My new machine - Guess the make!

[Pilsbury]

Nice little boxes! I made one early on and it’s amazing to see how the cnc just churns it out perfect. Imagine trying to carve that! And I like your articulated dust collection bracket. Dust boots are a must. I’m already envious - Stupidly went for 68mm downpipe where my dust extractor takes 100mm so my flow is restricted. Should have done what you did with drainage pipe to maintain the size. I recon my dust collection gets 99% of the chips. Only realise how necessary it is when I forget to turn it on.

[Andrewg]

Nice little boxes! I made one early on and it’s amazing to see how the cnc just churns it out perfect. Imagine trying to carve that! And I like your articulated dust collection bracket. Dust boots are a must. I’m already envious - Stupidly went for 68mm downpipe where my dust extractor takes 100mm so my flow is restricted. Should have done what you did with drainage pipe to maintain the size. I recon my dust collection gets 99% of the chips. Only realise how necessary it is when I forget to turn it on.

Yes there is nothing like skimming your MDF spoil board level to learn the importance of dust collection! And yes that 68mm pipe will be killing your air flows. Presume you have a vacuum cleaner style HPLV collector, as for HVLP like mine 100mm is about the minimum.... personally can't stand the noise of a vacuum cleaner for long, especially when the machine is so quiet!

[Pilsbury]

Hplv, hvlp..... not sure. A record power twin motor jobbie, but yes, more like a large vacuum cleaner rather than those chip collector things.

As for machine being quiet, sure is. However my longer bits make a hell of a noise. I bought a 6mm compression EM with a 40mm cut capacity. Screams like hell even in softwood. No amount of spindle speed and feedrate fettling will stop it.

[Pilsbury]

Just thought I’d share another different thing I’ve just tried out. Turned out pretty well. Going to move on to carving now. Seems there’s lots to take in to get a good result. Think it’s called 2.5D opposed to 3D? Ball nose end mills on order!

[Kitwn]

Very clever! Is that layered construction your own idea or do you have a link to a source of other similar designs?

Kit

[Pilsbury]

Purchased file for a couple of quid. Just that letter as a test. PM sent.

[Pilsbury]

I know I’m double posting this carving (already in the tooling section) but I thought I’d share it again in this post to keep my first efforts together.

Here is my first test carving, ready to try a bigger version in the near future. I recon if I hit a 500x800 piece it would take near 24 hours. Time to get a camp bed in the workshop!

[JAZZCNC]

Looks good Mark, for the long job's If you don't want to run for long periods you have a couple of options.

#1 Put the machine into "feed hold" turn the spindle off and leave the PC switched on overnight. Just remember to switch the spindle back on before resuming from "feed hold"

#2 Put into feed hold, take a note of line number then you can shut down PC and do a "Run from here" when you restart. The work offset will automatically be saved by UCCNC and after homing the machine the "run from here " will get you back into position.

In both cases, it's a good idea to "feed hold" when the code is doing move off the material ie: G0 move. This way it won't leave a tool mark on the material when the spindle starts back up. However, if you can't catch it in a G0 move then do it in an area where it's easily sanded or won't show.
It's also a good idea to do the "run from here" a few lines back from the actual line number it stopped on, this way it will help blend in any tool marks.

My preferred option would be "run from here" because you can spread large jobs over a few days and it's a lot less stress on the machine, spindle, tooling, dust extractor and PC.

[Pilsbury]

Cheers for that Dean. I’ve used feed hold several times so far, mainly when I’ve spotted my hold down clamping is not great so I can tighten up.

I also like your advice on not leaving the machine alone overnight. Apart from it getting lonely, I can see the issues if the pc has a hissy fit and stops sending code with the spindle still moving at 20,000rpm.

Perhaps a multi day cut is the way forward.

[JAZZCNC]

Cheers for that Dean. I’ve used feed hold several times so far, mainly when I’ve spotted my hold down clamping is not great so I can tighten up.

Yes it's handy but "run from here" is a job saver when a tool breaks or shit hits the fan or clamps, and very handy for long jobs which you want to break down into parts over a few sessions. Something worth playing with as it's very handy.

I also like your advice on not leaving the machine alone overnight. Apart from it getting lonely, I can see the issues if the pc has a hissy fit and stops sending code with the spindle still moving at 20,000rpm.

To be honest NO router that is cutting flammable materials like wood should ever be left unattended for any lengthy periods. I know of several people who have set fire to machines and workshops and in one case lost his house because the router was left alone while he went out. Because the machine was in the garage adjoined to the house and he hadn't told the insurance they wouldn't payout.!

Shit always happens when your not watching and a spindle whizzing around at 24000rpm rubbing on wood makes a great fire starter.