Stan Kern - Velero

I have been in the furniture building and design business since 1972 and have always drawn up my own plans. In 2008 I purchased the 4x8 CNC machine with a router 3.25 hp and then added a fourth axis myself for Rockwell lathe (indexer).

My interests are in computers and woodworking, CNC brings that all together, so it was a perfect fit for me.

We wanted to hear more about why he decided to create the boat…

I was looking for something large enough to use and utilize the 4 drawing boards I have, so a boat came to mind as it is the right kind of size and as I have made three boats before I have insight into what worked well in the past.

After coming up with the idea and getting the materials together, Stan went to work planning and designing the project…For the design of the boat, I used some 1950 pdf plans I had of the boat I wanted to make. To digitize the plans, I printed them out full size and traced around them on John Walsh’s Logic Group drawing boards (4 of them called jumbo boards). This enabled me to output them as *.dxf files which I could then import into the Vectric software for cutting on the CNC. In the software, I nested all the various parts to be cut to make the best use of the material.

The materials I used for the project were: oak plywood, fir plywood, basswood, and spruce all from local source and stock inventory.

Stan then went onto talking about cutting the project…

I do not run my CNC machine at full speed as I own it and do not want to break it for the sake of running it at full speed. I normally cut my projects slowly at around 70-80 in/min and the speed at 19000 rpm which works for me. I normally use a ¼ USA end mills solid carbide bit for cutting projects.Stan explained why he did not apply any finish to the boat and if there was anything he would have done differently…

The whole idea of the project was to show the drawing digitized and converted to cad (dxf format) to create a toolpath to cut the parts. This is why I took the project to 75% to show this process.

Looking back, I would not do anything differently. This was the fourth boat I have drawn up, digitized the plans and cut the parts on the CNC and it all went to plan.

We then asked Stan if he has any tips or advice to fellow makers…

If you want to trace and digitize plans, then using the drawing board is a very easy and efficient way to output them as *.dxf files. These files can then be easily edited and checked using Aspire.

I have found Aspire to be very good for what I do which includes: plasma cutting, cutting vinyl graphics, CO2 laser cuts and using the CNC router. Aspire saves me from learning many pieces of software for various machines and tasks.El arduo trabajo de Stan sin duda ha dado sus frutos y se refleja en este proyecto y, con suerte, en muchos más por venir. Antes de despedirnos de él, le preguntamos a Stan qué planes tenía para el futuro.…

También quería compartir un caballo de madera de tamaño natural (10,5 palmos de altura) que construí, dibujé y recorté utilizando un proceso similar al del barco. Lo llamé "Penetangore" y ahora está en una pequeña granja.

En cuanto a mi próximo proyecto, estoy considerando un bote de remos europeo si encuentro buenos planos o diagramas.

Queríamos agradecer enormemente a Stan por tomarse el tiempo de hablar con nosotros sobre su proyecto, lo que nos permitió inspirar a nuestra comunidad a probar algo nuevo. Si tienes una historia que te gustaría que publicáramos, ponte en contacto con nosotros escribiendo a online@vectric.com. Nos encantaría saber de ti.