Fish shaped trivets for hot dishes on dining tables

[sailfl]

My thread is getting down in the list so I thought I would post some fish I have been working on.

Plywood just to test how they look. The last is solid surface material and it is going to be used as a Trivet.

[sailfl]

Fish in 1/2" Cork

[Alan_c]

Interested to hear how you machined that "soft" material without distortion?

[sailfl]

Alan,

It wasn't that hard. I called Onsrud to see what bit to use. They told me that they have never cut cork but they suggested a 63-000 series bit. I happened to have a 63-775.

I tried a small cut with my shuttle pro and it machined very nice. Sharp edges and smooth. I rounded the edges when I cut it in solid surface and the edges are rounded in the cork.

So I set up my file and cut it. The router was at 15,000 and I think the feed rate was 30 but I think it could have been faster may be 70.

I am very pleased with the results. I think I am going to make the spine a little thicker to make it a little stiffer.

Looks good in cork. I bought the cork from McMaster Carr.

Trivet for hot plates.

Hope that helps.

[Gerald D]

Nice one Nils!

How did you hold the cork down?

[sailfl]

Gerald,

The 1/2" cork I bought comes in 1' x 3' sheets. The fish is 6" x 10.5". So I used wood clamps to hold the material outside of the edges of the fish. I am only cutting 1/8" of material on each path. On the last path, I hold down the fish with my fingers to prevent it from moving.

I nipped the edge of the protective rubber on the end of the clamp. I have to get better at placing the clamps but I also don't like to waste material.

I am also using 1/16" cork to put on the bottom of the solid surface fish. The 1/16" cork has an adhesive backing. I wanted to see if I could cut the fish out with the cork attached. To experiment, I attached a layer of cork to a piece of scrape 1/2" plywood and cut some circles and squares. They came out with a sharp clean cut also. The cork looked better than the plywood.

I also used a very sharp bit when I cut the cork.

I think with the right bits and right design you could cut a relief out of the material. It machines as nice as solid surface material.

Clamps look like these!

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=118178-281-512QCN&lpage=none