Part making process on a CNC - Video

[XOrionFE]

Hello all,

Last week I made a part for Jack which was a top plate for his TQ build that needed to be cut out of 3mm plastic.    Trevor asked me to put together some steps on the process so I made some short videos.   They are by no means comprehensive and there are many ways to skin a cat but this is the basic process I use.   The videos are meant only to be a broad high level overview.  Please excuse the video quality as it seems to lose a lot when I put on youtube and I am not a film director.  I hope you enjoy.   Also, as you know there are some others here that have cnc's and have wonderful results such as Gwyn, Phil, and Wendy.    I invite any of you to add your thoughts and comments to this thread as again, I know there are many ways to use a cnc.   

Regards,
Scott

Part 1
TQ Plate Part 1.mpg

Part 2
TQ Plate Part 2.mpg

Part 3
TQ Plate Part 3.mpg

[Trevor Hale]

Cool Scott,  thanks for showing us this.  What a neat setup you have.

Trev

[ETomlin]

This was excellent Scott. You removed the mystery for me and it was much like I have thought all along- if you can draw accurately and have the $$$, CNC is not so bad once you get your machine setup properly (which I know can be a hobby in and of itself)!

thanks again

[fsaviator]

Great videos Scott,

Thanks a bunch.  I've been finding excuses to not use my new CNC (always something else to do) as it has seemed daunting.  These videos removed the angst and I think I'll mess with it now.  I've been debating VCarve but I think you just sold me on Cut2D.  As you said, I can always upgrade.

Thanks again!

Warren

[XOrionFE]

Thanks All

Warren, Cut2D is excellent and like you said, you can always upgrade to VCarve Pro as your skills and needs increase.  The one think you have to consider with Cut2D is that you dont have nearly as many drawing options for vectors and no bitmap tracing functions (and less toolpath options) but if you have another way to draw your panels such as Illustrator, Corel Draw, Autodesk, etc. then Cut2D is perfect for us.

Regards,
Scott

[fsaviator]

Thanks All

Warren, Cut2D is excellent and like you said, you can always upgrade to VCarve Pro as your skills and needs increase.  The one think you have to consider with Cut2D is that you dont have nearly as many drawing options for vectors and no bitmap tracing functions (and less toolpath options) but if you have another way to draw your panels such as Illustrator, Corel Draw, Autodesk, etc. then Cut2D is perfect for us.

Regards,
Scott

Got it Scott,  I have Adobe CS3 so I've got all the tools there, as well as Corel Draw and TurboCAD.  Getting the initial vectors done is the easy part.  Generating the G-code has been the problem.  I tried the VCarve trial based on Gwynns tutorial and it was easy to use.  Truthfully though, it's a little steep for me (having shelled out the money for Adobe, Corel and TurboCAD in the past.

I'm fairly competent with the graphics programs, and getting better with TurboCAD.

my mills arrived from virtual village and after watching your videos, I think I'll give it a try.  I'm holding off on buying some good bits from PB until I've broken a few cheap ones....

thanks again,

Warren

[MarkDidIt]

Scott, I'd bump the feedrate up higher to prevent the slight melting you got, maybe slow the rpm's down slightly as well for the smaller bits.  Not sure off the cuff what the feedrate translates to from metric, but I'll run my 1mm about 20 ipm without issue.  Great videos by the way that show what takes place in this process.  I thought you did a fine job.


Warren,
Another tip for cutting with your bits.  Never go deeper than half the distance of the bit diameter on each pass.  So if you have a .125" bit, no deeper than .0625" per pass.  PreciseBits has some feedrate charts and formulas to help figure out how fast you can cut.  Another strategy that sounds good for business, but hard on my wallet, they actually recommend for a selected material to keep raising feedrates until a bit breaks then backoff from the feedrate it broke at as your do not exceed speed.  I think they phrase this a little different, but personally I go by the sound and what my chips look like.  My average feedrate is 35 ipm and down to 15 for small cuts and finish cuts and as high as 50 for long passes.  RPM's on the spindle of course also come into play (if you can vary your speed) and all of this comes down to play with it to learn it.  I'm no expert either and I've only had mine for about 15 months and it's night and day from how I ran it 12 months ago.  (Scott and I have the same system)

I have VCarve Pro after starting with Dolphin Cad/Cam and I love it.  It may look daunting, but it's learning curve I think is not as steep.  One thing I learned I had to do more with VCarve Pro when drawing was using the circle, rectangle and alot of the scissors to create the objects I wanted, where in Dolphin it was more along arcs, lines and scissors.  Dolphin can do a few things that VCarve can't but I now do 99% of my work with it and plan to upgrade to their Aspire product within a year.

[fsaviator]

MarkDidIt,

thanks for the tips.  I spent the evening using different programs to draw up a small panel that has a little of everything on it.  I'm going to try some of the freeware stuff just to my machine running.  I may have come into a few hundred bucks selling some parts so once that comes to be I'll probably make the vectric plunge...
Is VCarve really what I need though?  I was thinking that I may be better served with the Cut2D/Cut3D bundle for $200 less.  Any experience with that?

Warren

[MarkDidIt]

I just wanted to comment that I own and really like the VCarve Pro product, however the Cut2D/Cut3D bundle is a great place to start and may serve all your needs just fine.  Alot of it depends on the complexity of the parts you will be creating.  Scott seems to have no issue with using Corel or Illustrator, whereas I prefer the advanced tools and abilities of VCP. 

I also haven't had the need to do any 3D work yet, but plan to when I upgrade to Aspire which may be a year out, as like you, not willing to spend the cash for features I didn't hardly understand as I barely understood the basics of CNC at that point.  Now as my experience as been building, I can see and warrant the move to the upgrade and hopefully make more cash with it to pay for itself.

Mark

[fsaviator]

Thanks for the input.
Decisions...  decisions....

Warren