Ryan, I didn’t see those wiring harnesses yet. See, you’re always updating to better things. Thanks for the info…and the link.
How thick of aluminum do you think you can cut holes out of with the DW660? You think 1/2" is too much? I know that size of CNC matters as well. Still trying to decide how big to make mine.
If a thread get started on that, I will probably jump in too. I am just playing around with the one in the shop at school guessing feed rates and noting how well they work. I found a few documents that have example feed rates that have been the best of my tests so far. I also need to play with the settings on the plasma cutter a little bit too.
Milling these would definitely be the way to go without a waterjet, but milling is slower and more expensive. If I drag this project on long enough to last until I get back to work this summer I might use these as one of my pieces for learning HSMworks. Low volume part that would be cheap enough for me to order my own stock for.
The first few videos I put up were 3D milling aluminum about 1/2" deep. That was before the rigid middle Z and with the weak flex shaft grinder. Should be fine now, just use shallow passes.
How deep of a pass have you managed to do? Shallow passes allow for a much faster feed rate but only put wear on the bottom section of the endmill leaving a lot of life left in the tool above the depth of your passes but quickly wearing down the lower parts making the endmill essentially useless because you can’t cut using the lower area.
Whole new ballgame now for just the reason you stated.
That’s Awesome!
I would not have thought of that, but I am also not in school for machining. Looking forward to finishing my machine and playing around with this. I would like to use HSM inside of inventor or solidworks, but I think that video just convinced me to cave and buy ESTLCAM. Plus there is already so much documentation on the forum about it.
OK Im in. pcflyer has been pushing me to make one of these for about 6 months now, but I couldnt see a reason for me to have one since I already have a cnc mill. Then last week it hit me - I need a plasma table. So parts are printing and I already ordered the parts kit.
On another note. I may be able to assist with the aluminum motor mounts. I have two options for cutting them. We can mill them in my shop or I can have a friend of mine laser cut them at his shop. What grade and thickness of aluminum are you looking to use? I know you used .085 for yours but you also said you wanted them a bit thicker.
That would be cool, I don’t think grade matters too much for this part so cheap is better, but whatever the next thickness up is would be fine. The last ones worked great, but a little more would be perfect. I have been getting quotes for full sheet quantities, and the prices are all over the place.
I just got the wiring harnesses in so now I don’t need the solderless stuff. Now I am very interested in getting these made and just including them in the kits. I found another shop locally to try and get a quote from, or I was just going to build a smaller dedicated mill for these. I can get strips so I could just feed them in probably 3-4 in a line and keep the mill small and rigid and cut much faster than the last ones.
That would be pretty cool. A small but super rigid MPCNC for cutting these out. Not even close to as fast as a waterjet, but costs would be much much lower. If you do that, please post pictures/videos to show what a small machine can do.
Sounds like a valid excuse I mean reason to build a 3rd machine…
Another reason I am taking the leap into Fusion 360 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N5VaTchhys
And it is free…
Fusion 360 is cool, but I have student versions of Inventor Pro HSM and Solidworks with HSMexpress installed on my main laptop. I love being a student, I just wish the student license for solidworks for a year wasn’t $150. I got it for free through a design RSO that I do some 3d printing for.
There isn’t actually anything that keeps anyone from downloading a student version of Inventor pro but you can not use it to make money and it may embed something in the files that says, “Student Version” or “Not for professional use”. I wish they had a personal use license but I think that is what they are trying to do with fusion 360.