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riverotter

Cnc Mill For Swim Baits.

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I am a toolmaker by trade and have been running CNC's for the last fifteen years. I see there are quite a few benchtop models available in your price range. My only concern with these would be rigidity. Some of them look pretty flimsy.

What software do you plan to program with?

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I am assuming you want a CNC to do 3D milling of the baits.  Most machines are only capable of full 3D machining if it is programmed from a software system such as Mastercam.  This looks to be the case with the mach3 software as well. It is only going to be able to give you simple shapes such as circles and rectangles.  That is referred to as 2 1/2D as opposed to full 3D.

 

My suggestion would be to look into Autodesk Fusion360. It is a really strong design package that has a machining component built in and, best of all, it is free to students and startup businesses and diy people like yourself.

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If you are cutting wood with it I'd actually consider staying away from a mill proper, and go with a decent quality CNC router.  Rigidity can be an issue, out you approach CNC cutting wood for a project like this a little differently I think with small stepover, high rpm, super fast feed rates. 

 

I have a couple mills and I refuse to cut wood on them because of the fear of sawdust plugging stuff up and having a lubrication issue.  If I toast a bearing on a CNC router they are pretty cheap, and really easy to replace. My router will cut faster than my mills can rapid. 

 

I've got a small bench top CNC gantry router I use for my wood projects.  I just grease everything and go. 

Edited by Bob La Londe
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my plan was to attempt to mill one side then flip the piece and mill the back side. thought about a 4th axis but that's going to be to time consuming I believe.

 

4th axis, properly setup, and used mostly as an indexer can save you time, but if you make an alignment jig so you can accurately flip your work piece machining both sides is a very doable way to attack the problem, and can be much easier than trying to setup an inexpensive 4th axis. 

 

I use alignment jigs to flip pieces for repeatable reverse side machining all the time.  I'll usually will make a jig to key to my table so its repeatably straight.  Then I'll machine alignment pin holes and a register in a perfect line along one axis.  After inserting the pins I'll machine the work piece to match the alignment jig pins.  I zero to the register which is exact center of the jig.  Then I do my CAM with center (and flip axis) on that axis with a center zero for the work piece.  My zero is not to the work piece.  Its to the register in X/Y and work piece height above the jig in Z, but I set to the jig, not to the work piece.  This way I can machine one side, flip the piece and machine the other side. 

 

I've got a couple "stock size" keyed flip jigs made up now for this sort of work.  The nice thing is even if the machine crashes and you do not necessarily trust the repeatability of your homing switches to can always rezero to the jig.  Even a wiggler will allow you to get under .001 to center of a round register pretty quick.   

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I know I'm a little late on posting on this thread. I designed and made a duplicator for cranks and anything else that I need to duplicate. I know it's not the machine that is being discussed.

It does a great job, but after sanding the cranks and trying a few by hand. I found myself liking to do them by hand. Although I can "crank" them out if I like using the duplicator. LOL Seriously, I do like doing them by hand.

Just my two cents,

Dale

Edited by DaleSW
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By Fusion do you mean AutoCAD's Fusion360?  Are you running them on the same computer? 

 

Since you are running UCCNC I would guess you are running a motion control interface like the UC100 or UC300.  Even with an off board motion controller (and I am not convinced the UC motion controllers really do as much as a SmoothStepper) your motion control software takes a huge amount of processor time.  You will not want to run ANYTHING else while your motion control software is running.  On my Mach 3 machines they are air gapped from the network, and code files are transferred by sneaker net.  This way I don't even have to run AV or malware protection on them.  Well, my 7/64 boxes run the Windows protection software by default, but nothing extra or third party. 

 

Anyway, my point is you will find yourself watching a job cut and realize you want to tweak something or you will be inspired to create your next design.  Do not be tempted pull up your CAD/CAM software on the same computer while your motion control software is running.  It also takes a huge amount of processor time.  Imagine if your pulse stream to the controller stops while you are rendering an image change.  If you have a multi core with lots of memory you might get away with it a couple times, but I can assure you it will glitch sooner or later. 

 

If you do not already have one, you will want a second computer to run your CAD/CAM software on.  This way you can design away knowing any problems that come up are not from you doing new design work. 

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yea I have the uc100 it seems to work perfect. I have only cut out the files that are already created to test the machine tho. as I'm still to dumb to create my own. would gladly pay someone to do it and send me the files so I could cut them if its possible lol. I only run the uccnc program alone. if its up everything else is closed.  


well I did make a circle and cut it out. I must say its a dam nice circle to lol

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lol I'm trying. still up at 1:50am giving it hell. I believe by this time tomorrow I should maybe have one workable 3d model. I'm just going to go with vectric cut 3d to create my tool paths I think. I played around with it. it seems pretty simple. I like the photo v carve they have to. I want to cut a portrait out of my boy, as a late mothers day present to my wife and both grandmas.

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I think I demoed Vectric 3D a while back and found it a little wanting.  CamBam at half the price does basic 3D Cam (STL & 3DS only) and has lots of good tools to get the job done.  Its a little wanting for high speed machining methods, like trachoidal milling, constant engagement, and rest machining, but even many of the more expensive programs only include those in their premium packages.  Lots of guys make the jump to BobCAD, but I found BobCAD wasn't all that great for organic shapes.  Its good for mechanical and geometric work.  Fusion360 seems to be the one that's affordable (free to hobbyists, startups, and small business (under 100k)) with good HSM machining strategies and good 3D organic CAD, but it does have a pretty steep learning curve.  As a hobbyist I'd either go CamBam ($150) and modest learning curve with a fantastic support forum, or Fusion360 with a pretty steep learning curve. 

 

For a long time I used ViaCAD ($200) and CamBam ($150). 

 

I also hear FreeCAD is getting a lot better, and they are planning a CAM module for it in the foreseeable future. 

 

Another thing you might find useful would be a cut simulator.  Some CAD/CAM systems have them built in.  I think BobCAD and Fusion360 do.  I do not care for the one Andy at CamBam packages with CamBam.  I found CutViewer to be difficult and inconsistent, and it has not been updated in a long time.  CNC Simulator isn't bad, but I got tired of the constant renewals.  I played with a free open source cut simulator called Camotics not that long ago.  You have to jump through some hoops (not to bad) to get it to work right, but I've used it a couple times to show people approximations of what their mold will look like. 

 

Here is a really simple video I did a while back for somebody who was struggling on the CamBam forum.  I skipped a lot of stuff in order to keep the video short.  Its just intended to help somebody over the hump, not be a comprehensive tutorial. 

 

Edited by Bob La Londe
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super nice video. now i may have to give that a try. lol man this is all giving me a headache.

 

i did figure out how to get good results with 2 sided machining.

might be a long way around but it worked. after the finish cut one the top side. i went to zero . then from there jogged the y axis up and drilled a 1/8th hole. then jogged to the other end on the y axis drilled another hole. i had some nails here that was just a hair over 1/8 that i used for a dowell. flipped the wood over mirrored the image and cut the back side. 

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That is basically a simple flip jig.  I make them out of aluminum, key the back side, set pins in the front, and cut a round register hole in the in the middle.  This makes them reusable for me.  Whenever I put it on the table its the same as last time.  When I zero to the hole in the middle I know where everything else is.

 

Sounds like you are getting there. 

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wow thats cheating....lol wtf    i got to laugh at this..im all old school and thinking i could of used this many years ago......thanks for the share bob.......

 

Works in a vise too.  Just have to KNOW your vise is square.  I use soft jaws, and true them to the machine by cutting a step in them.  Gets me square and reduces the need for parallels. too. 

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