Toothbrush support

On July 9, 2016July 9, 2016 By zenoIn Interior AccessoriesLeave a comment

This project is quick guide for a toothbrush support to hold your toothbrush and toothpaste. The support consists of a cylindrical wood cup which has an engraved image on the side.

Making the wood cup it’s a basic turning technique on the lathe so I’d rather focus on the CNC engraving part.This is my first CNC project where I’ll try to engrave a vector image to a cylinder using the CNC 4th rotary ax.

First I’ve created a cylinder block on the lathe, then mounted to the CNC chuck to do the engraving. Once this was done, I’ve mounted the work piece back to the lathe and turned the central hole. It’s simple as that !

Forgot to mention that after the engraving was done I’ve put some dark oak stain over the image which I’ve sanded down later, hopping to have a better contrast of the shape. Unfortunately this was not the case, if you look carefully the stain destroyed a bit image. Anyway overall the support look good and I’ll do it better next time.

… after a bit of sanding and finishing …

2016-07-05 20.06.28

Garage Workbench Lamp

On May 31, 2016May 31, 2016 By zenoIn Interior AccessoriesLeave a comment

In this post I’ll illustrate how to make a lamp for your wood workbench in a few steps. The lamp is only for workshop and it’s built mainly from leftover pine wood.

The most complex part is to make the lampshade, the rest is very basic stuff. To cut the shade I’ve glued together two circles, one with 25 cm and another with 15 cm diameter and turned them on the lathe.

Once the lamp shade was ready, I’ve glued a holder support to the bottom and drilled a hole for the bulb.

I’ll jump to the final product now and I’ll skip the lamp stand building part because it’s a very basic boring woodworking task.

Here we are, this is the workshop lamp which can be easily fixed in the workbench dongles and rotated in any direction and angle.

2016-03-01 20.06.11

Walnut butcher board

On May 9, 2016June 2, 2016 By zenoIn Interior AccessoriesLeave a comment

You can find many butcher board on the internet posted all over the places, so I’ve decided that I have to make one as well. Recently I’ve bought some walnut lumber which was just perfect for this job. I do not really like the convectional / rectangular cutting boards so I’ve designed one with an irregular shape and used the CNC router to perform the cut.

The walnut I’ve used was 15 mm thick and the size of board was roughly 15 cm x 30 cm (incl. the handle).

There is not much to say about this project as the machine does the whole job, so I’ll post a couple of picture from different stages of the process.

I’d like to highlight the fact to pay attention to the right finish. If your cutting will be used in the kitchen your finishing mineral oil must be food safe (non-toxic).

…. and the final product looks like:

2016-05-09 21.55.18

Amazing wood cup pads

On February 28, 2016February 28, 2016 By zenoIn Interior AccessoriesLeave a comment

Hi !

Back in December I’ve bought my first CNC machine and I’m very product to publish this post to show what I’ve realized until now. I’m new to the CNC word so it took a while to get familiar with the basics.

Introduction to the CNC world

Before I jump to the project I’d like to write a few words about the CNC.

For those who has no idea about what is a CNC here is a short description:

The CNC (Computer Numerical Control) is one in which functions and motions of a machine tool are controlled by a computer software.

My CNC is Chinese model, CNC 6040Z-S80 with 4 axis. This is not a professional machine but until now I’m quite impressed about its performance and accuracy.

The cup pad project

In this project I’ll illustrate how to create engraved wood cup pads. The design is created in a CAD soft which then is converted into a CNC machine language, called G-code. The G-code is processed by Mach3 software which commands the CNC controller to executes the cuts.

For the stock material I’ve used 12cm wide and 8mm thick beech wood left over from my coffee table project.

Step1: CAD design

I’m using Vectric Aspire 8 CAD software to create the design. After setting up the work piece size I’ve drawn a 10 cm diameter circle followed by the smaller inner circle, the text and image. The image has to be vector image otherwise the machine will not be able to perform the cut. I’ve took the image from google (“linear drawing” filter must be on) then converted it to vector in Aspire.

Step2: Execution

In term of execution, there is not much to say. Just secure the work piece and run the software to perform the cuts.

After rounding the edges and sanding, I’ve applied two coats of danish finishing oil.

Here we are, the pads are ready.

PS: in case if your are interested in the CAD or G-code files, just drop me a not, I’m happy to share…

Kitchen knife block

On December 18, 2015December 28, 2015 By zenoIn Interior AccessoriesLeave a comment

I haven’t posted for a while, so now it’s time to get back in business.

Recently I’ve bought a set 15 knifes and I was thinking that a nice knife block would be just perfect to put them in the spotlight.

As you could guess already, the today’s topic is about building a wooden knife block using hard wood. I’ve no experience in building stuff from hardwood, but everything has a start, so I’ve decided to give it a try.

I had available a couple of beech lumber so this is what I’ve used.

2015-12-05 13.04.56

After cutting the pieces to the aproximate length I’ve used the table saw to make the groved. It’s crucial to measure the height of each knife in order to get the right depth of the grooves. (as you can see on the right I have a large knife compared to the rest). On the left, I’ll place a knife sharpener so it’s enought to make a hole.

The groove on the right has to hold a quite large knife and the height of the wood is not enough, so I’ve glued a different piece. After a bit of sanding I’ll get to the picture on the right.