hexagon logo

cribbage players

Any cribbage players on this site?  Just over a year ago I bought a CNC router mill for my upcoming retirement (to keep busy & hopefully make a little cash)

I have about 200 cribbage boards I have designed over the years and now I can make them much nicer and much more easily than hand drilling 240-480 holes

Since I have had the machine I have also designed up (and made) quite a few other things.  I really like the 3D 'carving' capabilities of this thing.

this is the machine I bought, along with a 3hp spindle, and a few of the other accessories.

nextwavecnc.com/.../

Parents
  • it is a fun game, perfect for long cold winters and nights at deer camp!

  • good call, but at 60++ I'm hardly an apprentice.  Amazing in that it didn't snap the bit, it was a 1/16" taper ball nose bit and it got at least 3/8" deep before I hit the STOP button (going at 50 inches/minute speed).  I hit cycle start, I saw it didn't go as high as it should, saw it start it's dive to go into the part, and I just failed to react properly.  Yeah, my fault, my fault twice for failing to offset the stock thickness and my fault for not reacting like I should have.  My wood dye is getting delivered either today or tomorrow, so I'll use that one for testing out how the dye works, as in how fast, how deep, how dark, etc.  NOT stain, actually wood dye powder.  Can be mixed with either water or alcohol, then applied.  I'm thinking alcohol as it will dry a lot faster.

  • dye was delivered last night.  tiny TINY little package of powder makes a quart of dye (I used water).  tested it on the fubar and it does color very well, and at least the way I did it, it didn't penetrate deeply, so, I will try it out this weekend on a new small flag.  rough cut the entire flag, then finish just the field, and dye it.  Then finish just the red strips and dye.  then finish the white strips and put in the stars.  It will be an interesting experiment.

  • rough cut entire flag (+0.020 stock)

    finish cut field, dye blue

    finish cut red stripes, dye red

    finish cut white stripes & stars, then cut out.

    light power wheel sand w/ drill

  • That looks good! It's almost summer, the street fair is calling your name! Assuming you live near a place that has street fairs? County fair maybe? Farmers market?

  • there is a farmers market about 150 yards from my house, every Thursday, from the end of May to the end of August.  It's not a big one, and IMO a little too costly ($15 for a 4 hour market).  BUT, my house is right on a corner that a lot of people have to go past to get to the market, so I am planning on getting a banner printed that I will 'wrap' around the corner, and will set up a tarp & table right there.  Should work almost as well as being at the market, and it's FREE!  I also plan on being a corner seller on the weekends all summer as well.  It's a nice, HONEST, community, so I won't even have to sit out there all day either.

    that one is 10.25"x5.4", I figure $25 for it, it takes just over 2 hours to cut.

  • Thats pretty sweet, love the small-town vibes! I moved from a small down I grew up in, to a smaller town nearby when it got too big, then when that smaller town had 500 houses built down the road, we moved across the country to a town with maybe 600 people. I might have to drive an hour to work and 25 minutes to the nearest Walmart, but at least it's quiet and peaceful, and has a delightful farmers market. 

    $25 might be low, but if you can cut a few while you sleep then pretty alright. 

  • well, I figure most of my prices at $10/hr machine time plus cost of wood (rounded up, it's about $7.50/ft, I round up to $10/ft to pay for gas to the lumber yard).  Yeah, it might be a low hourly rate, but I also don't want to price myself out of the market, add in that my finishing skills are poor, so they all end up on the rougher side.  The township (no true city, just a township) has a population of around 13k, population per sq.mile is 415 (32 sq.miles).

    currently working on something that may have a market, may not.  A dungeon builder for RPG.  24"x24" board with a huge pocket for hex-shaped tiles (20x20 hexes for 400 tiles).  cut the board 0.040" deep, laser in the dividers for the tiles, then they can build the dungeon as they go, 13 different patterns for the hex tiles (rooms).  6-way, 5-way, 4-way, 3-way, 2-way, and 1-way (dead end).  The game master can build it the way he wants OR use a 6-sided dice to randomize the next room, etc.  There is a couple places in Lansing that do RPG/comics/nerds/etc. that might be an outlet for them

  • There is a market. You should think about ways to keep the item as thin as possible, and possibly include cover stone that magnets over the entire play surface to in order to retain the tiles orientation for the next play session ;) Also possibly a square version and a hexagon version to accommodate more players, no one likes to be "stuck at the corner of the map" 

    Crap, my Nerd is showing! Shhhh!

  • well, the base board would be 1/2" MDF.  Cut the pocket to 0.040".  the plywood hexagons from Amazon are 0.060" thick, 100 for $9.  They would get the paths laser burned.  Since I carry my USB with all my designs with me to show people at work if they are interested in any work, and to save the work if they want a custom change (same cad software at home that I have at work).  This is the base board design (red is the pocket outline, blue is the laser burn).  It is possible to use use 1/4" plywood for the base, but it is more $ than 1/2" MDF.  Not really designed as a 'play' area, but as a tracking/mapping area, not enough room for miniature figures.

Reply
  • well, the base board would be 1/2" MDF.  Cut the pocket to 0.040".  the plywood hexagons from Amazon are 0.060" thick, 100 for $9.  They would get the paths laser burned.  Since I carry my USB with all my designs with me to show people at work if they are interested in any work, and to save the work if they want a custom change (same cad software at home that I have at work).  This is the base board design (red is the pocket outline, blue is the laser burn).  It is possible to use use 1/4" plywood for the base, but it is more $ than 1/2" MDF.  Not really designed as a 'play' area, but as a tracking/mapping area, not enough room for miniature figures.

Children