Vectric Customer

Not exactly a new idea...but I needed a gift for a friend's wedding. I cut these trays from some chunks of Mulberry that I salvaged off a neighbor's tree many years ago. This wood is just awesome, especially when quarter sawn. It ended up a bit more work than expected. Just re-sawing the tough wood took quite a while with my little 14" bandsaw and then drum sanding to thickness. I finished the blanks with 3 layers of CA glue and 400 grit ROS before cutting to shape and achieved a (hopefully) durable satin finish. Not dishwater-proof I guess. Only CNC work was the cutout tool path with 1/8" endmill, two shallow fixture pocket tool paths to vacuum hold the trays for chamfering and two 45 deg V-bit chamfering tool paths (top/bottom).

Set of 8 trays:


Quarter sawn Mulberry grain close-up:


In operation...(just a test of the concept)

Very nice! Beautiful wood!

Thank you for sharing. Love the rays in the wood and other character marks. Looks like the size is just for right for such an event.

Admittedly this is not a complex high-end CNC project. Actually it could have been done with a scrollsaw and a sander. But using the CNC was much more repeatable and faster for a set of identical trays.
I went through the trouble of resawing the boards from a larger chunk (instead of using off-the-shelf lumber) to have the boards look very unique and appropriate for the occasion.

I also used the project to test vacuum holding a pre-shaped part with vacuum in a fitted pocket for the chamfering. Very helpful for series production.

Always a great idea, nice pictures too the grain looks fabulous. I hear you on repeatable jigs it is the key making thing easy.
I do like you handle part of the tray very universal.

regards

Brian

Very nice design. Love the Mulberry, didn’t realize how it would look quartersawn. I have about 10 chunks of Mulberry (3’x8”-10”) laying next to my sawmill to cut. Dropped off in exchange for some alpaca compost. I love the dark color and look forward to milling these up. Thanks for sharing.

davemartin88 wrote:Very nice design. Love the Mulberry, didn’t realize how it would look quartersawn. I have about 10 chunks of Mulberry (3’x8”-10”) laying next to my sawmill to cut. Dropped off in exchange for some alpaca compost. I love the dark color and look forward to milling these up. Thanks for sharing.

Some disadvantage of the mulberry is that the shiny golden color will darken to a warm brown within a few months. But it is still pretty then. I wish I had cut boards from that mulberry tree. But then I was more into wood turning and chopped it all into large bowl blanks. That means all I can do with it are smaller projects like this one. Maybe I should "turn" a few more bowls on the CNC machine...always a good present as well.

AWESOME!!! Thank you for Sharing!


Sharkcutup

Very Nice - I LOVE that wood it's beautiful!

Any chance you could post the file?

Ed

Sure, here it is (attached). As mentioned, not really a complicated design...
The cutout is one-sided from the top and done first with zero roughly in the middle of each blank. There is a free-form vacuum pod that holds the blanks for cut-out. The loop shape cutout for the wine glass must be removed manually after cutting free with the rough cut to avoid jamming the bit while doing the finish cut.
The chamfers are flipped for both sides. Same for the "...socket" files to make a tightly fitting vacuum fixture for chamfering. Once the fixture pocket is cut, the x-y zero must not be changed.
If there is interest, I could make a video clip of the vacuum holding method. It is however only meaningful when making more than let's say half a dozen identical parts.

Great idea

thanks for sharing the idea and file.

I took it a little farther. I have been wanting to try my first project with two-sided carving, and this seemed like a great one to try it on. having the pocket help keeps snacks from falling off, and the pocket on the other side helps give you something to hold on to. two pockets make it work in either hand. fun little project for a Friday night in the wood shop


Ryan

PS, harder then I thought it would be to take a picture with my off hand

Rybuggy wrote:thanks for sharing the idea and file.

I took it a little farther. I have been wanting to try my first project with two-sided carving, and this seemed like a great one to try it on. having the pocket help keeps snacks from falling off, and the pocket on the other side helps give you something to hold on to. two pockets make it work in either hand. fun little project for a Friday night in the wood shop


Ryan

PS, harder then I thought it would be to take a picture with my off hand

Looks good and the pocket will be especially helpful after the 5th glass of wine
I considered making such a pocket but my stock was less than 3/8" and left no meat for it. The other advantage of the flat top was I could finish the surface before cutting out.

Rybuggy,
Nice job....what are the dimensions of the tray.
Thanks,
Sam