How to find a local supplier for wooden hexagons

[Morris Dovey]

Your nntp client is reversing the quoting. %-)

| Duck soup. I have a CNC router that can cut hexagons from a full | sheet at a time. With a 1/8" bit there'll be minimal waste but | maximum cutting time (~100 pieces/hr). A larger bit will provide | smoother cuts and reduced cutting time (~200-350 pieces/hour), but | more waste. It's less expensive to have a wider kerf because MDF | costs less than either machine or human time. ||| How large a bit (is a kerf the same thing as a bit?) would you ||| recommend? As you note, a small amount of waste is more cost ||| efficient since the material is way less expensive than the ||| labor.

You need to see some samples so /you/ can make that decision. As usual, these choices involve trade-offs that only you can make. I'll let you look at similar parts cut with 1/8", 1/4", and 1/2" bits (most of the difference in smoothness results from flexing of the bit.)

A /kerf/ is the cut or channel made by a saw. I've used the term here because of the similarity of result. A /bit/ is the (usually replaceable) cutting part of a tool.

| FWIW, 1/32" off won't exactly look "seamless". Will you want a | "frame" for the picture? How about a shipping/storage box? ||| What do I need for a "seamless" look? Can your machine do that? ||| I will not need a frame. May consider a storage box--had not ||| thought about that.

If you're going to visit the shop Saturday I'll do "show-n-tell" with some samples.

[Just so that nobody feels left out, nearly everything Roamdog will see and handle has appeared at one time or another on either a.b.p.w. or my web site - and visitors to the shop are always welcome.]

-- Morris Dovey DeSoto Solar DeSoto, Iowa USA

[CW]

A kerf is made by anything that cuts, not necessarily a saw. Your use was correct.

[Roamdog]

Can you tell me how many hexes would be produced with the 1/8 or the

1/4 or the 1/2 bits? I am guessing that there is not a tremendous difference in number?

[Roamdog]

I need at least 338. Would like 350 if the incremental cost is negligible.

[Leon]

$498.00 for 338

[Prometheus]

I don't want to spoil any potential business for Morris, but if you can't afford a couple of sheets of plywood instead of MDF, as you state a little later in the thread, what are the odds of your being able to pay for at least a couple of hours worth of time on a CNC router?

If you've got a table saw, you can cut as many as you want, as accurately as you can set a saw up (which is pretty accurate if you're patient), with a decent fence and a couple of simple jigs. The trick to making the pieces consistantly is to do all the reps of each op before changing the setup, and verifying the setup every so often by measuring a sample piece. I'd set up the fence, rip the entire sheet into strips, then cut those strips into rhombuses with a miter guage set to 30 degrees that has a hunk of flat scrap bolted to it as a sacrificial extension, with a stop block screwed into that extension on the far side of the blade to make sure each part is the same length. Flip the rhobuses (or is it rhombii?) over and set the accute corner against the stop block and viola, you have hexagons.

If you don't have a table saw, but do have a miter saw, you can buy the MDF from a real lumber yard that has a shop on location, and have them rip the sheet into strips. You'll have to pay them for the service, but I used to do that before I had a table saw, and it wasn't too terribly expensive. (IIRC, I had a local place rip 8 or 9 8" planks of spruce into 1.5" wide strips for me, and it cost about seven bucks) Then you can use a c-clamp to setup a stop block on the miter saw fence, and cut away.

Both of these methods have the potential to be accurate to a 64th or better, and they're a lot less expensive. Not to mention the fact that you'll have some good experience doing it when all is said and done, and you can say that you made them yourself. If you play your cards right, you may even get a new tool or two out of the bargin. MDF is cheap- even if you have to buy a saw, and mess up three or four sheets before you get it right, you're still liable to save money doing the job yourself.

[Roamdog]

Actually plywood does not seem that much more than MDF. So, I could afford plywood. (What I cannot afford is real wood like cherry). :)

I considered plywood but it seemed... less solid... (and more prone to giving users handling the hexes splinters) than MDF. I do understand that MDF has moisture issues which is a big disadvantage (as there is some small risk of liquid spillage for my intended use). But does plywood break apart? Do I have to worry about the layers of the plywood separating?

Unfortunately, I do not have the tools (yet) to tackle this. Nor the expertise to get to 1/64 or better precision. And more importantly, I have a time constraint that will not allow me to buy the tools, learn to use them, and get the finished product done. Although I do like your thought process of justifying new tools. :) Will have to try that on my wife in the future. :)

[Roamdog]

Hey Morris - I hope that you are OK? Can you give me a call about my hexagons? I have left you a couple of voicemails and a couple of emails (not sure if my emails are even getting to you though).