All,
Another great CNC SIG in the books. We had a big group, a bunch of new faces (20+ ppl here!). a few rotary adventures, & the usual healthy mix of “oh wow, that worked” + “well, at least we all learned something.”
Brian walked us through some rotary updates, including changes to the A-axis speed settings and a very important reminder that the rotary centerline is 65 mm above the bed. He also shared a few “educational moments” from the morning, including what happens when the machine thinks zero is the bed instead of the center of the rotary. Maybe let’s take what he did and not do it ourselves, lol.
He also repaired the Z puck wiring and has a new puck ready to install, which is great because apparently our old puck was puckered out.
Brian wrote up more detail here for anyone working with the rotary:
Pete shared more of his pool cue work. He & Brian have been working together on the rotary setup, and Pete said Brian helped take a lot of the mystery and fear out of the process. That is exactly why we have these meetings!
The big win: Pete can now cut the full pool cue taper on the rotary. He used a 1/4" ball nose and a 1/4" end mill, and the cue sections looked fantastic. There was also some very cool epoxy work going on with the black, red, and gold pieces.
Sarah brought in curved chair leg examples and asked how she might make a whole set of legs without paying $250 per leg. We talked through a few options, including steam bending, laminated glue-ups, CNC-cut forms, and using the CNC to make the jig rather than trying to make the final part directly.
Steve shared a small toothpick holder project, which was also his first solo CNC project. Tiny projects are sneaky hard because there is not much room for error, and he ended up learning a lot about flipping stock, keeping alignment, and working precisely on small parts.
There was also a good discussion about using reference holes, dowels, and other tricks to improve the two-sided machining output.
Serena shared a small angel figure made on a desktop 5-axis CNC machine. She downloaded the model from MakerWorld and used the machine to carve it from a plastic-like material. The result was quite impressive!
Also, five-axis CNC is apparently the deep end of the pool. Serena jumped in with goggles and optimism. Fun times.
A couple other useful notes from the meeting: James gave an update on the fiber laser work, including the enclosure and safety systems still being worked through. He also mentioned a new workflow idea for the large CNC spoilboard: keeping quarter-inch medium-density fiberboard sheets available as temporary spoilboard covers when the main spoilboard is getting rough. Cheap, useful, and far less dramatic than replacing the big sheet every time someone teaches it a lesson.
We also had some discussion around VCarve login/version weirdness, which continues to be exactly as fun as it sounds. The short version: if you’re moving files between home and Asmbly, make sure you’re using the correct Makerspace version and that you’re actually logged in (on your Makerspace version at home) when designing your project.
We also have the June CNC SIG recording here for anyone who wants to revisit the discussion or catch what they missed:
Thanks again to everyone who came out! We’ll see you at the next CNC SIG on Sunday, July 5 at 12:30 PM in the Multipurpose Room at Asmbly.
@jamesfreeman @SteveW @sneezix @bwatt @cjromb @atwatsoniii @rjnevels @pconklin2000 @Christopher @Iammikecohen