the monster lives and does some work

[Steve knight]

I had some fun making practice signs today. Found out Baltic birch plywood is not great. It fuzzes up and even the insides of the letters fuzz. But hey it was scrap so I can't complain.
The others I did not hardboard.
I need to get some mdf and melamine that will work great for signs.
Here are a couple of pics and some vids on youtube.
the vids sound loud but that is only because the camera is right by the spindle while it is cutting without the dc on you can talk right by the machine when it is running and not cutting it is just a whisper. here are some vids


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z_D2WWKdHY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CicjCtVc9M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoO7gnms-D4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xOzxaxtZB4http://www.knight-toolworks.com/pictures/signs1.jpg
http://www.knight-toolworks.com/pictures/signs2.jpg

[Michael Kowalczyk]

Steve,
The birch should not fuzz if you have the correct tooling and are cutting in the correct direction. If you are cutting in a clockwise direction then try counterclockwise and see if you see any difference. You can look at your scrap piece and see the edge quality difference. If you would like more info, let me know.

Also the direction of your grain may also promote more fuzzing if your bits are not SHARP!! I use 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" two flute solid carbide compression with mortise tip bits from Vortex and Atlantic and we cut truckloads of 12 mm birch ply.

hope this helps,

[Steve knight]

So far I have only cut it with a 60 v cutter and doing v carving you don't ahve a choice most fo the tiem on what direction.
this is a brand new Onsrud bit. but some of this ply looks kind of like birch but is cheap stuff from my shopbot box.

[Michael Kowalczyk]

Hey Steve,

If it is Chinese birch--- enough said. It has a poplar core and will fuzz when you look at it:D . I tried some of it as an alternative to my birch ply and said no. It warps easily and fuzzes BIG TIME.

I have no experience in using russ birch ply with V carve bits so my answer will be "I do not know".
If the inner plys are greenish instead of the same yellowish white as the outside plys are it's a good bet that it is Chinese birch and there's not much you can do with it other than use it for crating or really cheap cabinets for the barn/shed. Just my opinion and first hand experience with each material.

good luck and have lots of fun with your "monster":eek: (194)

[Steve knight]

I need to look close to see what one it is. they are all mixed up now.
ineed to play with cutting bamboo plywood and solid wood. just been cutting signs so far. so many things to cut so little time to design them (G)