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meatpimp posted:I've got a tapping tool that keeps the tap straight for the first several turns. It's worked fine so far. Haven't done the rails yet, though... That looks very sweet! Also I bet that hobo nectar makes the tapping less monotonous.
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Aug 22, 2022 15:13
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CarForumPoster posted:That looks very sweet! Also I bet that hobo nectar makes the tapping less monotonous. https://www.getdrunknotfat.com has it as the highest ABV per calorie. It's terrible beer, but I want to maximize my impact.
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Aug 22, 2022 21:02
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EVERYWHERE 
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meatpimp posted:https://www.getdrunknotfat.com has it as the highest ABV per calorie. It's terrible beer, but I want to maximize my impact. TIL that "Natty Daddy" is a thing. Personally I'd rather drink an OK whiskey than a terrible beer.
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Aug 23, 2022 07:12
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Don't know if this is the right thread to ask, sine I'm not making a machine (yet,) but I need a wooden box made pretty soon, so about 6 pieces of about 12" x 12" wood pieces CNC'd that can be dove-tailed together. Does anyone know some makers who have a fast turn-around?
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Sep 1, 2022 01:50
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You might see if there’s a crating business near you. Otherwise 3D CNC dovetail box joints seem like overkill, unless it’s for furniture.
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Sep 1, 2022 02:03
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SendCutSend has auto quoting online if you upload your drawing. 6x custom 12x12in .5" plywood is ~$210.
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Sep 1, 2022 03:58
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Oh nice I didn’t know they had plywood that rules!
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Sep 1, 2022 05:14
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Man the quality of plywood that's available locally has completely gone in the shitter. I'm thinking of trying to use more mdf/hardboard but I'm not sure what to do about dust. A proper dust 'extractor' with HEPA filtering is like $500-600 which seems like a lot for a basement CNC but... I don't know. I feel like my regular shop vac, even if I added a dust collector would probably burn up running constantly for an hour+ at a time. And I really don't want powdered MDF in the air in my house. I don't really have a way to setup for an external vent, either.
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Sep 9, 2022 02:51
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Rescue Toaster posted:A proper dust 'extractor' with HEPA filtering is like $500-600 which seems like a lot for a basement CNC but... I don't know. I feel like my regular shop vac, even if I added a dust collector would probably burn up running constantly for an hour+ at a time. And I really don't want powdered MDF in the air in my house. I don't really have a way to setup for an external vent, either. I ran a cnc router with a shopvac and it worked fine for 8+hour run times. The big thing is to get a cyclone to get most of the dust before it gets to the shopvac filter. I used one of these https://www.clearvuecyclones.com/product/cv06-mini-body-only/ and I almost never had to change the filter on my shopvac. That being said, this was in a separate airspace from my house and I would NOT consider this sufficient if I was running in my basement. A shopvac does not have enough airflow to get all of the dust from a cnc router. It will get the big stuff but much of the fine particles will escape. I also would not consider running without a HEPA filter if I was recirculating the air especially in my house.
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Sep 9, 2022 15:20
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You could take a page from the “professional” machine shop I work at and just machine it dry. Also use fiberglass as your material. *coughs*
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Sep 9, 2022 19:32
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As someone looking to get into CnC with a small benchtop sort of setup I've seen a few mentions of the fox alien or genmitsu ones in the thread. I'm mostly trying to get some practice in, do a bit of sign making and engraving on woodworking projects and doing some small parts cutting for woodworking. Have no expectation of being able to cut steel with it or anything. I'd guess in about 5 years I'll probably be done my garage/have space for a big setup for for now one of the benchtop kits seems really appealing. Honestly just not sure what specifically I should be considering here, they seem like lots of similar models? Anyone have a suggestion for my use case?
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Nov 23, 2022 21:00
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Generalissimo
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A Wizard of Goatse posted:I recently inherited someone else's homebrew CNC router, as someone who's had fairly limited experience with milling machines, so I'm sort of fumbling about to figure out what this pile of parts sitting in my basement can really do. Quick question in case I'm missing something that makes this make sense: is there any good reason to have like twice as much ballscrew as rail on an axis, or was this guy just a lunatic who loved vast expanses of useless metal flailing around every time the gantry moves I can squeeze about 2' of useful travel out of the X axis rails here which leaves me with two extra feet of ballscrew just... hanging out A Wizard of Goatse fucked around with this message at 00:14 on Nov 24, 2022 |
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Nov 24, 2022 00:08
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Toast posted:As someone looking to get into CnC with a small benchtop sort of setup I've seen a few mentions of the fox alien or genmitsu ones in the thread. E: sorry this wanders but: What’s your CAD/CAM experience level? If you’re mostly tooling around in 2D software like Illustrator or Inkscape, I would check out a Vectric product that meets your needs. Their software is included even in really nice machines and I’ve used it an awful lot. I highly recommend it especially as an entry level software. Some of their products, like VCarve, can also do some design work. If your budget is limited, check to see if any of the machines in your budget are compatible with Inventables Easel. It’s browser based, has the right post processor, has a free version and a paid version, and frankly handles the ins and outs pretty well. I haven’t touched it in a few years, but there was some jank so definitely take a test run on the free version before paying for it. Fusion 360 is free, it’s a 3D design and manufacturing software, but it may be overkill for your needs. I haven’t enjoyed doing 2D imports to then do CAM in the past, but that choice kinda depends on how you value your time and budget. There’s no GRBL post processor for the 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS Makers Offer, but there is a Mach4 one. The package is great, but it’s absolutely unsuitable for total newbies. It’s getting better all the time, though, so if you’re designing in 3D it might be worth a check in next year. TL;DR If you’re in 2D, want versatility, and money is no object, VCarve. If you’re in 2D and this is your first rodeo, Easel. If you’re in 3D, Fusion 360. Check for other options next year. I have a Genmitsu 3018 pro and I wish to death I had gotten the Fox Alien offering with the enclosure. You ABSOLUTELY need an enclosure and a vacuum to clean up afterwards, and the accessory enclosure from Genmitsu sucks. And if you have to do manual feeds and speeds, keep your tools under 1/4” or 6mm. Your feed rate will be 0.001” per tooth or 0.025mm/tooth. Max out your spindle speed. If you’re going to be cutting into wood, use a compression bit if possible, and leave 0.025”/0.6mm on your roughing passes. That’ll leave enough material for your tool to grab onto for a finishing pass. These should give you a great starting point, it’s what I use on my machine and what I programmed my makerspace library for. If you want to learn more about feeds and speeds, this is my favorite resource: https://shapeokoenthusiasts.gitbook.io/shapeoko-cnc-a-to-z/ And wear safety glasses, tie your hair back/wear a hat, and take off your jewelry. Don’t use the laser modules.
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Nov 24, 2022 00:13
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NewFatMike posted:E: sorry this wanders but: Thanks for the info.. Honestly though I once had a bit of experience I'm probably back down at what I'd call novice, that said I'll probably invest a reasonable amount of time into learning things. I do have a reasonably good dust collector for woodworking already so will likely incorporate that with whatever I go with (or build a new area for it.) All of the fox alien things with enclosure seem really small at first glance, maybe i'm looking at the wrong thing though?
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Nov 24, 2022 20:42
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Yeah, they’re about 6” X 8” X 1.5” for the most part, but there are larger ones without an enclosure. Those smaller ones are usually what I think of for “benchtop” even though I guess the larger like 24” X 24” ones count.
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Nov 24, 2022 21:10
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NewFatMike posted:Yeah, they’re about 6” X 8” X 1.5” for the most part, but there are larger ones without an enclosure. Yeah fair enough, I was mostly thinking the around 24x24 ones are what I could fit without really redesigning my workshop space. Something like https://www.foxalien.com/collections/cnc-router/products/cnc-router-machine-masuter-with-300w-spindle-bundle-kit
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Nov 24, 2022 21:26
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Yeah they look pretty comparable to Inventables systems, I spent more time restoring them at my old makerspace than using them, but the members there were…inconsiderate. Hopefully someone here has some first hand experience. If it’s like the 3018s, as long as your expectations are reasonable you’re probably in good shape. They advertise aluminum cutting, but I would ignore that.
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Nov 24, 2022 21:57
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NewFatMike posted:Yeah they look pretty comparable to Inventables systems, I spent more time restoring them at my old makerspace than using them, but the members there were…inconsiderate. Hopefully someone here has some first hand experience. Thanks, I appreciate the sanity check. I think for my purposes it would probably do well.
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Nov 24, 2022 22:31
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A Wizard of Goatse posted:Quick question in case I'm missing something that makes this make sense: is there any good reason to have like twice as much ballscrew as rail on an axis, or was this guy just a lunatic who loved vast expanses of useless metal flailing around every time the gantry moves It might be something as simple as the original maker not having the proper tool to cut down the ball screw down to length. I had to cut one once and it quite hard on the outer layer. If you don’t have a cold saw with the proper blade I can see just skipping it.
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Nov 24, 2022 22:57
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tylertfb posted:It might be something as simple as the original maker not having the proper tool to cut down the ball screw down to length. I had to cut one once and it quite hard on the outer layer. If you don’t have a cold saw with the proper blade I can see just skipping it. that's why I'm leaving it that way for now but this guy picked the parts. Thus far this whole thing's been a roughly even mix of stuff where he clearly knew what he was doing better than I do (control system) and baffling nonsense with no plausible rationale
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Nov 28, 2022 01:03
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I've been helping my dad out with his 3018 desktop CNC toy "the Gizmo." He recently had a hard drive crash and lost the version of Carbide Create that allows g-code export. Does anyone have an old installer of Carbide Create (pre-700) that still allows gcode export? If not, what's everyone using to export gcode to GRBL machines that's simple enough for a not-computer-or-CNC-oriented woodworker? He's getting .dxf or .svg files from woodworking magazines (actual paper ones, with URLs on the pages), and just needs to turn the DXFs into gcode.
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Dec 14, 2022 01:56
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Inventables Easel ought to work pretty well! I believe it has DXF support, definitely SVG so worst case scenario you cover it in Inkscape.
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Dec 14, 2022 02:22
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I’m working on a really fun project with a friend — has anyone ever put piezoelectric vibration sensors on their CNC machine? We’re planning on building the machine around LinuxCNC with a Beaglebone Black. It looks like it has 7 AIN pins, just trying to find a sensor that hopefully another human has tried. NewFatMike fucked around with this message at 00:11 on Dec 31, 2022 |
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Dec 31, 2022 00:02
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NewFatMike posted:I’m working on a really fun project with a friend — has anyone ever put piezoelectric vibration sensors on their CNC machine? No but sounds a lot like tap testing. Gonna look for islands of stability in feeds and speeds?
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Dec 31, 2022 00:26
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Pretty much, it’s part of a larger project to make CAM easy for beginners. You can do a lot with it, too. The first thing we’re going for is probing using a tool. If it vibrates, you can save that location. Run it a few more times for full stock location. Similar thing for multiple setup — if it takes 2 setups, we can probe for locating through holes and run a transformation on the paths so it doesn’t matter what way the stock gets flipped. Lastly we’re hoping that you can do feed and speed sampling to tweak the feeds and speeds on the fly. It’s a thing in commercial systems, but this is for a much less rigorous application so not great cycle times and just ok surface finish is also fine. It’s baby steps to get folks a background before going for real CAM.
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Dec 31, 2022 00:40
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NewFatMike posted:Inventables Easel ought to work pretty well! I believe it has DXF support, definitely SVG so worst case scenario you cover it in Inkscape.
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Dec 31, 2022 00:42
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Acid Reflux posted:I just loaded up Easel yesterday for the first time in a few years with the intent of using it with a 3018. Gcode export does generally seem to work great, right up until you include a (seemingly random) feature that requires the paid Pro version, such as the super advanced function of using a loving V bit. Ugh. What the heck. CAM is such a nightmare.
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Dec 31, 2022 00:47
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I was genuinely disappointed. All I was trying to do was set up the 3018 to scribe text on some aluminum. The machine itself had been sitting idle at the house almost since I bought it two years ago, so I took it in to work so we could maybe use it to "stamp" some data plates for aircraft parts. If it weren't for the fact that we have a big ol' 4' x 8' CNC router table (whose brand I can never remember) in the sheet metal shop, and conveniently have VCarve to run it, I'd probably have spent an entire day trying to re-learn enough open source programs to just get some stupid words on some stupid metal. I haven't dabbled in any of this for a few years now, and it seems to be frustratingly difficult to do even the most basic of CNC crap without buying software anymore.
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Dec 31, 2022 01:25
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I only do this for a hobby, and badly at that, but I've found ESTLCAM to be easy to use and beginner friendly. The MPCNC folks like it.
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Dec 31, 2022 02:25
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anyone with a tabletop type unit have a recommendation for a table setup? I've been thinking about just using a steel food service prep table but I guess restaurants are picking up again cause finding a used one round here is impossible. I do want something nice and flat that I can level and forget though and everything on marketplaces around here is either too shallow or junk.
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Jan 19, 2023 00:22
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What size are you working with? I run my cruddy 3018 on a folding card table and my makerspace ran a full size ShapeOko on top of basically an office desk.
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Jan 19, 2023 00:31
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NewFatMike posted:What size are you working with? I run my cruddy 3018 on a folding card table and my makerspace ran a full size ShapeOko on top of basically an office desk. 24x24ish nothing massive. My basement is just fairly uneven limestone so would like to get something I can level once then mostly forget.
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Jan 19, 2023 00:51
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Toast posted:24x24ish nothing massive. My basement is just fairly uneven limestone so would like to get something I can level once then mostly forget. Grainger/McMaster/Lowes will have more industrial tables with the leveling feet for sale at prices ranging from "acceptable" to "several thousand dollars, somehow". Look for industrial auctions or sales in your area, you can find some absurd stuff for basically "please remove it before the 1st" prices.
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Jan 19, 2023 21:28
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Those tbh — Grafe Auction is a national auction site in America so if you’re in the states you can find one there. I’m tempted to save up for an Open Builds LEAD 1010 for mucking around with at home. Anyone ever futz with those? Kinda looking at it from a project car perspective where I might run some projects on it but mostly Frankenstein it into something weird and wonderful.
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Jan 20, 2023 20:42
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I'm having a hard time searching for this because the terms are pretty generic. Fusion 360 team projects can be "open" "closed" and "secret." Apparently the default is for them to be "closed" which requires other members to request access. Is there a way to change it so the default is "open" when anyone creates a new project? Also, is there a way for an admin to batch change a bunch of closed projects to open? Right now it seems to take like 6 clicks to select each project, open the sidebar menu, open the settings, change the access, click OK, and then click Cancel because clicking OK doesn't close the access popup. I only have like a dozen active projects yet this is insane.
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Jan 26, 2023 19:12
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Tragically PDM and PLM are for data control, not ease of use. Are you using a free version of the software? I’m not sure what limits are involved, but it seems like projects should be able to be easily accessed by default in commercial settings. CAD thread may be helpful on specifics, too: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3962532&perpage=40&noseen=1&pagenumber=32
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Jan 26, 2023 23:27
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What kind of machine do I need to engrave the little two color plastic tags for labeling switchboards etc?
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Jan 27, 2023 02:53
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IMO you'd have no problem doing it on a hobby desktop CNC engraver like 3018, if you're trying to do it cheap and don't mind fussing around with free CAM software. Mine engraves/mills ABS fine, which is what most multilayer 'laminate' sheet is these days.
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Jan 27, 2023 04:56
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Traditionally those little tags were engraved with nothing more than a small AC motor and a pantograph template. Here's one that mounts a Dremel:  I agree that basically any of the little hobby machines on eBay should handle it fine.
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Jan 27, 2023 05:20
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Can confirm that a 3018 or similar machine is actually pretty great for doing small stuff like that. Mine is currently right next to my desk here at work, been doing some tests with engraving aluminum data plates for aircraft parts. Even with just the lovely little V-bits that it came with, I'm getting excellent results. We do also have Vectric's VCarve Pro though, for our big 5' x 10' router table. That makes life an awful lot easier as far as design and gcode generation. Acid Reflux fucked around with this message at 12:28 on Jan 27, 2023 |
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Jan 27, 2023 12:26
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