4″ Mayan in Wax
I use the Mayan calendar as my CNC test program. It is highly detailed and makes the stepper motors really earn their keep. In these photos I show where I have reduced the circle diameter to just under four inches. This is about as small as I can go with this design. I got it off center a skosh. That’s OK, it’s not a keeper. The test is not of the Taig mill but rather the tiny wax profile bit I bought from Bits & Bits.
The bit is 1/8″ in diameter half round with a 15 degree included angle. The end of the tip is 0.005″ It looks and feel like a very sharp needle. The RPM was 10600 (max for the stock CNC Taig) and the feed I had set for 30 IPM. With ramp up it seldom got to 30 IPM except for long paths.
The total run was just over four hours. The Taig and CNC controller took this run without a blink.
I use plain air to clear the wax chips but you can see they still liked to stick around. The problem could be the slow feeds because of the intricate details. I am going to try a faster more aggressive feed on the next Item. I am thinking of trying a small lithophane carved in wax.
The Toolmaker
I just watched an interesting video over on the Tormach Blog site, copied here. It is a simple little YouTube video talk about toolmakers by a man named Bishop “Bud” Wisecarver. He has done a series of these, a look back at his career as a machinist. I have viewed them all and this is the one where he really makes an interesting point about toolmaking. I found it interesting to explore what he has to say before this point. There is a link on the bottom of the viewer that will take you to the other chapters in his story.
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Toolmaker is an important title and one of which to be proud. Bud sheds a renewed light on what it really means. If you make useful things from raw materials, then you too are a tool maker.
A View on CAD, CAM, CNC Software Upgrades
The Vectric (software) company has just released version 3 of their Aspire CNC software. Nothing too earth shattering as far as major changes that I can see, but some very nice-to-have upgrades in performance and design ease. The update from version 2 is $400.00 USD. Hmmm… a lot?
A new outright full edition Aspire purchase is $1995.00 USD. It is Vectric’s highest priced do-it-all CNC package. So the $400 update cost doesn’t sound too bad. I also got to thinking that a single skilled programmer writing updates and improvements just for me would probably bill out at over $100 per hour and actually earn maybe $40 per hour ($80,000/yr) That is certainly very naïve thinking but don’t kill the message here. So at best $400 buys 10 hours of program changes, or only 4 hours at retail.
So is the upgrade worth it? You bet. I haven’t made the move but it will be coming.
At first look, Aspire and the other CNC packages offered by Vectric seem to be highly centered on CNC overhead routers and to a smaller extent, CNC mills. Many if not most of the projects shown on the web site as examples are executed in wood. That is far from the many real abilities of the software. Aspire is designed to take a block of any sort of machinable material and turn it into a 2D or 3D item of beauty or value. Wrapped 4th axis machining designs can also be executed.
I don’t think Aspire or Cut3D (another Vectric 3D package) can totally replace the function of my Rhinoceros Modeling and design tool which is used to design highly detailed fully multi sided objects such as full size cars, boats, motorcycles and even buildings. Rhino can also be used to design jewelry… Continue reading
CNC Gun Part
A local person here in Frisco asked if I could duplicate this part (the black one). I don’t usually like to take on outside projects as I have enough of my own. This part looked interesting. It is part of a tripod bracket for an expensive, but what the owner called a “toy” gun. Actually is is a very sophisticated collector item.
As can be seen in the photo the bracket had the tab broken off. It is a very nice injection molded aluminum casting but the crystallization left it vulnerable to breaking where it did.
I was going to make a duplicate by manual milling. That’s the rotary table setup in an earlier post. I changed my mind and decided to do it with CNC milling.
I had to first very carefully measure the part in every detail then make a 3D drawing in Rhinoceros (Rhino) You can see the screen capture and a couple of output pictures.
I converted the drawing to two G-Code files with RhinoCAD, one for top and one for bottom.
I did a test run in oak then made the one in aluminum. I used my Taig CNC mill running mist cooling. Overall size of the part is rather small, about 1.5″ x 1.5″ x 3/8″
I’m not setup for doing anodizing and I have never done any. I have studied the process and it can be done in the home shop. The new part really needs to be anodized like the original, but that is not my “thing” right now. That’s all I need is another skill to master. 🙂
Shars Preminum ER16 Collet Holder
I just received this R8 to ER16 premium collet holder from Shars Tool Company in St Charles, IL. It is brand new and rated at 0.0001″ runout at the face. What that means is that this collet adapter should be able to run at well over 10,000 RPM without problem.
When you spin that fast and faster, things like balancing the collet nut become necessary. You can see that has been done on this adapter. I will never get close to that rpm on the X3 mill but it is nice to know it is that good.
I have some projects that need machined with small end mills. The manual Taig mill with an ER16 spindle would be perfect. My Taig mill is set up as CNC and although it could be controlled manually, I like to use the X3 with the DRO for manual milling. Higher RPM would be nicer on the X3 for small bits, but I can live with 2000 RPM and slow feeds.
The adapter looks like is was made from stainless steel but it is nickel plated to avoid corrosion from cooling fluids.
Price range $50 – $60. On Ebay I bought at the lower price.