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Hobby CAD, CNC machining, and resin casting (2015)

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Re: Hobby CAD, CNC machining, and resin casting (2015)

#101

Post by syntaxing »

blackeyeblitzar wrote: post #47
syntaxing wrote: post #7

Former MechE for a decade and I owned personal CNC routers and on my 6th 3D printer. The biggest issue with CNC is the cost for consumables and accessories. Need a special bit? $$$ Need stock to cut? $$$ Want a nice ER11 or R2 collet set? $$$. A nice vise? $$$ Cut something wrong with a carbide bit? Shrapnel explosion. 3D printing has a bunch of limitations but is a way better machine for hobbyist. But I have been ey…

Have you tried metal 3D printing? Is that a thing for home hobbyists?

It is to a certain extent. I forgot the exact brand but they give you a spool that’s $100-200 for 500g but that includes an autoclave service. You can ship the part to them to fire up in the furnace. But realistically, it’s cheaper and easier to outsource this whole thing.

Re: Hobby CAD, CNC machining, and resin casting (2015)

#102

Post by hnisoss »

WillAdams wrote: post #88
hnisoss wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

awesome dump, thanks for sharing. solvespace is cool but until they iron out the chamfer/fillet situation and parametric input I ll have to continue using freecad..

If you want something lighter than FreeCAD I'd recommend trying Dune3D --- it's amazingly easy/nice to use.

I ll give it a shot, tnx

Re: Hobby CAD, CNC machining, and resin casting (2015)

#103

Post by sottol »

syntaxing wrote: post #98
jwr wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ATC works really well, better than I expected. Although without software support it is pretty much useless — I have no idea how people can recommend that I renumber my tools to 1-6 in Fusion CAM for every job. What I did was write a post-post-processor of sorts that takes the .nc output, watches for tool changes, and using the tool library information automatically assigns ATC slots, renumbers tools, and generate…

Kinda crazy, I know post processors cost money for CAM software like masterCAM but didn’t expect you needed to write one for a hobby CNC too. I know fusion360 had a post processing functionality but I think they moved that into the paid version. I miss the fusion360 of 5 years ago.

I think the Fusion posts are still available in the free version - afaik certain things like overriding the feed speed no longer work though.

And I only briefly looked into it, but most Fusion post-processors are just Javascript! (or at least based on it)

Re: Hobby CAD, CNC machining, and resin casting (2015)

#104

Post by eth0up »

WillAdams wrote: post #77
eth0up wrote: post #58

To the machinist/s here: For nearly a year, I've been contacting local machinists for a small[*] project which involves 1) an accurate cut on both ends of a 17" billet of T6061, 2) two crescent cuts, 3) up to 8 threaded holes, but probably, 4) a wee bit o end shaping. All the aesthetic contours, shaping and weight reduction I'd do manually - I hand machine bronze, aluminum and wood archer's thumb-rings, so can wangle…

Have you looked at Shapeways or sendcutsend or xometry or 100k Garages? That said, I have an especial interest in archery and multiple machines. Contact me at: https://community.carbide3d.com/u/willadams and we can at least work out doing a couple of prototypes.

Will,

I looked at your site and didn't see a contact option. I'm quite tired and am often worthless by evening, so I'll look again come morning.

Re: Hobby CAD, CNC machining, and resin casting (2015)

#105

Post by WillAdams »

eth0up wrote: post #104
WillAdams wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you looked at Shapeways or sendcutsend or xometry or 100k Garages? That said, I have an especial interest in archery and multiple machines. Contact me at: https://community.carbide3d.com/u/willadams and we can at least work out doing a couple of prototypes.

Will, I looked at your site and didn't see a contact option. I'm quite tired and am often worthless by evening, so I'll look again come morning.

My apologies, you would need to an account there which probably isn't worth it.

My e-mail address is my name here, on AOL.com --- just drop me a line.

Re: Hobby CAD, CNC machining, and resin casting (2015)

#106

Post by jwr »

sottol wrote: post #103
syntaxing wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kinda crazy, I know post processors cost money for CAM software like masterCAM but didn’t expect you needed to write one for a hobby CNC too. I know fusion360 had a post processing functionality but I think they moved that into the paid version. I miss the fusion360 of 5 years ago.

I think the Fusion posts are still available in the free version - afaik certain things like overriding the feed speed no longer work though. And I only briefly looked into it, but most Fusion post-processors are just Javascript! (or at least based on it)

I wrote "post-post-processor". My code comes after the Fusion post-processor.

Re: Hobby CAD, CNC machining, and resin casting (2015)

#107

Post by pineaux »

syntaxing wrote: post #18
Joel_Mckay wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A reasonable quality plasma-cutter CNC table offers the speed and low operational cost most fabricators can manage well. Having a CNC Router table in a non-industrial zoned area will not work for most people. Services like sendcutsend.com makes life so much easier... =3

I was in charge of one of these when I was way younger and they are awesome. Downside is that I don't want to house Argon and they're such a pain to maintain. Getting parts ordered is definitely magnitudes more efficient and significantly cheaper nowadays. You can get really nicely machined and anodized parts from China for the same cost as custom part shipping cost here in the states, it's crazy.

where do ypu order your parts?

Re: Hobby CAD, CNC machining, and resin casting (2015)

#108

Post by Joel_Mckay »

pineaux wrote: post #107
syntaxing wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was in charge of one of these when I was way younger and they are awesome. Downside is that I don't want to house Argon and they're such a pain to maintain. Getting parts ordered is definitely magnitudes more efficient and significantly cheaper nowadays. You can get really nicely machined and anodized parts from China for the same cost as custom part shipping cost here in the states, it's crazy.

where do ypu order your parts?

Probably alluding to JLPCB, but I have used xometry.com on occasion. =3

Re: Hobby CAD, CNC machining, and resin casting (2015)

#109

Post by Teknic_Servo »

DannyBee wrote: post #80
jhardy54 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds fun, have you written anything up about this project? I’ve been considering switching to ball screws and closed loop servos on my next project. I’d be especially curious for component recommendations for hobbyists, as it seems like ball screws and servos are often super expensive or suspiciously cheap.

I haven't written it up. For hobbyists, i think components are tricky. You have two basic options: 1. Linear motors - these are ideal (because it's a high acceleration, low intertia application. the extruders basically weigh nothing), but harder to find. Peopoly has a kit but my experience has not been the best there. They do seem to be coming down in price, but i haven't yet seen the equivalent of what teknic did wi…

Hi DannyBee - I’m a Teknic application engineer and I just came across your post. I appreciate your kind words about Teknic! I wanted to clarify that Teknic ClearPath motors are actually fully closed-loop servo motors with integrated servo drives, not stepper motors or hybrid steppers. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Teknic at 585-784-7454, or submit a contact request any time at https://teknic.com/contact/ and someone will get back to you shortly. Thanks!

Jim W. Teknic Servo Systems Engineer

Re: Hobby CAD, CNC machining, and resin casting (2015)

#110

Post by dekhn »

alnwlsn wrote: post #71
syntaxing wrote: post #7

Former MechE for a decade and I owned personal CNC routers and on my 6th 3D printer. The biggest issue with CNC is the cost for consumables and accessories. Need a special bit? $$$ Need stock to cut? $$$ Want a nice ER11 or R2 collet set? $$$. A nice vise? $$$ Cut something wrong with a carbide bit? Shrapnel explosion. 3D printing has a bunch of limitations but is a way better machine for hobbyist. But I have been ey…

Any time I see a guide like this, everyone will go on and on about the types of cutters, toolpaths, speeds & feeds, etc. but will always gloss over work holding. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Without reaction forces, the best cutter in the world is useless. A sizeable chunk of your tooling will just be clamps and indexing tools needed to align and secure the thing you're CNCing, while als…

I've switched from clamps to painters-tape-and-superglue and it's been great. Only for holding, not for indexing.
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