I finally got to the point after running the latest 0.75 firmware and putting the machine through a lot of test runs with a marker that I was willing to risk cutting wood. I’ve been wanting to carve this sign for a friend since March - it feels good that the software has improved significantly and now I’ve been able to cut it without issues. And I ended up needing to cut it twice since I didn’t have the depth of cut set right to cut the outside circle - that meant resetting the machine before the first and second pass, retract/extend/tension and moving it back to Home. It homed to exactly the right spot (I’d put a drill spot in the gcode at 0,0 so I knew where it was) and carved the second pass exactly over the first pass. So good to see that.
The story about it is that I have a friend who will only drink Miller Lite. His last name is Minkel so I wanted to design a sign for his shop that captured that theme. I was able to find the Miller Lite font online and used it to design the sign in Easel.
Now time to paint it.
Side note: I added a MagFitt dust collector coupler to the printed 4" dust collector port. It works wonderfully and really makes it easy to attach and remove the dust collector hose from the machine. (MagFitt link)
I like that magnetic connector. Seems like the printed dust adaptor could be modified to include the metal ring in it to reduce the need for the additional part.
I wish I had thought of that idea! Now that I have them, I don’t need to make another (and they are relatively cheap by Woodcraft standards) but if we have a rainy day soon I might just model something and try it out.
While not the first cut on the machine it is the first long-duration and large-scale cut. Went with 1-inch foam cut down and glued together for a test. The final is 3 ft x 3 ft x 1.5 in and took just over 10 hours. No issues with EMI causing errors, I was using a 4-inch dust collector the whole time, nongrounded hose.
Overall I had to do to many bit changes; 1/4, 1/8,1/16, 0.5mm ball, and a 90 deg V to try and get all the details. Also some bad choices on cut paths in Fusion. The longest duration cuts were 3d pockets which created a lot of wasted time after the initial rough out at 1/4. Switching to 2d pocket cuts after the initial rough out and targeting where the smaller bits need to go to make a visual difference will cut the machine time down.
I did something similar on my original Maslow years ago but cut each top layer in a different piece of thin plywood and then glued them together. I would love to 3d carve it in one nice, thick piece of wood.
My very first M4 cut was a simple bucket lid. Just a trial after getting the machine setup and calibrated.
(My two helpers)
The second cut I made on the M4 was a simple hexagon shape. The bucket lid and hexagon were the first two things I designed using Onshape while learning the software, and first things that I experimented with in Kiri:Moto. My wife and I sometimes say to each other “your’re my bestagon” (inspired by the popular CGP Grey video) so I thought it would be nice to cut her a hexagon.
Overall, I’m impressed how nice the hexagon shape turned out. Only real issue is the little notches the M4 left at the start/end of each cut, which can be seen in the last two photos. I have lots of work to do to dial in the cutting speed, router speed and other settings to see if I can get rid of these artifacts and achieve nice straight lines.
