Gun Handel Milling

 People like to watch the movies of the beast cutting but to me it feels like the old dot matrix printers slow but it gets the job done..

Working up the design

After I measured and entered the size for the pipe stone the fun started..  I traced the horse and ported the rough lines into Aspire..  The sculpting tool was quite useful
(I can see how you can lose lots of time fussing around with it.)
This is one of the few times I have ever read the directions on how to use a program.  I don't think it is because I am getting old, it must be the drive to succeed..  That must be it... Ha.

This is the working model  The smudge tool works for the maine

New Materials Smaller Size

A Alaska friend of mine wants me to try out some new materials Ivory Ebony and Pipe Stone, at a much smaller size than I am use to working.. Well we shall see how it all turns out.

Doing some art

I was trying to do these fish when the machine pulled it's wires..  This is what it is going to look like when I get it cut..  I hope I can hold the resolution to keep the detail of the scales.

Trying Something Other Than Wood.

This week after I got the beast moving again I started cutting something other than wood..  This stuff is called DieBond.. A substrate for outdoor signs that is reported easy to cut and shape..  My first pass was great, however each progressive sign the edges got nastier and uglier.. Some of this is because new tools are supper sharp but I think most of the problem is the feed-rate and spindle speed..  It could be the different material.  Each manufacture has different quality standards and cause the cut to go poor..

When CNC goes wrong

I didn't know what happened but the Z went haywire on me.  Little did I know the term Haywire was closer to the truth than I knew.  I thought it was maniacal at first, but as I checked the screws and bolts I knew this was not the fault..  So I jumped to the conclusion that the motor was bad..  I went on line to order a new one at 50$ I didn't want to jump in and buy a new one right away..  So I slept on it.  All things come to me in dreams..  In robot wars most of frequent cause of dead robots was faulty wiring..  So I checked the wiring and BINGO!  It works and is running fine now.

The Second Video

I switched bits to my .125 round nose 15 deg bit.  It is a great bit but expensive!  So I try to remove all the wood I can then I get the delux bit out and hit it...

Up on UTube

A lot of friends and family want to see the machine running.  For me it is like watching paint dry but it is fun to see the design lift out of the wood.  This is the first pass with a .25 roughing bit.