Hawaiian Treasure

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workinforwood

workinforwood

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Joined
Mar 1, 2007
Messages
8,173
Location
Eaton Rapids, Michigan, USA.
This is a piece of tropical Almond I managed to salvage at a beach in Hawaii last year. It was basically a rotten stump. I cast it with some gold and jade alumilite which did a nice job of stabilizing the rot. I was saving this pirate clip from Bruce Robbins for just the right pen and for me, this was the one. I also engraved my company name on the pen. It's the first time I ever engraved something, and it came out real nice. I'm definitely going to load all my pens I make in the future, as I think it looks great and is better than any business card.

Sorry I struggle with photography.

treasure1.jpg


treasure2.jpg


treasure3.jpg
 
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Very nice Jeff, and the engraving sets it apart that little bit more. Don't carry it onto a plane or security will claim it as a weapon with that clip ... very cool.

Bruce
 
really beautiful, nice color, clip is nice and I like the bands..

jeff, can I humbly beg you to help me run my cnc machine?

I have a sherline with original cnc motors and controller, with their PC. including CNC 4th axis (I also got a cnc sherline lathe, but I still need to refurbish that one).

I don't think I want to use the included EMC software bundled with linux: there is so much to learn already I don't feel like having to learn a new OS. also, I understand that EMC does not do 4th axis, so I would have to anyway figure out a different software.

right now I'm leaning towards installing windows instead of linux, and getting mach3 (I understand that a version of mach3 can be purchased which is preconfigured for the right pins and ports) I think I saw you are a member of mach3 forum as well (showing off your dragon pen, eh eh).

at work I run a powerful 5'x12' Axyz CNC router, for flat work (mostly plastic sheet), and I use mostly some simple software to program it: an old corel draw and sketchup. for some more complicated stuff we have artcam, but again only for flat work, or 2.5D. so I have access to that. but can artcam even be used for 4th axis?

I would much appreciate your input. I don't know if you prefer PM or perhaps direct email, but I always like to post in public to help any future member.

thank you, and if you ever come to our side of the border you are more than welcome to my home for some hot maple syrup...
 
I appreciate the compliments Alex, but I am definitely not qualified to help you. I am hardly qualified to run my own equipment! I've been fighting this machine for probably 6 months and am just finally getting some comfort level. My machine is nothing like a Sherline. I've seen them, but know nothing really about them or how they work or what software they use. I have $3000 invested in software and nobody here knows how to use it either..everyone seems to have their own different software. All I can do is encourage you to be persistant and never stop asking questions. It sounds like you know far more about cnc than I do, you just need to adapt to this new machine is all, find the people that use that machine and connect with them. My talent lies more in idea's than it does with computer stuff.
I don't think there's any mach 3 that's really preconfigured for you. You have to get with your machine manufacturer to find out all the specs and pin and ports, and then mess with it and pull out a few pounds of hair to get there.
 
workinforwood said:
This is a piece of tropical Almond I managed to salvage at a beach in Hawaii last year. It was basically a rotten stump. I cast it with some gold and jade alumilite which did a nice job of stabilizing the rot. I was saving this pirate clip from Bruce Robbins for just the right pen and for me, this was the one. I also engraved my company name on the pen. It's the first time I ever engraved something, and it came out real nice. I'm definitely going to load all my pens I make in the future, as I think it looks great and is better than any business card.

Sorry I struggle with photography.
Click to expand...

Great Pen Jeff....!:wink:

I'm a little curious about the black type filling that is seen within the blank, particularly on the second pic, You say that you used yellow(ish) type colours on the alumilite so, and unless you done some prior filling before the casting, the visual result is most deceptive but, very beautiful, nevertheless...!:biggrin:

Cheers
George
 
George, the black is mold or spalt in the wood. The wood was like a stump. It was not sliced with the grain, it was sliced across the grain because that gave me the most yield...it wasn't a huge stump to begin with, I brought it back in my suitcase. That would explain why the mold lines travel in strange directions on the pen.
 
Jeff, That is an absolutely gorgeous pen!! Love the clip and I can see the engraving becoming your trademark!!! Thanks for sharing! Regards, Doc:smile:
 
Great looking pen Jeff. Found beachwood turned out real nice. Makes me want to tell the wife she can't go to the coffee shop for the next 2 years and get a CNC machine with the savings. On second thought I'd be lucky if I lived long enough to turn it on so I'll just enjoy the stuff you guys make.
 
johncrane said:
Very nice pen Jeff the beach wood was a good find,also nice colors you used,what type of metal did you use for the pen parts.
Click to expand...

This pen is aluminum. It's a nice light weight easy to use and cheap to buy material, so I really like it a lot. It's more difficult using wood instead of plastic though, as you need to undercut the wood a touch without hitting the metal so that you can apply your CA finish and have an even pen. I do not like finish on metal, it's too risky it may flake or chip off some day.

The engraving is exciting to be able to do. I did another pen, found a super micro ball bit and cranked the speed up to 20,000 rpm and it really makes a big difference, super smooth cuts. It's a real bonus to be able to run a machine that fast as the super tiny bits seem to work better the faster you can spin them. Starts to sound like a jet turbine in the shop when you really crank that up. Takes about 12 minutes to engrave my company name over 3 passes, 1/32 deep.
 
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