Hello from Australia, an intro, a little story, and a rather unusual situation....

[harmo]

Hi everyone, (Andy, Mike, Kitwn, Clive)

It's been a busy couple of days where the better half's car engine decided to have an identity crisis and turn into fog machine then furnace.... So I was traveling interstate to pick her up while the parts are on order.

Thanks everyone for all the replies. Of the four responses, at least two imply alcohol is needed to get into this CNC stuff. Surely it can't be that bad ;~) Unfortunately, I'm beyond a light-weight when it comes to booze... so I'm more of a steak/burger/schnitzel with water kind of guy.

Andy, I'm really impressed by "El Beast", and you're right, Zeeflyboy has done an amazing job of designing and "prettying it up". RouterCNC's 4th machine is also quite impressive. Haven't read up on Joes build yet, but I'll read that one soon.

MikeS, Always happy to meet an Aussie expat. Bit of a shift from S.A to the U.K. I assume you went for the rainfall? My better half did a 6 month contract job over in Adelaide a few years back, and loved "getting out of Adelaide" whether that was "the hills" or Gawler, Kangaroo Island, or even Lake Eyre. Some beautiful country out there, but it's not always inviting.

Kit, greetings from the mainland :-) Yeah, interstate catch ups are often a long-process these days, I just hope things clear up soon. The steel frame with epoxy idea intrigues me..... although I will need to do more research. While I do have a welder, I don't weld very often, and I'm largely self-taught. Consequently, I don't claim mastery of it. I generally use gasless MIG wire, so it's closer to a metallic hot glue gun than the finesse needed for artful TIG fillets. My stick welding... let's just say that I'm a novice because I don't really use it. However, I have welded steel trolley's for my drill press and bandsaw. All I can say is... while I'm not proud of it.... I find that the judicious use of an angle grinder with a flap disk with a can of paint can hide a lot of welding sins "after the fact". If anyone agrees with that sentiment, you're amongst friends. :-)

Honestly, I do have reservations about my ability to weld anything that's square, flat, true, etc. This is why I've been considering the aluminium extrusion. Although, like everyone, I am more than happy to reduce expenses if I can get a workable result.

Clive (last but certainly not least) thanks for the link to the video, that looks a bit more heavy duty than I can justify to the better half. However, it looks really well made.

To answer your questions, I'm looking at building the machine for mostly softer materials like wood, plastics, some resins, etc. However, if it can do some Aluminium machining, then that wouldn't be a bad thing either. I don't know whether my collected gear would do more... but in any case, I think it would be beyond my skills to make well as a first CNC project.

As you all know, I have a long way ahead of me, but even if I can throw what I have into some arrangement that's "vaguely working" I'm sure I'd learn a lot. Out of curiousity, what do you use your CNCs for? I'd love to see some of your completed projects.

As always, stay safe, and have fun!
Harmo.

[Kitwn]

Out of curiousity, what do you use your CNCs for? I'd love to see some of your completed projects.
Harmo.

In amongst making much simpler bits for my wife's weaving and lacemaking I'm slowly working towards a finished design for an electric wooden clock. All the gears are wood and the whole thing is driven by a standard 5V USB wall wart with the precision of a quartz watch. There's a video here which shows an old prototype of the design which is actually locked to a GPS receiver and is therefore as accurate as any clock you can get! Regular readers will have seen this before.

Progress today has been held up by the need to upgrade my CamBam installation to the beta 64 bit version as the standard 32 bit version ran out of memeory trying to plan the trochoidal tool paths for 12 gear wheels (enough for two clocks) to be cut from a single 600x900mm sheet of plywood at once. There are still some other pieces to cut from the sheet but the gear's teeth alone are over 154000 lines of G-code. The one in the video used less code-hungry conventional cutting.

Kit

https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/343781598

[AndyGuid]

https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/343781598

That video link isn't working for me Kit.

[harmo]

In amongst making much simpler bits for my wife's weaving and lacemaking I'm slowly working towards a finished design for an electric wooden clock. All the gears are wood and the whole thing is driven by a standard 5V USB wall wart with the precision of a quartz watch. There's a video here which shows an old prototype of the design which is actually locked to a GPS receiver and is therefore as accurate as any clock you can get! Regular readers will have seen this before.

Progress today has been held up by the need to upgrade my CamBam installation to the beta 64 bit version as the standard 32 bit version ran out of memeory trying to plan the trochoidal tool paths for 12 gear wheels (enough for two clocks) to be cut from a single 600x900mm sheet of plywood at once. There are still some other pieces to cut from the sheet but the gear's teeth alone are over 154000 lines of G-code. The one in the video used less code-hungry conventional cutting.

Kit

https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/343781598

Hi Kit,

As always, thanks for the response. Like Andy, I was going to say that the link doesn't work for me (perhaps because it includes the management interface?) However, while I'm here....

Nice to see that you helping your wife in these crazy times. My better half is involved with making soaps, so I've been making easy-to-release moulds, soap cutters, and various 3D printed textures to "stamp" into the cakes of soap. However, with our backyard/front yard/available space orchard, and berries everywhere, I seem to build more shelving for preserved harvests than anything else.

Regarding the CamBam, as an IT tech support guy, I feel like I need to understand. Did you mean that the memory running out is the bit that has delayed you by interrupting the cut? I can't imagine that the upgrade itself would take you long. I'd be intrigued to see just how complex a tool path would have to be to overwhelm a 32 bit system.

If there's a log on CamBam, would it be feasible to find out where the machine got up to in the G-code, and perhaps?continue on with the remainder? ( I'm completely new to CNC, so if the machine simply stopped, that might be an option. However, I am assuming that a memory issue will simply stop the machine. Is this what happens? Worst case... I assume many hobbyists would just start again with a new work piece. If so, I hope it wasn't too painful for you.

With the gears for your clock, are they the standard 2d gears? (no tapered worm drives or anything like that) that would probably need a four (or more) axis machine. Do you use the trochoidal milling technique to get particularly large gear teeth (or grooves), or is there some sort of "feeds and speeds" benefit?

I'm terribly sorry to bombard you, but I've been focusing on building the machine rather than how it'll go once constructed. I guess I'll jump off that bridge when I come to it, but a little "heads up" might be helpful if you're willing. :~)

As always, take care and have fun!
Harmo.

[Kitwn]

Hi Kit,

As always, thanks for the response. Like Andy, I was going to say that the link doesn't work for me (perhaps because it includes the management interface?) However, while I'm here....

Nice to see that you helping your wife in these crazy times. My better half is involved with making soaps, so I've been making easy-to-release moulds, soap cutters, and various 3D printed textures to "stamp" into the cakes of soap. However, with our backyard/front yard/available space orchard, and berries everywhere, I seem to build more shelving for preserved harvests than anything else.

Regarding the CamBam, as an IT tech support guy, I feel like I need to understand. Did you mean that the memory running out is the bit that has delayed you by interrupting the cut? I can't imagine that the upgrade itself would take you long. I'd be intrigued to see just how complex a tool path would have to be to overwhelm a 32 bit system.

If there's a log on CamBam, would it be feasible to find out where the machine got up to in the G-code, and perhaps?continue on with the remainder? ( I'm completely new to CNC, so if the machine simply stopped, that might be an option. However, I am assuming that a memory issue will simply stop the machine. Is this what happens? Worst case... I assume many hobbyists would just start again with a new work piece. If so, I hope it wasn't too painful for you.

With the gears for your clock, are they the standard 2d gears? (no tapered worm drives or anything like that) that would probably need a four (or more) axis machine. Do you use the trochoidal milling technique to get particularly large gear teeth (or grooves), or is there some sort of "feeds and speeds" benefit?

I'm terribly sorry to bombard you, but I've been focusing on building the machine rather than how it'll go once constructed. I guess I'll jump off that bridge when I come to it, but a little "heads up" might be helpful if you're willing. :~)

As always, take care and have fun!
Harmo.

Sorry about the link, try the one at the end.

CamBam does the CAD/CAM side of things, drawing and G-code calculation rather than machine control which is handled here using LinuxCNC. The memory problem arose while it was trying to calculate the tool paths for several gears at once. I think it also has graphics problems as well as redrawing after scrolling or zooming takes forever if the toolpaths are visible. I've taken to dissabling each MOP (machining operation) in the cutting list after setting it up so that CB doesn't try to draw the toolpaths all the time. I shan't describe trochoidal paths here, There's a link to the plug-in which expalins it below. This is much the same as Fusion360's 'adaptive clearing' which you may read about. The advantage is that the tool engagement can be kept low which allows deep cuts with small tools. 19mm deep in hardwoods with a 3mm diameter tool for example. For me this helps prevent chipping of the gear teeth which happens with shallow cutting.

http://www.atelier-des-fougeres.fr/C...choPocket.html

The gears are convention wheels and pinions, though the posh versions have some profiling for visual effect. I use a rather fiendish bit of software called Gearotic for designing those. It does have more advanced options if I ever make a router to cut them.

Funny you mention the preseving...Having just moved to a more fruit-producing location my wife is getting stuck in. Our only productive tree at the moment is a peach but we've already had peach jam, peach chutney, peach cake and peach cobbler, with custard! The kitchen is currently full of donated tomatoes and empty jars awaiting processing today.

On the welding front: You have all the skills and equipment needed for a steel build. A welded frame is never accurate enough without further work of some sort even if you are the best welder in the ACT.

Kit