Lesson 4 of 6

Cut it with VCarve

The calculator does the math; the gadget turns it into cuts. Moving your design over is copy and paste.

How the flute is cut

The flute is split down the middle from end to end, into a left half and a right half. Each half lies flat on the CNC with the face you'll glue facing up, so the CNC is cutting a side view. That means the ramp, the flue and the beveled splitting edge are cut exactly at the angles in your design, and each finger hole is a half-round groove in each half.

1. Install the gadget once, from the gadget page.
2. Copy the code. At the bottom of the calculator, click Copy code for VCarve.

   

3. Make a job big enough for both halves (the calculator gives the sheet size under "Wood and cutting"). Set the material thickness to the thickness of one half, with Z zero on top.
4. Run the gadget from the Gadgets menu, paste the code into the box and click Check code to see the design. Change any bit to one you own.

   

5. Click Draw flute. Both halves appear, each operation on its own layer, with toolpaths for the bore, breath hole, finger holes, air path, pins, direction holes and outline. Preview, then save the toolpaths.
6. Cut both halves, then sand the glue faces lightly.

Glue-up

1. Put 1/8" pins in the alignment holes.
2. Wrap a dowel the size of the bore in plastic and lay it in the bore. It keeps the halves lined up exactly, and with them the half-round holes.
3. Glue sparingly, away from the bore, the air path and the holes. Clamp, then pull the dowel before the glue sets hard.
4. Round the outside, leaving the top flat where the block sits and around the sound hole.