3D printed gridfinity grid and some 1/4 shank router bit holders. Used a label maker to print off the labels. A 3D printer is one of the most useful tools for shop organization, worth every penny imo.
Made out of rough sawn walnut that I surfaced myself. Cut down to size using a table saw and used a dado stack to make the angled cuts. Tape a sacrificial board towards the back to minimize tear out while making the dado cuts.
Made some coasters that combine some walnut and epoxy together. Added some dried flowers I dried myself and also some that I purchased already dried. Lots of trial and error while working on this project, as I found out the hard way how hard it is to work with epoxy. Ratio and mixing speed have to be spot on. Also, there needs to be an adequate amount of time between layers you need to let dry so that the flowers stay in place and don't float to the surface. Also when planing the coasters, I used double sided tape to tape them down to a long piece of MDF to surface multiple at once, but had a damn near death scare when some shot out like a projectile due to it not being secured enough.
The project steps were as follows.
Milled and cut down walnut pieces to size. Made angled cuts on walnut using the bandsaw to give it more of a live edge look.
Placed walnut pieces in square silicone molds.
Poured first layer of epoxy with black dye (so the flowers stand out and "pop" more). Let set for around 1 hour.
Place dried flowers in epoxy layer and let set for an additional 2-3 hours
Poured remaining layer of just clear epoxy and let cure for 24 hours.
Taped coasters to an MDF board and planed to desired thickness on both sides
Dry sand up to 400 grit then wet sand all the way to 3000 grit. (Some time during this process I gave a chamfer on all edges of the coaster using a router)
Tape off epoxy portion of coaster with painters tape and then sand walnut portion with 400 grit to roughen the surface enough to apply Oil Poly (General Finishes Arm R Seal). Apply 3 layers and give adequate amount of time to dry.
Once dried, tape off finished walnut portion and then compound and polish the epoxy to bring back the clarity.
Project materials used:
-Alumilite Clear Cast epoxy
-Black dye
-Walnut wood
-Dried flowers
-Various sandpaper all the way up to 3000 grit
-Meguiars compound + polish
-Chamfer router bit for breaking the edges
-Square silicone coaster molds
-Butane torch/heat gun for popping bubbles
-General Finishes Arm R Seal
-Tape as needed
Made some coasters that combine some walnut and epoxy together. Added some dried flowers I dried myself and also some that I purchased already dried. Lots of trial and error while working on this project, as I found out the hard way how hard it is to work with epoxy. Ratio and mixing speed have to be spot on. Also, there needs to be an adequate amount of time between layers you need to let dry so that the flowers stay in place and don't float to the surface. Also when planing the coasters, I used double sided tape to tape them down to a long piece of MDF to surface multiple at once, but had a damn near death scare when some shot out like a projectile due to it not being secured enough.
The project steps were as follows.
Milled and cut down walnut pieces to size. Made angled cuts on walnut using the bandsaw to give it more of a live edge look.
Placed walnut pieces in square silicone molds.
Poured first layer of epoxy with black dye (so the flowers stand out and "pop" more). Let set for around 1 hour.
Place dried flowers in epoxy layer and let set for an additional 2-3 hours
Poured remaining layer of just clear epoxy and let cure for 24 hours.
Taped coasters to an MDF board and planed to desired thickness on both sides
Dry sand up to 400 grit then wet sand all the way to 3000 grit. (Some time during this process I gave a chamfer on all edges of the coaster using a router)
Tape off epoxy portion of coaster with painters tape and then sand walnut portion with 400 grit to roughen the surface enough to apply Oil Poly (General Finishes Arm R Seal). Apply 3 layers and give adequate amount of time to dry.
Once dried, tape off finished walnut portion and then compound and polish the epoxy to bring back the clarity.
Project materials used:
-Alumilite Clear Cast epoxy
-Black dye
-Walnut wood
-Dried flowers
-Various sandpaper all the way up to 3000 grit
-Meguiars compound + polish
-Chamfer router bit for breaking the edges
-Square silicone coaster molds
-Butane torch/heat gun for popping bubbles
-General Finishes Arm R Seal
-Tape as needed
Made some coasters that combine some walnut and epoxy together. Added some dried flowers I dried myself and also some that I purchased already dried. Lots of trial and error while working on this project, as I found out the hard way how hard it is to work with epoxy. Ratio and mixing speed have to be spot on. Also, there needs to be an adequate amount of time between layers you need to let dry so that the flowers stay in place and don't float to the surface. Also when planing the coasters, I used double sided tape to tape them down to a long piece of MDF to surface multiple at once, but had a damn near death scare when some shot out like a projectile due to it not being secured enough.
The project steps were as follows.
Milled and cut down walnut pieces to size. Made angled cuts on walnut using the bandsaw to give it more of a live edge look.
Placed walnut pieces in square silicone molds.
Poured first layer of epoxy with black dye (so the flowers stand out and "pop" more). Let set for around 1 hour.
Place dried flowers in epoxy layer and let set for an additional 2-3 hours
Poured remaining layer of just clear epoxy and let cure for 24 hours.
Taped coasters to an MDF board and planed to desired thickness on both sides
Dry sand up to 400 grit then wet sand all the way to 3000 grit. (Some time during this process I gave a chamfer on all edges of the coaster using a router)
Tape off epoxy portion of coaster with painters tape and then sand walnut portion with 400 grit to roughen the surface enough to apply Oil Poly (General Finishes Arm R Seal). Apply 3 layers and give adequate amount of time to dry.
Once dried, tape off finished walnut portion and then compound and polish the epoxy to bring back the clarity.
Project materials used:
-Alumilite Clear Cast epoxy
-Black dye
-Walnut wood
-Dried flowers
-Various sandpaper all the way up to 3000 grit
-Meguiars compound + polish
-Chamfer router bit for breaking the edges
-Square silicone coaster molds
-Butane torch/heat gun for popping bubbles
-General Finishes Arm R Seal
-Tape as needed
Bookmarks with epoxy resin dried flowers and a touch of gold flakes/letters. Used some dyes and mica powder to give the epoxy some color.
Put some personalized touches with gold flakes and letters. Used Alumilite clear cast epoxy.
Attached is a picture of a coaster holder design I plan on replicating but I'm not sure what's the best way to make sure the dowels are parallel and level. I assume a doweling jig or drill press (drilling through both boards at the same time) would be the best options?. I don't have either at the moment and not sure if I'd be able to drill perfectly perpendicular using just a hand drill.
I know milescraft has the drillmate guide but not sure how well it works. Any advice is appreciated.