CNC Molds N Stuff Posted January 22, 2019 Report Share Posted January 22, 2019 (edited) We had a member here who built some of his own CNC wood lathes for his wood salt water plugs. I can't think of the name at the moment. I have one of his company hats around here somewhere too. I just can't think of the name. He posted some videos at one time. I'd probably start by typing "CNC Wood Lathe" in my favorite search engine if I just wanted to buy one. I probably wouldn't convert one though. Wood lathes really don't have all the hardware to move the cutter like a metal lathe. I probably wouldn't convert a metal lathe either since it typically was ways and gibbs that could easily pickup saw dust, get all plugged up and then not take oil. I'd probably build something. I might take the spindle off a wood lathe or I might build one. I guess it would depend on what I had and how I envisioned the machine working. Really I think for a post here a step by step tutorial might be a bit much to expect. Its not outside of the realm of possibility, but I guess I'd first have to ask... how much do you already know? I could build one. Not sure I would want to build one for somebody else. If somebody else had shown they were taking the initiative to teach themselves something and learn a little bit about CNC machine building I might jump in and try to help when they hit a snag. ~~~~ Salty ~~~~ That's the fellow who posted some videos of CNC wood lathes he built. It might have been before the searchpocalypse when the forum got reindexed and posts before a certain date became unsearchable. You might be able to find them by using a Google Site Search of this site. He has a website and a web forums. You might ask him if he has links to his old videos that he posted here. saltwaterplugs.com I think. Edited January 22, 2019 by CNC Molds N Stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNC Molds N Stuff Posted January 23, 2019 Report Share Posted January 23, 2019 (edited) Also, if you really want to tackle building your own CNC machine take a look at the http://www.cnczone.com web forums. It can be a bit overwhelming with over 2 million posts, but you can probably find anything you need to know or resources for what you need to know about building a machine there. I probably should have posted that first. I've learned a lot there myself. Edited January 23, 2019 by CNC Molds N Stuff 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 10 hours ago, CNC Molds N Stuff said: Also, if you really want to tackle building your own CNC machine take a look at the http://www.cnczone.com web forums. It can be a bit overwhelming with over 2 million posts, but you can probably find anything you need to know or resources for what you need to know about building a machine there. I probably should have posted that first. I've learned a lot there myself. My hat's off to you. I struggle to spell CNC, let alone understand how to work with one. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ravenlures Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 I think I will stick with my little lathe and knife plus a rubber mold to make my lures. ………….how do you spell CNC? Wayne 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNC Molds N Stuff Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 Its pretty intimidating to get started, but everything you learn gives you the ability to learn something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonister Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 If you are the right minded, mechanically sound, determined person I dont see why figuring them out would be too difficult. It helps to have a good base in CAD and CAM. Start with a 3d printer! Screw around till you get a feel for the software and then transition over to CNC. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNC Molds N Stuff Posted January 25, 2019 Report Share Posted January 25, 2019 I think even how you start is flexible. I really think you just need to start. I bought a small CNC machine with no clue about CAD and CAM. I wrote the code for my first bait molds by hand with the help of a spreadsheet macro I wrote to increment the iterative commands. I looked up the G-code commands, and wrote them out with a text editor. They were not necessarily the "best" bait molds, but I caught fish with the baits. Ok, not the best way to start out, but its how I started anyway. LOL. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonister Posted January 25, 2019 Report Share Posted January 25, 2019 I spent a year on some age old CAD software for high school metals class and graduated to Rhino the next year. That stuff is FUN! Seriously I never would have learned so much so fast if my motivation hadn't been around fishing lures. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted January 25, 2019 Report Share Posted January 25, 2019 My professional experience was aircraft and automotive CAD design. Naturally, I expected lure design to be easy after my extensive design experience. Boy was I wrong. Lure design on CAD is far more difficult. You can design something simple, especially if you let the CAD system's limitations define your design. BUT, to get exactly what YOU want is a lot more involved than I anticipated. And, that is just designing a simple shape, not including mouth, gills and fins, god forbid scales (which I have thought about but not tackled as yet)! Dave 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNC Molds N Stuff Posted January 25, 2019 Report Share Posted January 25, 2019 5 hours ago, Vodkaman said: My professional experience was aircraft and automotive CAD design. Naturally, I expected lure design to be easy after my extensive design experience. Boy was I wrong. Lure design on CAD is far more difficult. You can design something simple, especially if you let the CAD system's limitations define your design. BUT, to get exactly what YOU want is a lot more involved than I anticipated. And, that is just designing a simple shape, not including mouth, gills and fins, god forbid scales (which I have thought about but not tackled as yet)! Dave There are tricks depending on if you prefer to work with surfaces or solid models. I tend to work with solid models, but sometimes the trick is to create a surface and use one of a number of methods to convert into a solid model either in itself or to be merge with another solid model. On the original LBS Shad I cut the scale pattern by creating an array of tiny arcs, and then mapping the lines to the surface for engraving. On another I literally sliced a scale pattern out of a solid model, and offset the resulting segments a few thousandths to create a 3D scale pattern. I have not yet found a way that isn't painstaking and tedious. Often I cut a gill plate, by making copy of the solid body model, slicing it, offsetting it, changing the angle, and deleting the duplicate tail. Sometimes it looks good. Other times it looks like a hack job and has the be redone 40 times to find a good look. I've spun a swimbait or other minnow model around so many times checking for things that will look stupid that the minnow puked all over my screen. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salty's Posted January 26, 2019 Report Share Posted January 26, 2019 (edited) On 1/21/2019 at 7:02 PM, CNC Molds N Stuff said: We had a member here who built some of his own CNC wood lathes for his wood salt water plugs. I can't think of the name at the moment. I have one of his company hats around here somewhere too. I just can't think of the name. He posted some videos at one time. I'd probably start by typing "CNC Wood Lathe" in my favorite search engine if I just wanted to buy one. I probably wouldn't convert one though. Wood lathes really don't have all the hardware to move the cutter like a metal lathe. I probably wouldn't convert a metal lathe either since it typically was ways and gibbs that could easily pickup saw dust, get all plugged up and then not take oil. I'd probably build something. I might take the spindle off a wood lathe or I might build one. I guess it would depend on what I had and how I envisioned the machine working. Really I think for a post here a step by step tutorial might be a bit much to expect. Its not outside of the realm of possibility, but I guess I'd first have to ask... how much do you already know? I could build one. Not sure I would want to build one for somebody else. If somebody else had shown they were taking the initiative to teach themselves something and learn a little bit about CNC machine building I might jump in and try to help when they hit a snag. ~~~~ Salty ~~~~ That's the fellow who posted some videos of CNC wood lathes he built. It might have been before the searchpocalypse when the forum got reindexed and posts before a certain date became unsearchable. You might be able to find them by using a Google Site Search of this site. He has a website and a web forums. You might ask him if he has links to his old videos that he posted here. saltwaterplugs.com I think. SHOW ME THE MILLION FIRST Small unmarked bills preferred. Everyone wants to be like Salty. I'll sell you my business for 1/2 of that. You too can then learn how to lose a half million bucks in the fishing industry. Further comments redacted because Curt would delete. Edited January 26, 2019 by Salty's 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
