Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

It has been a very long time since I posted here.  My original intention was to write about my woodworking endeavors.  Yes, I have worked on a few projects since last June.  No, I haven't written about them.  In this new year, I want to begin to so.

I'm currently working on a sign for my brother-in-law.  He is a big fan of antique pick up trucks, especially "fat fender Fords."  So, I found a good photo of a 1948 Ford F-100 on the internet.  Then using ArtCam, I drew outline vectors that can be cut with my CNC router.  I also found a very nice copy of a vintage Ford Motor Co. logo that I will include in the design.

Preparing the artwork in ArtCam has been a learning experience for me.  First I tried to v-carve the truck design using the automatic vector creation tools in ArtCam.  Although this did work, I did not like the results for this particular project.  I then tried cutting along the existing vectors with a 90º v-bit.  This produced the look I wanted, but, I still thought the lines were too wide.  I switched to a 30º v-bit.  The lines are now a very nice size however I must limit the cut depth for this narrow bit.

ArtCam produced very nice vectors for the Ford logo.  In my first cut attempt, I used the 90º v-bit.  However, this design had too many small areas that did not cut well using that bit.  I switched to the 30º bit and voila, a nice, crisp carving.

I designed the text using ArtCam.  The larger text cut very nicely with the 90º bit.  The smaller text looks better when cut with the 30º bit but I must limit the cutting depth to get a nice look.

Though the larger text cut well using the 90º bit, I plan to use the 30º bit there as well.

I will limit all cutting depths to 0.1".

I'll be making a test cut in the next few days and will attach some photos of the resulting product.

Blessings.