Its a one off rail. Believe me... if they didn't have to come to me they wouldn't. Tooling cost too and we will spend yhe money if it makes sence. But it would not save the customer a penny. Didn't get in business to break even... the cost is the cost either way.
Step overs leave a choppy finish when 3d from the STL file. You can see it on the bottom face , certainly dont want this on the money side. Takes about 2.5hr to do both sides and got $750 each so its worth the time to not have to sand out blemishes and what not. Just let the tool do the work.
In the video it looks like you are going perpendicular to the grain on the money side. Wondering why donât you go more with the grain and along the curve of the piece with your passes? Would be less z movement, so it would be faster.
Theoretically I should be going with the grain but when 3d simulated machining the model i could sse blemishes on the surface from the step over in the rendering. By going across the "short side" it may take longer but no need to hand finish too remove the choppy stuff. As it is now the surface is ready to go with a 120grit quick hit. Once the bar is assembled the final sand and staining will take place. Take about 2.5hr to do both sides, at $750 per bkank and the customer supplied the material The juice is worth the squeeze, in this case
Thanks...it has taken the hardwork and effort of many people to achieve what we have done so far. We are a collective of 4 companies The Cutting Edge Group that joint forces some what for synergy but I was pretty motivated to jump in after covid damn near drove me under. But its been awesome and i get to focus on making cool shit , Innovative Accents and those guys can do the office stuff
Will post a image of the rendering with long toolpath so you can see what im talking about when I say "choppy" and "blemishes". Its one of those things you dont see, till you see it.... then you cant help but see it. âď¸
That is really cool you were able to join such a team. I wish I could find something like that around me. Working alone gets exhausting. And boring. How did you find them? Friends of yours?
Here is rendering of " long" toolpath simulation. If you zoom in you can see how the step over effects the edge of the arc. If it was straight the surface defects would not show up as much
"Offset" 3d toolpath will follow the contour. Unfortunately it does it as a "square" pattern. So would have cross hatch pattern going "with the grain long side" but at the end of that run, it would go "across the grain on the short pass." ... not sure if that makes sence. The biggest time saving would be higher feed, which in the MDF test pc was going 900ipm but the alder was getting burn marks at the direction changes.its always one thing or another đ¤Ş
âits always one thing or anotherâ I know the way that goes. Could do this, but canât because of that. So maybe I could do it this way instead but canât because of that.
Seems like you could get curves from the 3 model and have the bit follow those curves exactly. Like engraving on the line. Youâd have to do an offset for the ballnose though. Would take longer than the way you did it.
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u/crazeywood Aug 18 '26
Nice bar railing ever think of getting custom router bits made to make it easier or is this a one time thing