For projects where ordering parts is a necessity (like from HobbyKing), I should keep track of why I ordered each part and what its intended use will be.
I guess this should apply to most other projects. Keep track of progress, and just generally keep a log.
I notices that when milling a board who’s NC code was generated by Copper CAM, there is an offset between the drilled holes and the etching of the tracks.
Once I drill the holes, I’ll enter an offset of X-1 and then zero Mach3. That shifts the subsequent steps (etching, cutout) by 1mm to the left.
On closer examination, 1mm may be too much. I will try 0.8mm on the next board to see how it turns out.
UPDATE:
It turns out that my mill is not perfectly perpendicular to the board. The error comes out of the fact that the end of the tool for the engraver mill and the drill is much different and when a small rotation is added to the mill head a linear difference is observed.
I adjusted the head rotation and now both the milled and drill points line up perfectly.
Needing to do some text in CATIA, I came up with this:
http://www.engineering.com/CATIACommunity/CATIAForum/view/topic/postid/91/forumid/25/tpage/1.aspx
Unfortunately there is no straight forward way to do text withing the part modeler directly. Oh well, but this got the job done.
In designing some components I was interested to figure out what the limitations were of the printer, and figure out how it behaves when the printed part deviates from the cad model.
My first concern was how thin a wall the printer could print at different slice thicknesses, so I made a test part that integrated short pieces of different thickness wall sections. Read more…
I’ve had 3D printing on the brain for the past few weeks for some reason. I’ve been thinking about putting together a kit 3d printer to get started. I was thinking how I would like a relatively large work area (not the small limited 6″ or 8″ cubed that a lot of the cheaper printers provide.
Then last evening it came to me. The light bulb came on.
Use the milling machine as the printer! Just get a print head, and control it from the existing software (Mach3). The work area is huge, and the cost should be quite reasonable since I only need the extruding head. Between a good quality plastruder, and a temperature control board, it should be about $250 ($170 for the plastruder, stepper motor driver and $60 or so for the temp control board)
Feed speeds of a makerbot are around 40mm/s (2400mm/min). Currently I can do about 1000mm/min on my milling machine (which is 1/2 of the makerbot speeds) but with a ballscrew upgrade I should be able to do about 5000mm/min feed speeds (83mm/sec).
I have read about some kit 3D printers (like the Ultimaker) that can do 200-300 mm/sec feeds (12,000-18,000mm/min). I know my mill will never go that fast.
Mach3 as 3dprinter software (here)
Good info on whats required in order to use Mach3 as the river software (here)
I’ve been spending some time thinking about a method to enclose my CNC machine.
There are lots of ideas… (pictures). (another link) (enclosure build log 01)
One key thing is that I want easy access to the CNC table so I can easily add heavy items like vices, rotary tables, etc. And the encluse needs to be somewhat modular so that I can take parts of it off in case I want to work on/service the cnc machine.
The three sides (left, right and back) will be plywood construction. That part was easy.
The chip/coolant tray was the second hardest part to figure out, but I think I have a design for that.
Thirdly is the front door to the enclosure. Since I have walls on the left and right side, the width is set. My initial thought was to make side-to-side sliding doors using full extension kitchen drawer slides. Depending on how large I wanted the opening to be, I could use either one sliding pane (per side) or two nested panes (per side) to allow more of an opening. For a door system that uses two nested doors per side, I would need 4 pairs of slides. Each pane needs 2 slides; one for a bottom track, and one for a top track.
But then I came across these Over The Top Slides. I can make the door as wide as I want, and flip it up and push it over the top in one motion. Or if one door gets too heavy, split the door into two. Only drawback is that the slider only comes in 14″ lengths, which means it can only accommodate for 14″ of travel. Read more…
I will keep this post as a catch all post for all machining (milling, turning, CNC or otherwise)
In the new house, I’d like to move to a standing workbench, and computer desk and abolish sitting except at at the dinner table to eat. So in the basement, where the workshop will be, I want to build myself a workbench, and a computer desk that is both stylish and functional. The workshop space will be shared with a small theatre space, and I’d prefer to not have 2×4 work benches if I can get away with it.
Both computer desk and workbench will be 44″-47″ tall (haven’t decided yet on a final height).
UPDATE:
- Having used the workbench, it would be useful if I could adjust the height of the table a little. The current height of about 46″ is great for detail work, but working on larger components it’s a little high. It’s hard to lift heavy objects to this height, and applying lots of force is more difficult at this height.
- For the computer bench this should be no problem as not much force is applied at this height.
- Looking for a slick method to raise and lower the table surface. Since the counter is pretty heavy, I want a method to lock the height which is also rigid (and won’t create a wonky table surface). Maybe something based on a thread and a couple of stepper motors to raise and lower the work surface??
Read more…
Looking into how I’m going to get audio into the different rooms of this house where there is no structured wiring in behind the walls to take advantage of.
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1341706/any-alternate-product-just-like-sonos
http://www.musicmultiroom.com/
UPDATE: pricing out some components, and I think I will go the DIY route with a squeezebox backbone. I have a squeezebox classic and radio already. In each room that I just want some music that doesn’t need to be played at loud volumes I can put a squeezebox radio (they go for about CND$100). In the living room I can use a squeezebox classic or squeezebox receiver with some quality speakers and a small class T amp to drive them. As a reference, the Sonos Play:5 is $450. For that kind of money I can put together much better components (speakers, amp) that will be much louder.
For compact class t amps, read this: http://madgoat.hubpages.com/hub/High-quality-inexpensive-mini-power-amplifiers
More on what small amp to use with a squeezebox: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?91027-Stylish-tiny-amp-for-Touch/page1
100W Class T amp on ebay (w/ power supply): http://www.ebay.ca/itm/2-X-100W-Class-D-Audio-Amplifier-Combo-Kit-w-24V-350W-Power-Supply-TK2050-/350604100288?pt=US_Home_Audio_Amplifiers_Preamps&hash=item51a1a202c0#ht_4095wt_1080
A lot of the class D or class T amps seems to be based on the Tripath integrate amp chips. TA2020 is a 30W amp(@ 4 Ω), TK2050 is a 100W amp (@ 4 Ω) .
This also looks like an interesting option. In wall keypad to control with amp built in: http://www.pyleaudio.com/sku/PVC8U/In-Wall-Background-Music-Amplifier-with-USB-And-SD-Card-Player-With-35mm-Input-Jack-For-iPodiPohne-and-Volume-Control
Made some progress today.
Measured the wavelength of a couple of Canon AF assist lights.
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| AF assist light from a Canon 540EZ flash. The wavelength is about 725nm. |
AF assist light from a Canon 550EX flash. The wavelength is about 700-715nm. |
Now to look for some LEDs in that wavelength.
The other requirement is that the light source needs to be able to handle several hundred mA. (so the 20mA regular LEDs are out of the question)
I did find a 1W 730nm IR emitter at DigiKey that may do the trick. I’ll have to order one and try it out.