It’s assembled, it moves, and it cuts! Boy, I still have a lot to learn. A couple of obvious things that need to happen. I need a better system of clamping down parts. I really need to get smarter about the software. Just more homework overall. There’s still some cleanup to do with where the electronics are going to sit.
My son wanted to do a bear. It’s nothing fancy, but we were both thrilled to get it to happen. The foam board went so smoothly that I may jumped to wood a bit too soon. Most were dumb mistakes that are entirely on me. I had the bit too far in so there wasn’t enough Z, forgot to set home, not familiar enough with the software, etc.
Heat started building up on this towards the end so the bear got a little charred. I didn’t get chips so much as I did sawdust so that’s not great. The collar on the bit got a bit close too. I used the impatient settings here:https://docs.v1engineering.com/tools/milling-basics/
I welcome and tips or advice going forward. Excited to see what else I can create now!
I’ve been thinking about a clamping system for 1.5 years now. Honestly, I don’t know if I’ll ever get one. What I do is that I have a spoilboard that I can swap when it’s worn out. It’s easy to flatten, and I can screw things down anywhere I like. If I need to attach more fragile/thin/soft materials, I use the painters tape and super glue method, which is super easy and gets great results in terms of reliable and even z height.
Haha, I know that. I have printed several clamps and now cut out wooden clamps that are pretty low profile. Designed an additional part but not cut it yet. I really don’t want to screw down the pieces though it would be easiest.
Just curious, what did you use for your spoilboard? Did you just screw that down to the table? That’s essentially what I did with the bear, but the spoilboard is was a scrap piece of plywood. Not sure it was really that level. It’s a good suggestion and probably easier for the short term.
I used a piece of 16mm MDF, screwed down to the table that makes up the MPCNC-base. The MDF is really awful to mill, the dust clings to everything, but it’s totally uniform and stable. I drilled some countersink holes, so that the screws are deep enough in the board, and doesn’t get in the way when I mill it flat. Flattening it ensures that the z height is relatively even. When flattening, I’d recommend using the widest bit possible, that you’ve got.
When using MDF, just make sure to always pre-drill when you screw things down, the MDF tends to make a “crater” around the screw hole, if you don’t drill beforehand.
I use blue tape as release around the workpiece also spoilboard to keep the hot glue around the outside edges to hold down the workpiece and have very good luck
