Test cut on CNC Router

My son and I did some test cuts tonight with the router and had very good results.

We first did a 2d 'Open' sign that came with Aspire in wood, that had one thing wrong; it was mirrored. We quickly adjusted the motor settings to correct that and then we cut a 3D leaf that also came with Aspire, but we scaled it down to about 2" square to help cut the time down. It cut perfectly, so we moved on to aluminum and decided to cut another X-axis plate for the machine. We used the prism toolpaths at minimal depths and a 90º x .25Dia bit and then cut the profile out with a .093" dia endmill.

We used .125" 5052 aluminum and the machine cut great with no visible pass lines along the edges of the plate. We just used some WD-40 brushed on and did not even use an air blast so there may be some re-cutting of the chips but the toolpath finish looks good. This label is not as fancy as the brass inlayed ones I made but it will work for viewing the axis travel directions when on the other side of the machine.

I still need to clean it up an finish it.

 

_________________

Best regards,

Wes

wes.spence@comcast.net

Gingery Machines:

Lathe, Horiz. Mill, Shaper, Leaf Brake

Open source 5-axis CNC router

This 5-axis CNC router could soon be an open source tool. [Mike Calvino] built it for the School of Architecture at the University of Arkansas. It can be used as a router or as a plasma cutter/welder. Now he’s trying to raise some money that will underwrite his time and effort to develop and release instructions, design files, and specifications to make it an open source hardware project.

It is extremely large, and in addition to the X, Y, and Z axes that you’d expect to find on CNC machinery, it can tilt and rotate the cutting tool. This is not something you’re likely to build at home. But the availability of plans would be a huge contribution toward making machine tools accessible at a relatively small price tag. It’s not hard to image universities building this as a class project. We also think it would be a perfect group project for you and your buddies over at the local Hackerspace to undertake. Check out some milling action in the clip after the break.