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Thread: Star Wars Aztec calendar

  1. #1
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    Star Wars Aztec calendar

    I have wanted to cut something like this for a while and this looked like a good project to test in Carveco. I knew the cutting would be fairly straight forward but was unsure how long it would take because I haven't calibrated this type of cutting in Carveco. The material is 1/2" MDF and it took 40 minutes cutting at 200 ipm, one pass with a 60° 5/8" diameter V bit, 18k rpm, 0.03125" stepover, and cut depth of 3/16". Except for the perimeter cuts it rarely got close to 200 ipm. I probably could have set it to 400 ipm and the results would have been about the same.

    My goal was to make it look old, somewhat weathered, like it had been discovered in the sand on Tatooine and had been there for years. In other words, 'pristine and perfect' was NOT my goal.

    The finishing steps were as follows - 1) two fairly heavy coats of Nitrocellulose sanding sealer, 2) one really heavy coat of Rust Oleum brown Hammered paint, 3) brushed thinned black acrylic into the recessed areas and wiped it off, 4) placed in oven at 170° for a couple of minutes and turned off but allowed the piece to stay in until the oven cooled, and 5) one good coat of Nitrocellulose semi-gloss followed quickly by a lighter dusting coat.

    The lacquer caused the underlying coats to crackle a bit and gave me the desired look, at least I am pleased with the way it came out.

    On the CNC -
    001 - Star Wars Aztec calendar, on the CNC.jpg

    Two coats of sealer -
    002 - Star Wars Aztec calendar, two coats sealer.jpg

    Brown Hammered paint -
    003 - Star Wars Aztec calendar, brown Hammered paint.jpg

    After black acrylic and wiped off -
    004 - Star Wars Aztec calendar, black acrylic paint, wiped off.jpg

    Aged look -
    005 - Star Wars Aztec calendar, aged look.jpg

    Aged look close up -
    006 - Star Wars Aztec calendar, aged look close up.jpg

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

  2. #2
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    Wow! That's really awesome! (Wish you did it in Vectric so I could steal it from you LOL)
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    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  3. #3
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    Even easier, Jim - I just emailed the dxf file to you.

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

  4. #4
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    I love the finish you gave it. I made one last year with a simple blue aniline dye on mdf.

    Jim, you're welcome to the crv file.
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  5. #5
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    I'm happy to get the CRV, too, Bruce. I do plan on cutting this gem! I have a "regular" Aztec calendar I downloaded sometime ago but love the Star Wars theme here!
    --

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

  6. #6
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    It should be in your mail box.
    Please help support the Creek.


    "It's paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn't appeal to anyone."
    Andy Rooney



  7. #7
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    Indeed it was. It's now on the "cut for me" list!
    --

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

  8. #8
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    There are dozens of these Aztec style calendars available in a variety of styles.

    Firearm Calendar.jpg

  9. #9
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    That's pretty neat, Keith. I may have to check some out to see what else I might want to cut.

    Busy morning cutting Longworth chucks and Star Wars Aztec calendars. I cut three 12" calendars and one 9" calendar.

    Two of the 12" calendars were cut with a 60° bit, one at 250 ipm followed by the next at 125 ipm. In some of the details I can see pieces broken so I slowed it down to see if the feed rate had anything to do with it - it didn't. And it only made about 3 minutes difference in the total time because it never gets up to 250 ipm except when cutting the groove around the perimeter.

    So I switched to a 90° bit and all the cuts came out much better and no pieces broken. In the end, given the way I will paint and distress these, it's not going to make any real difference anyway, but I just want them to be as close to perfect as I can get.

    A couple of hours cutting calendars produced this -
    008 - Busy morning cutting calendars.jpg

    Tomorrow I'll do my finish and see how these come out.

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

  10. #10
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    Awesome work. Love it! I'd love the files also please if you don't mind.

  11. #11
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    Thanks, Ronald! PM sent.

    Rain interrupted my finish so it didn't crack like I wanted but they still look good.

    Three 12" and one 9" (had a piece of MDF left over) -
    009 - 12's and a 9 inch.jpg

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

  12. #12
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    I can't remember where I found this picture but it is one of the best Star Wars Calendars I have seen. I assume it was done on laser engraving material.

    Aztec Darth Vader Calendar.jpg

    In case there are a few that don't know about routing plastic companies like Johnson's Plastics offers a variety of plastic sheets that you can CNC Route, not just material for laser engraving.

  13. #13
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    I am constantly amazed at the talent & skills the members have. The design is really cool & the finishing is outstanding.

  14. #14
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    King Tut Calendar

    Can't remember if anyone has shared this calendar.
    I also have a copy of the Batman calendar but the file is way to large to upload. When i get a few minutes I will import the file into a program on my CNC computer and see if I can get a new file that is small enough to upload.
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  15. #15
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    Cool file, Keith! Any chance you can do it as a dxf file, as well?

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

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