AndyUK's Build - 1.2x1.0m Gantry

Ok sounds good - let me see what I can do about the CAD model to help you out.

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Originally Posted by fer662

Oh, so you essentially welded the sides, then assembled the table with screws and taps, and then welded it together? was it mostly to prevent it from moving?
What about the legs, did you solder anything below the open 80x80 tubes? I cannot bolt the table down to the floor because i have floor hitting and i'm sure i'll be unlucky enough to hit a hose with the drill. Probably won't be necessary as the table will weight a shit ton.

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Looking back over the photos in my thread, I can see why you thought it was just bolted. As it was my first time welding, I wasn't at all happy with how the process was going - I thought the welds were coming out pretty ugly and I had a number of "retries" grinding out bits that felt crappy and weak and doing them over again. As a result, I just didn't take many photos of the build during this stage, I was quite disheartened with it. It wasn't until I had something I was happy with (after lots of grinding, welding, regrinding, smoothing with some filler, sanding, then finally painting that I started taking photos of the frame again.

Lets start back here - October 2018, all the frame steels (bar one!) were cleaned up, tapped, bolted together into an assembly I was happy with.

Attachment 29093

I then turned the frame over, and started welding the caps on the bottom of the square tubing for the feet. I'd drilled and tapped these prior - but in hindsight I'd have welded a nut on the inside first to give more thickness to the thread. It was at this point I set my crotch on fire. ;)

Attachment 29096 Attachment 29094 Attachment 29095 Attachment 29097 Attachment 29098 Attachment 29099 Attachment 29100

By the end of the day I was quite happy with how it was sitting on its new feet. I'd also started preparing the steels for the adjustable height bed.

Attachment 29101

Then I started to tack weld the joints together all the way around, being sure to do one tack, then move around the machine to try and reduce distortion. Once that was done, I came back to each one in turn and gave it a full bead. Rinse and repeat.

I was so unhappy with it I literally don't have a picture of the frame until it was painted.... and even then I wasn't happy with the brush marks in the first coat, so that took a while to sort out!

Attachment 29102 Attachment 29103

Andy,
That's a very informative and encouraging set of photographs. And a dire warning re starting fires in awkward places! I'll be reassembling my own machine in it's new home before long and a new welded base is going to be a major upgrade.

If I can produce something that looks that good (even with brush marks in the paint) I'll be well pleased.

Kit

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Originally Posted by Kitwn

If I can produce something that looks that good (even with brush marks in the paint) I'll be well pleased.

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Thing is, now I'm using it, I've scratched and chipped the paintwork a number of times. I think I've given up trying to be precious! Still functional after all.... ;)

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Originally Posted by AndyUK

Thing is, now I'm using it, I've scratched and chipped the paintwork a number of times. I think I've given up trying to be precious! Still functional after all.... ;)

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With the machines I build looks plays a small part, mostly to help with the appeal to new users who tend to buy on looks rather than functionality. then I can educate them on what's required for good machine.
On my own personal machines I have absolutely zero interest on how they look, infact, they look SOOOOO bad with wires and crap hanging off them from product testing or failed tests or just plain lazyness regards cleaning, (No lets be honest I've never cleaned it, occasional blow job if it;s lucky.:whistle:) I wouldn't dream of ever showing them to anyone because if I did no one would ever buy a machine off me again...:hysterical:

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Originally Posted by AndyUK

Ok sounds good - let me see what I can do about the CAD model to help you out.



Looking back over the photos in my thread, I can see why you thought it was just bolted. As it was my first time welding, I wasn't at all happy with how the process was going - I thought the welds were coming out pretty ugly and I had a number of "retries" grinding out bits that felt crappy and weak and doing them over again. As a result, I just didn't take many photos of the build during this stage, I was quite disheartened with it. It wasn't until I had something I was happy with (after lots of grinding, welding, regrinding, smoothing with some filler, sanding, then finally painting that I started taking photos of the frame again.

Lets start back here - October 2018, all the frame steels (bar one!) were cleaned up, tapped, bolted together into an assembly I was happy with.

Attachment 29093

I then turned the frame over, and started welding the caps on the bottom of the square tubing for the feet. I'd drilled and tapped these prior - but in hindsight I'd have welded a nut on the inside first to give more thickness to the thread. It was at this point I set my crotch on fire. ;)

Attachment 29096 Attachment 29094 Attachment 29095 Attachment 29097 Attachment 29098 Attachment 29099 Attachment 29100

By the end of the day I was quite happy with how it was sitting on its new feet. I'd also started preparing the steels for the adjustable height bed.

Attachment 29101

Then I started to tack weld the joints together all the way around, being sure to do one tack, then move around the machine to try and reduce distortion. Once that was done, I came back to each one in turn and gave it a full bead. Rinse and repeat.

I was so unhappy with it I literally don't have a picture of the frame until it was painted.... and even then I wasn't happy with the brush marks in the first coat, so that took a while to sort out!

Attachment 29102 Attachment 29103

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These are going to be really useful. I appreciated it! I'll post my table on my own thread whenever I have time to start it.

One of the most interesting things to do is have a look round someone else's workshop. One of the most embarrassing things is to show someone round your own...

As for paint - wossat? They don't have to look pretty to do a useful job.

Notice how the garage started off relatively empty, but quickly gets fuller and messier throughout the photos? Its only gotten worse.....

I've been hard at work with the CAD! Could I bother you for some measurements? Could you tell me how far apart you have the linear bearings for the same rail on each of the axis... Say.. Measuring from the outside of the blocks? (and if you're happy with the resulting rigidity)? It's the one area where I don't want to simply overdo it since you lose work area.

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Originally Posted by JAZZCNC

With the machines I build looks plays a small part, mostly to help with the appeal to new users who tend to buy on looks rather than functionality. then I can educate them on what's required for good machine.
On my own personal machines I have absolutely zero interest on how they look, infact, they look SOOOOO bad with wires and crap hanging off them from product testing or failed tests or just plain lazyness regards cleaning, (No lets be honest I've never cleaned it, occasional blow job if it;s lucky.:whistle:) I wouldn't dream of ever showing them to anyone because if I did no one would ever buy a machine off me again...:hysterical:

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It's interesting to see how much effort different people put into making the parts of their machines look good. There's even one in the archive with beautiful red anodised parts that I would have just filed the sharp edges off and left at that.

For a professionally made product there is always the element of customer confidence. If the surface finish is poor how much care and attention did the manufacturer take over the bits that DO matter?

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Originally Posted by Kitwn

It's interesting to see how much effort different people put into making the parts of their machines look good. There's even one in the archive with beautiful red anodised parts that I would have just filed the sharp edges off and left at that.

For a professionally made product there is always the element of customer confidence. If the surface finish is poor how much care and attention did the manufacturer take over the bits that DO matter?

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I mean... Most of us end up spending way more than it'd have cost to just buy the machine done... It's a matter of pride in what you build at some point, and for some people aesthetics is a part of that.

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Originally Posted by fer662

I mean... Most of us end up spending way more than it'd have cost to just buy the machine done... It's a matter of pride in what you build at some point, and for some people aesthetics is a part of that.

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I agree completely, some machines are a work of art in themselves.

Ah, that's the problem with my machine! I never was very good at art. I only show my router to visitors wearing blindfolds, and who promise not to laugh...

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Originally Posted by fer662

I've been hard at work with the CAD! Could I bother you for some measurements? Could you tell me how far apart you have the linear bearings for the same rail on each of the axis... Say.. Measuring from the outside of the blocks? (and if you're happy with the resulting rigidity)? It's the one area where I don't want to simply overdo it since you lose work area.

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X-Axis (dual, longest dimension, probably should be referred to as Y but I've long ago given up with that), ~280mm between the near edge of the first carriage to the far edge of the second (i.e the maximum possible dimension!). That was designed so that the spindle fell between the two.

Y-Axis (along the gantry) ~ 170mm. This mostly came out of wanting a 15cm wide Z axis plate and then having 1cm side plates.

Z-Axis ~205mm. This coincides with the height of the aluminium gantry profile, and the Y rails and carriages. The bottom one is placed as low as it can be without blocking the bolts on the lower Y carriage assembly plate, the top one is placed as far up before fouling the bolts on the upper one.

Totally appreciate the work area concern. Its one of the things that slightly frustrates me with this design is the work area is substantially smaller than the footprint - but hey. I'd recommend extending the rails at one (or both) ends if you can - If you extend rearward you can cut on the entirety of the bed, a slight forward extension would allow vertical clamping and working.

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Originally Posted by Neale

Ah, that's the problem with my machine! I never was very good at art. I only show my router to visitors wearing blindfolds, and who promise not to laugh...

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I can appreciate that. It was only shortly before I had to disassemble my machine for moving house that I finally replaced the plywood 'mock-up' Z axis with a real aluminium version. But then I always have been a fan of Heath Robinson.

Christmas Gift:

(Plans from)
https://wilkerdos.com/product/rocker-templates/

Attachment 29330

Nice!

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Originally Posted by AndyUK

Christmas Gift:

(Plans from)
https://wilkerdos.com/product/rocker-templates/

Attachment 29330

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That's wonderful, my sister would love one of those! I wonder what it would cost to send the parts from Tasmania to Walkden in time for her birthday? She'll be 70 next year.

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Originally Posted by AndyUK

Had a weekend playing with the machine and finishing up a few bits.

Attachment 27441

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Like the idea of hiding steppers inside box. I designing similar machine and will pour granite into top frame and use heavy duty dampers between top frame and stand.

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Originally Posted by Tom J

Like the idea of hiding steppers inside box. I designing similar machine and will pour granite into top frame and use heavy duty dampers between top frame and stand.

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It seems to have worked well for me, but I did have concerns about the temperatures, so they're on the same watercooling loop as the spindle using some aluminium blocks wedged tightly up against them and a bit of thermal paste.

Hi Andy,

I'm converting an X3 mill to CNC and after reading your build log amongst others I've been 'borrowing' heavily from your router electronics and circuit design. Could you tell me what software you used to create your circuit diagram please? Also, I saw your capacitor holders and noted that you printed yours after buying the wrong ones - inspired me to get a 3d printer, they were my first job. Just made protective caps for the top too.

I'll put photos of the bits I've made for the mill over on my build log when I've got a little further.

many thanks and stay safe

Geoff

Hi Geoff,

Pleased the build log is helping :)

I used MS Visio 2016 to create the diagram - I tried a wide range of CAD and electronic design softwares, but in the end Visio was just easier to use and create a colour coded diagram that made sense in my head. It took a long time to get it all down, but really helped organise my thoughts and work out a load of problems on paper first. I've attached the Visio file if you want to see how its done.

Yeah the cap holders were a bit of a "d'oh!" moment - the 3D printer did a great job with those and a number of other little bits around the machine towards the end - I love the cable tidies and the proximty sensor mounts. Unfortunately with house rennovations the poor thing is currently sitting under a mountain of dust.... The cap lids sound like a great idea though - far tidyer than my hot-glue blobs!

Looking forward to seeing your progress photos! :)

Andy

Attachment 29734

Finally got around to trying my first inlay with this machine. Tried to challenge it by using a series of line widths, 0.5mm up to 3mm. Classic walnut and maple. 70x70mm square.

Used a 30 degree V bit, 2mm inlay depth, 1mm glue void depth, 1mm air gap above.

Plug and base (are there real names for these?) - Ran the cut twice on each to clear up some fuzzy bits - suspect my feeds and speeds arn't quite right, but I was being conservative.
Attachment 30050

Glue time.... used some pretty standard PVA, that might come back to bite me but seems to be working.
Attachment 30051

Trimmed the excess slowly and gently... reveal time!
Attachment 30052

Some sanding through the grits, add oil... et voilà.
Attachment 30053

Not perfect; looks like theres some reaction going on at the interface between the two woods, and I think there was an imperfection in the maple or the plug cutting that caused that slight discontinuity, but overall quite pleased for a first attempt.

Looks good Andy, nice feeling isn't it when you see the fruits of your labour produce stuff like this. Well done..:toot:

If my first effort (on the ToDo list behind a few more urgent tasks) looks that good I shall be happy. What's next?

Kit

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Originally Posted by Kitwn

What's next?

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Well... I once said this about my wooden control box:

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Originally Posted by AndyUK

First thing was to make a quick and temporary control box...
Attachment 27824 Attachment 27825

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Turned out temporary is over a year! I've also got a much better idea about the buttons I wanted, so popped a few more on there.

Attachment 30171

Also coming up with a few ideas for design modifications. I'm considering adopting the two plates idea on the X axis to make the gantry adjustment more independent from the ballscrew and linear rails. It will also add a little height to the gantry; I'm finding that although the bed height is adjustable in theory, the work involved is quite prohibitive (its bloody heavy, you need to re-level everything, and then you're working at a non-optimal height). I've found that with tool length, my current setup can only manage a depth of about 50mm or so. With a small bed height adjustment and a few tweeks I should be able to get a bit more room. Then theres the lack of a tramming plate on the Z axis, and it would be nice to have my Z probe plate wired so that it travels around with the spindle and is always close to hand....

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Originally Posted by AndyUK

Also coming up with a few ideas for design modifications. I'm considering adopting the two plates idea on the X axis to make the gantry adjustment more independent from the ballscrew and linear rails. It will also add a little height to the gantry; I'm finding that although the bed height is adjustable in theory, the work involved is quite prohibitive (its bloody heavy, you need to re-level everything, and then you're working at a non-optimal height). I've found that with tool length, my current setup can only manage a depth of about 50mm or so. With a small bed height adjustment and a few tweeks I should be able to get a bit more room. Then theres the lack of a tramming plate on the Z axis, and it would be nice to have my Z probe plate wired so that it travels around with the spindle and is always close to hand....

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Very interesting. Your wooden control box is much neater than my re-purposed PC case will ever be!

I used two back plates for the gantry-mounted axis (Y on my machine) mainly out of practicality. It means that I can have the fixing screws for the linear bearings for the Y and Z axis overlapping, gave greater rigidity as I could only get 12mm plate and meant that I had some wiggle room to get the two axes exactly perpendicular after marking out bearing and rail mounting holes by hand and drilling them with an ordinary drill press. It also allows the whole Z axis assembly to be removed as a unit if required.

The real trick is working out an accurate way to measure whether the two axes ( ie the rails) are really perpendicular or not that is separate from measurements of where the axis of the spindle is pointing. I haven't quite cracked that one yet. I know the axis of the spindle is accurately perpendicular to the Y axis but I have no way of knowing if the spindle itself and the Z axis movement are precisely parallel.

Kit

If your axes are not perpendicular to each other you will have a parallelogram on your extreme points.
Put a sharp tipped engraving bit (or sharp nail :)) in your collet and mark 4 dots on your table (use masking tape) at coordinates: 0,0; 0,MaxX; MaxY,MaxX and 0,MaxX, then measure DIAGONALS!!
If there is a difference, you are out of squareness.

Hi Kit
On my build I wish I had given more thought to tramming adjustment as I now have to use metal shims to get everything right. Some sort of screw adjustment with a wedge may work. For tramming I could'nt get on with a single dial meter so bought this and I found it to be money well spent

Kind Regards
Michael

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Originally Posted by ZASto

If your axes are not perpendicular to each other you will have a parallelogram on your extreme points.
Put a sharp tipped engraving bit (or sharp nail :)) in your collet and mark 4 dots on your table (use masking tape) at coordinates: 0,0; 0,MaxX; MaxY,MaxX and 0,MaxX, then measure DIAGONALS!!
If there is a difference, you are out of squareness.

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Thanks for that, but you are referring to aligning the X and Y axes. I think Andy was talking about the construction of his Z axis assembly. If not then my last post was a complete pile of crap!

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Originally Posted by MikeyC38

Hi Kit
On my build I wish I had given more thought to tramming adjustment as I now have to use metal shims to get everything right. Some sort of screw adjustment with a wedge may work. For tramming I could'nt get on with a single dial meter so bought this and I found it to be money well spent

Kind Regards
Michael

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My machine is covered in shims! At least I built it in a way that makes it possible to access the places I need them easily enough.

I've seen the tool you linked to before but used a different method myself which was much less costly and used the Z axis DRO as a micrometer. This uses taught wires stretched between the long axis rails (X on my machine) to create the reference plane for aligning the gantry. This seems the best way to do it if your machine design allows it since these rails (once proven parallel) ARE the plane to which the other axes have to be parallel or perpendicular. Once that's all aligned then skimming the bed brings it into same plane and is the final job to be done. I wrote a thread about it last year and there's some updated stuff on my build log after I moved house and did it all again.

http://www.mycncuk.com/threads/13627...ith-Taut-Wires

Kit

Thought it might be interesting for others designing their control boxes to see why I've made my new one like this and how it works. Also welcome to hear any improvement suggestions.

My typical workflow is:

• Turn on the CNC & PC (UCCNC Autoboots)
• Reset the EStops (Red momentary reset button lights when safety circuit is tripped) & Turn on the wireless (bluetooth) Xbox controller.
• Enable the motor drivers on the control box (Purple latch button - lights when motors enabled).
• By this time UCCNC has loaded, so use the Xbox controller to do a software reset on UCCNC (the start key).
• Home the CNC. This can be done by pressing the (white) Zero button on the control box. This button homes if the CNC isn't homed yet, otherwise it resets the X&Y position to zero if its lit up. The button only lights up when the CNC is idle (i.e. stationary not running a cycle or dwell), homed, and the spindle is off.
• Load the GCode using mouse & keyboard.
• Setup the work piece & do a tool change.
• Set the X&Y zero coordinates, positioning with the Xbox controller, then press the Zero button on the control box again.
• Set the Z zero coordinates using the touch plate by pressing the Probe button (Orange latch button - lights when a probing routine is running or soft probing mode is enabled) which runs the auto-tool height setting macro.
• Limits & work holding checks.... If I do somehow hit a physical limit (only really posibile at startup due to softlimits) the yellow LED illuminates to indicate an inductive limit switch is triggered. Pressing the latch button allows limits override until the switch is released, at which point the LED turns off. Softlimits can also be toggled at any point with this switch.
• Engage water pump if needed.... (Blue latch staight to relay in control cab)
• Press the cycle start button in to start the cut. The cycle start button is a green latching button that lights when a cycle is running.
• If needed, releasing the cycle start button will feedhold.
• Engage mist if needed.... (Blue latch staight to relay in control cab)

Attachment 30254 Attachment 30255 Attachment 30256

I've recently updated to Windows 10 just so I can have this wireless bluetooth controller. Expensive? Yes.. Awesome? Totally. I'm using Crafty CNC's Plugin to give extended functionality, I tried it a year back and wasn't too impressed, but after trying again and ironing out a few bugs I'm really happy with it now.

The left analogue stick gives up and down control over the Z axis, varying in speed cubicly between 0-50%. Holding down the left trigger at the same time changes this to 0-100%. This means you can quickly get to the right position, but have very fine positioning control as well. The right analogue stick and trigger do the same for the X and Y axis. I've set the ABXY buttons to also jog X and Y with feedrates controlled by the left and right bumpers, this is really helpful for large innaccurate rapids across the table, or if you want to be sure to constrain motion to just one axis.

The "Start" button on the controller is set to toggle the software reset on UCCNC. This is good to get things started, and is effectively an E-Stop button for the controller. The "Menu" button is set to toggle feed hold as a mobile pause button.

This leaves the 4 Dpad buttons free for assigning to other functions I haven't quite decided upon yet... :)

I've also got a docking station to keep the controller charged up and give it a nice safe "home"! - Oh and you see that single board PC sitting on my subwoofer? Thats what I run UCCNC on. Its a quad core i5 @ 2Ghz per core, 8GB ram, 256GB SSD and with some serious integrated graphics.

https://youtu.be/MLwGqcwMeeo

Awesome,thanks for sharing!

Nice setup Andy. At the other end of the Xbox budget range I'm using the plugin built into UCCNC and a dirt cheap USB Nintendo style controller which works OK for jogging and Z zero setting but going wireless would be very helpful. Understanding how to use the probing control is on my ToDo list.

The only thing you might add would be a hard-wired interlock switch for the spindle when doing manual tool changes. I have one which interrupts the start wire from the controller so that no accidental button press or software glitch can spoil my Jimmy Page impersonations.

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Originally Posted by Kitwn

Understanding how to use the probing control is on my ToDo list.

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Z-Axis probing is a complete game changer, I really don't know how I went without that initially. So simple to setup as well; just have a 0V clip on to the tool (I've cheated and run a dirty 0V line to the spindle holder), and a second "Probe" line from the UB1 to a block of aluminium. Setup one line in UCCNC, and you can use JSP (jog safe probing) immediately which is great for X&Y. Measure the block thickness and quickly google a tool height setting macro, and within 10mins you'll have perfect and automated Z height setting. I'm now looking into having a permenant block in one corner and letting it have a bit more automation on those tool changes, but one step at a time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kitwn

The only thing you might add would be a hard-wired interlock switch for the spindle when doing manual tool changes. I have one which interrupts the start wire from the controller so that no accidental button press or software glitch can spoil my Jimmy Page impersonations.

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Thats a great idea - I've shyed away from anything contactor/relay like on the power side of the VFD, but theres nothing to stop me putting a relay on the control logic side that would drop it into a safe state. Still not completely foolproof because short of powering down the VFD at every tool change theres always some risk the high quality chinesium in the VFD will go haywire....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AndyUK

Z-Axis probing is a complete game changer, I really don't know how I went without that initially. So simple to setup as well; just have a 0V clip on to the tool (I've cheated and run a dirty 0V line to the spindle holder), and a second "Probe" line from the UB1 to a block of aluminium. Setup one line in UCCNC, and you can use JSP (jog safe probing) immediately which is great for X&Y. Measure the block thickness and quickly google a tool height setting macro, and within 10mins you'll have perfect and automated Z height setting. I'm now looking into having a permenant block in one corner and letting it have a bit more automation on those tool changes, but one step at a time.



Thats a great idea - I've shyed away from anything contactor/relay like on the power side of the VFD, but theres nothing to stop me putting a relay on the control logic side that would drop it into a safe state. Still not completely foolproof because short of powering down the VFD at every tool change theres always some risk the high quality chinesium in the VFD will go haywire....

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Thanks Andy, I will read up on the UCCNC probing.
I take your point about the chinesuim (lovely word by the way. I'm rather proud of having invented the word 'polycrapoline' to describe the cracked-within-weeks material used in some HV breakers I had the misfortune to work on many years back). It's for each of us to decide the level of risk we are willing to accept in our home workshop.

I was once very shocked to find an interlock system in a former employer's premises which, when made 'safe' left an HV power distribution transformer able to be back-fed if a microscopic transistor inside a PLC microchip went short circuit and decided to power an external relay which would close an HV breaker which was NOT included in the electromechanical interlocking. The risk I'm taking in not powering down the VFD every tool change is similar but the consequences, though potentially serious, are not guaranteed fatal and I only touch the sharp tool itself for a few seconds.

I've recieved a question about my UCCNC setup, so thought I'd share and discuss my config in public, just incase it helps a future builder.

The vast majority of these settings are taken directly from the UB1 manual, where there is a section on UCCNC and Mach3 setups. All the port and pin settings are taken from the UB1 manual, in combination with my circuit diagram.

Axis Settings (X/Y/Z/A)
Attachment 30287 Attachment 30288 Attachment 30289
Attachment 30290

Note slaving of X and A. X&Y Steps per is pretty self explanatory (200 steps per rotation on the steppers, 10mm pitch screws, 8x microstepping = 160 steps per mm). Z is 5mm pitch so 320mm. Y&Z use a travelling inductive limit so port and pins identical. X&A have independent static switches for home and -ve limit, but share a +ve limit switch. Speeds and accelerations are set quite conservatively to avoid stalls.

Spindle Settings
Attachment 30294

As per manual, nothing special here.

General Settings
Attachment 30291

Mostly as per UB1 manual, but note use of soft limits, ignore unknown gcode (bit risky), M6 pauses for manual tool changes, & homing sequence.

Input Settings
Attachment 30292

As per manual, nothing special here.

Input Triggers
Attachment 30293

These handle my control box switch inputs, you can make the same switch have multiple actions, some occur on depress and some on release (hence the low tick). If you see high numbers in the function code its a custom macro to do more complex actions, like my Z height probing or my Zero button which does homing or X&Y zeroing depending on the machine state.

Output Triggers
Attachment 30295

These exclusively control LEDs on my control panel, alongside some of my macroloops.

Xbox Controller Settings
Attachment 30296

See my previous post to discuss these.

Robertspark's UCCNC Macros, Screenset and MODBUS manual is also a very helpful reference. See attached. Not only does it highlight all the inbuilt macro functions, but also has tables at the end listing the inbuilt function codes and LED codes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kitwn

I take your point about the chinesuim (lovely word by the way. I'm rather proud of having invented the word 'polycrapoline' to describe the cracked-within-weeks material used in some HV breakers I had the misfortune to work on many years back).

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Chinesium is one of many AvEisms - search AvE on youtube, you're in for a treat. I suggest starting with some of the BOLTR (Bored of lame tool reviews) which are extremely informative teardowns and tests of various powertools. He is a bit of an interesting character, but well worth watching. And of course ThisOldTony needs a mention - especially his CNC build videos.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kitwn

It's for each of us to decide the level of risk we are willing to accept in our home workshop.

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I totally agree, and please don't take my words as any endorsement or critique; merely just my rambling commentary on which failure modes I think your suggestion protects from and those it doesn't.

Had a quick look at AvE. One to listen to while I'm doing something else. I watched a few ThisOldTony videos ages ago and had forgotten about him. I hope he doesn't read this and take it personally! My favourite YouTuber is Sped Spedding. I don't think he knows anything about CNC but he sure can play a guitar like ringin' a bell!

Kit

My wife and I had our first child over the summer, so haven't had an awful lot of time in the garage....! But I have managed to apply the inlay technique to build a set of toy blocks for her to play with. The faces you can't see spell out her name, and my wife picked out a number of shapes that mean things to us - there's at least two of everything so she can play match the shape too!

Hope everyone is doing well,
Andy

Attachment 30660