install frets. Don't get me wrong, shaping the neck profile is very satisfying.

Fretman, is your machine capable of 3D? and streaming in lots of xyz's This stuff is no problem.

[louieatienza]

Your control should be capable of 3D movement, can't see why not.

I do some carved top Strats...

[bostosh]

This is a great show and tell here........
Extreme carving here.

[fretman_2]

That's what I'm talking about...fantastic! What's the wood?

This is a great show and tell here........
Extreme carving here.

[louieatienza]

I do suppose it's capable of 3D...I don't see why it wouldn't be. My controller is an Arduino Uno running GRBL and I don't know if that would be a limiting factor. The laptop I'm using is a very low end Windows 10 unit, but it's always worked.

It's my lack of knowledge about Fusion360 that's the issue. The guitar bodies I produce are slab sided so 3D isn't an issue there. But I would like to be able to produce consistent profiles on the necks I make. Right now I 2D cut out the neck shapes, then shape the profile by hand after I glue on the fretboard and install frets. Don't get me wrong, shaping the neck profile is very satisfying.

While I do shape necks on CNC most the folks prefer my hand shaped necks. You can use a round over bit on a router table to hog most of the material away. Infinitely faster than taking a ball mill with small steps.

[bostosh]

Uhhhhhhh i dunno .......... it's not metal, not black walnut
i just created the model from his sketches and programmed and ran the Fadal
And had to clean up the organic pond scum mess in the coolant tank about a month later.
Here is the sketch. and cad development shot.