Finally cut something that was a reason i decided to get a cnc in the first place. This is right off the machine, didnt remove the tabs but it all snapped right into place nicely they are just hand assembled there no glue or anything
Work holding is proving to be a little irritating.
Roman, what clearances are you using for dadoes? I made mine pretty much exact size on this new project im working on. Lets say your workpiece mdf is 0.709" thick i cut the dadoes at 0.712-0.715. Is this cutting it too close?
Rcarpenter R-Carpenter said: It's not difficult but takes a bit of getting use to.
Indexing and holding the work is also something to be considered as learning curve. All tho, you have woodworking skills already so that makes practical CNC stage a lot easier. Instead of outsourcing 3D modeling to overseas my recommendation would be to hire a tutor if at all possible locally. College kids are great. They charge little and save a lot of time. Assistant teachers may also look for a part time gig, tutoring. Mosaic would be 2D work which is fairly simple. You can even go so far as to import a JPG in to the software and draw over it.
I oversize by 0.05"
It depends on the software and how you run the bit (conventional or climb) The deflection will be different.
Does anyone have experience with doing dog-bone filets that can interlock? I have to run a few paulk style work benches and I wanted to try those instead of dadoes they seem like they would interlock well and stay true. Just wanted to see if anyone used them and if they work well or not.
I've done it a couple of times. If the fit is tight you may want to plan on gluing on the same day. Drastic humidity change will affect the shape and they may not fit.
Nice! Good amount cheaper than my onsruds. Ill give them a shot once my current bit stock depletes. I bought a few backups incase one breaks during a job i can just swap it and not order or have to go buy from a store.
Cutting some signage! Got a job for a smaller custom paulk bench too. Should cut it next week. I might make one myseof too. Machine time is kind of long tho. Lots of holes
Yes its been good. The sign says "fucker in charge of you fucking fucks" so far ive been making $40-90 each and i dont have to finish most of them my neighbor does. He does alot of tables, built ins and shelf type stuff. He started offering custom engraving on his products works well for both of us. He gets to stand out more for offering more custom stuff and I get a flat fee (dont know what he charges) and hes been cutting the wood to size and finishing it.
Id need to sell 200 at 50 bucks to break even but its doable. Im working on a few smaller house signs for our neighborhood none of our detached garages in the alleys have numbers so it could potentially add up to alot of signs (many being the exact same aside from the numbers).
You can buy a much less capable machine and make these signs though. I plan tk do some kitchen cabinets and things in my house so ill probably count that as "savings" when that happens.
That is great. But the less capable machines can only do signs, not precise cabinets! Great you would be able to break even. I am usually a sinkhole... Cannot market or charge anything for anything!
I think the custom aspect allows people to part with money a little easier. Like i can do whatever they like and want. Alot of people buy things that are close to what they want but always want a little change so i think its a nice little niche to make some side money. Its actually alot mlre fjn for me to design and do the signs. Its more artistic and doesnt need alot of precision or making 100 of the same thing.
Ok, let's play a little game in a way of estimating the job. I am loaded with work so this isn't for real. How many of these would you like, Bryan?
No clue......I was going to throw out some feelers in my neighborhood to see if I could get some work for Mike. TBH I know nothing about the modeling, process, time, etc. I can't even make a square box.
I just made a 3.5" x 12.5" desk plaque with feet for Lowell, double side engraved. Shipping was $13.60. So for future projects I definitely need to go grab a bunch of boxes from usps and size projects according to box size so i can estimate shipping. Probably spent 40-50 minutes on the design and approximately 20 minutes cutting it. Plus 1 bit change. I sent pics during the process. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing. I think its good the customer knows your working on it and sees the time it takes but i also inform or any mistakes and verify i correct them before sending it. Finishing approx 1.5 hours. Hand painted it. That's super time consuming so im going to have to by a tiny detail airbrush or something.
If your batching out a ton of the same sign its alot less work. Or if i can use a template and just change the text. The text is kind if annoying to work with. When you change fonts it changes the size and width. Plus you have to go in an manually adjust all the text spacing inbetween each letter. Also need to make sure you dont have any vectors that are open.
I was messing around today making some terminal cups. I bought some terminals that arent long enough for 3/4" material. I had some dead space in a panel so i made a cup that mounts on the back recessed 1/4" lock it in place and you can miter or roundover the terminal cup and the inside is recessed 1/2 and i cut a few 3/8" to see if that will work. The last picture is the cup installed no edge treatment. This way i can use 2 or 4 terminals or the nuetrik ones as well.
Its been awhile since ive posted any updates. Ive been using the machine alot and trying to come up with a more efficient shop. Trying to open up some floor space or limit unnecessary items. I have a pc cart for my cnc that works but its not ideal. Im going to need to put my table saw and outfeed table close to where it sits now (gotta cut the outfeed table/router table combo still). I bought a wall mount laptop and monitor stand. I will mount my pc above this on the wall above it or below it i havent decided yet. I added a network drop and cable line, i added 2 more breakers to my sub panel, mounted a board on the wall to accommodate the wall mount stuff and now i can run other tools while my cnc is going. So it helped alot.
I got most of the 3 flat packs for my next builds mostly assembled and i tried a few different techniques for dadoes and locations. One major problem that i didnt anticipate was the different sizes of mdf. I bought 7 4x8 sheets of mdf a few jobs i had and my personal stuff and the difference in thickness was 0.700" to 0.760" this caused me alot if headaches and rework. (Mainly just needed to make the individual panels that were messed up and carve run the modified file again) not the end of the world but super super annoying.
Made a drawer to fit right below cnc bed for all my bits and clamps and router stuff. Also wired up tbe pc and rerouted all my cables to the new wall mount location. Took significantly more time than anticipated.
Made a little something for my favorite vender. Mark and Chad have helped me i this hobby over the years. Shipped me stuff fast last minute, shared alot of knowledge and always been very nice to my dad I.
Ended up making 3 signs but forgot to snagg completely finished pictures before shipping them. It was a surprise for them and they got delivered today so its safe to share now. Poplar is hard to work with when painting.
@R-Carpenter ; as far as upgrades go which order would you deem most valuable? Current setup: Hitachi m12c 2-1/4 hp 4x4 cut area Nema 23 (cncrp says max 250ipm cut and max 400ipm rapids) Ive never cut over 200ipm and set my rapids to 250 for now, i usually it 100ipm-150ipm for 1/4" bits. I dont often cut full 4x4 sheets so rapids doesnt save time.
So the upgrade paths are nema 34s, 2.2kw spindle or extend to 4x8 unit. It would be nice to cut faster /deeper but im not certain if i am babying my machine. Im leaning toward the chinese spindle route as its like 1/4-1/3 the price of cncrp kit. I will email them and ask if i ca uograde to nema 34s from my 23s easily.
Its gonna start getting nice soon and i have a bunch of paintball gear to sell which should greatly help getting atleast one of these upgrades.
Spindle. I would go bigger if CNCRP would offer it. (Unfortunately, weight and z axis would have to be modified for heavier unit.) Spindle will give you a lot more control options in the speed department. CNCRP have nice controller for their spindle too. 4x8 is nice but if you don't have the work for 4x8, it can wait.
Ok, yeh 1700 spindle, plus the mount $80, plus another $100 for the other sized collets and shipping. Its probably about 1700 to extend to a 4x8 from a 4x4 with the leg kit and shipping.
I was thinking that my router was the weak link here. Although i haven't bogged it down at this point i was considering that i couldn't go fast enough bog it down with nema 23s. If i want to get faster cut speed and deeper pass depth go expedite jobs i'm gonna have to bite the bullet.
My tax return was absolute shit this year since Illinois increase the taxes mid year we got nothing back from the state. I gotta get a few more decent sized jobs and it will help immensely. I got a bunch of personal projects i need to do first so ive been holding off still on advertising.
Comments
Finally cut something that was a reason i decided to get a cnc in the first place. This is right off the machine, didnt remove the tabs but it all snapped right into place nicely they are just hand assembled there no glue or anything
This is the company I've been buying bits from lately. Nice quality and the price is good. US made.
Not as good as Onsrud but better than CMT.
Do you think the signage will make a significant dent in the price of admission?
Id need to sell 200 at 50 bucks to break even but its doable. Im working on a few smaller house signs for our neighborhood none of our detached garages in the alleys have numbers so it could potentially add up to alot of signs (many being the exact same aside from the numbers).
You can buy a much less capable machine and make these signs though. I plan tk do some kitchen cabinets and things in my house so ill probably count that as "savings" when that happens.
I am loaded with work so this isn't for real.
How many of these would you like, Bryan?
If your batching out a ton of the same sign its alot less work. Or if i can use a template and just change the text. The text is kind if annoying to work with. When you change fonts it changes the size and width. Plus you have to go in an manually adjust all the text spacing inbetween each letter. Also need to make sure you dont have any vectors that are open.
I got most of the 3 flat packs for my next builds mostly assembled and i tried a few different techniques for dadoes and locations. One major problem that i didnt anticipate was the different sizes of mdf. I bought 7 4x8 sheets of mdf a few jobs i had and my personal stuff and the difference in thickness was 0.700" to 0.760" this caused me alot if headaches and rework. (Mainly just needed to make the individual panels that were messed up and carve run the modified file again) not the end of the world but super super annoying.
Made a drawer to fit right below cnc bed for all my bits and clamps and router stuff. Also wired up tbe pc and rerouted all my cables to the new wall mount location. Took significantly more time than anticipated.
Ended up making 3 signs but forgot to snagg completely finished pictures before shipping them. It was a surprise for them and they got delivered today so its safe to share now. Poplar is hard to work with when painting.
Current setup:
Hitachi m12c 2-1/4 hp
4x4 cut area
Nema 23 (cncrp says max 250ipm cut and max 400ipm rapids)
Ive never cut over 200ipm and set my rapids to 250 for now, i usually it 100ipm-150ipm for 1/4" bits. I dont often cut full 4x4 sheets so rapids doesnt save time.
So the upgrade paths are nema 34s, 2.2kw spindle or extend to 4x8 unit. It would be nice to cut faster /deeper but im not certain if i am babying my machine. Im leaning toward the chinese spindle route as its like 1/4-1/3 the price of cncrp kit. I will email them and ask if i ca uograde to nema 34s from my 23s easily.
Its gonna start getting nice soon and i have a bunch of paintball gear to sell which should greatly help getting atleast one of these upgrades.
I would go bigger if CNCRP would offer it. (Unfortunately, weight and z axis would have to be modified for heavier unit.)
Spindle will give you a lot more control options in the speed department.
CNCRP have nice controller for their spindle too.
4x8 is nice but if you don't have the work for 4x8, it can wait.
I was thinking that my router was the weak link here. Although i haven't bogged it down at this point i was considering that i couldn't go fast enough bog it down with nema 23s. If i want to get faster cut speed and deeper pass depth go expedite jobs i'm gonna have to bite the bullet.
My tax return was absolute shit this year since Illinois increase the taxes mid year we got nothing back from the state. I gotta get a few more decent sized jobs and it will help immensely. I got a bunch of personal projects i need to do first so ive been holding off still on advertising.