OHHH! Zero on TOP of the spoil board. Now I see!!

Netbook Machine Controller
 

Hi All

My long suffering mini-itx machine controller gave up recently so I swapped in my DM1Z 12 inch netbook as the machine controller.

Using the netbook I still have enough ports for my USB to RS485 converter that runs the spindle, a wireless mouse and wireless game pad controller.
The step and direction commands are run over the Ethernet port to an Ethernet smoothstepper in the control box.

The netbook has built in wireless, so I still have access back to my design PC for the toolpath files.
It is a very tidy installation and as you can tell from one look at the pic - I kinda like tidy ;)

When the netbook not running my machine it is my bedroom TV so it serves a dual role earning its keep.

Attachment 13384

Regards
Ross

Where are all the wood dust???

Hidden Ken

That is ... hidden in the dust extractor and the vacuum cleaner:D

Ross

Just wanna be sure you did hide your Harry Potter Personal transporter somewhere... :D

Plywood Lantern
 

Plywood Lantern

Today I got around to cutting out a plywood lantern that I had drawn some time ago.
The joints were a little tight so my friend the hammer once again joined the assembly crew.
Besides that it went together OK.
The lantern is around 150mm square and used 6mm plywood

Attachment 13398

Other Hints

Thingiverse
Thingiverse seems to be growing all the time.
Some of the recent 3D scans here might be of interest to others.
http://www.thingiverse.com/categorie...s-and-replicas

Ikea
Looking for easy ways to make and assemble things.
Have a look at the downloadable assembly instructions for the various Ikea products.
Gives a good insight into flat packing and rapid assembly techniques.

Regards
Ross

Nice Work Ross,

Love the sailfish and the VW looks like you have well and truly captured the art of cutting ally plate now :D
All the best and thanks for sharing they look awesome!!

Cheers
Tony

More Joins
 

Experimented with a mechanical join.
It is very strong and accurate but might need re tightening after some racking forces were applied.

Attachment 13399

Regards
Ross

Very small bearing surface on the MDF for the size of the nut. Would a washer help?
Or can you get the round solid bar with taped hole through it to distribute the load more?
I assume the area where the bolt goes is not as deep as the area where the nut goes.
Cheers
David

Hi David

Some of the far better options are a "barrel nut" as you say or even just a square nut.
The bearing surface is tiny with the hex nut and in particle board doomed to long term failure.

Mostly it was just about playing with the precision available on the machine and particularly the concept of flat packing.
Several amateur joint wigglers have gone away impressed with the joint's stability but none of us tried too hard :).
I will trot on down to the bolt supplier next week and get a few M6 barrel nuts.
It easier by comparison to pocket out for the round nut and end up with a stronger joint.

Regards
Ross

Perhaps you could also saturate the area with some cyanoacrylate (superglue) to beef up the particle board in the target area.

The main thing is to drink beer with the "amateur joint wigglers" and enjoy what you do :)

Good advice David.

Tested the barrel nut fittings today and as we expected they can stand enormous force.

Attachment 13400

The barrel nut and bolt shaft are pocketed to leave a clean face on the outside of the join.

Attachment 13401

I don't have a project for these ATM but it is always good to know the Mechmate makes a such strong knock down fixture so quickly.
To simplify the joint back to basics...
A piece of 3mm x 12mm x 15mm flat steel with a tapped hole plus an M6 bolt and washer would achieve all the connection strength of the flashier commercial products.

Regards
Ross

It never came across my mind that pocketing & do away with drilling a hole for it...
Brilliant!

The only extra work I will do with this concept is to machine a groove on the drilled panel (on the left panel in the pix ) & tong fit the panels. That will ensure good square fit & should give extra literal strength/rigidity.

Draw bolt.

hi. hafele have many systems. like rafix and minifix.
http://www.hafele.com.ar/ar/external...1%20a%2014.pdf
its in spanish sorry.

That good to know as Häfele Australia Pty. Ltd. has three location in Brisbane alone. http://www.hafele.com/au/6417.asp

Regards

Skippy

Here a link for English
Catalogues and Brochures as it a https link I don't know how long it will last

skippy

Double Sided Machining
 

Thanks for the links.
A fellow who worked for a big furniture importer gave me the Häfele catalogue years ago and I was amazed at the world of special fixings.
Did not have or even know much about CNC then so a lot of it went into the "come on that's impossible" part of my brain at the time.

Double sided machining - how hard can it be :D

I was reading Alans belt reduction drive pdf where he used two sided machining for the parts.
Seemed simple enough but I was wondering how well the two sides would match up for me.
The clue is the two indexing pins that locate the job on a central axis.

Attachment 13411

Attachment 13412

Attachment 13413

Attachment 13414

Attachment 13415

Well enough it seems. This hacked together MDF laptop stand prototype proved the process admirably.
One aspect of the two sided machining is that on the underside, rebates and part way through drilled location holes for screws make aligning parts for assembly very simple and accurate.
The main platform has been pocketed and predrilled for the screw mounted cross bar.
Note the part show above is not the cross bar, it has become redundant in the design process.
The cross bar itself has the corresponding holes clearanced drilled for the screws.
It literally falls together.

The prototype still needs lots of adjustments, for example the top hinge connector is too long.
Some fits were too tight (as usual for me) and it NEEDS to be made out of timber to become a reasonable piece of furniture.

Regards
Ross

Looks cool, nicely done Ross

Very cool.

I like it. Just a suggestion. Get ride of all the hardware and make some of your own wooden knobs. I think it would make it really slick. Something like this just a little more sexy.
http://www.instructables.com/image/F...rill-Press.jpg

Very nice, Ross. Thanks for sharing.

Hi All

Russell - Hope the Instructables guy never gets to see how fast the MM cuts these.
I made some 38mm x 18mm 5 point M6 knobs.
Great suggestion.

Attachment 13420

Thanks
Ross

Ross they turned out great. I always try and make a few with the scrap areas on some of the projects. Before I moved I had a whole 5 gallon bucket filled with them.

1926 Chev Rear Guard Emblem Reproduction
 

Got that date right - 1926. The car has wooden spoked wheels !!

An interesting challenge as the original part was cast bronze that was then chrome plated.
It might look like the writing in the middle of the part is a bit funny but in fact it is an exact duplicate of the original to maintain the vintage look.

Huge Mess
Attachment 13437

Final Cuts and Bevels Done
Attachment 13438

Final Part
Attachment 13439

Lastly I have been working away on my air blower and wanted to pass along my eureka moment.
A 0.9mm screw in MIG tip and 6mm pneumatic tube are made for each other.
Once more I use a trapped wire along the tube to direct it to where I want.

Attachment 13440

I will post a link to a Youtube video of my machine cutting the lettering out and the deburring toolpath at the end once it is finished.

Regards
Ross

Ross,

Nice job on the sailfish. Where did you get you vector or did you hand draw it?

I like the combination of the wood and Aluminum. Gives me some ideas.

Hi Nils

I got the "basic" outline of a few fish off the web as a guideline to what a sailfish looked like.
After that my basic fish shape was heavily modified to give the end shape. Drawn at my normal pace .. slow.
All the alloy parts were then added to the basic shape where they seemed to fit best.

Regards
Ross

Here is my YouTube video for the Chev part.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uutPNGo-npI

Nice and Fast.

Regards
Ross

Brilliant work!
I like the way you line everything with plastic sheet, make cleaning the metal chips bearable.
BTW, what plastic sheet do you use? Will you be reusing them?

Hi Ken

We refer to it as builders plastic, it is available in 0.1mm or 0.2mm any thickness is fine.
The whole mess is bundled up and thrown away as everything is also soaked with oil I use for lubricating the cutter.
As I say I like tidy. :)

Regards
Ross

The two parts I made got installed today so the owner showed me his part of the handiwork.
He is very happy with how it all turned out and I was even more impressed with his efforts on his vintage car.

Attachment 13447

Regards
Ross

Goof Tape
 

My recent double sided machining experiment involved a few little "mistakes" along the way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZLtq3W1JnA

What can I say other than "sparks came out !!"

Regards
Ross

...you should see how many fly when you hit and cut through a g-clamp. Trust me, I know!:rolleyes:

was that a screw? I also twice started the drilling toolpath again after the screws were in holes, luckily estop button was close.
Bit 1 : screw top 0 :)

Hi Guys

The bit survived unhurt, one was a screw and the other a 4mm index pin.
Though I might have some company when it came to hitting stuff :D

Regards
Ross

Boy I needed that.. Brought a smile to my face and the memories of me doing the same thing before twice. Choose your vectors wisely is what I have learned and sometimes forget too:)

I decided that wooden dowels were less painful to hit than steel ones. I now center the object and hold it in place around the edges (but I've still crashed into the wood at the edges - not good at over 100mm/s!). A laser light mounted on a wall is a good way to check center line.

I had my fair share of chew up clamps & shattered bits.
Vacuum hold down eliminated (almost nearly) all these expensive & embarrassing moments ...
BUT with pieces too small for vacuum hold down, I just double side tape the part on a bigget piece of fomica laminated MDF & place the clamps (on the laminated fomica) light years away from any possible tool path :D

I had never nail my work piece on the spoil board, anticipated broken nails & most of all don't trust myself to nail at the right places all the time... :o

Better safe than sorry :D:D:D


##PS, I still get sparks when I surface my spoilboard cum vacuum grid board. I never seem to get the board hold down screw deep enough to clear the surfacing bit ... Mind you 4" surfacing bit is the most expensive bit I have in my tool box...

4:1 Belt Reduction Drive
 

Hi All

I have been drawing away and reading about the belt reduction drives for a while now.
My double sided machining experiments also had this project in mind.
I was in fact getting my head around how the MM might double sided machine out some Acetal bearing cups for my own variation of the 4:1 gearboxes.
Finally got around to ordering the pulleys so I suppose that makes me 1/2 committed to making the drives for my machine.

My design is completed in terms of the plates but is still a work in progress with respect to how wide apart the plates need to be.
Once the gears arrive that should become a little clearer.

My criteria for the design were.
1. simple but accurate bolt together design
2. laser cut 6mm mild steel motor and swing plates
3. MM machined acetal bearing cup that uses the same bearing as the grinding skate.
4. sneak as many complex curves into the design as possible :rolleyes:
5. use the typical XL pulleys in most other designs

X and Y Assembly

Attachment 13464

Z Assembley

Attachment 13465

Front View of Universal Motor Plate

Attachment 13466

I might still need to loose the big hole for the stepper motor to move the shaft outboard for fitment.
Previously I drew up some alloy drive plates but they needed lots of tapping.
The steel solution using the 4 tabs was in the end a lot simpler.

Regards
Ross