templates for an electric ukulele vs my concert ukulele. Going for the tiny metal look. Will use the templates to shape the neck and body in final thickness (remember maslow is great for greating which templates for traditional routing). I’ll post more when (if) I finish it!
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Cut this octopus out for the kiddlywinks school “under the sea” christmas parade float (along with a hammerhead shark, dolphin & sperm whale)
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It’s that time of year again! Or at least someone in my house claims it’s after Halloween, so time to change the lawn decorations to something that is somewhat similar in nature to the fine work exhibited by @Sharpsburg_Woodworke in this very thread. Going old school yard art was a big reason behind our acquisition of a Maslow.
These were cut from 1/2 inch MDF, coated with 3 coats of latex primer, then a final coat (some areas 2 coats) of the finish latex paint.
Earlier in this thread @talyrath asked how well MDF would hold up to the elements when I debuted Snoopy Laying on a Pumpkin and @dlang expressed concerns over my choice of media. This fine piece of yard art was in the elements for 4 weeks, experienced temps from 17F to 95F (-7C to 35C), rain, ice, high winds and lots of sunshine. I am happy to report that Snoopy is still in great health and resting comfortably on his pumpkin waiting for next October to roll around. Based on what I have gleaned from my online searching, the key is to make sure the MDF is sealed from the elements and touch up any areas that might have gotten nicked/dinged before displaying them outdoors. Better yet, if you can get MDO or waterproof MDF near where you live, do yourself a favor and avoid the question altogether!
Some “behind the scenes” pics:
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Really nice work!
I am glad to see the sled can go over the large pockets without having issues.
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These look fantastic! They are right out of the comic…so cool to see in real life 
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My God, I might actually have to cut my front yard weed forest and make these to display. They are awesome!!!
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It’s a PTO belt pulley.
That goes on this angled PTO pulley drive:
That goes on my willys 1946 CJ-2A
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What a gorgeous jeep!
How does the pulley work? Do you wrap a rope around it a few times and then tail as it winches?
@ymemag - No pressure, but…
Here’s a link an Easel project of the Snoopy Christmas Doghouse Scene.
And here’s a link to the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree Scene.
A few notes:
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I cut these in 1/2" MDF and this is what the links above are setup to produce gcode for. I plan to use 5/8" MDF when I cut new scenes next year.
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I would suggest you separate each piece into a separate design and not attempt to cut them all in one go. Cutting the pockets is a fairly slow process; IIRC, the doghouse was about 6 hours of cutting time and Snoopy was a little over 2 hours. I have tried to place the designs so that it is relatively easy to select them one at a time given Easel’s limited selection tool capabilities. If you wish to avoid the time required for the pockets, @Sharpsburg_Woodworke has posts that describe cutting an outline and using a marker.
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Getting flat bottoms on the pockets requires good dust collection (I use a Dust Deputy connected to a shop vac) to prevent sawdust from building up and raising the sled at unpredictable locations as well as a sled that does not rock side-to-side very much when the pull on the sled switches from the left motor to right motor (and vice versa).
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MDF works when properly painted so that it is sealed from the elements (discussed above). For us, it was the only practical local choice. There are better choices particularly if you can get something void free made with exterior grade glue.
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This was a “learning by doing” project, so there are some clear differences in the detail on each character, particularly on the black outline thickness. The doghouse scene was done last and IMHO has the best balance of detail and outline thickness.
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I love to see your work. The cutouts are amazing and I love to see someone pushing this further. I have thought about cutting pockets because it would be easier to paint. I look forward to see what you are going to make next.
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It worked with an old style belt.
CJ-2A was the first civilian Willys Jeep, just after WWII. It was a sort of agricultural work horse concept.
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That is awesome! I was imagining something more like a conventional cable winch, this is way cooler.
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So clean! Nice work.
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We used to run a saw just like that to cut fire wood at a farm I worked on in High School. Soooo sketchy, but I don’t think there were any accidents in the ~50years they’d been using it. I think it was just so obviously dangerous that everyone was especially cautious anywhere near it.
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After a longer period of not posting anything and alot of struggle with my maslow (details later in another Thread probably 
) I wanted to share my last progress with the small ludo game I programmed.
It was my first experience with a 1.5mm drill bit I ordered on Amazon.
Still having some problems to get round circles for small circles, the one or the other will recognize it but i think its kind of charming for this project . But my maslow still is very “non professional”-calibrated and build… need to improve it alot in the future.
But I just want to use that machine thats the point 
Next step is sanding and then wait for the epoxy for my first experience with that.
Hopefully I get it done by Tuesday! 
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Cool! If you have a planer you can plan off the excess epoxy. Otherwise I think I would put some 80 grit on a random orbital sander to get most the bulk off then work up to some finer grits.
In other news, I’m very much liking General Finishes Arm-R-Seal satin as a wiping varnish. Goes on so easy and looks really great!
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Thanks for your ideas!
I do have a planer but I am a little scared that the wood will break because it’s a glued wood and not a single peace so I think my planer (it’s 40 years old) is a little to rough.
But I think the orbit sander is the way for me to go!
For the final finish I think I will use a oil that is nature based because of course the game is a present for a younger generation
Really looking forward to seeing this once it is sanded! Looking good so far.