I plan to give my Carve homework to my mom afterwards, kind of like a college version of “Mom, look what I did at school today!” project, so I wanted to use a design that simple but meaningful, and this lotus design from the Noun Project was perfect.
I used a 12″x8″x.5″ piece of birch plywood and kept the design in the bottom left corner. At first, I was going to cut down the wood later to fit it around the lotus, but then I decided that the wood would be a cute catch-all tray if I left the slab of wood as is.
Previewing the Carvey outcome
With a Lab Tech helping me out, I used the default settings for feed rate, plunge rate, and depth per pass for the first attempt. We learned 5 minutes in that this may have not been the best combo…
RIP 1/8″ drill bit. Your sacrifice will not be in vain
After replacing the bit, I decided to change the depth per pass from .03″ to .01″.
As Carvey ran, I saw the progress of machining barely move after 10 minutes, so I increased the depth per pass to .02″. This has now become my go-to setting for my Carvey machining, since I feel like there’s a less chance of a bit breaking and stalling the whole operation and it makes the process the most smooth.
The sawdust looks like fresh-fallen snow! So satisfying…
After cleaning up all the sawdust and screws up around the Carvey machine, I took my piece to the table for some light sanding, a nice coat of stain, and a spray of protectant coat for the final product.
Final product: a decorative catch-all tray with a lotus emblem
Bonus pic: I made a second one (bottom) for myself because I loved the design so much
Cost Analysis
– Labor: 3 hours at $15/hr = $45
– Machine use: 1 hour at $25/hr = $25.00
– Wood: ~$5
– Stain: $10 for 1 quart = ~$0.50
– Auxiliary materials: rags, popsicle sticks, sandpaper, etc. = ~$1
Total cost: $76.50
