3D Printing / Digital Fabrication

[Rodrigo]

Ah that’s cool. I wasn’t aware of that. I’m sure it’d be an improvement.

[spacelordmother]

Totally get that. I was really daunted when it first got here (not that I’m ultra confident now…) and it took me awhile to get my feet under me. Bummer about the suckit – I’ve heard their wait times are getting longer and longer.

It’ll happen, looking forward to seeing what you get into!

[frankchannel]

A cool project that requires some 3d printing: a Lego microtonal guitar:

[terje]

On the topic of CNCs - for anyone looking for a more low budget solution and are willing to put in the work required I can highly recommend Nikodem Bartnik’s plans for a 3D printed CNC: https://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-3D-Printed-Dremel-CNC/

I haven’t kept up with the project but at least it used to have a pretty active Facebook group too where the design was improved so that’s probably worth checking out before diving in.

I use a 500W chinese spindle for mine and with some practice and experimentation I am now able to get a very consistent result for making Eurorack panels out of 1.5mm aluminium. Also, my wife uses it for cutting out copper for jewlery making. I’ve also done some small woodworking projects. It’s really fun to work wood in such an accurate way I find.

The machine has its limitations. It’s probably not as rigid as some commercial machines, although I think people have improved on the design in this regard. Also, the surface on mine is limited to ~16cm wide projects, but that’s ok for my needs.

I use CNC.js to control it, it’s a full featured web based CNC controller.

Kindly,
Terje

A small album of results:

[Album] CNC

[Rodrigo]

It took me a while to finally get things up and running (waiting for a dust shoe, and wanting to figure out all that kind of stuff), but I made my first project.

Simple, but very useful. Some additional shelves for my IKEA LIXHULT (i.e. my mic cabinet):

My intention was to make a proper wasteboard as my first project (something like this), but it was really intimidating having never used a CNC before, or created toolpaths etc…

I’m glad I did as now I feel loads more comfortable with the process.

[spacelordmother]

Awesome! Nothing like the feeling of pulling good parts off the machine. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

Using carbide create and motion to run the machine?

[Rodrigo]

Thanks! It’s a fun and whole new thing to get into. I did the wasteboard yesterday and then going to surface it today (and then see if it needs tramming). I do wish it was possible (or easier I guess) to get 3/4" MDF in the EU as I was only able to find up to 16mm at the local hardware store, so that only gives me a few mms before the top of the hardware mounting in terms of surfacing, and eventual resurfacing of the wasteboard.

I got used to Fusion360 from all the 3d printing, so using that for the design, then carbide motion for the actual driving of the machine.

[soggybag]

I just started working with Bantam Tools Othermill. It’s pretty small. It will handle 4.5” by 5” by 1.5”. I started working a guitar pedal and want to do a Eurorack panel.

[john-smith]

ass and treble u kno what i mean

[soggybag]

It’s all about the [B]ass, no treble… actually I can’t stand that song.

[soggybag]

That last one was a test. It takes some trial and error to get the mill calibrated. These Hammond boxes are not perfectly level which doesn’t help.

[frankchannel]

Do you know if the othermill is open source? I supported them on kickstarter way back when (with a small donation), since they were promising to make their project open source. As far as I know that never happened.

[soggybag]

othermill was bought by Bantam Tools. I don’t know if they are open source. It’s one small worry I have: if they went out of business would my mill still be useful or for how long?

[soggybag]

I started a couple new boxes. This will be Green Russian Big Muff with diode lift switch and a clean blend.

[Rodrigo]

These look great!

How are you ensuring the top is “flat” before running a process like this? Or does the depth of engraving have a bit of wiggle-room in it?

[soggybag]

Great question and the center of my current frustrations. These boxes are not flat. I just take the best measurements I can and find a depth that works. I might break the design up into different operations and run each separately.

In this case I ended up running the mill three times! The first time looked great at the bottom but completely missed the top. I ran it once more more but it still wasn’t deep enough along the top.

Today I’m going to ty and level a box with the mill. The plan is to start with the bottom then do the top.

[Rodrigo]

That seems about right.

Curious how the top will response to getting surfaced (if that’s what you mean).

I also imagine certain types of toolpaths would be more forgiving than others, so splitting it up is probably a handy idea. The fact that you have a huge pattern that covers most of the surface probably complicates things too (though it looks badass!).

[soggybag]

I’m a total beginner, I just got the machine and these are the first two things I’ve made with it. I’m open to all tips and suggestions!

Something I’d rally like to do is color the engraving with ink some how. There must be some easy options.

[Rodrigo]

Oh I’m equally noobish! Which is part of my interest/questions, as this is something that would be great to do with the machine too.

As far as coloring, that’s pretty straight forward. You can paint the recessed areas with nail polish, and then sand away the remains (or wipe it off while still wet, making sure to leave the recesses).

Although I don’t really use pedals much these days, @Angela did the art for various DIY pedals I made back in the day (link).

These two were etched and then some paint applied.

[soggybag]

Nice work. I’ve thought of nail polish or paint. I considered putting a layer of tape as a mask before engraving. The idea would be to paint then remove the mask. I’d like to find an easier less messy system.

I want to try ink and follow with steel wool.

I just started leveling the top. I took 0.15mm off but wasn’t enough it missed the upper left corner. I’m going to take another 0.15mm off.

This gave me the idea of engraving, painting, then leveling the top but this would take a lot of machine time.