Not sure if I should start a new post since I’m building the same thing? But my other post kinda got off topic, and I sold those cabinets. SO. Here we are again, 5am on a Saturday morning… Been here since 3am working on some odds and ends, and checked my stock… Guess what? I have everything I need to go ahead and cut out the Dragon’s Lair. 2x MDF 3/4"… Check! 1x 3/4 Cabinet Grade Plywood… Check! Ryan’s Amazing CNC Machine… Check! Time… Check (ish)!
I didn’t document as much as I wanted on my previous thread, because that happened right about the same time as the pandemic happened, and I got off track so badly. This thread will serve to update as I build my own personal machine(s). Things I’ve learned along the way, things I’ve done differently, etc. All of that will be here!
So with that being said, let me tell you what I’ve learned… Just tonight alone… So, After quite a few successful cuts under my belt over the past 2.5 years, (and yes KCummins a crown too lol). So I didn’t wanna really admit this because I used to think I had a perfectly flat table, without having to surface the spoilboard. So I noticed in my past 2 cabinet builds, the pockets were shallow(er) on the right side than the left. I take ALOT of time, (maybe too much time) leveling the gantry (x axis on my machine) and I couldn’t figure it out, why it kept happening. Turns out, I wasn’t leveling it to the material, I was levelling it to the rails it rides on. As I realized tonight, and course corrected before I got started, my pockets are all the same depth now. So I’m guessing my rails are outta whack, or the stock is bowed. Who knows. Good to catch these things, I learn so much more every time I fire it up.
So this is getting long and I know y’all are expecting pictures. Here’s a couple. The machine is still running. It just finished all the pockets, and now it’s working on the profile cutout of the first side.
On a side note. I noticed someone had printed out a dust shoe that wrapped all the way around the 611 plate. I liked it, and printed one of my own. Only I did it just a tad differently. Would this work? I’m not sure how much torque the motors have on the z axis during a plunge, and these bristles are pretty stiff.
More pictures of these perfect pockets. I did a depth check on each one, with my calipers, and they’re all exactly 2.54mm deep. Which is exactly what I told it to be. Sorry ok?!! I’m happy I figured it out and now my confidence level is through the roof!
Well I think that will pretty much wrap it up for posting this morning. Although I do plan to cut this full sheet before I leave, I did post alot of this process on the other thread. So I’ll spare you all this part as much as possible. Probably not. lol
PS: Sorry for the blurry pictures, I accidentally set my phone to a lesser quality. I’ll do better in the future
The weight of the gantry always pushes down. So if it can lift all of that up, it can push at least twice that hard down. So I think it will push just fine.
If I was trying to worry, I would be more worried about the gantry tipping or twisting when moving in XY sith the bristles touching the bed. They may catch on an edge and tip the gantry to skip steps.
Harbor freight sells a wooden brush for a few dollars that you could get softer bristles from. But you would have to glue them on or something to attach them.
Awesome advice as always! I’ll ride by there on my way home. I’m cutting the last piece now, and I think that’s definitely it for me for today. I think the router needs a break haha It’s cut 1 full sheet out now.
My Ms Pacman didn’t have a backdoor. The entire time I’ve owned it, it’s been without a back door. That was, until today. Having a CNC machine is amazing
Oh nice! I can’t wait to see what you build! It will be the holy grail of all builds for sure
Those pockets definitely help place everything. I do it on the Dragon’s Lair because of the super weird and funky angles around the marquee area. I’m not confident enough in my measuring skills to get both sides exact own my own haha
Thanks! I have more pictures coming, I did run into an issue where I was cutting along nicely on the other side panel, and I tripped a breaker causing the router to dig into the piece and end buried into the material. So I gotta redo that… Forgot to change the plug back to it’s original place. That’s on me. lol But I did get the rest of the parts cut, all the plywood parts are done, and all the MDF parts, aside from the MDF that I messed up. It’s a 45 minute cut so I’m not worried. Just waiting on the rain to calm down so I can haul the MDF to the shop.
So I resumed this project Friday night. Since I work grave yard shift in the real world, I have begun working on my shop stuff during my regular work hours on the weekend as to not mess my schedule up, and to be honest, it’s cooler, and quieter. I’m literally the only one up here at night.
So, Things I’ve done since my last post.
I got the other side cut out, that messed up when I tripped a breaker. Again, that’s on me. Got all of the blocking placed on both sides, and cut the slot in the edges for the T-Molding. I also cleaned up all the places where I had tabs, sanded everything and began assembly.
And about 3.5 hours later… There she stands in all of her glory. This is the 3rd one of these I’ve cut out on the LR2. Repeatablilty is definitely there. And I don’t even worry about it malfunctioning at all during a cut any more because I know it’s very capable. If it does mess up, more times than not, it’s user error lol…
And, now I’m at that point where I hate more than going to the dentist. PAINTING. Anyone wanna come paint this thing for me? I’ll supply the beer. lol
PS - If you look to the left of the Dragon’s Lair, on top of that giant Prime box, those are the holiday deer I cut on the LR2 last year. But unfortunately I didn’t get them painted in time for the holidays. I’ll have a post on those soon as well, because my wife informed me, they’re going in the yard this year, or the Dragon’s Lair wasn’t coming home… So there’s that.
Oh Mississippi weather. Why do you have to be such a pain. Was going to paint this weekend. Decided I’d try my hand at my HVLP sprayer in hopes of making light work of this paint job. Got primer. Got Paint. Got Mineral Spirits, Acetone, and Lacquer Thinner. Mixing buckets, cleaning buckets, the entire sha-bang.
Humidity is 98% today.
Oh well, she’s ready to spray when this humidity is at least below 50%. Not alot to show, only a cleaner shop, and a masked off Dragon’s Lair cabinet sitting on plastic.
The reason I took that job on is because, well I have a Centipede board, monitor, and power supply, but no cabinet for it. I stripped them out of a full size cabinet years ago and the parts have all been shelved forever and 16.2 million days. I think I have everything BUT the cabinet, so of course I’ll be building 2 of these. If y’all would be interested in watching that build unfold, I’ll make a thread about it too. Just let me know.
Until then this thread is dead in the water until the humidity is ideal for painting. Any tips on using an HVLP sprayer?
HVLP - Watch out for runs. LOL. I never managed to get my system to spray perfectly without spills when the gun was tilted. I guess the curse of buying a cheap gun.
Give me good old Aerosol cans everytime. I can do a bad job from either.
I bought a cheapo gun too. Never used it, I think I bought it a year ago as a recommendation from another member on my first Dragon’s Lair build thread. I’m feeling more confident in the spraying part than the thinning part. But I feel like if I can get the paint thinned just right, I’ll have no problem doing a horrible job. LOL
Hmmm… So I tried my HVLP today. Not bad… Ish… But not great ish either. I think I need to spend a little more time working on the paint/air mixture or something. Or maybe I didn’t get the super thick kilz primer thin enough. I ran out of Mineral Spirits. Anyway, first coat done. I’ll sand it tomorrow and put on another coat of primer. For the most part it’s pretty smooth. I hit the couple of spots of orange peel with a foam roller then shot it again lightly in those areas. I have alot to learn about spraying it appears.
EDIT: One thing I really love tho, is that it took me 15 minutes to spray 1 coat of primer on. Last time I rolled one of these, it took about an hour per coat. I’m definitely sold on the time factor, and ease.
