Present I made for my mom ;)
- The original photo used for the model of the fire ants is by Bart Drees, from here.
- CNC machine is a Probotix Fireball V90, using a 60 degree .005 etching tip on a Dewalt trim router.
- The wax is a block of machinable wax from Flexbar.
- For that one, just used double-sided Scotch tape for hold down for the wax to leveled plywood surface. Still need to lay out a better clamping system, but that's worked really well for wax and circuit boards for me so far.
- The silver clay is ArtClay Silver 650.
- The oil used was a knife sharpening oil. Olive oil would probably work as well or better.
- Gemstone is a synthetic corundum (don't torch-fire a natural like that!).
- Pearls are cultured freshwater.
- Garnets are probably natural, although I'm not 100% sure on that source.
- All other silver is sterling.
- No solder or bezel other than metal clay was used.
- Tried out CamBam for the image->g-code. Plan to buy it soon - neat stuff, although still in the learning curve on what it can do and how.
- Used Mach3 for the milling control software.
