B737 MIP panels

[Westozy]

Hi all,
I have just completed my first two sets of backlight panels for the 737 MIP, they have turned out great and the text lights up really well. My CNC machine had a problem with losing steps and it wrecked a few panels before my mate Denham fixed it for me. I had a faulty parallel port on the PC and the addition of an add on PCI parallel port chased the gremlins away, the engraving is really good now. Denham is the Director of Science and Exhibits at www.scitech.org (http://www.scitech.org) here in Perth and we will probably join forces for a few other CNC 'projects', we may be building a larger CNC machine.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/560/B737-MIP-009.gif


Gwyn

[weshollett]

Fantastic work Gwyn !!!

[davek]

As usual Gwyn, great work. Picture doesnt do it justice though, cant quite see all the detail.

[Westozy]

Hi all, I'll get some close up shots of the panels later on. Here's something else I made this week....

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/560/B737-MIP-011.gif
http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/560/B737-MIP-012.gif

Gwyn

[Buddym]

Hi Gwyn,

Awesome work there pal! I know you get this a lot, but could you describe the material, paint, and engraving bits used to produce these? If the same were used here as on the previous pics you posted then just let me know that, no need repeating yourself!

I have been making some decent progress with ny CNC machine as well, I hope to get some results worth showing off soon!

Thanks,

Buddy

[riche543]

Hey Gwyn ,
Those panels are looking great.. I have a question for you regarding setting the depth for when you are engraving.. Now could you tell me how you get the exact same depth for engraving after tool change etc etc. as im having to do mine by eye , IE: I bring the z axis down until it just basically tickles the paint surface 9 times out of 10 this works ok, just wundering if you had a diffrent way of doing it. I know you can get mill ends with a depth ring on them but my guess is that they would be ok for cutting but not engraving as a 1/4 of a mm can make all the diffrence.. Cheers

Riche..

[Westozy]

Hi guys and thanks for the comments!
When bringing the tool down to the surface of the material, put some paper under the tool and nudge the tool down until it grips the paper then set the Z axis to zero. I use this method always for all cutting tools. For these backlight panels I am using 4.5mm opal acrylic painted with epoxy enamel spray paint and I am using a 3mm - 25 degree - 0.5mm tip. I engrave to a depth of 0.15mm, 0.1mm would probably be enough actually.I buy my cutters from here - http://www.virtual-village.com.au/cnc-bits they are quite cheap!

Iv'e tried to upload more pics this morning without success, there appears to be a glitch with the uploading.

Cheers, Gwyn

[Westozy]

Success with the picture uploads! Here's a few more with close ups for Dave!!!

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/560/B737MIP-004.gif
http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/560/B737MIP-003.gif
http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/560/B737MIP-001.gif
http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/560/B737MIP-002.gif

Gwyn

[maliga00]

Excelent!!!, Would you tell us about de process ?, software used, fonts, etc, etc, etc,
thanks in advance
Alberto

[Westozy]

Excelent!!!, Would you tell us about de process ?, software used, fonts, etc, etc, etc,
thanks in advance
Alberto

Hi Alberto, I'll put together a tutorial with photos and post it to the site soon!

Gwyn

[maliga00]

Thanks Gwyn!!!. I wait...:D