hobby
The Hole Picture
I spent most of the day on Sunday getting the bulk of this project constructed. I’ll tell the hole story latter. For now lets say the project was really boring but I stayed with it. I took more pictures so there will be a thread to follow once I publish them. So for now many readers will recognise what this is for the rest of you be careful, it might be a set-up.
~ Dan’l
The “hole” job was finished last Saturday. See full story at The Hobbyist Machine Shop, first entry under Projects in the menu bar.
HB2 Ramblin’ Update
I have been spending some more time with my HB1 (Home Brew) engraving machine. I have been taking careful measurements of the movement of all the axis. In an earlier post I reported that there was a problem in the Z axis “dead-band”. As I have observed and measured yesterday, the backlash in the other two axis although not horrible are nothing to brag about either. This drives me to thinking about why I built the machine in the first place.
I was influenced by John Kleinbauer’s web site on building low cost CNC machines. I ordered and built his controller and bought a set of drawings. I was influenced by his concepts but not so much as to duplicate his designs. John is just a bit of a weird duck but he is sincere. Appearing public on the web is quite a challenge in time management. I believe the HB1 is every bit as accurate as John’s designs. I believe John has provided a path for a lot of folks to do more than as he calls it “spin motors”. His web site is a good place to check out low cost CNC.
That said, Having HB1 operational within a few hundred dollars budget is a great introduction to machine design and construction. It is a good operating machine but can not be used where 0.001″ accuracy is required. I won’t be carving jewelry designs, but that was never the intention. Simple wood carvings come out well.
The key to the new design for the HB2 is intention. Just what do I want the machine to be able to do for me? The wrong answer is “everything.” I have spent a lot of time deciding on “purpose”. I have invested in Vectric software as… Continue reading
More Fun With CNC
Another carving done with a V bit on the CNC machine. It looks like the very old newspaper pictures that were screened before being printed. It is actually a very similar process. The Vectric software scans the picture for light and dark areas and that in turn sets the depth of the carving. Everything is adjustable by the user (me) so it takes some work to make it look just right.
That is only the computer part. The board is a piece of red oak and that needs some prep before carving. I sanded and applied two coats of shellac and sanded again. The board looks horrible after carving, so it takes more sanding and paint filling to get what you see here. Then a clear finish coat over everything.
The point is that I didn’t just push “GO” and out popped this print. There is a lot of work involved. But it is also a lot of fun to have a unique finished product at the end.
Long Weekend
Thanks Presidents and TAC. I have an extra long weekend ahead. More time to pla… er, work in the shop. 🙂 I have a couple of mods to make to the old CNC power supply/controller and am considering hooking it up to the HB1 machine. I have some new Dremel sized router bits ordered but may pick up one more at Lowe’s if they don’t show up today. Then I can give the HB1 machine a workout this weekend.
The new PS/Controller won’t be ready for awhile and I am anxious to see the little HB1 in operation again with the new Dremel mount. I may even get motivated to add the limit switches. A dilemma many of us hobby machinist face. Is it more fun to constantly modify the tools or use them? ~ Dan’l
New Update in THMShop
I just posted an update to my Home-brew CNC machine in The Hobbyist’s Machine Shop. Go to the Site Tools menu and click on What’s New for a direct link. ~Dan’l