3D Soap Dish

[Wal]

Hi all,

Heh - this isn't the first soap dish I've made and I doubt it'll be the last, but after seeing an abysmal design the other day (honestly, how can anyone make a soap-dish that doesn't work properly..?!) I thought I'd model one and cut it as a 3D object. The idea was that the ribs would droop in the middle so as to cradle the soap, whilst the troughs were to drop away at the edges to facilitate draining.

A couple of in-progress pics below. I've made it from a scrap piece of Sycamore I got given a while back. Still needs a bit of sanding and then a couple of coats of varnish. I've modified my CAM files since the first cut (for speed and efficiency) and I may make a special in African Black Wood. It'll be a nice prezzie for someone at some point..!



Wal.

[johnsattuk]

Il'l try this on a bit of sycamore I have, might even use a bit of zabrani I have been saving for years.

Can you give a clue to the cutter you used

[Wal]

Il'l try this on a bit of sycamore I have, might even use a bit of zabrani I have been saving for years.

Can you give a clue to the cutter you used

Sure - I used a 4mm square end mill for the roughing and a 4mm ball nose for the finishing. In all honesty a 3mm would be better for the finishing pass, but you'd need a long neck/flute or a shaft no thicker than 3mm to avoid rubbing on the steep sides... I may flare out the troughs and the front and rear faces a bit on the newer model to make it a bit easier to cut...

Wal.

Sent from my HTC One M9 using Tapatalk

[Clive S]

Wal I think you have too much time on your hands

[Wal]

Wal I think you have too much time on your hands

Don't you mean my impeccably clean hands, Clive..?! ;)

Wal.

EDIT: To be honest, whilst seeming a bit self-indulgent, there's a fair bit I'm picking up with regards to how VCarve handles 3D objects - specifically how it cuts 'em. i.e. cutting along the troughs is A LOT quicker, but frustratingly if the 0.3mm step-over falls on an area that it's not allowed to get to the bottom of, it just ignores the bit that hasn't been cut - of course, you can get around it by narrowing the step-over or adjusting the raster angle - both of which increase cutting time, but them's the breaks, I guess. As a side note, I ended up going with a 45° raster angle, which gave me a decent enough finish in the troughs but wasn't ideal on the steep sides - using the 45° angle stressed the tool a fair bit too - leading to this:

[johnsattuk]

Will you be making your newer model available to us, a bit of taper would help with the cutter choice and perhaps the look.

Only got a 5mm ball nose long enough at the moment so will have to get a couple of long 3mm ones.

I cut the Grunblau soap stand a couple of years ago.