I posted this on the Facebook group a couple days ago because I’ve noticed a LOT of new people over there and thought it would be nice here, too. Just a reminder (or maybe an idea for the new folks) that cncs are good at making stuff, but they’re ALSO good at making things that HELP make stuff. I’ve only recently begun to appreciate this.
My cncs have served as substitutes for tools i didn’t/don’t have (or crappy tools like my craftsman contractor cut-to-the-nearest-inch-and-hope-I-don’t-need-it-straight-or-square tablesaw). Anyone remember that powder coating carry I made with my saw compared to the paint shelf i made with the cnc? Lol. Now that I’m getting better tools, i use them more for simple things and the cnc for more complex things AND to make things that help me use other tools more efficiently.
Since i generally model everything before I make it just to understand how it will fit together (or to show someone how it will look before they commit to giving me money or to make sure we’re on the same page), it’s usually just a few extra lines and an extrude to make a piece that holds the parts. Simple parts are fast to cut.
I made a little jig (or is it fixture? I always forget which is which) that fits on my table saw sled (super glue and tape) and sets the angle for a part i had to cut about 50 times. It also sets the length at the same time and got me to <1/16" (which is way more accurate than i need, as long as they’re all the SAME).
While I was at it, I made a fixture (jig?) to help clamp the pieces in the assembled position so I could pin and glue them up 3 at a time (again, where the overlap and overall length were important.
I don’t recall if I saw this somewhere or just connected some things I saw here and on YouTube for myself. BUT… Christmas is upon us and it’s an opportunity to make a dozen of something for gifts or stocking stuffers…may as well make it easier!
For the machinists, they need the opposite reminder. Remember, you don’t have to just make extra tools, fixtures and bits to make it easier to make things.
There is a book series that tells you how to make an entire machine shop from scratch. Including making a forge, and building your own mill/lathe from parts you create in the forge.
I always had plans on making the lathe, I got as far as getting a foundry with an oil burner set up, back when Backyardmetalcasting was still the place to go. I think it became Alloy Avenue and I fell off the face of the internet for a bit.
Now I know what book series I should remember to order - BEFORE the great collapse. But knowing myself, I’ll postpone ordering it, until it’s too late…
I have the entire Gingery series - thought one day I might model the machines and print them “because I can” - The prints would make great patterns for the casting anyway. My son in law an I did cast the base plate many years ago, but the work that it would require to level it and make it nice sobered us up a bit.
Then I came completely to my senses and built a CNC machine that I don’t use about the same amount as I wouldn’t use the lathe!
I bought the series back when Amazon was a place to buy your books online. My buddy and I built the charcoal foundry (we upgraded the design to a stainless steel keg) and I used an old vacuum cleaner as a blower. Worked great but takes a little practice to get the process down to make nice parts. We were casting one time near dusk when I noticed that there was a blue flame shooting out the vent hole around 6 feet in the air! It was crazy and I never noticed it in full daylight.
We started working on the lathe parts but when we got to the bed my buddy got a job out of state so the lathe went on hold. Shortly after that I had my first child so it was archived. I need to revive it now that I have a 3D printer and CNC machine. It will make the pattern making soooo much easier.
You basically use hand tools in the beginning but as you progress through the series you are able to use the tools that you’ve built to make the next tool more easily and more accurate (basically Tony’s point ).
But Peter’s comment about the leveling is true. You paint the surface with purssian blue (machinist’s blue/layout fluid), scrap (with a wood chisel!) or file the high spots and repeat until you have an extremely flat surface. Lot of work! This is where I was thinking the epoxy granite (that I brought up in Jamie’s Outdoor build) could be used instead of the bed casting. Possibly simplify the process. But I’ll let you know if I ever get back to it.
I have an early “build your own CNC” book around here somewhere that proposed welding up frames, but since they would warp when you weld them, include a spot between the legs and the top where you could inject a filled epoxy to get dead flat, repeatable connections.
Seemed like a lot of work. Much happier with my Burly.
Super fascinating, it’s an entertaining idea that this is actually possible. Buuut, we are not even able to keep track with small things, like all the laundry in our household. Spending hundreds of hours making mechanical machines is strangly not very high up on the list…
I think there’s a stage everyone must go through where a tool or two made by hand is a bit of an affirmation that you can really do stuff. I’ve got mallets and reamers and a plane or two round here somewhere. Nowt that this thread is well and truly hijacked I might even photograph them for posterity.
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But I’ll let you know if I ever get back to it. 