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Post by aforww on Feb 23, 2017 13:43:44 GMT
Will do. I will get the hang of the CAD. It just takes time working with the software. I am researching some endmills to get started now. It will be anticlimactic to build the machine and not be able to cut anything! lol What do you plan on working with initially? We can give you a list of "recommend" mills to start with. |
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Post by mrbigj on Feb 23, 2017 14:54:54 GMT
Will do. I will get the hang of the CAD. It just takes time working with the software. I am researching some endmills to get started now. It will be anticlimactic to build the machine and not be able to cut anything! lol Hey Mike, welcome! It's taken me some time to get even remotely proficient in CAD and 3D modeling software (Sketchup), so I know your pain. As soon as I knew I wanted to do some CNC and 3d printing I started learning them. My humble suggestion (I'm still pretty new at all this) is to make use of the free "training" all around you. For instance, I downloaded Sketchup and the STL plugin and started playing with it. Once I reached a roadblock, I used Youtube to help me figure out how to make the shapes I wanted, or perform the actions I needed to perform to get the outcome I was looking for. I'm still learning Autodesk Fusion 360, but I lean on Youtube and other free web resources heavily. The same goes for CAD. I use FreeCAD for 2D drawing and lean on all those same resources. Also, long before I ever got a CNC machine, I downloaded and installed CAMotics. It's basically a "virtual" CNC machine. I can draw something in 2D or 3D, feed it into software to get my gcode (the code that controls the machine itself, I use Easel right now). Generate the gcode from Easel. Then I can load up the gcode in CAMotics and run a virtual cut to watch it. I can see if I messed up somewhere, without the hassle of breaking a machine or bits. As far as bits, I'm certainly not an expert. My machine is just coming together, and I expect my first cuts to be this weekend. That being said, I purchased two "starter" bit sets from Inventables. One is called the "Bitset for Wood and Plastic" which was $27. There are 6 bits in that package. I also purchased the "Bitset for Fine Detail and Engraving" for $44, which has bits that are a smaller diameter for more detailed cutting. I'll try and post some sort of review of my experience with them once I get to cutting. Perhaps some of the more experienced guys can weigh in here, but that's just what I'm starting with. My intention, at least initially, is to cut woods, plastics, and other softer materials. I may move to metal at a later date. Hope some of my 2 cents helps you out. Good Luck! |
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Post by mikedpp on Feb 23, 2017 14:54:59 GMT
Initially, I will be cutting shapes out of and engraving in soft woods like pine.
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Post by aforww on Feb 23, 2017 15:44:25 GMT
Initially, I will be cutting shapes out of and engraving in soft woods like pine. The starter kits from Inventables are a good place to start albeit, over priced compared to the popular Drillman1 seller on eBay. At least for me because I rarely use most of them. But it does offer variety for experimenting. For plastics I try to stay with a single flute upcut carbide. Same with aluminum. For wood I use a two flute upcut. Upcuts generally require some cleanup on the top edge. Straight flutes can reduce that top edge tearing but then you have to be actively clearing the kerf (cut) of material if you are doing deep pockets, slots, or through cuts that are the full width of the cutter. Cutters aren't as important as knowing how to run them. Familiarize yourself with these terms of you haven't already. 1. Chip load - The amount of material removed and can be evacuated from the flute. 2. Surface speed- Surface speed of cutter directly effects chip load. 3. Spindle Speed. 4. Feed speed. These two are your "speeds and feeds" term you'll here everywhere. HSS vs carbide. Then you can get into coatings that reduce bit temperature etc. I've been dedicated to understanding all these for the last month. I think I finally have it all figured out. On a side note, Fusion 360s feed and speed calculations are dead on compared to every calculator I've used. |
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Post by mrbigj on Feb 23, 2017 15:49:26 GMT
Initially, I will be cutting shapes out of and engraving in soft woods like pine. The starter kits from Inventables are a good place to start albeit, over priced compared to the popular Drillman1 seller on eBay. At least for me because I rarely use most of them. But it does offer variety for experimenting. For plastics I try to stay with a single flute upcut carbide. Same with aluminum. For wood I use a two flute upcut. Upcuts generally require some cleanup on the top edge. Straight flutes can reduce that top edge tearing but then you have to be actively clearing the kerf (cut) of material if you are doing deep pockets, slots, or through cuts that are the full width of the cutter. Cutters aren't as important as knowing how to run them. Familiarize yourself with these terms of you haven't already. 1. Chip load - The amount of material removed and can be evacuated from the flute. 2. Surface speed- Surface speed of cutter directly effects chip load. 3. Spindle Speed. 4. Feed speed. These two are your "speeds and feeds" term you'll here everywhere. HSS vs carbide. Then you can get into coatings that reduce bit temperature etc. I've been dedicated to understanding all these for the last month. I think I finally have it all figured out. On a side note, Fusion 360s feed and speed calculations are dead on compared to every calculator I've used. Thanks for posting this. Admittedly, I know very little about "feeds and speeds", that will be my next learning step. I'm still trying to learn Fusion 360, it has been frustrating compared to other software I use. Regarding cutting wood, if the passes are shallow enough, won't the combination of spindle and bit turning keep the channel cleaned out? |
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Post by aforww on Feb 23, 2017 15:56:16 GMT
The starter kits from Inventables are a good place to start albeit, over priced compared to the popular Drillman1 seller on eBay. At least for me because I rarely use most of them. But it does offer variety for experimenting. For plastics I try to stay with a single flute upcut carbide. Same with aluminum. For wood I use a two flute upcut. Upcuts generally require some cleanup on the top edge. Straight flutes can reduce that top edge tearing but then you have to be actively clearing the kerf (cut) of material if you are doing deep pockets, slots, or through cuts that are the full width of the cutter. Cutters aren't as important as knowing how to run them. Familiarize yourself with these terms of you haven't already. 1. Chip load - The amount of material removed and can be evacuated from the flute. 2. Surface speed- Surface speed of cutter directly effects chip load. 3. Spindle Speed. 4. Feed speed. These two are your "speeds and feeds" term you'll here everywhere. HSS vs carbide. Then you can get into coatings that reduce bit temperature etc. I've been dedicated to understanding all these for the last month. I think I finally have it all figured out. On a side note, Fusion 360s feed and speed calculations are dead on compared to every calculator I've used. Thanks for posting this. Admittedly, I know very little about "feeds and speeds", that will be my next learning step. I'm still trying to learn Fusion 360, it has been frustrating compared to other software I use. Regarding cutting wood, if the passes are shallow enough, won't the combination of spindle and bit turning keep the channel cleaned out? Correct. Shallow cuts in wood don't require any special considerations for chip clearing. As a rule I generally start to consider chip clearance when depth is equal to or greater than bit diameter. Less so in soft woods. Fusion is a beast. I'm still trying to figure out most of it. It's got a steep learning curve but IMO it's well worth the effort. |
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Post by mrbigj on Feb 23, 2017 16:00:35 GMT
Thanks for posting this. Admittedly, I know very little about "feeds and speeds", that will be my next learning step. I'm still trying to learn Fusion 360, it has been frustrating compared to other software I use. Regarding cutting wood, if the passes are shallow enough, won't the combination of spindle and bit turning keep the channel cleaned out? Correct. Shallow cuts in wood don't require any special considerations for chip clearing. As a rule I generally start to consider chip clearance when depth is equal to or greater than bit diameter. Less so in soft woods. Fusion is a beast. I'm still trying to figure out most of it. It's got a steep learning curve but IMO it's well worth the effort. Thanks for the info... Honestly, I know Fusion is powerful. However, compared to Easel, Sketchup, TinkerCAD, and 123d Design, Fusio 360 is horrendous to use. |
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Post by aforww on Feb 23, 2017 16:06:06 GMT
Correct. Shallow cuts in wood don't require any special considerations for chip clearing. As a rule I generally start to consider chip clearance when depth is equal to or greater than bit diameter. Less so in soft woods. Fusion is a beast. I'm still trying to figure out most of it. It's got a steep learning curve but IMO it's well worth the effort. Thanks for the info... Honestly, I know Fusion is powerful. However, compared to Easel, Sketchup, TinkerCAD, and 123d Design, Fusio 360 is horrendous to use. I agree. I am pretty good with SketchUp. I use it for furniture design mostly and really hated fusion when I started this pursuit. I think Fusion overcomplicates the sketch aspect but is much better working in a three dimensional environment. There's nothing that says you have to do all your work in Fusion. Do your sketch in SU, import to fusion and model and cam from there. |
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Post by mikedpp on Feb 24, 2017 4:55:15 GMT
Thanks for all the info gentlemen.
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Rob
New Member
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Post by Rob on Mar 7, 2017 6:16:38 GMT
Thanks for joining aforww. My name is Derek and I own MillRight CNC. I have always loved to tinker and have built a few custom machines. I got my start with DIY machining in 3D printing. A few months after learning 3D printing, I designed a CNC machine in FreeCAD, printed the pieces I need, picked up some things from my local metal show, and went to work. Building that machine only made me love CNC routing more so I kept going. Here we are now with a growing company selling CNC machines! We are glad that you got in on the ground floor of this community. We look forward to you purchasing our machine and getting to share the cool things you make with everyone here. I'm going to start off by saying that this is pretty damn inspirational! But anyway, my name is Robert. I too started with 3D printing and have been modifying my 3D printer and making improvements since I bought it. My constant need to continue improving my 3D printer is what has made me more interested in CNC machines than I've ever been. Besides that, I am an electronics engineer. As any engineer, I love to tinker and mess around with electronics and DIYs. I am hoping that CNC machining and 3D printing will expand my horizons as an engineer. Maybe we can team up and create a line of 3D printers as well!  - Rob |
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Post by kevin on Mar 8, 2017 2:31:14 GMT
Thanks for joining aforww. My name is Derek and I own MillRight CNC. I have always loved to tinker and have built a few custom machines. I got my start with DIY machining in 3D printing. A few months after learning 3D printing, I designed a CNC machine in FreeCAD, printed the pieces I need, picked up some things from my local metal show, and went to work. Building that machine only made me love CNC routing more so I kept going. Here we are now with a growing company selling CNC machines! We are glad that you got in on the ground floor of this community. We look forward to you purchasing our machine and getting to share the cool things you make with everyone here. I'm going to start off by saying that this is pretty damn inspirational! But anyway, my name is Robert. I too started with 3D printing and have been modifying my 3D printer and making improvements since I bought it. My constant need to continue improving my 3D printer is what has made me more interested in CNC machines than I've ever been. Besides that, I am an electronics engineer. As any engineer, I love to tinker and mess around with electronics and DIYs. I am hoping that CNC machining and 3D printing will expand my horizons as an engineer. Maybe we can team up and create a line of 3D printers as well! Hi Rob, Welcome to the forum. I'm with you on finding all of this pretty inspirational. Millright has built a great machine and a great community here. |
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Post by Derek the Admin on Mar 8, 2017 4:53:43 GMT
Welcome aboard Rob. A 3d printer and a CNC machine really open up a world of possibilities for makers like us. Can't wait to see what you make.
For what it's worth, I'm eyeballing a 3d printer development way down the road, so ya never know.
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Rob
New Member
Posts: 15
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Post by Rob on Mar 8, 2017 23:28:57 GMT
Welcome aboard Rob. A 3d printer and a CNC machine really open up a world of possibilities for makers like us. Can't wait to see what you make. For what it's worth, I'm eyeballing a 3d printer development way down the road, so ya never know. Yeah man and the technology is only going to keep expanding. Houses are already being built in China with x-large scale 3D printers that extrude concrete. I want to get my feet wet first with CNC's, but in the future I definitely want to build my own 3D printers. The two go hand in hand! I'll message you about it, I am very serious about this!  - Rob |
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Rob
New Member
Posts: 15
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Post by Rob on Mar 8, 2017 23:31:39 GMT
I'm going to start off by saying that this is pretty damn inspirational! But anyway, my name is Robert. I too started with 3D printing and have been modifying my 3D printer and making improvements since I bought it. My constant need to continue improving my 3D printer is what has made me more interested in CNC machines than I've ever been. Besides that, I am an electronics engineer. As any engineer, I love to tinker and mess around with electronics and DIYs. I am hoping that CNC machining and 3D printing will expand my horizons as an engineer. Maybe we can team up and create a line of 3D printers as well! Hi Rob, Welcome to the forum. I'm with you on finding all of this pretty inspirational. Millright has built a great machine and a great community here. I agree with you man. So far I am very impressed with the community that has been created here. Everyone's eager to learn and very willing to share their knowledge and help others. I honestly can't wait to receive my machine!  - Rob |
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Post by rick0317 on Mar 16, 2017 2:43:46 GMT
First, I would like to thank the many individuals who have posted within the MillRight CNC forum. Your experiences and opinions are well received and I greatly appreciate all of your input. It was contributing factor in my decision to purchase the M3 kit.
Second, I would like to apologize in advance. I have a habit of making things more complicated than needed despite my father's best attempts to teach me the KISS/MISS method.
My kit arrived about 3 weeks ago. The build is slowly progressing as I'm trying to temper my anxiousness (where I tend to over-complicate things), a couple self-induced time delays (last minute decision to paint the MDF) as well as unexpected travel for work account for a majority of the time. I've made my peace with the time, and enjoy the experience when I commit the time to work on the project.
I've had some opportunities in the past to learn a little CNC operation. While I was in college, my FIL was able to get me a part-time job at a CNC machine shop. I did not do the coding for the parts we were making, however I was shown the basics so that I could tweak the program for better operation. Had I not been a junior at the time, I fully believe that I would be a tool and die maker now. I look forward to learning this craft as I believe it will be an adventure.
Other hobbies and interest include home renovations, making beer/wine, sausage, and walking around the woods with a rifle (some call it hunting but I'm not so fortunate to harvest much). It's good to be outdoors, in the shop, or in the wine cellar. I have a tendency to putz (not good enough to tinker yet), and on occasion have discovered that it's not really broke until I try to make it better.
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