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

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31–40 of 111 posts

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

#31
post #14

It’s hard for me to believe that using a CNC to mill a model for resin casting works better than 3D printing it and casting it. I’d expect that with 3D printing you can even print the spruce and risers.

It depends on the accuracy you are trying to achieve, and with what technology. If you mean FDM, it's absolutely true. If you mean SLA/MSLA these days, i think you could get there.

On the first - i have an entirely ballscrew + linear rails driven FDM printer with closed loop servos and proper absolute encoders - I got bored and do lots of CNC retrofits/etc, so had lots of parts around. Think of it as insane version of the Pantheon HS30, if you didn't care at all about costs or practicality.

It can position, at speed (IE 300mm/s+), and repeat, the nozzle placement to within 0.0005 inches on all axes, easy.

But even with input shaping/etc, you will not get a better surface finish than CNC, and definitely not one good enough for casting.

Filaments are just too finicky, even with really really good hotends, sensors everywhere to monitor response and optimize, etc.

Now, i did this for giggles, and yeah, i never get misplaced layers, my parts are consistent, etc.

But 0.4mm is still a pretty big feature size, and that's the minimum if i don't want prints to take until the heat death of the sun.

So I could still machine the same thing on my metal mill and achieve castable surface finish, etc, in much less time and effort.

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

#32

Previous discussions: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41467268 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27645605 This was a resource which was mentioned on the Shapeoko wiki --- while it's off-line, it's still on the Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20211127090321/https://wiki.shap... Since then, some of those pages have been made available on Reddit: https://old.reddit.com/r/hobbycnc/wiki/index https://…

"GatorCAM for CNC"

Instructions to download: https://youtu.be/hqyPzCKGUQc?si=VJ0KRhQOl_-d7Bmm

Download here: https://sites.google.com/view/gatorcam/home

Very user friendly. Tab support, v-bit, ATC, sorts toolpaths for faster carving.

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

#33
post #5

Shameless plug if anyone is interested - I'm working on a $600-ish open-source, reasonably capable, but small and somewhat "tidy" hobby CNC machine with BOM cost around $600 that requires some DIYing. It's meant to be an alternative to the Desktop CNCs like Nomad, Carvera, Bantam, ... moreso than a PCNC or other proper entry-level CNC. The ultimate goal is to make it hobbyist-friendly, capable of easily cutting alumi…

I uploaded a quick video of it cutting some alu recently if anyone's interested:

https://youtube.com/shorts/XUsj06iMbb0

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

#35
Has anyone here tried using CNC machines for gunsmithing as a hobbyist? Is that even feasible? What about 3-D printing metals instead of plastic? To be clear, I know little about either firearms or metal working, but it seems like it would be an interesting engineering challenge for a hobbyist.

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

#36
post #5

Shameless plug if anyone is interested - I'm working on a $600-ish open-source, reasonably capable, but small and somewhat "tidy" hobby CNC machine with BOM cost around $600 that requires some DIYing. It's meant to be an alternative to the Desktop CNCs like Nomad, Carvera, Bantam, ... moreso than a PCNC or other proper entry-level CNC. The ultimate goal is to make it hobbyist-friendly, capable of easily cutting alumi…

Fully enclosed with a chip vac is good. Chips all over the place is no fun. Especially with coolant.

Don't expect people to precision-cut wood for the frame. The Liteplacer people tried that for their pick and place machine, and most people never got a working machine. If it needs plates with holes in them, make them in bulk and sell them. Waterjets are good for that. The holes will be where they are supposed to be.

(The Liteplacer was a really good idea - a pick and place machine for assembling prototype PC boards. Camera controlled, with the input parts in partitioned trays rather than reels, it was slow but did the job precisely. The PixiePlacer seems to be the next generation of this. But, as with the Liteplacer, you can't just order the metal parts. You have to make them or have them made. There are commercial machines, of course, but they're for production, feed parts from reels, and are more expensive.)

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

#37
post #14

It’s hard for me to believe that using a CNC to mill a model for resin casting works better than 3D printing it and casting it. I’d expect that with 3D printing you can even print the spruce and risers.

It depends on the accuracy you are trying to achieve, and with what technology. If you mean FDM, it's absolutely true. If you mean SLA/MSLA these days, i think you could get there. On the first - i have an entirely ballscrew + linear rails driven FDM printer with closed loop servos and proper absolute encoders - I got bored and do lots of CNC retrofits/etc, so had lots of parts around. Think of it as insane version o…

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.

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

#38
post #36
post #5

Shameless plug if anyone is interested - I'm working on a $600-ish open-source, reasonably capable, but small and somewhat "tidy" hobby CNC machine with BOM cost around $600 that requires some DIYing. It's meant to be an alternative to the Desktop CNCs like Nomad, Carvera, Bantam, ... moreso than a PCNC or other proper entry-level CNC. The ultimate goal is to make it hobbyist-friendly, capable of easily cutting alumi…

Fully enclosed with a chip vac is good. Chips all over the place is no fun. Especially with coolant. Don't expect people to precision-cut wood for the frame. The Liteplacer people tried that for their pick and place machine, and most people never got a working machine. If it needs plates with holes in them, make them in bulk and sell them. Waterjets are good for that. The holes will be where they are supposed to be.…

What about the lumen from opulo?

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

#39
post #5

Shameless plug if anyone is interested - I'm working on a $600-ish open-source, reasonably capable, but small and somewhat "tidy" hobby CNC machine with BOM cost around $600 that requires some DIYing. It's meant to be an alternative to the Desktop CNCs like Nomad, Carvera, Bantam, ... moreso than a PCNC or other proper entry-level CNC. The ultimate goal is to make it hobbyist-friendly, capable of easily cutting alumi…

This would be a lot more interesting if it could cut steel and titanium. I guess that is more difficult. Added: a dumb question, if the main cutting device is a router with a spinning bit, how do you cut angles? One thing I'd like to make is a 4mm hexagonal hole in a piece of steel, to turn little hex drive screwdriver bits and the like. Is it even possible to make that with a mill, or do you need a different machine…

Steel is sooooooooooooo much harder than al, it’s not even in the same ballpark. Aluminum is about as hard to cut as wood. For non round holes, you are looking at approximations or broaching. Look up manual hex broaching

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

#40
post #5

Shameless plug if anyone is interested - I'm working on a $600-ish open-source, reasonably capable, but small and somewhat "tidy" hobby CNC machine with BOM cost around $600 that requires some DIYing. It's meant to be an alternative to the Desktop CNCs like Nomad, Carvera, Bantam, ... moreso than a PCNC or other proper entry-level CNC. The ultimate goal is to make it hobbyist-friendly, capable of easily cutting alumi…

This would be a lot more interesting if it could cut steel and titanium. I guess that is more difficult. Added: a dumb question, if the main cutting device is a router with a spinning bit, how do you cut angles? One thing I'd like to make is a 4mm hexagonal hole in a piece of steel, to turn little hex drive screwdriver bits and the like. Is it even possible to make that with a mill, or do you need a different machine…

That's usually done with something called a rotary broach.[1] This is a clever trick. You first make a round hole. The rotary broach is a hex-shaped cutting tool. Both workpiece and tool are clamped in a lathe. But the center of the tool is slightly offset from the rotational center of the workpiece. Both spin, but the eccentricity makes it cut a hexagonal hole. Here's the process.[1]

A milling machine can cut a hexagonal hole, but the inside radius at each corner cannot be smaller than the radius of the cutter. A 4mm hex hole would require a tiny cutter to do a good job. Here's that process for a larger hole.[2]

If the hole goes all the way through, just get a hexagonal punch. Might need to drill a round hole first.

Or just buy a 4mm socket with a T-handle. Cost US$4.99.[3]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AYEFjbGaL4

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOqSIRuBgCY

[3] https://www.amainhobbies.com/rc4wd-metric-hex-twrench-tool-4...

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