Fail of the Week

[Jeremiad]

Fail of the Week. F-Up of the Week. Whatever you would like to call it.

I am going to start a Project of the Week thread as well, but if you are like me, I tend to make mistakes and fail before I figure things out to complete a project.

I think failures are learning points. Just another step in reaching your goal. People often omit their mistakes or failures, perhaps out of fear of ridicule, and I would encourage everyone to not make fun of what has been done, but offer advice on how to do it better.

I’ll start this off.

I’m doing three different bathroom renovations right now, and I have planned to build the vanity cabinets myself. I have used a combination of hand tools and the cnc machines to do them.

I decided that I wanted to try to make the drawers (at least the inside) on the cnc machine, and I attempted to use Box Maker in Easel, and I could cut to size and assemble with box joints and glue. It seemed simple, but wasn’t.

As you can see, my box joints don’t line up. I made some adjustments and recut it two or three more times before I said ‘to hell with it’, and just made dadoes for the pieces to go together.

These pieces don’t look great either, so I will redo it for the other drawer.

I suppose the lesson learned here is that there is always another way. Instead of fighting with the box joints that I didn’t understand, I switched to dadoes and had a working project on my next cut. I need to refine my design some more, but it is moving in the right direction.

[Betalombo]

He estado estudiando esa solución, los diseñadores le llaman “huesos” y se trata de añadir circulos a las esquinas de los ángulos internos, con un diámetro apenas un poco mas grande que la fresa que uses en el router. Con esta imagen me explico un poco https://pin.it/7vQckQqiC

[Orob]

congrats on the progression of using your tools. I think you have a great attitude to share the project and its failings and your intent in learning is to be applauded. It looks to me like you only had issue with that one piece and were pretty close. I’ve made a couple boxes with finger joints that are typically laser cut, but the trick is in the corners and getting the pattern to fit correctly. I typically draw a bunch of boxes and overlap and subtract them and then copy and rearrange. There has to be a faster way to do it and I thought I saw a box software link recently… if I can find it I’ll share.

[Jeremiad]

Has it been a week already? Time flies when you’re making junk.

I’d sure like to encourage some others to post some stuff up. Show us your fails, and how you resolved it.

Here’s a really simple one. I set up a cut and walked away, and when I came back to look at it, I was like “What the heck is that? That’s not what it is supposed to look like at all!” Well, in my haste, I forgot to secure the piece to the wasteboard, so the bit pushed the piece around, and this is what it was doing. Ugh.

Here’s another shot, if you zoom in a look at it, you can see the smoke coming out. It’s a good thing I caught it when I did. I sure wouldn’t want my F of the Week to be a picture of my burnt-down shop.

[TimS]

Got some nice smoke going there. Did the gcode finish and it sat they spinning the bit against the wood

[Jeremiad]

No. The board was not affixed to the wasteboard, so when the bit got deep enough it actually moved the piece, which made the cuts not line up any more. When it went to do the next pass even deeper, but on a fresh line, it was a bit too aggressive. I wasn’t far away so I literally heard it sound wrong and got over there to shut it down, but yeah it was smoking. Don’t leave your machine unattended. lol.

[Jeremiad]

Another week, and nobody else has had a fail? Man, I’m out on a limb here. lol.

Here’s my fail of the week.

I have been trying to do this carve for a while. This is my third attempt, and I am still not happy. It is still too deep and tearing out some of the lettering. So I will adjust and do it again.

What are you working on?

[jwolter]

My fail of the week is that I haven’t been able to make any time to get my M4 anchored and ready for calibration. Maybe this next week.

[Frank_Wiebenga]

I got a good one this week. Too hasty to upload gcode and send. Maslow put 4 holes in the concrete for me. lol

[tryon]

Didn’t notice the plug for the router had worked itself loose from the socket, router turned off mid cut, sled kept going, time for a new bit.

[jwolter]

Yeah, I’ve got one of those. I decided to experiment with how much I could push my depth and speed, because all I was getting was sawdust. I guess I pushed too hard. I set it aside for a few days while I waited for some more bits. Now the weather and life have kept me from trying again. Soon, though, I’ll give it another go.

Thanks for sharing your fail.

[md8n]

@jwolter

all I was getting was sawdust

Time for an el-cheapo single flute

[jwolter]

@md8n

Time for an el-cheapo single flute

Yeah, I bought a ten pack!

[Jeremiad]

I think this is my fourth or fifth attempt at this carve. I tried to use a harder wood (bamboo cutting board) and increased the size of the job to see if the letters would stay together better. I shouldn’t say that this was a complete failure because it really isn’t. Yes there is a small bit down in the bottom right corner that is too deep, but I can fill that or cut it out and salvage the rest. I’m just overall not satisfied with it, and will have to see what I can do to try to make it look better. I think I am going to set up my laser and try to burn it instead.

[bar]

From an outside perspective this looks gorgeous

[Andith]

What kind of bit are you using? That is a really tough cut given how small most of the cuts must be.

[Jeremiad]

For this attempt I used a Bosch 60 degree V-bit, at 0.3mm depth.

[Jeremiad]

Here’s an interesting F of the week, and I did say the F word. I did this on my little gantry machine not on a Maslow, but I thought you might appreciate it anyway.

I have a neighbor who is also a woodworker. He’s a young fella and only works with nice woods - mostly exotics. I have done a few carves for him, and when I order my M4 I will be ordering one for him too, lol.

He brought me a piece to carve a sign for him. He laminated (glued) three pieces of 4/4 mixture of Black Limba and Bloodwood and planed it down. I did a basic design for him for a frame and text, and when I was simulating it out, I found that a 1/4" shank 60 degree (1/2" shoulder) would carve the job in about 1/3 of the time that my usual 30 degree 1/8 bit that I use for nice details. I decided to give it a try.

I have carved on hardwoods lots of times. Each wood is a little bit different, and typically requires changing speeds and feeds to get things just right. Until this happened, the hardest wood that I have carved (and through-cut) was Red Zebrawood.

Anyway, on with the show. For this job I used a brand new Heentech 60 degree 1/4 x 1/2 x 27/64 V-bit.

The Black Limba carved just beautifully. Like, so smooth it doesn’t even need to be sanded or touched up. When it hit the Bloodwood, the machine audibly protested. I had to slow it down (like, a lot!), and it was rough cutting. Throughout the job, I could easily hear the difference every time it passed into the Bloodwood.

Okay, here are the fails. In the photo above, you can see the tearout in the Bloodwood, which is where I slowed it down. There is in fact a chunk that tore out in that lighter vein. I couldn’t even find it to try to glue it back in. lol.

I went to try another job, which I will detail in another post. I was about to calibrate Z, and the bit didn’t look right, so I pulled it off to inspect.

The tip is gone, and yes that is a tiny chunk that is missing, so it cuts funny. This bit is toast. Into the garbage it goes. Bummer.

[Orob]

This thread name made me laugh. I scrolled back a couple pictures and found one. I was cutting out christmas nativity pieces with the maslow and the bit was dull and the edges were tearing and fraying a bit, so I decided to hit them with the belt sander, but my hoodie wanted in on it.

[Andith]

@Orob

so I decided to hit them with the belt sander, but my hoodie wanted in on it.

I’ve got holes in the cuffs of several sweaters from clipping the belt sander (different sweaters, different times, same dumb problem).