Thursday, May 8, 2014

Silicon Valley

This is my latest CNC creation. The hairpin Silicon Valley circuit board USA table. My original plan was to make a small run and sell them online with a few different colors and wood species available. All CNC. Easy right? Wrong!
So usually I start projects, finish the prototypes and move on but I felt pretty strong about this one. Unfortunately I ran into the same problem over and over again. I wasted a lot of material on this project! The issue was cross grain tear-out. I used every different type of veneered plywood and 3 different V-bits sharp out of the box. I also experiment with different feed rates and spindle speeds on the CNC to no avail. The circuit board detail is v-carved with a small 60 degree V-bit. It cut very clean moving along the grain but the big problem was going against the grain. No matter what bit, speed or feed rate it tore out. It was very small but enough to notice once the circuit board was colored or even just clear coated. So long story short this here is one of the prototypes. The reason why it's so dark is because I hid some of the small tear-out along the end grain just to salvage this top. I stained it and toned it heavily. After throwing sheet after sheet in the bin you just want to keep something for your own peace of mind.
I haven't given up yet. My plan is to try screen printing the circuit board onto the top. Mel and I have  already taken a screen printing class. I got distracted and made Max some Minecraft shirts the other day instead of working on a huge circuit board screen but that's OK.
Here are the pictures of the table:








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