Plastic carving capability: bezels? frames?

[MacCarving]

Hi everyone. I am new here and first off I would like to say that you guys are great! Reading your replies and getting the feeling of community you guys have is awesome! Anyway, I have a question about the CW...

What are its abilities to carve into plastic? I know you can carve pictures into plastic and all but could you make a bezel out of plastic (see pic below)? I want to be able to make custom face plates for vehicle installs. That would be the first use and of course I would use it to make wood plaques and signs of all types! It looks fun. Thanks for the help!

Sample: (just the plastic face :) )
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p55/john9537/6f58_1.jpg

[BobHill]

Mac, remember that the bit turns at 20,000 rpm so it would depend upon the type of "plastic" you would be using, otherwise the speed of the bit cutting would quickly start up a melting of the plastic, which would spoil the carve. But you sure could make a fance faceplate out of wood, or resin type plastics that would be impervious to whatever heat (???) the bit would make normally.

Bob

[MacCarving]

Hey Bob, thanks! I still have a couple questions though: What type of plastic do they use for those samples on the CW site?
So do you think it is possible with that type of plastic? Is there an option in the program to tell it it is plastic or something? I am thinking some wood accents would be awesome in the car though!

I have been reading a lot about the CW, do you love it!? There is so much you can do with it!


John

PS: I am a Tampa native too! Just not there at the moment... Currently activated.

[BobHill]

Mac,

Always a big smile to Tamper Bay-ites <g>. You'll love the CarveWright (or CompuCarve as SEARS calls it).

I sure can't speak for all the types of plastics off the top of my head, but I did a Google for "heat resistant plastics" and got a whole bunch of hits and there has to be one that will fit your needs .. including bakelite (which is a pretty old timer for plastics).

One such (many more sites available) give you a whole list of Thermoplastic solutions. This one might be a bit overkill, but it does give you insight into the potential. I have no idea what the maximum bit temperature might get to, however. Maybe the NASA engineers at CarveWright might be able to fill us in on that. I believe for the photo image material a type of lucite was used, but don't hold me to that.

http://www.dotmar.com.au/solutions/temperature.htm

Bob

[MacCarving]

Thanks again Bob! Looking at that site, there is some definite potential as some of the plastics have high heat resistance for an initial period of time. Others have resistance over the life of the plastic.

I took a second look at the FAQ to see if it said something about the bit temperature and I found this one on materials used for the CW: http://carvewright.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=610. It lists polycarbonates as one of the materials that can be used! Doing some more research on polycarbonates reveals that they are in a class between comodity plastic and engineering grade plastics. Should be perfect! The FAQ said that the carving of that woman on the site used white polycarbonate. Polycarbonate can be worked up to about 275 F. So that should answer that but I always like to see things in person :) Can any of the engineers at CarveWright say what the bit temperature will get up to???

Last couple of questions: I am fairly sure it can but, can the CW make a frame with smooth curves? Like a concave or convex for example smoothly? Also, I know I have read about it somewhere on here but can you do a concave carving on the other side of a convex design? So its not flat on the other side? Thanks again! You guys are awesome and I am just about convinced to get one if these questions can be answered!

John

[Shawn Gillies]

Regarding your question regarding the concave/convex profiles on the same piece the answer is yes. I made(well would have made but my drive belts tore apart) breadboard ends for a coffee table with upswept wings.
I'll try to post the layout.
I carved the concave and then flipped wood and then carved the convex side. I used two individual files to make it easier for me to layout into Designer.
I,m planning on making a wood dash panel to replace the alloy one i made for the Ultralight aircraft i'm building. You will find many other uses for the CarveWright/Compucarve machine as time goes on but i haven't tried mine out on the plastics yet so i really can't comment on that (yet).

Shawn Gillies (still waiting for replacement machine)

[BobHill]

Mac,

Is this more in line with what you want? See mpc file for doing it, and image to see how it would look. I made the depth deeper to show the shape better and the thickness of the piece left would be .20" I made the piece go off the wood so you can see the curvature better.

Bob

[MacCarving]

Hey Shawn and Bob, that is exactly right! I want to take that and use it to make a frame for a vehicle dash board. It should be pretty easy to do that then :)

This may be a silly question for this forum but what do you think of carving the wood as a type of male mold to shape a piece of plastic? For example, you would have the wood cut out in a convex shape and melt flat plastic of the same shape onto it to get the curve?? Sorry I am bugging you guys so much but I need to make sure this is going to work. Its a big investment for me. It is very encouraging though!

[Shawn Gillies]

Hey Maccarving, you got me thinking with that idea!
You might be able to do this.

Make both male and female dies

Place plastic in oven and heat to temperature where the plastic would become malleable

Insert plastic between both dies

Insert the whole setup in a vacuum bag and remove air
(i bought a small setup that was used to make skateboards for about $60)

Let plastic cool and remove.

The wife might not enjoy this plan as mine sure wasn't when she came home and saw my ATV exhaust pipe being powder coated in the oven:oops:

Let me know how that idea sounds :idea:

You could also bypass the vacuum bag and just use clamps?

Shawn

[MacCarving]

Lol, I like that idea! I don't have any experience making molds or anything but it sounds great! What is the theory behind removing the air? I have seen the vacuum thing online but it seemed like you remove air to suck the plastic down. Also, what was that setup you bought for the skateboards? Do you have the CW? Maybe you can give it a shot... When the wife is not home of course!

Also, I have been looking into the polycarbonates and they are mostly transparent. If one of these methods did work, you would either have to get a dark colored one or paint/dye it yourself (polycarbonate can get expensive). I would be curious as to what the texture of that would be. Any experience with that?

John

[Shawn Gillies]

I use a steam box for lumber which makes the wood malleable and then once it is cooked i lay it over a form shaped like an arch, as an example those bent wood chairs Ikea sells and then the vacuum bag draws a vacuum which draws the air out of the bag pulling the wood into the form. Do a Google search and you'll find all kinds of examples. I bought a sheet of 1/4" Polycarbonate/White and it cost about $15 per square foot. It comes in all kinds of colors and textures. The skateboard vacuum kit is a smaller version that i picked up at Lee Valley at a woodworking show if i remember, that's how they get the arches in the skateboards. Or it can be laminated but that's a whole new topic. And yes i have a Carvewright but it is NFG at the moment and i'm awaiting a replacement so i can't really do much expermenting at this time which is a bummer

Shawn

[MacCarving]

That stinks about it being broken. I should have remembered you had one, you posted that it was broken already. How long were you using it before it broke?
So, would you guys agree that there is definitely a way to do what I am trying to do with the machine? It looks like you should be able to but you guys have the experience with the machine, not me...

John