Several guys (and the one gal) at the shop are comical by nature, and that side of their personality tends to manifest itself in non-stop puns. Yes, they are as cheesy as you might think, but it never fails to put a smile on my face. The other antic that is alive and well at the shop (and much more easily shared via this blog) is what I will refer to as Easter Eggs; the random items I come across that make me chuckle.

A stack of red oak, tagged “RO”, quickly became a shout out to Lord of the Rings nerd culture (For those less-versed in J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic tale, Rohan is the kingdom of Men, located in northwest Middle Earth).

Star Wars references are also very prevalent. This note was found on the face of our air-assisted airless sprayer.

Many years ago, I built this cart to store and transport cabinet parts from one operation to the next.

Due to its slow, lumbering nature, it very quickly reminded someone of the Jawa Sandcrawler in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

The simple labeling of a glue bottle becomes an opportunity to generate a laugh…

…as does a visit to the shop bathroom.

The unofficial mascot of the shop is a younger Arnold Schwarzenegger, circa mid-80’s, and the official shop movie is one of his “best”, Commando. This poster was hung up on the break room door in his honor.

The arrival of our Felder CNC machine did not bring with it any additional professionalism.

We have a substantial leak in a certain section of our roof. So, whenever it rains, we throw down a pile of sawdust to keep the water contained. In the eyes of one particular employee, the sawdust was not only there to capture the rain but also to hold up “headstones”, dedicated as little monuments to all that is punny.

Making a plain old stick to grab parts off the CNC table would be too boring, so it gets dressed up. And, of course, wood puns are plentiful.

Will there be a second installment? I think you already know the answer to that one!

We had a client on Long Island that commissioned us to build a small bench out of white oak, with metal bars joining the legs, and recessed pockets on the faces of the legs and top to accept 1/4″ thick antique mirrors.

Problem: Trying to manually route out a 1/4″ deep recess from the face of the legs and top would be incredibly difficult. You could easily build a template and use a flush trim bit to cut the outside of the recess, and then use a straight cutting bit to hog away the interior, but the closer you come to the middle, the more unstable the router would become, since it would be slowly cannibalizing its reference surface.

This is another perfect application for the CNC machine.

We first milled, glued, and wide belted the top and two legs. The parts were flat enough that the suction of the spoilboard was able to hold them down. We programmed the machine to not only cut out the 1/4″ recess for the mirrors, but to also cut each piece to its final size, which would ensure the pocket was perfectly parallel to the perimeter.

The white oak was 1.25″ thick, so the perimeter cut was machined in 5 separate passes, with the bit dropping down an additional 1/4″ each pass.

Flattening Slabs

Over the past year and a half, we have been using live edge slabs in commission work and in spec pieces. Very rarely do we purchase a slab that is free from any sort of cupping or warping, and one of the most time-consuming aspects of using live edge slabs is the leveling and flattening process.

Early on, we would place the slab on a flat table and hot glue on shims to keep the slab from rocking and to build up any high spots. We would then begin the long and repetitive process of flattening the slab using our single-head widebelt sander and a 36 grit belt. The process worked just fine, but, as I am sure you could tell from my description, it was not a fast process.

Even after having the CNC machine up and running, we continued to use this method for far longer than any of us would like to admit.

We now flatten all of our slabs using the spoilboard cutterhead, which is a 4″ flycutter with carbide inserts. We wrote a basic program that is easily customized for the current slab dimensions. We prevent the slabs from shifting during the machining process by tacking down corner blocks to the spoilboard. Once one side is flat, we simply flip the slab over, modify the program for the slabs new thickness, and repeat the process.

Even though the set-up time takes longer, the overall process is quicker (and far more accurate) than the 100% widebelt method!

Greater 5K Race medals

Last Thanksgiving, my wife and some fellow teachers at her school, hosted a charity fun run to raise support for an 8th grader who is battling cancer. My role in this endeavour was to make all 300 of the participant medals.

The name of the run was “The Greater 5K”, a reminder to us that “He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world”.

My challenge was to figure out how to design a medal that was pretty, could be machined en mass, and included the name in an easy to recognize layout.

Pretty – Walnut never fails to impress an audience

Simple – Keep it simple with symbols and a “less is more” approach

En Mass – CNC and plywood is the only way to go

We designed and layed out a 4′ x 8′ sheet of plywood and were able to nest 200 medals per sheet! I chose to use an MDF core 1/4″ Walnut plywood, since the core of the plywood has a nice consistent look, and complements the color of the Walnut veneer nicely.

We first sprayed on a top coat of lacquer to the entire sheet, since that was much faster and easier than trying to finish the medals individually. The first machining step was to drill the 5mm hole that would accept the ribbon. Then, using a V-bit, we machined in the >5K and the ring around the outside. Finally, we cut the perimeter of each medal using a 3/8″ downcutting bit, leaving just a small amount of onion skin, to prevent the medals from moving around.

After 2 sheets of plywood, we had 400 wooden medals! We lightly sanded the perimeter of each piece to remove the bit of onion skin that was left, and my wife cut and hand-sewed on each and every ribbon!

In the end, the medals were a huge hit with the participants, and something that was only possible with our CNC machine.

One of the great things about having a CNC machine is the ability to exploit its uses for all kinds of other projects besides just cutting up melamine and plywood. We design and build a lot of custom furniture, and it has been so fun to figure out how to use the CNC machine to aid in the creation of some of those projects. With greater experience comes greater willingness to experiment outside the box.

Project: Ambrose Clock

Every year, the private school where my wife teaches has an auction, and many of the classes are required to provide a project to be sold. Each of the projects needs to in some way relate to the material they have studied throughout the year. Last year, I helped out with my youngest son’s 2nd grade class project; we decided to build a clock with a band of copper inset into the face of the outer ring. The copper would have each of the kids’ names embossed in Hebrew characters.

Problem: How to cut a perfect ring, with an outer diameter of 36″ and an inner diameter of 30″, with a 2″ wide, 1/8″ deep recess directly in the middle. The outer and inner diameters could be cut using a variety of tools, such as a jig saw and a band saw, and shaped using an edge sander, a belt sander, and a spindle sander, but the potential for flat spots on the circles would be quite high. The inner 1/8″ deep recess could also be accomplished using a variety of jigs and flush trim bits, but one mistake, and the project is destined for the burn pile.

We began by constructing a ring from twelve equally sized pieces of quarter-sawn Sapele, and joined them together using dominoes and glue.

I forgot to take pictures of the CNC operation, so I will try and describe it as best as possible. Since the machine’s vacuum would not be adequately strong enough to hold the wood ring on its own, we made an intermediate layer of 1/2″ melamine. We started by cutting the outline of the ring, only a 1/16″ deep or so, into the piece of melamine. This showed us where the bit would be cutting the Sapele ring (and where we should not put any screws!). We then attached the wood ring through the back side of the melamine plate, which ensured adequate vacuum hold down.

The CNC machine cut both outside diameters in multiple passes, removing about a .2″ at a time. The final result from the machine is a perfect ring, in about five minutes of machine time!

The final clock was assembled using copper numbers sourced from Van Dyke’s Restoration; a large clock movement from the local craft store; and very thin copper sheets, with the kids’ names embossed in Hebrew characters (as aforementioned), that were contact cemented to the inner recessed ring.

Project: Butterfly Keys

We have been using a lot of live edge slabs lately, both for commission work and spec work. One of the easiest ways to add a bit of flair to these slabs is to inlay a butterfly key into the cracks and splits. Prior to purchasing the CNC machine, I had purchased a phenolic template with bushings to make the mortise and the butterfly entirely by hand. With the CNC machine at our disposal, I figured it would be easier and faster to use it to batch out the butterflies. We still use the template to cut the mortise, but now we can batch out dozens of butterfly keys in a few minutes!

We started by cutting out the test pieces until we had the size and shape perfectly dialed in.

We then took a scrap piece of 1/4″ melamine as our template and cut the outline of all the butterfly keys. We have three columns of the larger keys and two columns of the smaller keys, allowing us to make 17 butterfly keys per round. (If the gigantic circle seen in the spoilboard above looks eerily similar to the clock we previously talked about, you would be correct. See this entry to learn about what happened.)

Since the mortise for the keys is routed 1/2″ deep, we mill a piece of wood to just slightly thicker than 1/2″ and screw it to the template.

Looking from the back side, you can see that we have two screws holding each butterfly key in place. The melamine template is indexed off the pop-up pins to ensure accurate and repeatable cuts.

The solid wood is left with a slight onion skin, which keeps the outer frame of solid wood from moving around during the milling process. The keys are easily removed and installed into the mortise in the live edge slab.

The keys are proud of the surface, but once the slab is sent through the wide belt, they are quickly sanded flush with the surrounding surface.

Here is the first piece we used these CNC butterfly keys on. Using two 3″ thick Walnut slabs, we constructed a TV stand that ended up being shipped to a client in Albuquerque, NM.

Mid Century Modern Inspired Strike Plates

We have also had a few commissions come our way that have only been made possible to take on through CNC automation. One of the projects in this category was from a local guy who already had a company that sold mid-century modern inspired mailboxes, and was looking to add a line of mid-century inspired strike plates.

We worked up a few prototypes over the summer before dialing in the final design and material.

The strike plates were nested and cut from a 4′ x 8′ sheet of 1/4″ Baltic birch core Walnut plywood. We machined each sheet face down, since we had to cut a pocket to accept the outlet on the back side. We were able to array 90 plates on each sheet. In the future, we may try to nest the plates even closer together to get even more yield, but then we increase the risk of having the small parts move during milling.

Even though the CNC machine does all the work of cutting the material, it is only as smart as the programmer who tells it what to do. The challenge for us was to figure out the most efficient and quickest way to cut all 90 strike plates from each sheet. In the end, we settled on this order of operations:

Step 1: Drill a 3mm hole to accept the mounting screw.

Step 2: Machine out the 1/8″ deep pocket for the outlet, using a 3/8″ down cut spiral bit.

Step 3: Onion skin the outline of each plate using the same 3/8″ down cut bit.

Step 4: Cut the outlet hole for the switch or outlet faces, using a 1/4″ down cut bit.

Step 5: Cut away the onion skin left from step 3 using the same 1/4″ down cut bit.

When we started with a freshly milled spoilboard, we had no damaged strike plates due to small part movement. Much of what we do as CNC programmers is to determine the order of operations that will result in the highest quality piece in the shortest amount of time. Sometimes speed is sacrificed in order to ensure quality…sometimes, it’s the other way around.

The final product came out beautiful and can be purchased from the website linked below.

Modern Mailbox

The cabinet was in great shape when we bought it. Absolutely no dents, dings, scrapes, etc. The prepping process, prior to painting, was as simple as removing the drawers and sanding all the metal surfaces with a medium grit 3″ x 4″ pneumatic sander.

I wanted to use some live edge material for the woodwork, since the organic nature of the live edge Walnut would juxtapose nicely with the cold, straight, man-made elements of the metal cabinet. Thankfully, we had a bunch of Walnut left over from a custom commission and this ratty end chunk was the perfect size for the top.

I decided to cut the left end off at an angle, following the original cut from the sawyer. I then cut the back and right faces square, removed the bark from the front edge, and lightly sanded the face.

I also had some nice long and narrow pieces left over from the same job, so one of them would work perfectly for a leg. Due to the width of the slab I was using for the top, I only had enough overhang to have one leg run the full height of the cabinet and butt into the underside of the top, and only if it terminated in the back left corner. Once again, constraints of the material were informing the final design of the piece, and I was loving it!

After I flattened the top with the widebelt, I used bar top epoxy to fill the huge crack in the right half. My impatience got the best of me, and I failed to mix the last layer thoroughly enough; after two days, it had still not fully hardened. I had to dig all of it out with a putty knife and repeated the process, this time making sure to mix the two parts well enough.

Using Sherwin Williams Kemkromic metal primer, I sprayed the exteriors and interiors of all the drawers and cabinet.

Prior to painting the metal or finishing the Walnut, I began to dry fit all the pieces. The right side of the top is parallel to the cabinet box (with just a slight 1/2″ overhang) and the left side angles from a 1″ overhang at the front to a 4″ overhang at the back. That increased overhang allowed me to make the left leg full height.

The small right foot is an end cut from the top of the left leg. The cabinet still needed just a bit more stability, so I tucked in a non-descript block of Walnut along the back.

I finished the Walnut with several coats of sanding sealer and catalyzed lacquer, and finished the metal with some left over PPG automotive enamel.

The cabinet fits perfectly next to our front door! Now, with 14 drawers at our disposal, we have no excuse to leave mail, keys, or other odds and ends strewn about in the kitchen.

This is the fifth show that I have attended, with IWF 2012 being my very first experience. This was also the first year that I was going to be attending the show on my own dime, since I was not doing any press work with the Woodworking Network. I did not need to attend the show to scope out any particular products or machinery, as I have pretty much purchased all the big equipment I will need for the foreseeable future, but I wanted to attend mostly to catch up with people that I have met over the years, and the show floor is a great place to reconnect and touch base.

Pretty close to the eleventh hour, I was contacted by Jim Wulfukule, the director if IWF, to see if I was interested in being part of a small group (dubbed the “GoPro Guys”, which included Ethan Abramson and Corbin Clay) that would walk around the show floor and conduct video interviews with any company or product that sparked our interest. Of course I would! The unique thing about this format, versus a typical advertorial, is that we had complete control over where we stopped and what we talked about. We only stopped at a company’s booth if their product or service actually interested us and was relevant to our business. This lead me to several of my current suppliers like Grass (Vionaro metal drawer box system), Royce/AYR (TurboTec dust extraction), SurfPrep (LED light bars), American Fabric Filter (shop-made bag house system), Kerfcore (BalsaCore panels), and JLT (door clamp machine) to learn about new product offerings, or investigate existing products more in-depth. However, it also drew me to brand new companies, like Poettker (table extension hardware) and FastenLink (RTA fittings). The fun thing about this format was the fact that nothing was scripted, which gave the videos a more relaxed and natural feel.

I opted to travel to the show early in order to attend the all-day Veneering Symposium. The first half of the symposium was more geared towards the large panel processing companies, with lots of information on hot and cold presses and veneer stitching, but the second half of the day was right up my alley. Paul Schurch, the owner of Schurch Woodwork, talked about the specifics of veneering furniture. Keith Morgan, owner of Bespoke, discussed how using veneer as the material of choice allows his company to produce some of the highest quality woodwork available. The symposium was good for me because it whetted my appetite to use more veneers in my custom work, both to stretch my design skills & creativity, and as a way of setting ourselves apart from the competition.

The GoPro videos were filmed throughout the three days of the show, but in between sessions, I played my normal role as a business owner, and perused the thousands of booths. I did not have any specific agenda this year except to wander around and see what I could discover, which is the beauty of a show like this. Given its immense size, there are so many previously unknown products and vendors to discover.

The first of these discoveries was the table extension hardware from Poettker, which will once and for all solve the issue of how to add leaves to a dining table without inducing a sag in the top. We have used the dovetailed table extensions before, but the top is practically guaranteed to sag, which is unacceptable. Our response has been to fabricate our own table extension slides from 250 pound rated ball-bearing slides. The final product is strong and rigid, but it takes a bit of time to create, and is not without its own drawbacks. Poettker makes quite a few table extension systems, so no matter the requirements, they have an offering. Now, I am actually excited for our next dining table commission requiring extensions. They also have a system for installing hidden butterfly table leaves, which I have had requests for in the past, but have come up empty handed during my internet searches.

The next round of discoveries involved RTA fittings. As we grow, the custom aspect of our business brings us all sorts of new projects, and lately some of those projects require a hidden fastening system. We need this system to be simple, with a low cost entry point, yet solid, flexible, and versatile. Among the offerings I came across (Lamello, FastenLink, and Lock Dowel), I was most intrigued by Lock Dowel, mostly because the cabinet software we use (Mozaik), already had the GCode integrated into the software, so using the fastening system would be incredibly easy, and my only investment would be an additional router bit for our CNC machine and an 8mm drill bit. This is not a system we would use all the time, but for specific instances (like the display cases we are building for a local hotel), it may fit the bill perfectly.

The show was capped off with the 40 Under 40 Awards Banquet, where 39 other business peers and I were recognized as innovators and leaders in the woodworking industry. This was such a cool event because (besides receiving the award) it brought together so many other people that can directly relate to my struggles and victories as a shop owner. This kind of networking and camaraderie continued over dinner & beers and long into the night with Corbin Clay and his girlfriend, Ethan Abramson, Brian Grabski, and Matt Buell and his wife.

This years show was different that any of the others I have attended over the past four years. I felt more at ease on the show floor, maybe due to the fact that I had no pressing business agenda! I collected all kinds of information and methods that gave me new energy to take back to the shop, and enjoyed some great food and conversation with friends. This year’s show opened my eyes to the fact that the biggest selling point for me is not the show itself, but the people that you meet, the contacts that are made, and the relationships that are created.

A few months ago, I wrote about designing and constructing a new dining table top for our recently remodeled living/dining room. I started by building the top (since we were tired of eating on the couch), but my wife was not to impressed with the sturdy (yet utilitarian) melamine boxes we were using as a base. It was off to the drawing board again.

A quick word on the design process. Some people like to have the entire project planned out from start to end; they like minimizing the unknown. I like to begin with more of a framework, and then ad lib as I build. As mentioned in the first dining table entry, I forced myself to design within the constraints that the material placed upon me and enjoyed the process of designing the top independently of the base.

In the designing of the base, I started with my wife’s one request: “No Parsons-style base!” She wanted a table that you could sit at without hitting or straddling a leg. That pointed me towards a pedestal style base (of which I am not a fan). I have a great distaste for the classic style pedestal table with the central column and four radiating legs, but no worries. This table has more of a modern/industrial look anyway, so I worked within that realm.

My one request for the base was to keep it as unobtrusive as possible. I hate kicking the base of a table while I am seated! I wanted to design a substantial enough base to ensure the table was solid and stable while keeping its footprint as small as possible.

As you can see in the above design, I started with an assymetric inverted pylon/steel girder kind of look. While I wasn’t hating it, I wasn’t loving it either.

With the next idea, I tried to keep that inverted triangle idea going, but opened up the middle to make it less “heavy”. In this design, only the ends are angled, but I was also looking at angling the sides so the footprint of the base was as small as possible. I was actually really digging this base idea, but my wife wasn’t, so I just kind of sat on the project for a few days, letting ideas bounce around.

The “stewing” of ideas eventually lead to the design you see above, which was the one we ultimately decided to go with. The base is more of a monolithic structure, without the open spaces to give it the lightweight feel. I didn’t want it to feel too brutalist, so I added a graceful curve to each side, as well as a foot and a cap that would mimic the layered look of the top. I also brought in metal paneling to keep the faces of the base from feeling like a monotonous field of wood grain.

The interior of the base would be a honeycomb of 3/4″ plywood, giving me plenty of substance to glue and screw the wood and metal onto while keeping the base as lightweight as possible.

I began by cutting and assembling the core of the base…and immediately messed up. The middle of the base is 2″ narrower than the top and bottom of the base. At a cursory glance, my mind interpreted that then as a 2″ curve on each side rather than 1″. I was going to run with the exaggerated curve, but after tweaking the rendering to see the difference (and running through some of the real world ramifications), I decided it would be best to stick with the original design.

Thank goodness all of this will be hidden, because it was a mess of plywood, glue, and brad nails! I cut out a spacer that would build the 2″ curve out to the 1″ curve it should have been from the beginning.

Next, I milled and shaped the four middle legs (the legs were milled from pieces of 8/4 Sapele). Using a template, shaper, and a pattern bit, I created the 1″ curve into the faces of each piece.

Prior to attaching the middle legs, I skinned the central section of each face with 3/8″ bending plywood that I have been hoarding for years! It felt good to need it, actually have it, and also get rid of it from the clutter in the back corner of the shop. The legs were simply clamped into place until the glue dried.

The corner legs were much the same as the middle legs except they had two curved faces. Since I didn’t have any 3″ thick Sapele, I milled up eight faces, cut a miter into each piece, and glued the pieces together to create a corner leg. I then used the same template to cut the curve into each face of the legs.

As mentioned above, all of the curves were cut using a pattern bit on a small shaper. I much prefer the shaper over a router, since it is so much quieter and stronger. The oversized cutterhead is also much nicer than a smaller router bit, since it cuts smoother and has far less chatter than the 1/2″ shank bits. Eventually, I would like to upgrade to a shaper with a larger table and to a cutterhead with segmented carbide blades.

I installed the corner legs in the exact same way as the middle legs: some glue, clamps, and time.

The top and base have two frames each, separated by a middle layer that will have a metal banding detail. I fabricated the wood layers just like a picture frame — solid wood rails and stiles with mitered corners connected via dominos.

The base is starting to take shape with the legs, face skins, inner top, and base caps all in place.

The top and base are comprised of three layers total, two layers of Sapele sandwiching a middle layer that has a metal banding detail similar to the top. Rather than running the metal band full width along each side, I wanted it to look like the legs continued through the first wood layer (hence the reason for the two wood blocks dividing each side into three sections).

Here is a look at the table base, sans metal paneling or finish. The top and bottom caps not only added a bit more visual appeal by incorporating some design elements from the top, but they also added more stability without adding too much more visual heft.

I attached the metal bands in the exact same way, using the exact same bolts as I did on the top. The metal is a 3/4″ wide hot rolled steel flat bar, and the bolts are some stainless steel star drive bolts that I picked up cheap at a garage sale last summer.

I cut all the metal panels and test fitted them prior to any final sanding or finishing of the wooden base.

My decision to use hot rolled flat bar on the to (which I then had to match on the base) was a poor one. The hot rolled flat bar comes from the steel yard with a black mill scale, which I sanded away with 80 grit sand paper to give it a great patinated look. The problem? There is no way I could use hot rolled sheet steel and achieve the same patinated look. It would require ungodly amounts of time and sandpaper to remove that much mill scale from the sheet of steel. So, my only real option was to use a sheet of cold rolled steel and patinate it to look like the hot rolled flat bar. My saving grace is that the 3/4″ wide flat bar is more of an accent trim and not super visible on the final table.

I work with a local metal fabricator just around the corner from our shop, and they were kind enough to give me some chemicals for patinating steel.

I began the process by sanding the cold rolled steel with a 3×4 vibratory sander and a medium sanding pad. I then donned a pair of rubber gloves and cleaned the surface to remove any grease and oils (since that will prevent the patina from soaking into the metal). With the surface clean and dry, I used a spray bottle to wet a rag with the aforementioned chemicals. Then, using nice even passes, I wiped the entire area with said rag and let it dry. The picture above shows what the patina looks like when it is applied to the steel.

Once the patina has dried, I took a scotch brite pad and removed as much of the patina as was necessary to achieve the desired look. The patina began with a bluish-green hue, but after scrubbing with the scotch brite pad, the final look gave me the steel gray-black color I was hoping for. The panel on the left is the steel post-patina and the panel on the right is the natural cold rolled steel. Once I sanded away the excess patina to achieve the finished look, the surface was wiped down with Penetrol (an oil based paint additive) to act as a sealer.

Here is a look at the end of the table where you can see the final look of the patinated cold rolled panel and the sanded hot rolled flat bar. The final look is not exactly the same, but is close enough that most people will never see the difference.

Here is a shot looking down the length of the table, which really shows the nice gentle curve of each side.

Since our front room is only 24′ x 12′ (and does triple duty as an entryway, living room, and dining room), we needed to push the table up as close to the back wall unit as possible. Therefore, we chose to place a bench on the back side of the table, allowing us to seat 3-4 kids on the back side, have one chair on each end, and three chairs along the front side. We have everyday seating for 8 people and can easily add an additional chair or stool on each side for a larger dinner party.

Overall, I am very happy with how the table turned out. This was the first time I ever experimented with patinating metal and it is definitely something I will continue to experiment with & incorporate into future projects. We live on the table and use it everyday; it has held up to the daily abuse very well. It weights a ton, is rock solid, and incredibly stable.

A few items of note: There are smudges on the bottoms of some of the panels, right where dirty socks and feet come in contact. The metal shop that recommended the use of Penetrol also suggested a final coating of carnuba wax, which I did not do because I was in a hurry to be done. Maybe if I had applied the wax to the metal surface, the dirt and oil would have a harder time holding onto the surface. One of these days I will clean the panels and apply a coating of carnuba wax to bring it back to its original glory!

As I chronicle our journey of acquiring and implementing our CNC machine, no story would be complete without a rundown of our “fails”. Early on, while you are still learning the ins and outs of the machine (and what it can do and what it can’t do), these failures can come often and can be kind of demoralizing…bits breaking, parts moving, and ultimately, time wasted. But, often times, failing is the best way to learn what not to do. So, with that in mind, lets look at some of our best failures.

We set up a shrine in the shop (along the back side of the CNC machine, actually) as a constant reminder of our failures, with all the broken bits as a physical manifestation of our “newbie” knowledge.

Here is a short synopsis on how each one of them came to reside on the “Wall of Shame”:

1. We tried to route a small 10″ diameter circle out of a block of solid cherry without securing it to a backer piece. Since the vacuum was not strong enough to hold such a small block of wood, the cherry moved, and the bit snapped. 3/4″ Compression Bit – Cost of Mistake: $80

2. We routed a 42″ diameter circle out of a mahogany glue up. Learning from our previous mistakes, we secured it to a sheet of 1/2″ melamine. Part way through the operation  something seemed off…and then the bit snapped. Come to find out, the bit was sliding out of the collet and cutting way too deep. More detail on that story later. 3/4″ Compression Bit – Cost of Mistake: $80

3.  Two bits were broken in quick succession when we crashed the machine. I look back on that moment as the darkest time in our early stages as CNC operators. More on that below. 2 bits @ 3/4″ Compression – Cost of Mistake: $160

4. We were making a template out of 1/2″ MDF and were routing out several small squares using a 1/4″ spiral bit. We took the cut way too fast…the little bit didn’t stand a chance. We saw sparks shoot up the dust collector tube and immediately hung our heads in shame. 1/4″ Upcut Bit -Cost of Mistake: $30

As previously mentioned, we crashed our CNC machine. Crashing the machine is when you tell the machine to download a tool into a currently occupied slot. In this case, my CNC operator (I’m looking at you, Kyle) had just recently installed a new bit into a new toolholder. He placed it in the tool rack, but didn’t realize he put it into the wrong slot. He then told the machine to download its existing toolholder, which it tried to do by smashing it into another toolholder. Metal smashing into metal is a disheartening sound, trust me. The machine dropped the toolholder it had in the head right onto the hard and unforgiving concrete floor, breaking the bit.

I wrote about the entire incident in greater detail HERE shortly after it happened. Thankfully, all is fixed and the machine is humming along.

Surfacing the spoilboard, and even replacing the spoilboard, are not difficult tasks to execute now that we have done them over and over again. But, early on, even the simple task of surfacing the spoilboard was stress inducing. I present you with Exhibit A: We needed to surface the spoilboard, and while monkeying around with the software interface, we saw a little radio button and couldn’t remember if the tech told us to keep it checked or unchecked.

Here is the thing with the initial 3-5 day training session…it is a flood of information. There is no way you can remember every detail! At the very best, you will have a faint notion that you were taught that specific detail which may help you a bit in your hunt for the answer.

Anyway, back to the little button. Do we keep it checked or uncheck it? We decided to uncheck it…WRONG! The 4″ diameter spoilboard cutterhead proceeded to chew away a 6″ corner of the MDF before Kyle and I could jump through the light fence and stop the machine.

I guess now we know what that check box controls!

The last example of our incompetency is the time a bit loosened from the collet and proceeded to drop deeper and deeper, cutting into the spoilboard and a little into the phenolic top. We do not have a torque wrench to measure the force at which we are tightening the bits; obviously this one was a bit loose. We were cutting a 36″ diameter circle out of a solid wood blank when Kyle and I noticed something was not quite right. The machine was programmed to be cutting only .25″ deep each pass, but it sure seemed like this last pass was cutting deeper than that! Sure enough, during the last pass, the bit began to loosen up and cut deeper and deeper, eventually breaking the bit.

All of these mistakes are becoming ancient history to us, as we have had a clean record for months now. Our example of learning the hard way may not be ideal, but it sure is one way to learn what not to do  very quickly!

LAYOUT

Prior to purchasing the CNC machine, we had the sliding table saw in the middle of our 10,000 square foot shop (the edgebander, dado table saw, and line boring machine were close by). Once the parts were completed, we would haul them to the far bay of the shop where we would drill drawer parts, assemble boxes, and stage for install.

Initially, we were planning on putting the CNC machine close to the sliding table saw. Why? I don’t know…just because. Instead, we slowed down long enough to think about the most efficient flow of material and parts through the shop…and then we decided to move all the cabinet production to the far bay of the shop. The far bay is a large rectangle with garage doors at each end. This new plan would allow us to receive and store sheet goods at one end; cut, edgeband, and assemble boxes in the middle; and load finished cabinets out the other end.

Here is a picture of the our cabinet space. We load the sheets where the picture was taken, cut out on the CNC to the left, edgeband the parts on the right, build the cabinets on the other side of these machines, and load out the garage door in the distance.

This was one of those decisions that seems so obvious in hindsight. But, early on in the process, it was not even on our radar. In order to have the CNC in the middle of the shop (where we were initially thinking of placing it), aisles were going to be constricted, material transport & storage was going to be difficult, and parts were still going to need to be hauled to the far bay for assembly. Why it took us so long to abandon this idea and look at alternative layouts, I don’t know…but I am sure glad we did.

MATERIAL STORAGE

With the workflow all laid out, it was time to upgrade our sheet good storage. For the past six years, we have used a simple A-frame to store melamine and plywood. This was adequate in the early days, since we didn’t use that much material. But, as we have grown, so has our appetite. Our A-frame rack was being overwhelmed with sheet goods, both full and partial, and it was a major downer if the sheet you needed was buried behind the 15 sheets that just got stacked in front of it. It was time we grew up and graduated to a horizontal storage rack.

I immediately headed to Craigslist, and what do you know, a buddy of mine was selling the exact kind of storage rack I was looking for! A check was written, parts were loaded, and smiles were plentiful!

The rack came with three levels of storage, which is enough for us (currently, anyway!). We use the bottom and middle levels for 3/4″ and 1/2″ white melamine (the only sheet goods we inventory), and the top level for extra full sheets. Other than white melamine, I try to keep our plywood and melamine down to a minimum by only ordering only what we need for a job. If needed, I can always add another row of storage…but for now, we are good!

MATERIAL HANDLING

Unloading material from the delivery trucks has always been a bit of a pain for us since we do not have a forklift. Until recently, we have never even ordered enough material to justify a forklift. We are now busy enough that one would be nice, but there are so many other places vying for our cash that a forklift is pretty far down the list. Instead, we use the metal frame cart you see in front of the material rack in the above picture. Across the street from our shop is a helicopter pilot, and this cart was sitting outside of his shop for weeks. I asked him about it, and he said it was used to move around a helicopter, but now it was not needed. For $250 it was ours! Its 3’x8′ footprint, combined with the beefy 4″x4″x1/4″ steel tubing and 8″ heavy duty wheels, make this a perfect cart for transporting between the delivery truck and the shop.

The final piece to the workflow puzzle was a method to easily move sheets from the storage rack to the CNC machine. We have been using two of these metal frame tables for a few years as assembly tables, but realized that by welding on some heavy-duty casters, it would make a great mobile table/cart. We added the strongest 3.5″ casters we could find, which brought the height of the cart to 1/2″ above the spoilboard of the CNC machine. Now we load up 10+ sheets and roll it in front of the machine where one guy can easily load the sheets as needed.

The items discussed here is where I spent most of my mental energy during the pre-CNC arrival planning process.  The previous items (power, dust collection, and compressed air) were much more clear cut. Things like shop layout, storage, and material transportation, however, are more relative and will vary from shop to shop. My solutions will be different from yours, but the main issue is taking the time to figure out the best layout for your shop. If you do, it will save you a lot of frustration and work later on down the line.

POWER

We do not have the benefit of unlimited 3-phase power in our shop. All of our current 3-phase machines run via a Kay Industries 40HP rotary phase converter that I purchased used off Craigslist in 2009. The capacity of that converter is maxed out, plus I did not want the CNC machine to have to compete with any other machines for its power, so it was off to purchase another phase converter.

I have been very happy with our current converter (meaning it starts up every time we flip the switch and runs all day with no complaints). This in mind, I met Greg Schroff from Kay Industries at AWFS last summer, and with him being extremely helpful with my preliminary questions, I did not hesitate to call him when I needed a new converter. My electrician then ran a new service panel to the CNC’s location (wiring up the converter, breaker panel, and transformer prior to the Felder tech arriving).

DUST COLLECTION

Our shop is not set up with one large dust collector, but rather four smaller dust collectors. Therefore, I was on the hunt for a dust collector specifically for the CNC machine. As is an issue for many shop owners, I was limited on the space and funds available. I focused my search on the traditional over-under bag dust collector and was unable to find any used machines in my area. So, I went into the local Woodcraft store and purchased a Powermatic PM1900TX-BK1. It is a 3HP model with 1700CFM out of the single 8″ port. I immediately upgraded the stock top bags with 96″ tall 1 micron aftermarket bags from American Fabric Filter.

These extra tall bags increase the square footage of exhaust, allowing the dust collector to provide maximaum suction for longer periods of time. We picked up the 8″ galvanized duct work from the local HVAC store and a 12′ long section of 8″ flexible hose from an online dealer. I skipped the swiveling dust collection ball valve in favor of an extra long length of flexible hose, mostly due to cost savings.

With everything installed, we found out that the dust collection is barely adequate. I think we need to double the CFM to really collect the chips. I would estimate that the collector gathers 40% of the waste created; the remaining 60% is left on the table. There are several issues conspiring against the dust collector. The compression bit is pushing the chips down towards the table as it cuts, while the vacuum pump is pulling the chips down to the table at the same time. Once a sheet is cut, we use a shop vac to clean off the table before loading the next sheet. This process takes up quite a lot of time and is something I need to address in order to increase efficiency.

AIR LINES

From everything I had read, clean compressed air is critical to a well functioning CNC machine. Contaminated air will wreak havoc on the inner workings. To that end, we purchased an air dryer (which removes water from all the air lines in the shop), and a desiccant filter immediately before the inlet on the CNC machine. While the air dryer wasn’t purchased just for the CNC machine (we had water issues in air lines throughout the shop), I am including it in the overall cost because if you buy a CNC, you will need one.

Last summer we embarked on (and are still finishing up) a huge remodel of our 1,100 square foot home. The remodel ended up reconfiguring our front room, which consists of our entryway, living room, and dining room). As such, it was out with the old dining table and in with a new table!

My wife loves to entertain, so we wanted to build the largest dining table the area could hold…which meant I would be building a 48″ x 96″ table top! This would allow us to comfortably seat eight people, and up to 10 people for larger functions.

The Design Phase

A quick word on designing furniture, at least from my personal experience; I work best when I have constraints placed on me (a specific style or specific materials, budget, etc.). Let’s look at this table as an example. My overall design criteria/constraints were the following: Budget Friendly, Industrial Styling, 4′ x 8′ Table Top, Pedestal Base.

By outlining the criteria in the beginning, I was able to ignore all the design ideas that didn’t fit, helping me to declutter my mind and better zero in on the final look of the top.

I have always wanted to build my future “dream” dining table out of Walnut. It is by far my favorite domestic hardwood. However, a 1.5″ thick solid Walnut top would cost about $600 just for the wood. Given that one of my design criteria was affordability, Walnut was out…I needed to look at other options.

Fortunately, I had a bunch of 4/4 Qtr Sawn Sapele left over from a job we completed a month or two earlier, which wasn’t free to my company, but it was free to me! Here was the rub…it was 4/4 stock, meaning the table top would only be 3/4″ thick. I had to figure out a way to make the top thicker, or at least make it appear that way.

The easiest way to make thinner boards thicker is to glue two layers together, but I was afraid of wood movement and the potential for stress cracks over the years. I wanted to figure something else out. I settled on two layers of Sapele, but instead of gluing them together, I would separate them with an inert material, like 3/4″ plywood. This would give the top a nice “heavy” look while still being very stable.

This rendering shows the breakdown of each layer. The top would be solid Qtr Sawn Sapele, the middle layer would be a rectangular frame of plywood, and the bottom layer would be Qtr Sawn Sapele. The bottom layer of Sapele did not need to be a full glue-up like the top, but I wanted each layer to look exactly the same with the end grain along the width. In order to accomplish this, I would not be gluing the bottom layer up like a picture frame. Instead, I would run two boards along each side and a bunch of small boards across the width, giving the bottom layer the look of a full glue-up.

I began by milling the rough sawn 4/4 Quarter Sawn Sapele lumber. I love rough sawn lumber! And since the 4/4 stock generally comes 1.063″ thick, it gives you a lot of material to work with!

After jointing and planing the boards, I used the sliding table saw to straight line rip one edge. I didn’t take any pictures of the table top glue up, but it was nothing out of the ordinary…glue up each 2’x8′ half, send them through the widebelt, then glue up both halves to make the full 4’x8′ top.

Previously, I mentioned that I would be sandwiching a layer of plywood between the top and bottom layers of Sapele, so I had to decide what to do with the edge of the plywood. I could have edgebanded it in Sapele, but that would be way to boring! Instead, I decided to recess the middle layer by 1″ all around and trim it out in a band of hot rolled steel. I have been on an industrial design kick lately, and this would be a perfect opportunity to incorporate that look into this piece.

Using my drill press set to the slowest setting, I drilled holes through the steel to accept some decorative bolts.

I picked up a bucket of machine bolts at a garage sale last summer which would be the perfect fastener to hold the steel banding, since they had a nice decorative head and washer and were a nice shiny stainless steel.

After bolting the steel banding to the plywood, I attached the bottom layer of Sapele. As you can see in the picture, I added an elongated cove detail to both the top and bottom layer in order to open up the middle and make it easier to see the decorative metal band and bolts.

Here is an up close shot of the three layers that make up the top. I chose to use hot rolled steel, which has the dark mill scale, because once I sanded the majority of the mill scale away, I was left with a nice charcoaly texture. The steel is finished with a coat of Penetrol to add some shine and protect it from moisture.

Here is the finished table top in our dining room. It sat atop two “custom” melamine pedestals while I worked on the base. The wall unit behind the table was also unfinished at the time, with the upper glass doors and the bottom doors still not completed.

In the next installment, we will look at the design and construction of the base of the table.