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Guerrilla guide to CNC machining, mold making, and resin casting

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Re: Guerrilla guide to CNC machining, mold making, and resin casting

#31

Post by Sukotto »

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #4

Is there a co-operative movement in the maker movement - one where the mysterious "Well equipped machine shop" is a co-op or subscription approach - it strikes me as very similar to airplane ownership - very few pilots own a whole aeroplane, and why should every maker own all they need As an aside I have often felt this would be a fantastic Mythbusters franchise

The makerspace co-op near Victoria, BC, Canada is pretty good. They have a 3D printer, laser engraver, welding, woodworking, electronics, and a blacksmith shop (with casting furnace)

[1] http://www.makerspace.ca/wp/

Re: Guerrilla guide to CNC machining, mold making, and resin casting

#33

Post by lifeisstillgood »

simonw wrote: post #20
lifeisstillgood wrote: post #4

Is there a co-operative movement in the maker movement - one where the mysterious "Well equipped machine shop" is a co-op or subscription approach - it strikes me as very similar to airplane ownership - very few pilots own a whole aeroplane, and why should every maker own all they need As an aside I have often felt this would be a fantastic Mythbusters franchise

The London Hackspace is amazing - here's their list of tools: http://wiki.london.hackspace.org.uk/view/Equipment

That's fantastic - near some old stomping grounds of mine.

I shall check this out

Re: Guerrilla guide to CNC machining, mold making, and resin casting

#34

Post by juanre »

I became a mechanical engineer because I was fascinated by machine tools, but ended up writing software and devising printing algorithms for a living. This article is a treasure. Just the kind of field guide that people like me need to go back to the world of atoms and build stuff.

Re: Guerrilla guide to CNC machining, mold making, and resin casting

#35

Post by noonespecial »

gravitronic wrote: post #28

Dang. This is an amazing guide. This could have saved me so much time and money if I read it before buying a crappy mill and having to rebuild most of it from scratch.

On the other hand, I had a great time and learned lots by buying one of those cheap chinese "mini-mills" and slowly replacing all of the awful sand-cast pot metal parts with self-made machined steel parts.

It was kind of a rite of passage like assembling my own light sabre.

Re: Guerrilla guide to CNC machining, mold making, and resin casting

#36

Post by noonespecial »

Some people make you wonder if they're not like Shakespeare is rumored to have been; so phenomenally productive that they might be a myth, an amalgamation of the work of several brilliant people, piled up behind one convenient name.

Michal Zalewski is that kind of guy.

Re: Guerrilla guide to CNC machining, mold making, and resin casting

#37

Post by dkhenry »

I bought a used CNC mill off e-bay a while back and this is exactly the kind of resource I have been looking for to really get some use out of it. Still what we need is a really good open source CAM program. Most of them are proprietary, slow, or just useless on complex projects.

Re: Guerrilla guide to CNC machining, mold making, and resin casting

#38

Post by OldSchool »

There is -something- very appealing to engineers about fixing or making physical stuff as a hobby after spending your work life in a virtual world where words create things.

I always thought it was my working class roots showing through but I've managed to collect a fairly complete set of metalworking, woodworking, automotive, electrical and HVAC tools over the years. The excuse at the time? I could learn it and do it myself and keep the tools forever for what it costs to pay someone hourly once. (note: if you're in the midst of a one-in-a-lifetime cash cow, just hire out this stuff and kick the hobby down the road.)

I have however run across certain trades that require developed skill not just a knack for learning quickly - among them: drywall floating, window tinting, body and paint. Others are highly scalable big jobs that just aren't suited to a one-man attack.

There is an element of burnout in that most of this physical work is a lot harder than what we all do for work!

Re: Guerrilla guide to CNC machining, mold making, and resin casting

#39

Post by anotherbadlogin »

kdsudac wrote: post #2

Great guide! I've often thought about trying some DIY resin castings and this is by clearer and more thorough than anything else I've found online.

I considered resin for a recent project, but abandoned the idea after learning that resin breaks down after long-term exposure to UV light. Since I was making something that would be exposed to the sun daily, I ended up hand-shaping acrylic on a router instead.

FIY.

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