Dan Carves 3D Bowl

Dan opened the 3D mesh file in Cut3D and scaled the project to a width of 5.5" so it would fit onto the bed of his machine. Afterselecting 2 sided machining and adding tabs he calculated and previewed the roughing and finishing toolpaths.

“The 3D tolpath preview produced within Cut3D enables you to see how close it is to the actual machined part."

"I would say the results are exact!” Dan exclaims

The roughing cut was done using a 1/8 inch ball nose router bit at 10,600 RPM and 40 IPM. Dan explains,

“The travel cutting speed can be easily pushed faster, but I have the traverse set at 60 IPM to save wear and tear, so 40 IPM is a good working speed.”

“I used the same size cutter for the finishing cut but changed from a 40% stepover to 15 % stepover. Using the same cutter meant the program never had to stop from roughing to finish."

The bottom left corner image shown opposite shows the finished top side of the bowl. Dan specified an overcut gap round the piece and machined to a depth that is slightly more than 1/2 way through the 3/4 in thick board. The tabs held the part in place while roughing and finishing both sides.

Dan then machined the reverse side in exactly the same way as the front and the tabs held the piece in place once the tool cuts through to the other side of the material. The leaf was then sanded smooth and a single coat of shellac has been applied to both sides and buffed.

Many thanks to Dan for sharing this project with us. If you would like to see anymore of Dan’s other projects please visit his website at thehobbyistmachineshop.com.