Ken,

Rough Toolpath - 0.25" Dia, End Mill. Pass Depth - 0.200", Machinining Allowance - 0.040"

Finish Toolpath - 0.125" Dia Ball Nose. Pass Depth - 0.100"

Thanks, I ask because I break my 6mm & 1/4" at the speed of ~30mm/s (~80ipm) at 6mm pass @14000rpm. router bit or 2 flute end mill or Onsud spiral bit, all broke.

Ken,

That's interesting. I have never broken a bit. I've driven a couple of bits into the material and once watched a 1/2" end mill collide with a metal clamp (that was fun :rolleyes:).

Those conditions certainly don't seem extreme. Just thinking out load, my motors are the PK296A1A-SG7.2

Maybe instead of powering through and breaking a bit, my motors just lose a step. Just a theory, or is it hypothesis. :)

Check your run out on the spindle it may be a bad collet that has a wobble

Thanks for the head up. Ive never check the spindle run out, as I do not own a dial gauge, maybe I should start borrow, beg, steal or rob one from "friend". ;)
For min kurb radius, 6mm or 1/4" bits are the smallest I dare going for, broke enough bits to call it a quit but I just can' t sleep well knowing others are successful with thier 1/4" bit at good production speed @ passes of 1 x bit biameter.
What is the acceptable or "enough" round out of spindle?

Strativkosie
 

Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5hy33weaWc

After some alterations to the vectors in the design and getting to grips with Aspire I am finally getting GOOD / EXCELLENT results. This Fabrice is a genius when it comes to drawing things. This Violin is based on the dimensions of the original Stradivarius violin. The indexing with dowels on four corners are working like a charm. I did the Neck this afternoon and when I cut it free the two sides were lining up 100%. Maybe in future I will be able to cut this part on my Indexer so that the peg box and hollow parts around the scroll can be done by old BBB. Tomorrow I will do the top. The F-holes are now removed from the sculpting design and cut in afterwards from vectors. Another modification is the BASS bar on the inside of the top part. This will be carved from the solid piece and therefore not glued in afterwards.
Go on Mr Neighbor...get that cat inside the house...one of these fine day's there will be some noise from this violin.....Any name suggestions is welcome...something with Kobus, Fabrice, Strativarius, MechMate will do.
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Nice

Absolutely Awesome!! I would love to make something like this one day, keep up the fantastic work Kobus.
Have you updated your Aspire to ver.3 yet?

Cheers
Tony.

Thank's Tony. Yes I have it, but will wait for the new DVD to arrive to try and get to grips with the new features. I read somewhere that V3 will unwrap STL files. If this is what I think it is, it should then be possible to take the STL file of the neck, chuck it in the indexer and have it cut in one go....Come on DVD.....teach me

You are going to have to take early retirement so you can have the time to play with all these lekker new toys :). Nice work on the violin - I am thankfull that you live far from me, I remember my sister trying to learn to play one of those, not a pleasant experience for those nearby :eek:

Now that I am getting the hang of it it becomes easier. The top of the violin with the Bass-Bar came out 100%. The hollow out of the neck was done by hand as well as the hollow around the top of the neck.
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Kobus, it is very beautiful! Sometime in the future, I will become the same great master, as you :)

Master ??? MechMate is the Master I am just the driver helped along by everybody on this wonderful forum. You must just practice...I call it play...with you machine.

Great chisel work Kobus….. Nice to see some hand work collaboration with the beast !
Congrat, Robert ;)

Kobus, that is a really beautiful violin you have there. People say that it takes quite a few years to even get to the point you can carve the top and bottoms of a violin properly to make even a half decent violin and now we have a tool at our disposal that can shave years off that time. Thank you for sharing all your work with us.

Also, that STL unwrapping is beginning to look interesting too. I'll be upgrading to v3 as well in the near future. Please let us know if it is all that is us cut up to be (pun intended:)

Wanted to make sure the THICKNESS of the top and bottom is correct in the different areas. Searched on the internet and saw this type of design. Did not make it 100% the same, but it gives me an idea of the thickness on different positions.

As the measuring tool is not that RIGID, I have a difference of about 0.3mm from the design measurements.....NOW it is either Fabrice that did not do his work :eek:, or me that did not set up old BBB to cut correctly. :rolleyes: But I am sure it's my mistake and it is close to the required thickness.
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Kobus,
You know, you could improve the rigidness by cutting another part exactly the same, with the wood grain running the other direction - and glue it all together.
I bet you would reduce the effective deflection by half.

...But I am sure you already knew that!

It's 18mm plywood already, but what the heck if the sound is off because of 0.3mm I will just loose another cat from the neighborhood:D.

Managed to lay my hands on 4 Nema 23 stepper for a good price.
Planning to build a small CNC that I can travel with to my woodworking club.

Attachment 10860

23KM-K033
1.8 deg
BI-POLAR
2.2 Amp
1.7 ohm resistance
1000 mNm holding torque
7.2 mH Inductance
680 g weight

Would love to make it on the MechMate design... wondering how small the current MM can be made ?

I think a MM plasma cutter can work with these.

Finally got some time today to cut a Dolls House from Fabrice's design.
As mentioned earlier...6mm ply in South Africa is not 6mm and when you have a lot of interlocking pieces it get tricky. When I sort out where all theses parts go........
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I will build it up piece by piece like this...

Attachment 10867

And it should end up looking like this.

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That looks good Kobus, will that not work with MDF instead?, Should be plenty strong enough for the application and the thickness is spot on.

kobus, you haven't finished it in one day:D

I hate working with MDF..but maybe an idea to try sometime.

Stop joking Fabrice, I had a ROUGH weekend...too many distractions...I must get my priorities right....Work before party..:D

Great Job. I have been lurking on this and the zone for a couple of years now and toying with the idea of building a cnc. Thanks to you and the other great folks here I have finally decided to get off my backside and build it. Keep up the good work.
Thanks a bunch
Brett

Thank's Brett...no go and build that machine...some more to tempt you.


Getting there. As this is the first prototype small issues are being sorted out to make it perfect. Biggest problem is the variation in thickness of the local ply. Will try the next one from MDF.


Attachment 10871

Kobus,
You should try marine ply. It is more stable and a bit more expensive as well.

Kobus, ek het 'n pm vir jou gestuur.

With a bit of SPOEG en PLAK I finished the Dolls House this morning. Now for some paint.
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Need some Furniture
 

Good job there all you need is some office furniture .Down sized.

Very Nice !! I love seeing projects !!!

Thank's Mike.

I do notice that after 2.5 years of uploading pictures I am getting close to my limit...will have to beg for more space one of these day's...;)

Engraving a lot of slats for my bench making friend today I did manage to cut the special offering that was on the Vector Art 3D site....

http://www.vectorart3d.com/store/ind...etail&ID=57384
Attachment 10897

Size about 300 x 100 by 25mm thick piece of Australian Blackwood. Some of my stash that I have cut myself in Sabie when I lived there. www.sabie.co.za

Very Nice Kobus! I would love to have some of that wood!

Jy maak mooi goed vir Kersfees.

Come on over Heath I will give you some... accommodation for free..:D

I like to use Burmese TEAK oil on the piece to bring out the colour in these darker type of woods.

Don't joke about that Kobus, the wife has been at me to take her to Afrika for a while now... :)

I love all these free day's at home. Done the sides and fitted the neck today.
I have an appointment with a professional Violin Maker late next week....he must check it out before I glue all together.
Attachment 10910

Kobus,

You are doing some nice work. Thanks for sharing.

Thank's Nils.

Also managed to finish off a restoration project today. These tables were in a bad state...loose joints, broken pieces and nicked tops.
Took everything apart. Used furniture scrapers to clean everything. Used Magic Wood (cyanoacrylate) with dust to fill the nicks and cracks.
Gave it 3 coats of PolyWax ( www.woodoc.com )...took it down with furniture steelwool between coats. Think the customer will be happy.
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Took some measurements so old BBB can cut a set in the future.

After 2 1/2 years and with all the new features in Aspire looming I decided it's time to re-do my control box to make provision for the 5 axis... Permanently....;)
Now I can do indexing without swapping cables and adjusting Mach3 to suite.

A tip for future builders ...put that 5th driver in the box from the beginning...sooner or later you will want to upgrade.

My first box was salvaged from the scrap heap at work. The new one I got given by a friend...ok ok the color is wrong, but at least the drivers have a blue light...:D When I am in the painting mood I will fix it.

As usual I keep it simple...no switches, contactors etc. As I work from home I don't need all the extras.

Attachment 10951

Also had a lot of rain while working and noticed a leak in the roof...Fixed it quickly ...;)
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