I was surprised to find that, as I started, I couldn’t even view the website because the hosting company had updated some software without updating all the requisites so the site didn’t even work!  Sigh…

In any case, if you’ve been one of the ones who have been checking in, I apologize for letting this languish and will try to do better in the future!!!

The map covers most of Penobscot Bay, from Owl’s Head to the mouth of the Penobscot river at Sandy Point, with Camden on the West side, Castine on the East.  You can easily make out Belfast, Camden, and Rockport Harbors, Lincolnville Beach,  Vinalhaven & North Haven, Islesboro, and Castine as well as the coastline around Searport.

Corner view of box with carved terrain map.

Opposite corner of box with terrain map.

View showing interior of box with Mahogany lining.

Top view of terrain carving of Penobscot Bay on Corian.

How could I refuse?

These were engraved and cut into 3mm Baltic Birch plywood with my CO2 laser and then sanded and finished with a clear coat of water based varnish.  I made 18 of these so that all the kids would get one.  Great fun!

Batch of 12 Valentine’s Day ‘Cards’ drying in Finishing room.

I figured a nice Brass Knob would look good.   Something with a nice smooth curve and a polished look.  As I thought about it, however, I realized using the Lathe cross slide controls would make it very hard to get a smooth continuous curve.  Reading up on this kind of turning I learned that smooth curves like this, if not cut on a CNC lathe, are generally turned freehand.  I’ve done enough wood turning so I thought I’d give it a try…

Brass Knob with initial curves established.

Heck, that wasn’t so hard…  Let’s continue…

Brass Knob, all turned and polished, ready to be parted.

Here is the setup of the support I used to freehand turn the brass knob. The carbide turning gouge rest on the 123 block held in place with the magnet.

Brass Knob, ready to be removed from the brass rod stock.

Finally, with the knob left with just a little nub at the bottom of the base, I needed to make a clamp that would hold the knob while I machined the base.  I couldn’t use the vice directly on the soft brass, so…

First time I used the Boring head with the new MT2 post I got as a Christmas present. I needed the adjustable boring head to machine a two level hole exactly the same diameters as the brass knob.

Cross-section view of the clamp. Note the two tiers of diameters so the knob is held tightly at top and bottom without marring the polished surface.

Here is the knob, clamped on the Mill so that the nub can be milled off and a threaded hole can be machined exactly into the center of the base.

And here is the result!

Bandaid Dispenser upgraded with Brass Knob!

Here is this year’s line up:

Continuing the tradition of the annual collection of Ornaments:

Then, on with the gifts…

Advent Calendar, given in November. Santa moves across the board on each day of December.

Wall Art, ready to be framed.

Sign to go on my granddaughter’s playroom or bedroom door.

Two sided maze. Ball falls through to other side to continue the path to finish.

Cheeseboard to match kitchen decor.

Carved/Turned Box. Made with Corian and Cherry wood.

Bandaid Dispenser positioned near the Workshop to Office door!

The box was made of 3mm acrylic, cut on my CO2 laser and ‘melded’ together with acrylic solvent.

Part of that is due to the waste board that I have installed on the bed.  That consumes about 19mm of height.  But even accounting for that, most of the Z travel capability is unusable because the Z Post hangs so low.

After exploring various options for getting more Z range, I decided that lifting the whole top transport assembly 50mm would give me a enough range without introducing much risk or losing a noticeable amount of rigidity.

So, using my NEW Mini Mill, I was able to fabricate the pieces to add a rigid lift.  Here’s the new look:

Whole Router transport lifted 50mm.

Lift Corner Block

Lifter Parts

The good/bad part of this style is that most of the woodwork is curved, with very few straight lines.  I concluded that, to keep the proper flow and sweeps AND still have all the interlocking joinery line up, the framework, at least, needed to be cut on a CNC Router.  Cool, I’ve got one of those

To make a VERY LONG story shorter, I did some trial cuts of some of the longest parts in January of 2019.  From these experiments, I realized that the CNC router needed to be larger to reliably make the parts.  Consequently the project languished until I finally upgraded my CNC Router to a larger, more solid, one this year.  This spring I made the base, then made the top, and left the pieces to cure over the Summer while we were in Maine.  When we returned, and got some time, once Kate & Paul’s Wedding reception was completed, I did the final finishing, assembly, and installed it in our Living Room.  I’m quite pleased with the result:

Completed Coffee Table installed in Living Room.

Coffee Table right view, ready in shop.

Coffee Table, Left view, ready in shop.

Coffee Table base, all assembled, ready for finishing.