Aluminum fixture for cutting molds

[Derek the Admin]

May 22, 2019 15:22:53 GMT rowiac said:

How did we live without 3D printers and CNC machines? 

Ha. It would be tough to go back living without them, wouldn't it.

[rcferguson]

So here is my answer to the runaway  pellet feed. I modified the funnel I made previously and inserted a moving gate. The gate is spring loaded, and when the ram comes down into the barrel of the injector it pushes the gate back toward the feed ramp to close it off. 3D printing it as we speak, no CNC required for this part, so maybe doesn't belong in the MillRight forum . Anyway, here it is. I imagine the gate will require some tweaking so it fits just right.

You'll notice I did not use Fusion 360 for this.  For quick and dirty design I tend to use DesignSpark Mechanical, as since it is a push-pull solid designer it is easy to use when you are just winging it and making a lot of changes as you go.

 

[Bruce]

I Never heard of DesignSpark Mechanical, Thanks for the post. Looks like a Microsoft product by the file tabs.
And if 3D printing helps build your machine then it belongs here in my opinion. 👍 Good Work!

[rcferguson]

May 25, 2019 23:49:40 GMT Bruce said:

I Never heard of DesignSpark Mechanical, Thanks for the post. Looks like a Microsoft product by the file tabs.
And if 3D printing helps build your machine then it belongs here in my opinion. 👍 Good Work!

It is a free version (limited feature set, must register) of SpaceClaim put out by RS components. I actually learned 3D modeling using it because the learning curve was pretty quick.

[Bruce]

Interesting, I buy parts from Allied Electronics all the time (US distributor with RS Components) I see there is a DesignSpark Electrical software too. I'll have to check that out.
Thanks again for the info.

[rcferguson]

May 26, 2019 2:26:36 GMT Bruce said:

Interesting, I buy parts from Allied Electronics all the time (US distributor with RS Components) I see there is a DesignSpark Electrical software too. I'll have to check that out.
Thanks again for the info.

I did some PCB design using DesignSpark Electrical, but switched to KiCAD because it was more versatile.

[rcferguson]

A few tweaks to the design et voila! Hope to try it on the machine tomorrow.

[Bruce]

I found an article from Machine Design and thought of your plastic injection work. It may be of interest.

www.machinedesign.com/mechanical/five-tips-improving-plastic-injection-molding-design

[rcferguson]

May 26, 2019 2:26:36 GMT Bruce said:

Interesting, I buy parts from Allied Electronics all the time (US distributor with RS Components) I see there is a DesignSpark Electrical software too. I'll have to check that out.
Thanks again for the info.

I forgot to mention... the main reason I switched from DesignSpark Electrical to KiCAD is that the DesignSpark stuff requires registration, and the software "phones home" every now and then to make sure you are registered. If it decides to "phone home" and you don't have an internet connection, or if their registration server is down, or there is a problem with your account, you are dead in the water. There was a period of a couple weeks about 3 years ago where they were having problems with their server, and I was unable to access any of my designs for more than 10 days before they fixed it. Also, their software is free, but it is based on a subset of a more expensive commercial package. They claim they will always have the software available for no charge, but who knows what might happen in the future. They might have a change of heart, or they might be bought out by another company, or who knows what, and since their format is proprietary if all your designs are locked up in their software you might lose all your work with no way to recover it. I feel safer with KiCAD, since it is open source. On the 3D software front, I feel less safe with Fusion 360, but at least their file formats are more widely recognized. Ideally, I'd like to move everything to FreeCAD, but they are a long way from being ready for prime time.

[Bruce]

An open source software file format does make one think you will be able to recover your work. Maybe exporting a 3D model to an STL file format as a backup makes sense.

[rcferguson]

Aug 24, 2019 2:41:14 GMT Bruce said:

An open source software file format does make one think you will be able to recover your work. Maybe exporting a 3D model to an STL file format as a backup makes sense.

There is a somewhat convoluted process whereby I am able to extract a .sat file from a DesignSpark mechanical project, upload it to GrabCAD, then convert it there to a .step file, then import it into Fusion 360. Bit of a pain, but at least I have options.

[rcferguson]

Finished another 3-part mold. This one is to make levers for my mini-quadrant. I ran it yesterday and made enough parts for the 10 boards I have made up. Working on the mold for the chassis now, and then one for the knobs.

     

[Bruce]

Really great work Rob, I would have to say your work is an accolade to the capabilities of the Carve King. Thanks for posting your work.

[Derek the Admin]

Very very nice work. It really is impressive to see what you're doing.

[greggtwep16]

Nov 23, 2019 21:23:37 GMT rcferguson said:

Finished another 3-part mold. This one is to make levers for my mini-quadrant. I ran it yesterday and made enough parts for the 10 boards I have made up. Working on the mold for the chassis now, and then one for the knobs.

     

I love this thread, your work is very inspiring! I recently started down the path you took for one of my projects in a similar manner (m3 instead of carve king and powerlab model 660 instead of the LNS 150a). In hindsight anything you would of done differently or things to watch out for? I've ordered the bits you mentioned earlier in the thread and will likely stick with the handle for a little while as long as I can pull hard enough (with an extension pipe). Did you do any molds with thin walls and if so was filling the mold doable or did you have to stick with molds with larger cavities?