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Thread: Another odd one

  1. #1

    Another odd one

    Another odd one coming up. We are machining a 36" x 36" brass floor medallion for a newly constructed fire station. Brought in a 36x36x1/4" thick plate of C260 and they shipped us a couple of small drops to play around with. Going to be milling out the graphic and mounting holes for some 1/2-13 brass machine screws in the four corners and then flooding the milled pockets with opaque red epoxy level with the surface.

    Just uncrated the sheet and did a quick sand and polish, marked the few spots that are deep enough to need a little more attention then we will mask it, machine, epoxy, strip the mask, and re-mask to protect during install



    20190119_141303.jpg

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    I think I'm going to enjoy "watching" this one come together!
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  3. #3
    Im not sure if this will work but this was marking out the initial graphic on the plate so they could see it full scale before we started cutting. Weve changed the design drastically (for the better) at this point..

    https://drive.google.com/open?id=1T6...4uFnAl-EXMSu2a

  4. #4
    Looking forward to seeing this one! Is that pen mount something you made or is it store-bought? I may need to do some posters soon and wanted to use a Sharpie. I've seen the spring loaded holders but haven't really researched them.

    If you video it again please shoot widescreen like our monitors and TV's.

    David
    David
    CurlyWoodShop on Etsy, David Falkner on YouTube, difalkner on Instagram

  5. #5
    David.. sorry bout the vertical. Im a lowly worker bee and have to break the habit of vertical phone. Holder is shop made. Spring, and a cut up credit card for washers. Another found fitting with a hole drilled and a stud to grab in an albrecht chuck.

    I use to just grab the sharpie in the albrect but the results are much better when the pen can float. This works great.

    I had the travel set super slow because there were a bunch of changes and I kept forgetting to put the cap back on the sharpie so the tip would dry out and take a few strokes to start flowing. If the sharpie is on point 250-300 ipm is fine.

    The stick out with the chuck and the pvc is long but it works fine.
    Last edited by Mark Bolton; 01-19-2019 at 6:48 PM.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by David Falkner View Post
    Looking forward to seeing this one! Is that pen mount something you made or is it store-bought?
    David, I exploded a super quick model I had done to make sure I had the parts in the shop for the holder. Its nothing special like I say, just PVC parts and a spring other than an adapter I grabbed at the hardware store to make the plug for the end. The inner tube (red) in the drawing is a piece of 1/2" CPVC pipe. The sharpie friction fits inside it perfectly and its just a hair to large to slide inside a piece of 1/2" sch 40 PVC tubing. Chucked it in the drill press and hit it with some sand paper til it slid inside the outer tube (white) cleanly. The bottom cap is just a PVC cap that I drilled a clearance hole for the sharpie to pass through (7/16"). The gold washer is the credit card I cut to make the cap for the inner tube for the spring to land on. Then that plug at the top was a CPVC garden hose adapter that I grabbed at the hardware store that pressed directly into the end of the outer tube perfectly. Stud out the top was just a piece of 7/16 rod I had around and pressed it into the hold in the adapter.

    Other than the length it works really well. Doesnt deflect or wobble around but it would be nice to have a solution that was a little shorter. Grabbing it in that Albrecht chuck doesnt help the situation but its easier than grabbing it in a collet.

    I'd love to find someone to machine a slick one out of aluminum that perhaps contained the spring up in the stud to make it shorter and the spring doest need to be anywhere near that long. 1/2" of travel would be more than enough. The better option I have planned for version 2 is to use one of the stubby sharpies instead of the long one.

    I didnt glue any of this together so I can just pop it all apart and cut parts down.

    sharpieholder.jpg

  7. #7
    Thanks for the breakdown and drawing, Mark! I really need to build one of these and will probably use the stubby Sharpie, as well.

    David
    David
    CurlyWoodShop on Etsy, David Falkner on YouTube, difalkner on Instagram

  8. #8
    This will be fun 20190125_153044[1].jpg

  9. #9
    Join Date
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    Nice cutter!! Now, put that baby to work!
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Bolton View Post
    This will be fun 20190125_153044[1].jpg
    Eek.

    Extra characters

  11. #11
    Join Date
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    N. Central Texas
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    In my pre-retirement career in CNC programming we drilled a lot of holes in very expensive workpieces. We always tested the programs and set-up using ink pens as a final check. There are pump tip pens that work well keeping the ink flowing. HP plotter pens and various other pen types worked. We also used custom built holders that took less than an hour to make to fit the pen used. They looked like the assembly shown above.

    Jim

  12. #12
    Not the smallest cutter in the world by any means but its a wee bitty little thing for me. This is the 1/16 solid carbide O flute pictured above. Last of the profiling operations. Plate is all machined other than for some counter sinks. Will have pictures shortly.
    20190302_111014.jpg

  13. #13
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    I used a tiny 1/16" end mill for something I was recently helping Brian Holcolmb with...while it was "only" in wood, it nonetheless did an impressive job.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Becker View Post
    I used a tiny 1/16" end mill for something I was recently helping Brian Holcolmb with...while it was "only" in wood, it nonetheless did an impressive job.
    Yeah, this plate had a good bit of work with 1/8" and only some small areas with the 1/16". Its pretty amazing how stout those little mills are.

  15. #15
    Join Date
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    Yup...you just have to be careful to not take too big a bite!
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

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