Flag & Eagle

[Mark's Wood Chips]

Since I upgraded to Aspire, I have been making more 3D projects to get a feel on how they are modeled and assembled. I purchased some projects from Design & Make and I have to say that they are real nice. Todd Bailey at Design & Make is gracious and willing to answer questions about his products, in fact, he has made videos for me addressing specific concerns about assembly and 3D manipulation. Here is a Flag and Eagle carved from a piece of Oak using the "Around the World No.1 - USA" project. I used a 1/8" tapered ball nose bit but if I do another one, I think I will use a 1/16" bit to bring out a little more detail in the eagle's head.

Mark

[dwilli9013]

Very Nice I have been eyeing that at D&M as well.
Todd is a very helpful guy and a pleasure to deal with.
He just featured one of my projects on D&M's Facebook Customer Focus on Friday.
I have gotten several of their models and have not experienced one issue with any of them.
Thanks for sharing this with us.

[Mark's Wood Chips]

He just featured one of my projects on D&M's Facebook Customer Focus on Friday.

I looked at the D&M Facebook feature and it's a wonderful tribute to your mom. You do great work by hacking from various D&M projects. Looks like you have a good handle on 3D assembly. I'm seriously considering purchasing their "Wildlife Scenes Collection" but I'm hoping it might go on sale sometime.

Mark

[dwilli9013]

Thank you it was a fun project but a very sobering one as well.
I do like the models on D&M as well. As a design engineer in the Medtech automation field I have had the opportunity to use a myriad of modeling soft wares. Some lend themselves well to cnc routing and some not so much. I think I am not far from taking the leap to Aspire as it is too much hassle to model in another program and then bring into Vcarve Desktop. Not to mention you only get to bring in one stl at a time.
The talent on this forum is amazing. I have not seen one question that has been asked go unanswered. Heck usually there are 2 or 3 answers.

I also have been waiting for a few of the D&M projects to come on sale. (Have to make sure I keep my costs in line with what the wife thinks is normal) I could certainly go crazy and spend a ton of money.
Stay warm up there I know you guys have been getting hit pretty hard.

[highpockets]

Very nice Mark.

[martin54]

Yet another very nice project Mark, have to agree that the Design & Make models are very nice, my one criticism is that to many of them are based on an American theme for a UK company but if that is where their market is then it is very understandable

I'm seriously considering purchasing their "Wildlife Scenes Collection" but I'm hoping it might go on sale sometime.


Forgive me if I hope it doesn't, having bought it at the normal price some time ago now I would hate to see how much I could have saved if I had waited. Not done much with it but have carved most of the pre made assemblies.

Here are 3 of them that came out nicely.

[dwilli9013]

Yet another very nice project Mark, have to agree that the Design & Make models are very nice, my one criticism is that to many of them are based on an American theme for a UK company but if that is where their market is then it is very understandable

I'm seriously considering purchasing their "Wildlife Scenes Collection" but I'm hoping it might go on sale sometime.


Forgive me if I hope it doesn't, having bought it at the normal price some time ago now I would hate to see how much I could have saved if I had waited. Not done much with it but have carved most of the pre made assemblies.

Here are 3 of them that came out nicely.

20170104_175426.jpg

I feel your pain Martin I cannot tell you how many times I have went out and picked up some high end gadgets that are all the rage only to have them go on sale or deep discounts. And the real kicker is sometimes is just days after I have paid full price.

And yes your western carvings did turn out quite nice. Always a pleasure to see your work. Thanks for sharing that.

[Mark's Wood Chips]

Martin:

Those are very nice plaques! I'm hoping to do something similar incorporating a 2" clock insert. I'm not into hunting and wildlife but it's very much part of the culture around here. I have a neighbor that is active in a club called Daniel Boone Conservation League. Their grounds are about 6 miles from my home but on a quiet day, I can hear some high powered rifle reports. I hope to do a plaque for my neighbor so he can show it around at the club and maybe I can get some cash flowing in my direction for a change.

Mark

[Mark's Wood Chips]

I feel your pain Martin I cannot tell you how many times I have went out and picked up some high end gadgets that are all the rage only to have them go on sale or deep discounts. And the real kicker is sometimes is just days after I have paid full price.

And yes your western carvings did turn out quite nice. Always a pleasure to see your work. Thanks for sharing that.

Don't look at it that way guys. It's happened to all of us. I like to think that I got a jump on technology and had the pleasure of using it while the other guys were sitting on the sidelines.

Mark

[martin54]

Mark thanks, I'm in the UK so the hunting scene isn't such a big thing although it does exist it's more of a niche sort of thing, gun laws are very different over here & also with it being a pretty small Country the places you could go would be far more limited.
I seriously Doubt you would have a problem selling those sort of plaques where you are looking at the quality of what you have posted & always good to have the cash flowing in the right direction
Even at the non sale price it shouldn't take you long to be in profit

Those are all just the stock assemblies that Design & Make always include to get you started, being new to 3d I haven't got round to actually producing one myself, more to this putting the individual elements together than I first realised. Working with 2d as I have for years it is pretty easy as no matter what you throw together it always stays flat

I have also carved the much longer Pheasant scene & deer scene which also came out very well.

[JoeinWestMich]

Thanks for the posting. I have been "considering" purchasing from them but a little concerned about quality. With these comments on quality (along with the picture of results) and their good service, I think I will make my initial purchase shortly.

[martin54]

Joe, I don't want to hijack Mark's post but if you have any concerns have a look at their website, lots of pictures of cut projects you can look at which will give you an idea how good the quality is plus there are a couple of free projects you could download & cut yourself just to get first hand experience of how well they cut

[Mark's Wood Chips]

Thanks for the posting. I have been "considering" purchasing from them but a little concerned about quality. With these comments on quality (along with the picture of results) and their good service, I think I will make my initial purchase shortly.

I think that you will find the models worth the price. Interestingly, Todd Bailey told me that 90% of his models are produced with Aspire! Here is another piece from the "Home for the Holidays No. 2" project that I altered a bit. It's a candle trivet made with a southwestern US theme incorporating a Kokopelli Man image. My mods include changing the size of the candle tray and making it solid instead of having a hole. I found the Kokopelli man image on the internet and modeled it in Aspire to make it 3D and curved it to fit the trivet. Pretty simple stuff for experienced Aspire users. I found it fairly easy as my first modeling attempt and I'm happy with the results.

[dwilli9013]

Nice just another little push for me to upgrade to Aspire. Nice work.

[dhellew2]

Very nice indeed!
I still see comments related to tapered ball nose bits and the loss of detail.
As long as the depth of the cut is equal to or less than the radius of the ball, there is no loss.
Once the depth is more than the radius of the ball the bit taper cuts away some of the wanted detail.
The first attachment is an tapered ball exaggerated example cut to a depth of 1.5" but it does show what happens with tapered bits.
I don't use tapered bits anymore, instead I rough cut then use bits as small as 1mm/4mm cutting depth, no more unwanted angular details

These were both cut with a 1/8" ball nose
With the tapered bit rounded body parts become more angular

The straight bit carving is much better even at the lower photo resolution

Dale