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I got bored....mostly machining content for no damn good reason

Gamble

TCG Elite Member
May 23, 2015
1,935
736
Using the duet ecosystem and steppers folks have done knee mill CNC retrofits for less than $2,500
Is that duet board good?
I believe this system has the duet board and I really wanted to get this one but they jacked the price way up. It was out for 6-8months at $3k then they decided to make it $5k and charge subscription for their software so F that
 

Gamble

TCG Elite Member
May 23, 2015
1,935
736
It followed me home

1E3C66D8-6173-469B-84EB-19E1B00FF310.jpeg
 

Gamble

TCG Elite Member
May 23, 2015
1,935
736
well opened her up and it doesn't work. I think it needs a techno PCI card to work but that fucker is $600 so thats not happening

It will need a back plate, adapter and chuck, thats $300-400
Then a tool post or have to make some gang tooling but that will be an easy $300 if i had to guess
Will need some stepper drives, maybe a gecko g540 ($300)
I have an acorns centroid board ready to go in, just need to figure out the wiring and then have to figure out if i can make the original servo motors work or if they need to be swapped out. this will be my biggest project yet and i have no idea what i'm doing
 

Gamble

TCG Elite Member
May 23, 2015
1,935
736
Well I started a CAD/CAM online class at the local college. Today it started but nothing posted yet. Should be using autodesk, revit and something else. Excited to see what it's like

Also started using Alibre Atom3d cad on my own. It's $199 (on sale for $150 right now) for a lifetime license. Optional yearly updates are $50 if you want it and yes you can skip years. I love the fact that there are still cool companies out there. This software was $1000 and they dropped it to $99 to try it out and found out it was too cheap so went back to $200. Also the CEO is active on their forum and will ask the community about what features they want and seems like a company that really values what their customers say. They are playing with the idea of a subscription model for those that only need it for a few months for a project then won't have to touch it again which say it's $10/month and you need it for a customer. Knock it out in 2 months and spend $20 instead of $200 for the full thing which some won't use again. Things like this make the company seem really great to me.

This was a cool interview with the CEO and he offers 5% discount if you watched it


Anywho, the software is very different than fusion360 and not as fluid or intuitive but it is pretty damn amazing for what it offers and what it can do. I like it....A LOT. Trying to make this my go to software for 2d/3d CAD.

After a good 2 hours or so I got pretty comfortable with it. The one thing that threw me for a loop was the sketching. One sketch is for parts to be extruded (add material) and then you need a separate sketch to extrude the other way (remove material) and while it's weird at first its kind of nice actually. It also helps curb any bad habits I have and will force me to label sketches and such.
 

Gamble

TCG Elite Member
May 23, 2015
1,935
736

Mr_Roboto

Doing the jobs nobody wants to
TCG Premium
Feb 4, 2012
25,677
30,573
Nashotah, Wisconsin (AKA not Illinois)
yeah whats that cost you?


Titans of cnc used to have solidworks for $20 a year for 'student'
this is what i found: https://titansofcnc.com/resources/
$8/month - https://r1132100503382-eu1-my3dexpe...ve-innovation/3d-sculptor/buy/offers/TITANS20

I remember trying it a few years ago and I couldn't even draw a circle lol. I bet i would be better now
Not gonna talk about how I got it with a public forum.

That said there's apparently a homebrew plane club you can join for $50/year.
 

Gamble

TCG Elite Member
May 23, 2015
1,935
736
You can extrude and cut from the same drawing in fusion?

I learned on ProE/Creo and now use solidworks. I wouldn’t mind getting a personal copy of one of the cheap softwares for home. Is there a demo of the alibre one?
Yeah fusion makes it easy. Click and drag to add or remove it
Alibre has a 14day trial on their site
 
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Mr_Roboto

Doing the jobs nobody wants to
TCG Premium
Feb 4, 2012
25,677
30,573
Nashotah, Wisconsin (AKA not Illinois)
Honestly the ability to make gaskets is super handy. I have a scan of the HSR gasket stowed on my laptop because they're damn proud of them. I'd really like to have something made of higher quality material honestly. If I were smart I'd probably just get the whole thing TIGed together or something. When that 383 goes into something I'd like to play with some 2" spacers or something like that though as well.
 

Gamble

TCG Elite Member
May 23, 2015
1,935
736
Honestly the ability to make gaskets is super handy. I have a scan of the HSR gasket stowed on my laptop because they're damn proud of them. I'd really like to have something made of higher quality material honestly. If I were smart I'd probably just get the whole thing TIGed together or something. When that 383 goes into something I'd like to play with some 2" spacers or something like that though as well.
I used to laser them with my eBay k40 laser and it did an amazing job. About 30seconds to 1 min each gasket
But I sold that thing. Probably should have kept it
 

Turbocharged400sbc

3800 & 4T80E > ALL
TCG Premium
Jun 16, 2007
32,542
15,849
hangover park IL
Water jet a couple of blanks and machined up my very own custom shifter cable ends that are long enough that bracketry and cable length are no longer issues.

I love my mill
20220721_055057.jpg
Also finally finished the thermostat housing fill necks for the olds. I just gotta fly cut the bottom gasket surface and they're ready for Anodizing
20220719_155008.jpg
 
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Gamble

TCG Elite Member
May 23, 2015
1,935
736
I don't use this machine much because I don't like the software but had something I wanted to make and had no way to mount a vise. bought some threaded inserts for the original MDF board and they ripped out. Luckily I just happened to have the exact size aluminum piece I needed.
op1 - double stick tape it to the MDF. shave .02 off the top
op2 - flip and repeat
op3 - use the machine to bore out all the holes (roughly 4 hours)
op4 - use drill tap on all the holes
op5 - remove broke drill tap
op6 - use spiral tap on drill to finish
op7 - drill out mounting holes that I made too small
op8 - install
op9 - try to remember WTF I wanted to make that I needed this for

65B07E88-E599-4DF6-932B-C1C1244F0E7C.jpeg


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