Making a rocking toy on the OpenBuilds LEAD 1515 CNC machine, this was such a fun project to make and my kids absolutely love it! What do you think of how this project turned out? We used Amana Tool® CNC Router bits all available on our website toolstoday.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=shop-cart
The plans for this project are also available on our site, item no. ROCKING
toolstoday.com/rocking-toy-cnc-plans-downloadable-and-customizable.html
Feed, Speed & CNC Running Parameters
Amana Tool 46202-K SC Spektra Extreme Tool Life Coated Spiral Plunge 1/4 Dia x 3/4 CH x 1/4 SHK 2-1/2 Inch Long Down-Cut Router Bit
toolstoday.com/v-13779-46202-k-bit.html
RPM: 18,000
Feed Rate: 100ipm
Plunge Rate: 50ipm
Depth per pass: 0.25”
Amana Tool 46170-K CNC SC Spektra Extreme Tool Life Coated Compression Spiral 1/4 D x 7/8 CH x 1/4 SHK x 2-1/2 Inch Long 2 Flute Router Bit
toolstoday.com/v-13354-46170-k.html
RPM: 18,000
Feed Rate: 110ipm
Plunge Rate: 55ipm
Depth Per Pass: 0.25"
Amana Tool 46300 Solid Carbide UltraTrim Spiral 1/2 D x 1-1/4 CH x 1/2 SHK x 4 Inch Long w/ Double Lower BB Up-Cut Router Bit
toolstoday.com/v-6238-46300.html
Amana Tool 49496 Carbide Tipped Corner Rounding 1/8 R x 3/4 D x 3/8 CH x 1/4 Inch SHK w/ Lower Ball Bearing Router Bit
toolstoday.com/v-5848-49496.html
VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION:
Putting down some Baltic birch plywood on the OpenBuilds Lead 1515 CNC machine, getting it brad-nailed to the wasteboard. We're going to start on a project to make a rocking toy. I'm going to first set my X, Y, and Z positions using the XYZ touch probe.
This is really nice because it does all three in one action, and we basically go into the software, confirm the probe position, and hit Probe, and then it'll do everything else, setting the X, Y, and Z location nice and accurately.
With that done, we can start cutting all of our parts out.
I'm starting with the 1/8” upcut bit here to drill my holes. These are going to be through-holes where we're going to use as screw locations later on.
The upcut bit helps evacuate the chips a lot better. I'm using a peck drilling tool path to ensure that we have no burning.
I switched out for a ¼” downcut bit, and we're going to go through and cut all of the pockets where pieces are going to slot in later. The downcut action leaves a really nice clean top surface of the material.
I used the upcut bit to go through and drill all the holes first, as I didn't want any chipping on the inside of those pockets.
I switched out for a ¼” compression bit, and this {elite - inaudible - 1:04} has an upcut portion and a downcut portion of the bit, leaving a nice clean surface on the top and bottom of the material.
So, I have a bit of a problem here that I don't realize yet… and start to realize it here. The sound changed, and the bit is actually loose in the collet. I, uh, didn't realize that was the case and I didn't tighten it down enough. So, I had to go through and tighten that again, and then we can run the exact same tool path right where we left off, and we can cut the rest of the part without any problems at all.
The parts where I had the collet properly tightened turned out absolutely fantastic, left a really nice finish on the plywood itself. The parts where it was loose, not so much, so we're going to have to clean some of that up later. Some of the parts I did actually end up recutting, but we got all of that all cut and then got it vacuumed off, and you can see those parts where it was not fully tightened versus where it was.
So, nice clean cuts where it was tightened, not so much where it wasn't.
Got the piece all flipped over, and I'm going to use a multitool to trim those tabs. Just got in this Festool Vecturo, and it has a really awesome attachment. So, usually, when I do this, I end up actually hitting the wasteboard of the CNC machine, and I never do it on my workbench because inevitably you're going to end up going through and damaging the workbench.
This has a plunge base on it, so I'm going to set that plunge base up, and there's also a depth stop there, so I can plunge just through the tabs and not into the wasteboard or into my workbench. And then, the other cool thing with it is, it does have a dust collection attachment on it as well, that I can use over at the workbench. So, this allows me to do this really pretty much dust-free.
It's definitely nice, speeds up the process a lot, and ensures that I don't damage anything sitting underneath it. So, it's a really nice accessory to have, especially for CNC. Using multitools is generally the way that I cut through tabs as it's the easiest for me.
So, we did that on the second sheet and got that all done. With those all cut out, our parts are all now ready to go. I took over the parts that had all of the messed-up edges on them from where the collet wasn't tightened and used the drum sander to sand those down. I'll then move over to the router table, where I'll use a ½” flush trim bit to go through and flush trim all of those tabs.
While I was flush trimming the larger ones, I did make a bit of a mistake here. I had the bearing set too high for where the pockets were, so we're just going to head back to the CNC, and we'll cut a plug to help fix this. I cut a few extra just in case this ever happens again on any sort of project that I can have. So, I got that all ready to go, then we can go take it over to the workbench.
I'll use some CA glue and accelerator to get that glued into place for a nice quick hold. After that's done, I can then use a flush trim saw to go ahead and cut that off, and you really don't even know that that was there unless you're really, really looking for it. But, you know, just like any other woodworker, I'll probably tell you about the mistake before you ever even see it.
We got that sanded a little bit, and like I said, it just kind of disappears there.
Mistakes happen to everyone; it's learning how to fix them that's important.
Back to the other pieces, I'll use a 1/8” radius round over bit to go over all of the parts to kind of soften things up. The plans for this project are available on our website and go over areas that need to be rounded over versus those that don't.
With the smaller parts here, we need to make sure that everything fits into the pockets that we cut on the pieces. So, those have a 1/8” radius; this is a 1/8” radius bit since they were cut out with a ¼” bit, and so this radius is going to match perfectly and will give us a nice tight fit on all of these pieces so that they fit into those pockets without having to square up those corners at all or do dog bone joints on the edges, which I personally don't really like the look of.
So, we got all of those edges rounded over, we can get that inserted, and you can see how nicely that fits there.
We did the same on all the other parts. Again, the plans mention exactly where it is that you should round over and where you shouldn't, that way you end up with a nice uniform look across all of the pieces.
With everything else rounded over, we can turn our attention to the handle.
You ever wonder what this is for? Chances are, your router table probably came with it. This is called a starting pin, and it has a lot of uses – it helps keep things safe. They have a spot that can install on the router table right here. We'll get that installed, and that gives you a really nice reference surface so that way you have something to push up against to start a bit where you're using it with a bearing.
It gives you a lot of control where you can pivot up against it and move your piece all the way through, keeping things nice and safe.
It also works in tricky situations like this that you would never want to attempt on a router table. With that starting pin, I have a reference and can go through and round over this dowel without any sort of safety concerns at all.
Let me show you how that works. Starting pins are super handy for lots of different situations, but if you don't have a router table that has a starting pin, or you don't have a router table at all, you can just ease those edges over just with some hand sanding and get the same look or a similar look.
So, we got all of that done, and it turned out really nice. Now we can begin assembly on this piece. The instructions on the plans go into full detail on how all of this is assembled, but there are some pretty weird angles here that I had to actually make a test piece for this project to figure out what those were so that I could incorporate that into the design.
But, we got everything all screwed down. You can certainly add glue to these as well, but the screws do hold it in place. So, basically, we're bending the plywood out here, and the angles that the stops are cut at are matching the angle that we're bending it out. So, like I said, I had to make a test piece here, and once we get everything all screwed together, it holds really, really nicely.
The stops are just there for making sure the kids don't go backward or forward over the front of the toy or over the back of the toy, and you can see why that's needed here in just a second. But, this project was definitely a lot of fun to make. My kids have absolutely loved it, and I've loved making it.
The plans are on our website, so are all the tools used in this video. Hopefully, you guys enjoyed it. Have a great day, everyone.
What is that?
A seesaw?
It's a horsey.
It could be whatever you want it to be, babe.
Woo, go Eli! Do you like your new toy?
Yes! Yay, Bye-bye. Bye.
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