This summer we took a few trips on the Schooner Appledore out of Camden Harbor when friends and relatives came to visit. They were all fun trips.
CNC Router for the Little House in the Village!
Since I’ve become addicted to CNC Routing, I find that I can’t live without one during the Summer months that we spend at the Little House in the Village.
I looked into a couple of really inexpensive units based on the popular 3018 CNC platform. Unfortunately, the two systems I tried all suffer from a woefully inadequately stiff gantry. Any attempt to machine something that’s either hard or trying to cut quickly produces sloppy errors and poor cut quality due to shifting tool bit during the cuts.
Consequently, I decided to go back to OpenBuilds and get their C-Beam 1060. It’s larger that the 3018 and also much stiffer. The general design concept is the same however. The Gantry doesn’t move in the Y direction, but the work is held on a moveable platform to introduce Y displacement. This adds to the gantry stiffness and makes for a simpler Y transport. The downside is that the material is now held on a moving platform limiting the weight and size of the material that can be cut. These limits are fine for the Little House in the Village and this makes a useful tool to play with during the ‘cool’ Summers 
Here is what the unit looks like. I’m sure I’ll have more to show in the future!
Smaller CNC Router for the Little House in the VIllage.
Finally! A Laser for the LHV!
One of the things missing from my Workshop at LHV is a laser. I’ve gotten used to being able to use the one at HIW for making jigs, various engraving projects, and even cutting thin wood and acrylic for various projects. Prices have fallen and capabilities have increased on inexpensive Diode lasers to the point that I finally got one for LHV!
I purchased an NEJE Master 2S Plus 30W laser and added an Ortur Rotator:
NEJE Master 2S Plus laser with Ortur YRR Rotator attached.
While it can’t cut wood (very well) or do anything to acrylic (the light from the laser diode goes right through acrylic), it still is very useful for engraving. The nice thing about the open frame is that I can move it to the work, rather than having to have the work fit under the laser AND it is a larger exposure area than my CO2 Laser (420mmx255mm vs 300mmx200mm). Consequently, if I need to engrave something 6 inches thick, I can simply lift this frame over the workpiece and expose it. A 6 inch thick piece would never fit inside my CO2 laser.
Since this laser is much lower power and a safer wavelength than the CO2 laser, the open frame doesn’t pose any serious safety issue. I still wear protective glasses, but it’s much easier to manage.
The rotator is very flexible and with the work bench jig I made for it, I can hang the laser over the side and handle fairly large diameter objects. In the photo above you see a wine glass on the rotator.
Since the glass is clear, it will pass the laser light through, but, with the arcylic paint I sprayed on the glass, the paint absorbs the laser light and etches the glass. The process it pretty easy (once I tuned the technique) and here is the first useful result:
Prototype of Wine glass etched with Laser
The plan is to update our current glassware at LHV adding the logo to match some glassware our daughter gave us for Christmas.
Various Coasters
Having successfully found a method (see Gift for a good friend ) to create coasters with my Laser systems, I made a variety of coasters throughout 2021. Here is a sampling…
Coaster capturing one of Kate and Paul’s wedding photos. Here they had just ‘buried the whiskey bottle’. The photographer captured the iconic American Gothic theme… I made a set of these for Kate and Paul. I kept the ‘rejects’ ;-)
For guests to our house in Belfast.
Image to be laser printed on Ceramic coaster as gift to party host.
Thomas Whittier House on High Street, Belfast, Maine
Made for a good friend whose Grandmother owned the house when my friend was a child.
Negative Image on Slate. For a good friend.
Fun Nightlight!
As a birthday present for our granddaughter, I thought it would be fun to try an Edge Lit 3D nightlight. The piece is made from clear acylic, etched on the back side with a diamond tipped scribe driven by my CNC router. The base has a row of variable color LED lights and the etching is highlighted by the light coming up through the inside of the acrylic. There is a remote control to control the brightness and color of the light.
Our granddaughter loves it!
3D Edge Lit, Dolphin Jumping