any idea how I can make something like this?

[J4m3sg]

Hi all, bit of a departure from my last few requests - anyone know how I can make something like this?

http://previews.123rf.com/images/zoomzo ... slamic.jpg

Obviously the image above is in stone, but is there a way I can recreate in wood without carving for hrs and hrs?

I'm a bit of a whizz with a computer so I could easily get the design done and transferred to the surface, it's just a case of making it 3D. Not sure if this is a job for some kind of cnc machine, or if it can be done with chemicals somehow.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance

Jim

 

[Adam9453]

cnc router is what you need

 

[sunnybob]

or a couple thousand hours on a scroll saw.
Or, buy it on your next holiday to the middle east.

 

[ardenwoodcraft]

+1 for cnc router. It could be done on a scroll saw but would take a long time to cut and would then need to be fixed to a backing board. Depending on how big you want it, it may have to be cut in sections and fixed together. It could of course be carved by hand, but as you say, that would take a long time. Certainly a lot longer than a scroll saw or cnc router.

 

[Jelly]

I'd have thought a router would struggle with that level of detail.

Laser cut from a thinish (5-8mm) veneer and glue to substrate would be my approach.

 

[monkeybiter]

If you weren't set on wood you could etch the design on metal, e.g. copper sheet. Resolution would be as good as your printer.

 

[Inoffthered]

I'd have thought a router would struggle with that level of detail.

Laser cut from a thinish (5-8mm) veneer and glue to substrate would be my approach.

I think you would be able to do it easily with a CNC router.

If you have a look at this link
https://discuss.inventables.com/t/new-c ... year/18302

you will see an Aztec sun stone carved using an X Carve CNC router.

 

[acewoodturner]

Thats one for a laser for sure unless its a full size sheet of mdf then a cnc cutter couldnt get in and make the fine internal corners. It would take a while to cut on the engraver but with the image in the right format, its something I could do.

Mike

 

[Jelly]

I'd have thought a router would struggle with that level of detail.

Laser cut from a thinish (5-8mm) veneer and glue to substrate would be my approach.

I think you would be able to do it easily with a CNC router.

If you have a look at this link
https://discuss.inventables.com/t/new-c ... year/18302

you will see an Aztec sun stone carved using an X Carve CNC router.

It's done a reasonably good job of that Aztec sun, achieving the sharp corners by using a v-shaped bit and bringing the z-axis up to make it finer, very clever and replicates the effect of a relief carving done with just a v-tool and skew quite nicely.

But, the Islamic carvings shown have the fielding defined very strongly by straight cuts, not chamfered ones, so you'd be stuck with using as small a cutter as you could get away with and tidying up the rounded bits with a skew chisel. Max resolution 1/16" and that's a very fragile cutter, laser will cut a 5-pointed star 2mm in height, with sharp points.

It's not that you can't do it with a router, but that when looking at using very expensive machines or sending work out to be done by a specialist, you might as well pick the best suited technique... In this vein, AceWoodturner makes a good point, laser etching, would also work even better than laser cutting it as an applied fretwork, depending how deeply you wanted to carve away (the ultimate depth would be governed by what range of depths the optics could focus to over several succesive passes).

Edit: Reading the posts below the image, that carving required four hundred thousand lines of g-code (i.e. Individual instuctions) to do, that sounds like it's painfully in need of optimisation (most likely in describing curves). By contrast, machinists making parts for jet engines and other heniously curved 3D objects would consider 400 lines to be a big file.

 

[oakmitre]

Depends what level of quality you are after.

If you don't horizontal mind lines on the vertical walls

Using a cheap laser cutter you could out of opaque acrylic:
-Cut series of 3mm or so 2D images, with 2 holes for an alignment pins in each distinct discontinuous area (each island if you like)
-In a solid base cut only the holes for the alignment pins.
-In the top layer, no alignment holes
-Put long alignment pins into the base and slot the pieces down the pins to build up layers.Once it fits nicely, cut the pins flush to the next to top layer.Then assemble the entire thing with acrylic glue,carefully adding the top layer later.

Lasered wood (laser ply) would (even with compressed air blowing on the edges) have some laser burn on the edges, and the depth is effectively limited due to this burning effect in solid wood.You would probably have to do the same as with plastic and laminate layers of laser ply.

For chemical etching in metal- after a few mm, a serious undercutting effect would develop, it would be very difficult grow a deep straight wall. I suppose it could be done be very carefully applying resist to the walls as they developed and then re etching - but you would grow a very long Islamic beard by the time you had finished.

Water jet cutting - expensive - is amazing and could produce what you want. It has very deep cutting power,a beautiful clean edge.It would require working very closely with a company though.

If you are interested in these patterns in general - have a look at 'Taprats', it can make some nice patterns.

 

[Graham Orm]

No idea other than a CNC, but it's nice to see another Stockport lad on here. Hazel Grove here. Did you know Paul Sellers is also from Stockport?

 

[J4m3sg]

Thanks as always to everyone for their thoughts. To be fair what I've shown is a very complicated example - I can probably simplify slightly to play to the strengths of the tools I'm using (hiring).

Will a laser cutter get me a v shaped cut in the same way that a router bit would? I guess the advantage of a laser cutter would be that I would have genuinely sharp corners, but if I routed the corner sharpness would be limited to the width of the bit?

Burn marks don't worry me unduly as I'm likely to put a finish of some sort on it.

If the above assumptions are correct I'm currently thinking laser etching/routing on a 3(ish) mm mdf/ply and applying to a substrate then finishing.

Last question - anyone know of anyone who provides these services in the manchester/stockport area?

Thanks everyone!

Jim