Router w/ negative template

Chip Buchholtz wrote:

| I'm really looking for a general procedure for cutting an opening
| the same size and shape as an object, using a router. Seems like
| there should be a better way to do this, but I can't think of it.

We had a thread on this not so long ago. Try the link in my sig.

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/GBRecess.html

Chip Buchholtz wrote:
| Morris Dovey <[email protected]> wrote:
|| Chip Buchholtz wrote:
|
||| I'm really looking for a general procedure for cutting an opening
||| the same size and shape as an object, using a router. Seems like
||| there should be a better way to do this, but I can't think of it.
|
|| We had a thread on this not so long ago. Try the link in my sig.
|
| Thanks - I knew that that was >one< way of doing it, I just couldn't
| get myself to believe that there wasn't an easier way. I guess you
| are saying that using an intermediate template and different size
| bushings is the only way to go.

Not at all - but you /did/ ask for a general procedure.

If I were doing this, I'd take a photo of the object, import the image
into my CAD package, trace the shape I wanted, export the tracing as a
DXF, and pass the DXF to my CNC router control program for cutting.

There's /always/ more than one way to skin a cat...

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/

dadiOH wrote:

| Smarty pants :)

Not intentionally - I've just given up on trying to hide how lazy I
really am. :-D

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/

Tom Veatch wrote:

| Well, it's one alternative, but for those of us who neither have nor
| have access to numerically controlled tools in our
| basement/garage/etc. workshops, I'm not too sure just how useful the
| suggestion is.

It wasn't actually a suggestion. My intended contribution was in the
form of a link to a web page with some very simple geometry/algebra
shwing how to select guide bushing/router bit sizes so the job can be
done by anyone with a hand-held router with a base plate that allows
using bushings.

In case you missed it, I've repeated it below. If it seems not useful,
there's an e-mail link at the bottom of the page for improvement
suggestions.

I only mentioned the CNC approach when asked if the guide
bushing/template method was the only way the job could be done and if
there wasn't an easier way. It was not intended to cause rancor - only
to illustrate that other (and easier) methods existed. That Chip has
access to CNC tooling at work is a happy coincidence.

Sorry if I rubbed your fur the wrong way.

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/GBRecess.html

Tom Veatch wrote:

| I'd be tickled pink to have a CNC
| presence in my shop and am eat up with envy for those who do.

No reason you can't have one in your shop - there are plans and parts
available on the web so you can build/assemble your own. They aren't
particularly cheap, but you can buy a controller kit and steppers for
less than the price of a Festool Domino - and control software can be
downloaded for free. You already have the computer.

As with any new tool, it takes a while to learn to use it well - and
if you'd like a coach, you have a volunteer.

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/

On Sun, 19 Aug 2007 03:19:00 -0500, "Morris Dovey" <[email protected]>
wrote:
...
>As with any new tool, it takes a while to learn to use it well - and
>if you'd like a coach, you have a volunteer.

Thanks, Morris. I appreciate the offer and if I ever get some of the
higher priority roundtoits and honeydos worked off I may well take you
up on it.

I was following the building of a CNC router by the author of the DVD
magazine "Woodworking at Home", but either don't have all the episodes
or he didn't finish before I let my subscription expire. It's
something I want to do, but higher priority tasks are interfering.

Tom Veatch
Wichita, KS
USA

"Chip Buchholtz" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi,
>
> Say I want to cut a hole in a table to fit an irregular but mostly
> cylindrical piece. The pattern (the cylinder) is a negative pattern;
> it's the shape of the material to be removed.
>
snip

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=1391

This solid brass router inlay kit works really good for me. Norm used it on
his show one time. I think I may have to make some butterflies to join a
table top like Nakashima featured on his work. If I do, I will certainly use
the inlay kit.

Morris Dovey wrote:
> Chip Buchholtz wrote:
>> Morris Dovey <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> Chip Buchholtz wrote:
>>
>>>> I'm really looking for a general procedure for cutting an opening
>>>> the same size and shape as an object, using a router. Seems like
>>>> there should be a better way to do this, but I can't think of it.
>>
>>> We had a thread on this not so long ago. Try the link in my sig.
>>
>> Thanks - I knew that that was >one< way of doing it, I just
>> couldn't get myself to believe that there wasn't an easier way. I
>> guess you are saying that using an intermediate template and
>> different size bushings is the only way to go.
>
> Not at all - but you /did/ ask for a general procedure.
>
> If I were doing this, I'd take a photo of the object, import the
> image into my CAD package, trace the shape I wanted, export the
> tracing as a DXF, and pass the DXF to my CNC router control program
> for cutting.

Smarty pants :)

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

On Sat, 18 Aug 2007 02:45:47 +0000 (UTC), "Chip Buchholtz"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Morris Dovey <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>: If I were doing this, I'd take a photo of the object, import the image
>: into my CAD package, trace the shape I wanted, export the tracing as a
>: DXF, and pass the DXF to my CNC router control program for cutting.
>
>Good point - actually, a very useful suggestion.
>...

Well, it's one alternative, but for those of us who neither have nor
have access to numerically controlled tools in our
basement/garage/etc. workshops, I'm not too sure just how useful the
suggestion is.

Tom Veatch
Wichita, KS
USA

Morris Dovey <[email protected]> wrote:
: Chip Buchholtz wrote:

: | I'm really looking for a general procedure for cutting an opening
: | the same size and shape as an object, using a router. Seems like
: | there should be a better way to do this, but I can't think of it.

: We had a thread on this not so long ago. Try the link in my sig.

Thanks - I knew that that was >one< way of doing it, I just couldn't
get myself to believe that there wasn't an easier way. I guess you
are saying that using an intermediate template and different size
bushings is the only way to go.

Thanks,

--- Chip

Morris Dovey <[email protected]> wrote:

: If I were doing this, I'd take a photo of the object, import the image
: into my CAD package, trace the shape I wanted, export the tracing as a
: DXF, and pass the DXF to my CNC router control program for cutting.

Good point - actually, a very useful suggestion.

Where I work they have a CNC laser um, "milling machine" is the best
description I can come up with. It's in a different department, but
I'm told that they don't mind doing little projects for people.

If I go that route, I'll have to decide whether I just want to use CNC
to make the template, or have the CNC machine make the final cut.

Thanks!

--- Chip

On Sat, 18 Aug 2007 16:53:24 -0500, "Morris Dovey" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>
>Sorry if I rubbed your fur the wrong way.


Oh, no, no! You didn't "rub my fur the wrong way" at all. No offence
was taken or intended. My reply was to the "good suggestion" comment
and was simply questioning the value as a "suggestion" for those of us
who are CNC challenged. I'd be tickled pink to have a CNC presence in
my shop and am eat up with envy for those who do.

Tom Veatch
Wichita, KS
USA

"Morris Dovey" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Tom Veatch wrote:
>
> | Well, it's one alternative, but for those of us who neither have nor
> | have access to numerically controlled tools in our
> | basement/garage/etc. workshops, I'm not too sure just how useful the
> | suggestion is.
>
> It wasn't actually a suggestion. My intended contribution was in the
> form of a link to a web page with some very simple geometry/algebra
> shwing how to select guide bushing/router bit sizes so the job can be
> done by anyone with a hand-held router with a base plate that allows
> using bushings.
>
> In case you missed it, I've repeated it below. If it seems not useful,
> there's an e-mail link at the bottom of the page for improvement
> suggestions.
>
> I only mentioned the CNC approach when asked if the guide
> bushing/template method was the only way the job could be done and if
> there wasn't an easier way. It was not intended to cause rancor - only
> to illustrate that other (and easier) methods existed. That Chip has
> access to CNC tooling at work is a happy coincidence.
>
> Sorry if I rubbed your fur the wrong way.
>
> --
> Morris Dovey
> DeSoto Solar
> DeSoto, Iowa USA
> http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/GBRecess.html
>

You know what Morris, You didn't offend me at all. I think you do a lot of
really nice work. If I had a reason for a CNC set up I would do it in a
heart beat.

If the op will look at the router inlay kit and determine how it works; with
a set of guides (Delta) and different diameter straight
router bits, he can come up with what he's looking for. I can visualize
making a bushing that will do exactly what the kit does.

I bought the kit when I was building a bed for my daughter and I had ruined
a piece of wood that cost more than the kit did and I had several hours in
the piece. I was able to make a dutchman with the inlay kit and the repair
is barely visible. I put it on the back side of the bed and saved myself
money, time and I have a new tool in my collection. :-)
>