I have made a bit more progress.
Things are slow going. I have the machine set to rough away the majority of the material...followed by 2 different finishing passes.
Also, I am using an old craftsman router donated by a friend. While this is an improvement on the little trim router used to cut out the first stock (see 220-Swift in earlier posts), it is still slow going. This old router sounds like it is going to scream itself to a million pieces.
The plastic tent keeps the sawdust from taking over the basement and the rest of the house.



At the beginning of the CNC cutting, you have to Zero the machine and tell it where the material is. You have to tell it where the ZERO-Point is to start from. I used the very bottom back corner of the stock Blank as the starting point. Here, there are problems. I will be cutting this area away...and I cant 'reach' it later when I am cutting the front section. It will be too far away for my machine's limited travel space.

SO...I have to use the original Zero-Point to make a new one that I can reach and reference later. This is actually a hole that I drill using the machine.


The Metal Hold-Downs are very effective for keeping the Stock Blank exactly in place on the CNC table. The involve a system of cantilevers and threaded rods and grooved blocks. Regardless of how the work...the are made of hard metal, and the Wood Router Bit does not like them. I have to clamp the Stock in a manner that allows a section to be cut and also prevents the router bit from running into one of these metal pieces.

Added to these challenges - I have to have some flat sections left after the stock is cut on this 'right' side.
I will then (eventually) flip the Stock Blank over and cut the 'left' side. The flat areas that are left will allow me to position the Stock Blank on the CNC table in a flat and level manner.