Ornaments

Bill Arnold

1974
Staff member
Messages
8,622
Location
Thomasville, GA
My sister asked if I could do some tree ornaments for her daughter with the names of her two grandchildren. The babies were born about two weeks apart in December 2016, so she wanted a remembrance for their first Christmas. I tested some layered HDPE but had issues with the detail. Next, I tried some clear acrylic and actually got a better end product. Here's what I drew up in VCarve:

AK_PK.jpg


I sprayed red plastic paint on one side of a piece of 1/8" acrylic, allowing it to set up overnight before cutting it on my CNC. The text was cut with a 20° Vbit; the hole and outer boundary with a 1/8" end mill. After removing the waste, I lightly spritzed some gold paint on both sides of the ornament for more dimension.

I forgot to get photos before I mailed them to my sister, so I asked her to send me one. Her photo actually rendered the ornaments better than I could have, I think.

Kim_Gkid_Ornaments2017_enh.jpg


My niece is pleased! :thumb:
 
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Very cool idea Bill.

Can you expand on the issue you had with layered hdpe please.
I was hoping to do some labels this way when i have my machine up and running.

Was thinking the table really needs to be flat given small variances in flat will relate to big differences in the groove, given the thinness of the layers of plastic. Dunno if this is on the right track?

I want to make labels for a medal cabinet i built years ago with the whole families war medals.
 
Very cool idea Bill.

Can you expand on the issue you had with layered hdpe please. ...

Was thinking the table really needs to be flat given small variances in flat will relate to big differences in the groove, given the thinness of the layers of plastic. Dunno if this is on the right track? ...


Thanks, Rob.

I'm not sure of the exact cause of the issue with the HDPE, but it might have to do with the bits. I used a piece that is layered red/white/red and wanted to do raised letters for the text. The v-bit I used has two flutes, as do all of them I have. I tried feed rates from 60ipm to 120ipm with the same result: the material around the text and inner part of the oval was cut but not thrown clear. The 1/8" single-flute bit I used for clearing the bulk of the material prior to using the v-bit worked fine. I've used HDPE for a number of items prior to this, but never for anything with this level of detail.

With the results I had on HDPE, I decided to try acrylic since it's much harder. A benefit of using clear acrylic is the light shows through it as you see in the photo.

A flat table is just the first consideration for good cuts. Doing something like these ornaments requires a REALLY FLAT subsurface. I place a piece of mdf or plywood on my "spoil board" to support the piece I'm cutting, then use a 1.25" bowl bottom bit to flatten that. Some of the cuts I make are only 0.04-0.07" deep, so flatness is critical.
 
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