Phil got me started on 3d carving, so I downloaded this .stl and created my own coaster. A set will be each of the 4 groups. I will fill the cavity with clear CastinCraft to make it flat. Should be interesting.
I used a .5mm tapered BN bit to cut the final 3d pass. Took too long so I made some adjustments to bring down the time for the next carve. finally used my 90deg bit for the bevel. I’ve had that bit for a year and haven’t used it yet.
If you decide to fill the whole dish with resin so it’s level with the coaster body, you might want to consider a paint pot ($99 at harbor freight), it works REALLY well to get all the bubbles out. I never had luck with the heat gun approach, and still had lots of bubbles, but with the pressure cooker approach they’re like glass with no bubbles at all…
Excellent work Tim. 3 points for etc.
I’d love to see the end result once you have filled it with the resin. Would you consider running anything through the resin to make it a bit more harry potter themed? Like some sort of smokey or magic effect (think glitter but not as naff).
very nice. great detail in that one. i’ve been trying to work up to going 3D carvings (thanks to the bad influence that is @PhilJohnson with all his renderings and whatnot), just haven’t tried one yet. doesn’t help with the limited bit selection i have.
I have done a good amount of castings for pen making, one thing that might look cool, is to do a double or triple pour with suspended items. something simple like a thin coat to seal it, a light mixture of resin and maybe gold flakes or stripper glitter (the really fine stuff that never comes off your skin no matter how hard you scrub) then a top clear coat. gives the illusion of floating/suspended stuff. just a thought. either way, looks great
You can just pour a thin stream out of your mixing cup too.
Mark - that’s an interesting idea. I want the resin to be as clear as possible to see the artwork, but maybe a few specs of glitter might be doable. I didn’t really consider anything like that.
Nic - You speak of that stripper glitter as if you have some experience??? 
I lightly sanded it and put a coat of Arm-r-Seal in there to bring the grain out a bit. I need to be careful about sealing it too much or the resin won’t have much to grip.
I’m carving the HuffPuff coaster now but it’s on poplar ( the light wasn’t good last night and I mistook it for cherry). I don’t like how the wood just frays in some spots. This may be my experimental coaster.
I was playing around with the toolpaths on this one (Vcarve Desktop 9.0) and noticed that there is a huge difference between a BN and tapered BN toolpath. If I select .75mm BN I get a 7hr cut time, but the same basic settings with tapered .75mm BN are around 15-20 mins. I’ll get around to posting pics of those setups here in a day or so, maybe I’m not seeing it right.
I have no idea what you’re talking about…
I hear CNC’ers lose steps if they don’t drink enough caffeine.
Great job. I’ve done a lot of work using resin. I use the two part resin that I get from Michaels. I find it doesn’t bubble that much, and all you have to do is breathe on it to get rid of the bubbles. It’s also easily tinted with a variety of materials. I usually use acrylic paint, also from Michaels.
I hear CNC’ers lose steps if they don’t drink enough caffeine.
There’s a t-shirt!
Here is the final product. 1 air bubble that’s not too bad. I’m wondering if the light area’s in the tail are caused from a trapped air bubble. I’ll have to look at a vacuum pot, converting those HF painting pressurized pots makes me a bit nervous.
Pot conversion is easy, just make sure to have a blow off valve for 60psi and you’ll be good to go. Takes about 30 minutes to modify, super simple…
Yes, those are bubbles, I was battling the same thing until I started using the pot.
Could you share what software you use and how your Xcarve is driven to carve in 3D? I am very interested in carving 3D but not sure what is the best way for a newbie to start…
