# A set of Eagles from the "New Toy"



## Lin (26 Jul 2007)

I set this eagle up this past Saturday and carved the one from pine first...to make sure I had the depths set right before I ruined a good piece of hardwood. It took just over an hour to carve at normal quality on the machine. The second one I did at best quality in pecan. It took almost two hours for the machine to carve it.
Pine Eagle is stained with red oak stain. Pecan eagle oiled with Watco Dannish oil. Both have a lacquer finish.
I'm having a blast with this machine....
Lin


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## Gill (26 Jul 2007)

WOW!

I want one of those machines!

:lol: 

How big are these carvings, Lin, and how deep are they cut?
Is it your own design?

Gill


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## Lin (26 Jul 2007)

The boards are approx. 11" x 11" square. The boards were both under 3/4" thick when I ran them. About .648" I think. The deepest part of the carving was set at .347" The highest point is right around the head beak area and its close to the face of the board...only took off .01" in that area.
I purchased this pattern. The software for this machine reads pics in shades of gray. White being the deepest cut to black being the upper most cut. You can of course invert it so it would be the opposite. Getting lettering to contour with in a graphics program using grayscale colors seem to be easy enough but a flat 2-D pic of something is not easy to make it look right when carved. The software doesn't at present read the cad/cam file formats...Something the company that builds it is wanting to do eventually. Folks are doing people photographs with it as lithopanes in plexi and corian and they look super shadow box style with a back light.
You don't have the contouring on the lithopanes like you see on the eagle.
I just order the probe for it so I can scan items and duplicate exiting items in wood. Still trying to learn Corel Draw hoping I can figure out how to contour some pics...maybe simple pics to get them to look right. Most of the patterns that are becoming available for it are being done thru the probe. Simple designs could be shaded in a graphics program and work but so far most have not been able to do a person pic carved in wood and it look right. I'm assuming eventually this machine will be available worldwide...just don't know when.
I wish you could be here Gill...and play...I can see us now..both with earmuffs on...cause it is loud when it runs...and both of us talking and not hearing each other at all... :wink: 
I find myself sorta mesmerize watching it run...when I could be doing other things while it runs...lol
Lin


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## jimp11 (26 Jul 2007)

we need a I had a machine do it for me board??/


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## Gill (26 Jul 2007)

jimp11":omq8exnc said:


> we need a I had a machine do it for me board??/


I can see where you're coming from :lol: . Lin's ventures are very much production machining, but they have implications for the rest of us which I think it's important to be aware of. Programmable routing is becoming affordable for the home user and it will have an impact on creative woodwork, whether we like it or not.

Gill


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## Brucio (26 Jul 2007)

Can't somebody invent a programmable scrollsaw?
Just throw a lump of wood on the table, toss in a picture, and press the button marked "Leave me alone to get on with it."
I want one of those...
brucio


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## Lin (27 Jul 2007)

Looks like I ruffled some feathers here...Sorry bout that. I thought there was an interest in what this new machine could do since it is priced for the average woodworker....and really isn't made for heavy produciton type work like the shotbots are.
Didn't mean to upset anyone. I'm just learning something new and having fun doing it.
Lin


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## Brucio (27 Jul 2007)

Sorry Lin, I didn't mean to offend you.
I'm just jealous....
Sometimes just the designing of something is more fun than the actual making of it.
Wouldn't it be nice if we could spend more time in the ideas department, and less time hacking at bits of wood?
Often I enjoy working out how things should work, more than than doing the actual work...
Bruce


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## Lin (27 Jul 2007)

Bruce, Actually it was jimp toes that I thought I had stepped on. Your post made me smile...thinking about how far scrollsaws themselves have come from the original hand fret saws that are still used today by many.
I do get more enjoyment from the scrollsaw, lathe, bandsaw in making a projects than the Compu-Carve. But the technology is out there and in my price range..so why not check it out. My plate is always full and I have very little time left. I would love to be able to hand carve like that but I just don't see me ever having the time until I retire.
Ya never know...someone might just come up with a programmable scrollsaw soemday.
Lin


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## Gill (27 Jul 2007)

For me, it's not the ability for the Compu-Carve to produce such a lovely relief carving as Lin's eagles - it's the potential the machine has to eliminate some of the more mundane woodworking tasks, especially cutting blanks and adding small details.

It's inevitable that some people will see this technology as undesirable and in many ways I have sympathy with their views. After all, woodwork is an activity that most of us feel should amount to more than factory milling. Nevertheless, we have to consider what sort of products people want; if we can get paid for giving them those products using a tool such as the Compu-Carve, surely it's an option we should consider? Of course, if we're producing woodwork for our own consumption we might prefer to use our manual talents. This machine gives us a choice of different production methods. Moreover, it expands the range of artifacts we can produce and may enable us to reach clients we couldn't access before. I'd rather let someone have a wooden drawer front with an eagle motif on it produced by the Compu-Carve than a fake stamped plastic drawer front.

What I think is fascinating, though, is the potential this machine has to add detail to wood blanks which a skilled scroller could then cut and join to make a multi-coloured piece of intarsia or segmentation. How this could be done without making the project look like a mish-mash is beyond my imagination, but I'm sure someone will soon develop a technique.

Gill


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## Lin (27 Jul 2007)

Gill, Another reason that I jumped at the Compu-Carve when I found out about it is my CNC background. I work at a die cast and precision machining factory and I deal with CNC's every day. I troubleshoot them and write some of the programming for them. I have often thought about trying to purchase a used cnc mill for use at home...so when this little bad boy came along...I started saving my pennies from day one that it was released for sale to the public. Took me many noths to save up enough...and my scrollsaw paid for most of it...A couple 60 hour work week helped out also. You ideas interest me girl...gotta think about it..
Lin


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## jimp11 (28 Jul 2007)

I'm started it now


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## Gill (28 Jul 2007)

You rascal!

:lol: 

Gill


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## jimp11 (29 Jul 2007)

Sorry no offence but what I do at work is set cnc machine's that take work from fellow workers .one machine dose 10 job's.10 machines ?????



just me jim. :twisted: :twisted:


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## Anonymous (29 Jul 2007)

jimp11":1qnd5g8m said:


> Sorry no offence but what I do at work is set cnc machine's that take work from fellow workers .one machine dose 10 job's.10 machines ?????
> 
> 
> 
> just me jim. :twisted: :twisted:



If you feel that strongly you could always consider a different job :wink:


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## jimp11 (29 Jul 2007)

27 years don,t know what to do next but retire?? :wink:


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