Sample Motorcycle Badges

[Kitwn]

Wal,
Love the close-ups with the loupe, very artistic!

One thing that occurs to me is that many beginners, including me, must be asking the question "What sort of machine do I need to make work like this?" Was it your DIY mill? Obviously it takes more than mere hardware to produce such brilliant results but such info will help beginners get an idea of what can be done with a specific quality of build.

Kit

[Wal]

Hi Kit,

Yeah, the badges were cut on my DIY mini-mill. Nothing exotic (parallel port, analogue drives, TBR supported rails) - I guess the crucial thing is being realistic with feeds and speeds (you'd never make these things at scale using the gear I've got and expect to make any money...) and using sharp tools. I'm pretty sure that these could be made on a bigger router, provided that it's reasonably robust. The cutting forces aren't that great when using conservative feeds and fresh tools - problems usually stem from trying to do things too quick on gear that doesn't like to be pushed. Further to that there's the resin work and the polishing - both take a bit of time and effort to get right but it's not rocket science. Follow the instructions, be patient and take a bit of pride in what you're doing - usually pays off..!

Wal.

[Kitwn]

Hi Kit,

Yeah, the badges were cut on my DIY mini-mill. Nothing exotic (parallel port, analogue drives, TBR supported rails) - I guess the crucial thing is being realistic with feeds and speeds (you'd never make these things at scale using the gear I've got and expect to make any money...) and using sharp tools. I'm pretty sure that these could be made on a bigger router, provided that it's reasonably robust. The cutting forces aren't that great when using conservative feeds and fresh tools - problems usually stem from trying to do things too quick on gear that doesn't like to be pushed. Further to that there's the resin work and the polishing - both take a bit of time and effort to get right but it's not rocket science. Follow the instructions, be patient and take a bit of pride in what you're doing - usually pays off..!

Wal.

Thanks Wal,
I think that kind of information is really useful. It's important to give beginners the right balance of understanding about what is possible on a limited budget and a machine which is clearly not built up to the standard of the best professional products but is still very capable. It's a difficult balance to put people off wasting their money without giving the impression that that you cannot make something usable for less than X,000 quid (dollars, yen, lire as appropriate).
You then need to learn how to drive your creation to the best of it's abilities.