Looking for someone to help me route some slots into a table top with the CNC

Woodshop
1

I’ve taken the class but not the test (just never had the chance) and now I need to retake it because I’ve forgotten everything. But I’d like this table finished sooner rather than later. So I was hoping someone could help me out.

Here’s what I’m shooting for:

And here’s what I’ve got:

At one point in time I had made the Vcarve file for it but I have no idea whether that still exists on the server or not and I can’t get access to Vcarve for some reason (new one tells me I don’t have permission to it, Old Vcarve comes up asking for license info) so I can’t make a new one. I remember it not taking much time though so if I can get access to it again I could probably remake it very quickly.

But what I want done is to have three 0.5" wide grooves routed in the same pattern as the above image, ~0.25" deep and at the ends it’d go down 0.75" so I could ‘wrap’ the design around the edges.

Any help would be appreciated. If someone can point out how to get Vcarve working through the JUMP I can get that squared away (or maybe find the old file?) or maybe we could just knock it out real fast. Like I said it didn’t take much time last time so hopefully no more than a few minutes.

Willing to pay $20 for someone to do this for me. Thanks again for the help!

Edit: oh and I guess to clear up any potential confusion, the table top is not currently attached.

2

Hard or soft wood?

Are the slots aligned with the legs?

I suggest starting a separate “issue” thread lest this thread turn into a tangled mess.

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3

If it’s just slots on a flat table top, why don’t you use a router with a straight edge to create those grooves?

4

It’s a round table top so a straight edge won’t do it.

And preferably the slots would be aligned with the legs. If I do it at the correct angle, they should be.

And its African mahogany (a hardwood) with what’ll be maple inlay.

5

Can the top be rotated relative to the legs or are the legs attached to the top at specific points?

Is the bottom of the top flat / will the vacuum table hold it down?

In other words, what’s on the bottom of the top?

Are you hoping to have angled sides to make it easier to inlay?

6

There are multiples ways to do it with a hand router and round top. I would make a square jig that encloses the round top then align your straight edge and clamp it properly holding everything together. After you do one line then reposition the jig to the next radial line and so forth.

7

I think you’d have to do similar on the multicam for that matter… cut a big square the size of the top so you have a known job home, and then use the square to hold the circular top. It would be important that the tool pathing doesn’t try to rotate the table top and is mainly radial, motion wise.

8

Also, someone built a good sized clamping table/system for the Multicam; I think it is still there/available.

If your table top fits onto it, it can be clamped down securely for the job. The vacuum table then works on the clamping table to hold everything in place.

9

The top isn’t affixed in anyway. In the above picture it’s just resting on the legs.

The bottom of the top is pretty flat, but not perfectly so. I can never get my stock perfectly flat but theres little to no wobble IIRC.

10

Can I not just use the center of the table as my home? I know on the laser cutter you can. I don’t know much about the workings of the multicams software but I assumed it’d have a similar function.

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11

Lining it up would be difficult and inaccurate at best

12

You could make a massive center marking jig like the little plastic ones used for wood turning, then line up the center with the laser. There’s probably a better way though haha.

13

Why is that? IIRC the machine has a laser to show where the head is currently located. I already know where the center is, so it’d just be a matter of moving the dot over the mark no?

14

That was my thought as well. And I already know where the center is from the circle cutting jig I used to cut the top out with.

15

I would have let the CNC cut the circle for accuracy. I think your job is do-able, I’d just be nervous I’d screw up your piece.

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16

That laser is only as accurate as how it’s been adjusted, it seems that lately it has been getting knocked around… although I think it’s been a while since I’ve heard a report of it being extremely out of adjustment. It seems like you want to use the CNC for accuracy, so I was explaining how I would’ve done it.

If I were going to bother with doing it on the multicam, I don’t see a point in not using accurate methods.

17

Not if you can make the table center 0, 0 and the legs do not already have fixed positions on the top. Work from the center to an edge. It makes no difference where on the edge the cut falls as long as the cuts are 120 degrees from the neighbors.

18

Naw. Just mark the table center with pencil (using traditional center finding methods) then work from that outward.

19

True. But a little peck with the V-carve bit could be used to validate the position.

20

Have someone run a “sticky” test. Put the top on wasteboard. Turn on the vacuum hold. Give the top a good shove. Then a good twist. If it moves, a fixture is needed. If it does not, good news.