Freehand curves

francist

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I've been fooling around on another little project recently which in itself is of little consequence. But part of my design has a couple pieces that have some curves on them. I considered the usual ways I could made them, then figured I'd try free-handing them on the shaper.

It can be a bit daunting at first, but once you get into the rhythm it's a lot of fun. I left some surplus for file finishing but realistically could have ground a shallower cutter and got the shape a lot closer. For now though, it worked pretty good.

Thanks for looking.

-frank

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Seems to have worked out quite well for you. I take it that's a paper template attached to the part in your last photo?
 
Yes it's paper. Sometimes it's easier than doing the layout on the metal -- it's a method I picked up from cutting metal letters and logos for building signs years ago. I just use rubber cement to hold the template, comes off easy afterwards. In this part, the dimensions are not super critical.

-frank
 
Very interesting project Frank. So did you cut the arc by rotating the head/clapper box assembly ? Is the radius of the arc just determined by the amount of tool extension ?

Ted
 
No rotation of the tool slide or tool at all other than just to get it positioned at a reasonable attack angle. I just put the ram in motion, used my left hand to work the table feed and my right hand to advance the tool slide down. A lot like an etch-a-sketch, really.

-frank
 
No rotation of the tool slide or tool at all other than just to get it positioned at a reasonable attack angle. I just put the ram in motion, used my left hand to work the table feed and my right hand to advance the tool slide down. A lot like an etch-a-sketch, really.-frank

Very nice. I was way over-thinking it !

Ted
 
I lilke This! the paper to use as a tracer for free handing the shaper. Thanks! Pat F
 
I just use the power feed, set it at some reasonable step over and then just chase the line as the shaper feeds.

My name is Brian and I'm a toolaholic.
 
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