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A Bit of Background
A Bit of Background
I’m a retired Metrology Engineer. In 1983 I retired from the US Air Force. I continued working as a Metrology Engineer and Project Manager for Coors Ceramics, Golden Colorado, and Hutchinson Technology, Eau Claire Wisconsin until 2010.
When looking for somewhere a bit warmer in the winter, we stumbled into Bella Vista while on a trip to Texas. Tired of shoveling snow, we made the move here in 2017. I haven’t shoveled much snow since.
I began my wood art journey during the winter of 2010 with the purchase of a Scroll Saw. My first pieces were Christmas decorations and toys and puzzles for my grandkids. It wasn’t long before things started piling up and my wife wasn’t excited about dusting them. That's when found Craft Fairs and Church Bazaars were places were I could free up space for new things.
In the spring of 2018, I joined the Bella Vista Wood Carvers Club. Wood Carving was a new adventure as well as a new group of people to share successes and failures with. The Bella Vista Wood Carving Club is a great fellowship that offers wonderful support and so many new ideas.
By early 2020, I gathered a few projects from my office stash and entered a juried trial for a slot at the Wishing Spring Gallery. Quailifying for a slot, was a hugh ego boost. The Gallery is home to over 40 local artists that form a cooperative that operates a retail outlet and sponsors 4-5 college students each semester. Being an artisan at the Gallery is a WONDERFUL experience and a great way for me to be able keep making things.
If you’ve seen something in my collection that makes you want to take it home.
My Carving Station and Tools
My Carving Station and Tools
Hope you can't see any blood stains in the picture. This is the place where the sharpe knives come into play I use Pfeil gouges and skews for general shaping and have set of minature Dockyard tools for fine details. On my bench you will also find a few Flex-Cut knives and gouges that always find a purpose on nearely every project. Generally I focus on small item carving or detail or enhancement carving on Scroll Sawn items.
For power carving, I have Foredom mini micromotor. Ram 40K Micromotor. A Dremel with a flex shaft and far to many carbide and diamond burrs. While the CNC machine is running, this is the place where you will find me
My Scroll Saw
My Scroll Saw
I have a 21 inch Excalibur Scroll Saw. I generally use Pegasus MGT blades in three sizes, #3, # 5, #7. The saw was purchased in 2010. Around 2018 I replaced the OEM heads with Pegas Heads in an effort reduce vibration.
On my saw I have a cookie sheet attached between the saw and legs to catch dust. This little mod has kept me out of trouble by reducing the amount of saw dust I track into the house.
The first accessory I purchased was a Deadman foot switch. Absolutely would not be without it. I do have an LED light that is attaches to the back of the stand and has a flexible adjustable arm.
My Laser
My Laser
I have a classic Om-Tech 80 watt CO2 laser. It's an old beast but it runs every time I hit the start switch. I use Corel Draw and Vectric Aspire as design software and Light Burn software to control the the laser power and motion.
The bed capacity is 20X28 inches. The bed design allows feed through on the "Y" axis. I can actually design and burn much more that 20 inches in the "Y" direction.
My CNC
My CNC
I have a Fox Alien Vasto 16 CNC Machine. It's a 3 axis ballscrew driven linear rail system. I have 1.5 KW VFD spindle with an ER11 collet. The XY travel is just short of 16 inches. The Z height travel is just over 4 inches.
Most of the things made my CNC are commission pieces. Lot's of small signs and 3D artwork. A few things sold through outlets, a few were given away, and some only made it as far as the burn-pit.
I use Vectric Aspire as my CAD/CAM software. I started with V-Carve Desktop. I was able to designed and make a huge number of things with Desktop. When Vectric released a major upgrade and V-Carve Pro had a few features I didn't think I could live without I upgraded to Pro version. As my design skills improved, I decided 3D modeling would be a neat thing to learn. That's when I opted for the whole enchilada. Within a few months, Vectric came out with Easy Carve a web based AI system that does almost everything in the 3D modeling world that interests me with a finished 3D component design for only about 50 cents.
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