Best wood for this project? (Advice needed)

[HowdyMurph]

Hello,

I'm new to woodworking, having invested in a hobbyist CNC machine last year to try and get an idea off the ground. So far I've worked solely with 24mm thick Birch Ply & Poplar Ply but I'm wondering if there might be a more suitable material if anyone could suggest what may work well for this...?

I'm cutting batches of flower head shapes from thick ply on the CNC - I basically paint & varnish one face of a 24mm thick board, machine carve details into this painted face, profile cut the flower shapes out on the CNC and then round the backs of each on a lathe. I need to be able to produce >100 a day so need a really efficient finishing process for this to work!

Poplar ply - I love the appearance with the paler colour but it's hard to get a smooth finish as has a tendancy to tear out / get fuzzies so requires more finishing time.

Birch Ply - i'm not keen on the visible black lines between layers but i can get a cleaner finish faster so for a production situation would be better.

Is there something that would perform as well as the birch ply in terms of cutting cleanly and requiring little finishing time but have a more uniform pale appearance like Poplar? A manufactured board or a solid wood that could be bought in flat pieces under 3cm thick? (Also price is a factor - I'm paying around 200 quid for a full sheet of 24mm Birch Ply currently)

Alternatively is there anything I can do to the poplar to improve the finishing time / get it to cut more cleanly?

Thanks, Natalie

 

[recipio]

Ì would have a look blocks of Lime. Probably the best carving wood and easily a available.

 

[eribaMotters]

Natalie, are you using Birch plywood specifically sold for use on a CNC laser cutter. When I taught we sourced our material from K&M wholesale. It still burnt, but the result was better than the stuff supplied by local timber merrchant.
The other problem could be the thickness of material you are using. I'm guessing the cutter is either laser is either passing slowly or on a high power output, neither conducive to a burn free cut.

Colin

 

[Fitzroy]

Some kind of furniture board may be suitable, beech or maple?

 

[HowdyMurph]

Natalie, are you using Birch plywood specifically sold for use on a CNC laser cutter. When I taught we sourced our material from K&M wholesale. It still burnt, but the result was better than the stuff supplied by local timber merrchant.
The other problem could be the thickness of material you are using. I'm guessing the cutter is either laser is either passing slowly or on a high power output, neither conducive to a burn free cut.

Colin

Hi Colin sorry it wasn't very clear i'm not using a CNC laser i'm using a CNC router to be able to work with thicker wood!

 

[eribaMotters]

That's fine, please ignore what I've said.

Colin

 

[HowdyMurph]

Some kind of furniture board may be suitable, beech or maple?

Thanks for this I'm not familiar with furniture board are they a solid wood panel not a veneer? I've never worked with either beech or maple, i'll try and get some samples to see how it cuts on the CNC!

 

[TheTiddles]

One approach may be to change material, the other may be to change your design to best suit your available tools.

Is the fuzzy finish coming off the router or the lathe? If the former I’d suggest better tooling and cut speed

 

[HowdyMurph]

One approach may be to change material, the other may be to change your design to best suit your available tools.

Is the fuzzy finish coming off the router or the lathe? If the former I’d suggest better tooling and cut speed

Thanks for this, yes fuzzies are from the router... I've tried lots of iterations tweaking feeds / speeds and different router bits but with the poplar whatever i try it still requires some hand finishing. Someone told me Poplar is notorious for tear out etc on the cnc? Frustrating because I love the finished appearance!

 

[paulrbarnard]

Are the fuzzies on the whole edge or just the top/bottom edge? If just the edge you could try a down cut bit.

 

[HowdyMurph]

Are the fuzzies on the whole edge or just the top/bottom edge? If just the edge you could try a down cut bit.

thanks the top edge is clean - varnish on the top surface helps a lot with that. The fuzzies are in patches on the sides i think where the bit ends up cutting with the grain direction. Also get some in the V carve details which i can only get clean enough by spraying with sanding sealer and re running a finishing path. By comparison the birch i can get a really clean cut first time!

 

[Sean33]

Hello,

I'm new to woodworking, having invested in a hobbyist CNC machine last year to try and get an idea off the ground. So far I've worked solely with 24mm thick Birch Ply & Poplar Ply but I'm wondering if there might be a more suitable material if anyone could suggest what may work well for this...?

I'm cutting batches of flower head shapes from thick ply on the CNC - I basically paint & varnish one face of a 24mm thick board, machine carve details into this painted face, profile cut the flower shapes out on the CNC and then round the backs of each on a lathe. I need to be able to produce >100 a day so need a really efficient finishing process for this to work!

Poplar ply - I love the appearance with the paler colour but it's hard to get a smooth finish as has a tendancy to tear out / get fuzzies so requires more finishing time.

Birch Ply - i'm not keen on the visible black lines between layers but i can get a cleaner finish faster so for a production situation would be better.

Is there something that would perform as well as the birch ply in terms of cutting cleanly and requiring little finishing time but have a more uniform pale appearance like Poplar? A manufactured board or a solid wood that could be bought in flat pieces under 3cm thick? (Also price is a factor - I'm paying around 200 quid for a full sheet of 24mm Birch Ply currently)

Alternatively is there anything I can do to the poplar to improve the finishing time / get it to cut more cleanly?

Thanks, Natalie

Hi Natalie,
I’m not sure what you mean by round the backs on a lathe? But maybe an option would be Valchromat boards, do about a dozen different colours and is consistent through the core of the board, then maybe disc/belt sand the backs. Very easy to finish I have used both PU and Wax oils

 

[HowdyMurph]

Hi Natalie,
I’m not sure what you mean by round the backs on a lathe? But maybe an option would be Valchromat boards, do about a dozen different colours and is consistent through the core of the board, then maybe disc/belt sand the backs. Very easy to finish I have used both PU and Wax oils

Thanks for this, never heard of Valchromat, looks interesting! I'm using lots of very specific paint colours to make 'bouquets' so think the colour range would be too limited for this particular project but will look into it more!

Sorry I know it's hard to imagine what I mean by domed backs on the lathe, here's a couple of pics to give more idea. A finished bouquet and a comparsion of a flower made in poplar ply V birch.

Thanks, Natalie

 

[Sean33]

Thanks for this, never heard of Valchromat, looks interesting! I'm using lots of very specific paint colours to make 'bouquets' so think the colour range would be too limited for this particular project but will look into it more!

Sorry I know it's hard to imagine what I mean by domed backs on the lathe, here's a couple of pics to give more idea. A finished bouquet and a comparsion of a flower made in poplar ply V birch.

Thanks, Natalie

Ah got it now, get what you mean about the colours, also Valchromat wouldn't give you that change as the boards are pretty constant all the way through unless they were painted before hand to get the contrast, it would however eradicate the seen layers of ply on the backs
Sorry don't really know what to suggest for the back of the flowers using Ply, only thing I could think of is to try and spray the backs but it would add a lot of time to the process