Down Time

Sorry for no posts this weekend but were getting a new heater installed which happens to be right in the middle of my workspace. In the meantime, my copy of Corel Draw arrived, so Im playing with converting some of my grandfathers drawings. Also my router upgrade soon to come, hopefully by this next weekend before classes start.

Switch Plate Part 1

Today I attempted engraving switch plates. Why? They're dirt cheap. You can pick up a few plastic ones for less than a dollar. Turns out I already have some. If your feeling rich and fancy you could also get some wooden ones for a whopping 5-10$ each. I picked up one just to try. In addition to carving way deeper than I intended you'll notice they're off center but still potentially better looking than they were before. I started by drawing a template for each plate so I knew where the holes were. Then I used stylish picture fonts that I converted to polylines and split up. The only issue was I whether or not the template was accurate. As you can see It wasn't, so back to the drawing board for part 2. Not sure It's worth the time though. Part 2 to come as soon as I get it right. I'd love to hear your comments. What do you think ye or nay?

Mass Carnage

Today I killed my dremel. Grrrrrrr.... Somehow all of the clamps on my table slipped off while I was upstairs. My machine survived but I broke a bit, snapped the head off of my dremel and fried the motor. How you ask did that happen? Beats me, but $70 and a few hours later I'm back in business.
So after my pricey adventure I feel like having the opportunity to do it again on Sunday when I tackle switch plates. The regular plastic switch plates in my house are pretty boring, so I'm going to try to trick them out with some ridiculous designs just for the hell of it. Stay tuned Sunday.

Between Projects

I've decided to share some of my project files as I go. Here's the resulting file from last weeks chinese font experiment. I'm planning on cutting out some coasters from it tomorrow. Right now I'm in the process of replacing some of the MDF parts on my machine to red oak and adding some mechanical adjustments I skipped during Version 1. I'll post pictures when I'm finished. Might take me a while though. In the meantime I've ordered a copy of CorelDraw for my next project. My grandfather was a brilliant artist and carpenter. He kept detailed pictures and diagrams of everything, and when CorelDraw arrives I plan on scanning some for use in CNC. Results to follow either next week or week after depending on how fast it arrives. And please take the time to vote on my survey, only two days left and I know I have more than 3 readers, your feedback is much appreciated.