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March 24 – March 31, 2023 “A Project That is Decorative” Contest

Happy Spring, everyone! Thank you to those who entered the contest this week, where we asked creators to share their best flag projects made on their LongMill. 


Last Week’s Winners

We are happy to announce that Allison Warne Dunbabin, Joseph Darnell, Steve McGinnis, Matt Kile, Dan Hickey, and Michael McCurley are the winners of the “A Project That is a Flag” contest! Watch out for a prize!


This Week’s Theme: A Project That is Decorative

The theme of the week is “projects that are decorative”! Share with us something you have created on the LongMill that was used to decorate your space. These projects include any wall art like signs, picture frames, wall carvings, figurines/statues, and other cool decorative items. We will choose our favourite decorative projects and send prizes to the creators!

Happy creating!

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March 17 – March 24, 2023 ” A Project That is a Flag” Contest

Happy rockin’ Friday! Thanks to everyone who participated in the contest for this week, where we asked creators to share their guitar/guitar-related projects with us.


Last Week’s Winners

We are happy to announce that Nick Taylor, Dan Smock, Derrick Cundy, Mitchell Lockwood, Jason Boren, and Stephen Cohrs are the winners of the “A Project That is a Guitar/Guitar-Related” contest! A prize is on its way!


This Week’s Theme: A Project That is a Flag

The theme of the week is “projects that are flags”. Share your favourite flag projects that were made using your LongMill with us for a chance to be one of the winners of this week’s contest and win free prizes!

Happy making!

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March 10 – March 17, 2023 “A Project That is a Guitar/Guitar-Related” Contest

Happy Friday! Thanks to those who entered this week’s contest, where we asked creators to share their projects that they sold.


Last Week’s Winners

We are happy to announce that Ron Pillon, David Kehoe, Adrian Bordeaux, Stephen Buck, Julie Lacroix-Lamarche, and Jenn Huberts are the winners of the “A Project You Sold” contest! Watch out for a prize!


This Week’s Theme: A Project That is a Guitar/Guitar-Related

The theme of the week is “projects that are guitars/guitar-related”. Post your outstanding guitar or guitar related-projects (guitar trays, guitar charcuterie boards, guitar cutting boards, etc.) that were made using your LongMill and share them with us for a chance to be one of the winners of this week’s contest and win free prizes!

Happy building!

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March 3 – March 10, 2023 “A Project You Sold” Contest

We see the SIGNS! Thank you to everyone who participated in the contest for this week, where we asked you to post your sign projects. 


Last Week’s Winners

We are happy to announce that Larry Puffer, Bert Holmes, David Sander, Geert Vaelen, Justin Bouchard, and Mike Henson are the winners of the “A Project That is a Sign” contest! A prize is on its way!


This Week’s Theme: A Project You Sold

This week’s theme is “a project you sold”! Post any project someone gave you money for, whether it be a custom sign, gift, or any other item made with the LongMill, and we’ll choose our favorites to send our makers cool stuff. Bonus points if you give us a business tip to share with our community.

Happy crafting!

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February 24 – March 3, 2023 “A Project That is a Sign” Contest

It’s TIME! Thanks to the makers who entered this week’s contest where we asked you to share your best clock projects that were made on your LongMill.


Last Week’s Winners

We are happy to announce that Darcy Stelte, Bruce Oswald, Dionne Baker, Bud Gracey, Chas Eveson, and Dan Holdgreve are the winners of the “A Project That is a Clock” contest! Lookout for a prize!


This Week’s Theme: A Project That is a Sign

The theme of the week is “projects that are signs”. Post your most creative sign projects that were made using your LongMill and share them with us for a chance to be one of the winners of this week’s contest and win free prizes!

Happy making!

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February 17 – February 24, 2023 “A Project That is a Clock” Contest

Wow, what lovely projects! Thank you to all who participated in our “A Project That is Valentine’s Themed” contest where we asked creators to post their loveliest projects.


Last Week’s Winners

We are happy to announce that Homestead Acres, Corey Daup, Carlos J. Soto, Ron Rowland, Josh Epps, and Vance McGrath are the winners of the “A Project That is Valentine’s Themed” contest! Watch out for a prize!


P.S. We will be closed Monday, February 20th for Family Day and back in the office on Tuesday, February 21st.


This Week’s Theme: A Project That is a Clock

This week’s theme is “projects that are clocks”. Post your most creative clock projects that were made using your LongMill and share them with us for a chance to be one of the winners of this week’s contest and win free prizes!

Happy creating!

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February 10 – February 17, 2023 “A Project That is Valentine’s Themed” Contest

So many awesome tray projects! Thank you to those who entered our “A Project That is a Tray” contest where we asked people to share their best tray projects.


Last Week’s Winners

We are happy to announce that Laurie Woodward Iarossi, Glenn Boniface, Kirk Stiffler, Kristopher Teske, Randy Worley, and Steve Barnett are the winners of the “A Project That is a Tray” contest! A prize is on its way!


This Week’s Theme: A Project That is Valentine’s Themed

Happy Valentine’s week, everyone! Celebrate Valentine’s with us by sharing all of your Valentine’s themed projects made on your LongMill, and we’ll choose the best ones to send makers prizes to!

Happy building!

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February 3 – February 10, 2023 “A Project That is a Tray” Contest

It’s weekly-themed contest time! Thanks to everyone who participated in our “A Project That is a Cribbage Board” contest where we asked people to share their cribbage board projects.


Last Week’s Winners

We are happy to announce that Troy Ferguson, Brad Skjersven, Jason Harbor, Kevin Kasner, James Styler, and Jason Norris are the winners of the “A Project That is a Cribbage Board” contest! Watch out for a prize!


This Week’s Theme: A Project That is a Tray

The theme of the week is “projects that are trays”. Post your awesome tray projects that were made using your LongMill and share them with us for a chance to be one of the winners of this week’s contest and win free prizes!

Happy making!

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Hobby CNC vs Metal? LongMill MK2 carving a goddess into 6061 Aluminum

Hey everyone, over the past few weeks our engineers have been busy putting together feeds and speeds for the more rigid LongMill MK2, and Johann (one of the engineers) has decided to run the ultimate stress test by cutting a Versace Medallion in 6061 aluminum. The project features some big roughing cuts as well as precise finishing moves using four different cutting tools and we’d like to share the stunning results with you.

We used Fusion360 to generate the toolpath for this carve and the machining time was approximately 30 hours.

Click the links below to check out our new feeds and speeds page and see more information on the tools used.

1/4″ Single Flute Upcut End Mill

1/8″ Single Flute Upcut End Mill

1/8″ Ball Upcut End Mill

1/8″ D0.5mm Tapered Ball End Mill

Steps to engrave aluminum using your LongMill:

  1. Turn on REST machining and use climb milling when generating any of the following toolpaths.
  2. Perform roughing with the first 3 tools using our suggested feeds and speeds. Leaving ~0.3mm of stock on all sides of the model. Use slotting step-down values for all 3 tools and values in the engraving section for the ⅛” ball end mill.
  3. Optionally, run an additional parallel toolpath using the ⅛” ball end mill after you have completed roughing with the tool, again leaving ~0.3mm of stock on all sides (this will save you heaps of time running the ⅛” tapered bit).
  4. Switch to the ⅛” tapered bit and run a roughing pass LEAVING ZERO STOCK. Feeds and speeds for cutting aluminum with a tapered bit is experimental so it’s only listed here at this time.
    17000RPM | 1000mm/min Feedrate | 320mm/min Plunge Feedrate | 0.1mm Stepover | 0.12mm Stepdown
  5. Shift your machine zero downwards by 0.12mm and run the finishing pass. You will need to lower your stepover to 0.02mm and exclusively use climb milling to obtain a good surface finish.
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January 27 – February 3, 2023 “A Project That is a Cribbage Board” Contest

Happy Friday! Thank you to those who entered our “A Project That is a 2.5D or 3D Carving” contest where we asked creators to share their favourite 2.5D or 3D projects.


Last Week’s Winners

We are happy to announce that Alfonso Nardiello, Greg Settle, Ron Carpenter, Jack Daniel, Rick Escalante, and John Kinsman are the winners of the “A Project That is a 2.5D or 3D Carving” contest! A prize is coming your way!


This Week’s Theme: A Project That is a Cribbage Board

The theme this week is “projects that are cribbage boards”. Post your playful cribbage board projects that were made using your LongMill and share them with us for a chance to be one of the winners of this week’s contest and win free prizes!

Happy crafting!