Today in the shop (A SO ZCI)

[reible]

Still in the learning phase of the SO and did I learn a few things about not only the tool but the materials too.

So lets start with the cutting board I picked up in red. I use cutting boards for various projects and thought it might be interesting to see what happens when I try to use this one. The material is different then I expected and it does not cut as cleanly as the while ones I normally use....... Next I found the plastic to be more difficult to cut then the white versions I normally use. Something in there was slightly stringy, not the worst but not the best either. It also seems to have some internal stresses but we will get back to that later.

Next was the tape the SO requires doesn't like to stick to the plastic. This wasn't really a surprise but the extent of the problems it caused was many. I had to resort to adding some packing tape to the ends to keep them from pealing up. When they peal up you get an error and the SO is not happy to the extent it will not continue until you fix the problem. I guess that is a good thing.

I also found myself getting confused as to what lines where what lines, just getting use to checking before I cut should fix that issue but I did mess up a few times early on......

So lets get to the pictures. I didn't take any of the initial layout or while cutting so we will start with the ZCI having been cut out.

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I tried to get too close to the bottom and the left side, I need to remember to leave extra room so SO sits more stable.

I also taped to the foam board and the plastic with double sided tape. Tape didn't hold well to either the foam board or the plastic but it worked.

From the top it doesn't look to bad. Just one duvet along the front curve, my fault I'm sad to say.

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The internal stress caused the "tail" to warp, there is a small amount of that in the front as well but this is the worst of it.

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When mount in the table the screws help but there is still a bump the dip at the tail end, that may not make this usable as is.

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I'll try seeing if I can get the to straighten by clamping and letting it warm up for a couple of days.......... not sure what else to try.

Time wise I could make 4 or 5 of them the old way in the time it took me to do just this one. Part of that is my leaning curve and the other is deciding to use the SO for as much of it as I did. A saw would make a much faster way of getting the width to 3" rather then numerous router passes. But it was fun.

Still have the drill press table to finish up and on that one I will use the saw to size it.

Ed

[jsburger]

How did you cut the relief on the under side?

[reible]

The part was cut from the bottom so it was a combination of pockets and cutting in/out side the lines. This is where I got confused at first keeping track of where I was cutting.....

BTW I got my 1/8" collet today

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Didn't need it today but I'm glad I have it on hand now.

Ed

[jsburger]

The part was cut from the bottom so it was a combination of pockets and cutting in/out side the lines. This is where I got confused at first keeping track of where I was cutting.....

BTW I got my 1/8" collet today

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Didn't need it today but I'm glad I have it on hand now.

Ed

OK, that makes sense. I got my 1/8" collate two days ago. I really need to get into this. It is a very new tool that will change the way we do some things today.

[sehast]

I don't think you would have had to tape up the work piece if you made the cut out further up towards the tape board. I have found that I can route down to 12-15" from the top of the work piece if I use 3/4" spacing for the tape on the tape board. The SO camera sees out to about 11 1/2" from the front of the base and it has to see at least 2 rows of tape to make a good cut. The spindle is 5 1/4" further down from the front of the base so you can cut down to 16 3/4" from the first row of tape if everything is perfect, 15" is more common.