Please allow me to introduce myself....

[Davem]

Hi Cab,

Had a good crawl over the TDPRI challenge thread and am massively impressed by the project photos/workmanship (and the time you took to record everything too). However, I wonder if you would like to expand a little on your final comment - "Actually the CNC router is slower than I am, it's just more accurate with less stress" - Are you refering to fine detail work such as the inlays, or basic wood removal/pocketing etc?

I'm considering the same model router (or possibly the T variant) for machining similar sized workpieces (although sadly not guitars) and am a bit concerned it might be a little slow hogging out from the initial wood blank.

Be interested in your views.

Cheers

Davem

[Cab]

Hi Davem,

Thank you very much for the kind words.

As far as speed goes I was referring to the whole process. Since most of my work is non-repetitive the planning and machine setup time is a major factor. Inlays are especially tedious as every piece of pearl is different and has to be lined up and clamped differently than the last one.

The High-Z is generally pretty good, especially since I finally sat down and took the time to work on the setup two weeks ago :whistling:. Among other things I discovered that the company now lists it as capable of 2000 mm/min (used to be 1000) and mine seems to get along fine with that. I also increased the acceleration quite a bit and it seems to accept that as well. After that I set up a PC that I had sitting around without optimizing it for Mach3 to see if it would work. It did. Doing that allowed me to put it in the network so I could transfer the cutting files from my office machine directly to it. I'd turned everything Mach3 didn't need off on the other PC and been using "sneaker net" to do it with a USB stick, which was not nearly as much fun.

If I knew what I know now I would have gotten the T model myself. In addition to the higher speeds it also has less play. Mine has something like 0,0135mm on the X axis. According to what I've heard the recirculating ball drives should eliminate that.

Another thing I can heartily recommend is the Shuttle Pro2 USB controller. I picked one up on ebay for around €70, as I recall, and it works a treat.

Hope that helps.

Cab