My new CNC and AFDS panel

[t1dUs]

WOW
Astonishing results!! Keep up the great work and keep us posted of your whole project

[Matt Olieman]

Amazing work Wendy, wonderful job. Thanks for the pics

[Joe Cygan]

Great work Wendy!

[Westozy]

That does it. Now I have to rebuild my MIP from scratch!!!
Seeing your results has just caused a major rethink for my B737!
Excellent work Wendy - Kudos to you!

Here is some of my own progress with the assistance of Darryl Hackett...


I fitted the old Matrox Parhelia video card from my first sim pc to the cnc's pc. I can now display the Mach 3 and VCarve Pro software at the same time which is pretty neat!


Here's the new lathe, installed and running, it's 38C (102F) in the workshop so it's too hot to have a play I'll just have to wait til midnight!!!


Gwyn

[Wendy]

Thanks all for your kind words. Sorry for you Gwyn that you have to redo your panels.

To get the engraving sharp I only cut 0.03 mm deep in 1 round, if that is not enough I'll do another round +0.01 mm and continue like this until all letters are crisp sharp. Sometimes it takes time but the result is very good.


Regards, Wendy

[wannabeaflyer]

Hi Wendy Just adding my Praise to the stuff you guys are doing, can i ask what size and type of cutters your using for your panels ..when it comes to speeds and feedrates do you have a look up chart of some sort or is it trial and error for want of a better phrase. during some of my recent tests i have found that my Router spins way too fast for some material ( MDF is great stuff but a bugger in terms of eating cutters and dust ) the bits you have made so far seem very precise so just wondered how you sorted those elements out . my prefered cad package is inventor ( i use it at work ) and can quickly draw up a 3D model which i then export as a DXF file to CUT2D that software ( Brilliant )then Spits out the CAM data to MACH3 and away i go, but sometime i mess up with the Feeds . Then have to change them manually whilst the machine is cutting . Thanks for the tip regarding Engraving Text will put that to good use Cheers Guys n Gals ,

[Wendy]

Hi Wannabeaflyer,

Concerning the cutters... I have the following bits used in this panel:
-2 mm endmil, with this one I have cut the panel and the holes. I used it also to cut the squares around the buttons. They are made separately and then glued into place.
-V-shaped (don't now how you call it) used to make the horizontal line and the vertical line between the buttons.
-0.2 mm engraving bit, for all the lettering

For engraving I use the lowest possible settings, so 1 for speed (yes it is slow) and 1 for feedrate. For the router, lowest possible tr/min.

For cutting I use settings between 5 and 10, depending on the type of material.

Hope this helps you.

Regards Wendy

[mondo50m]

Excellent work with the CNC machines. Would be nice to start some sort of sticky or thread where we can exchange g-code files with each other. Or even just set up a new category in the file library. I use Cut2d and Mach3 with my machine. Mine is a simple homebuilt using a Dremel 300 as a motor. Gets the job done. Working on a larger machine along with everything else.

Milt

[Westozy]

Excellent work with the CNC machines. Would be nice to start some sort of sticky or thread where we can exchange g-code files with each other. Or even just set up a new category in the file library. I use Cut2d and Mach3 with my machine. Mine is a simple homebuilt using a Dremel 300 as a motor. Gets the job done. Working on a larger machine along with everything else.

Milt

That's a great idea Milt, a CNC forum with Gcode file sharing, I'll talk to Matt about it!

Regards, Gwyn

[autocadplease]

It is a good idea in principal, but unless you have very similar machines with the same spindle, feeds, bits, offsets, etc G-Code is not that generic - it is actually quite specific for each job and machine. Exchanging DXF or vectorized files would be very helpful though.