Chip Tray Finished

Finally finished my steel chip tray.

Took the mill apart and started building an enclosure today.  The rest of the needed steel should arrive Tuesday.

General Update

Hi Followers,

It's been a length of time since you have last seen me combine letters on a keyboard.  Well i'm here to tell you the mill learning operation going well.  I pocketed, contoured, chamfered, drilled and tapped my first actual part.  I also broke an end-mill by smacking a clamp, good times.

Here is a video of my first ever drilled holes.

Here is a picture of my first ever part.

Eventually these skills will be applied to building a working model roller coaster. Woohoo.

Prototype!

Just finished making my first ever CNC part.

Soon I will cut this out of aluminum to produce the final product.

Turner's Cube and New Band-Saw

Got to milling a turner's cube last night.  Still learning the basics of G-code and whatnot, but I think it turned out quite well.

Picked up this cheap harbor freight China crap band-saw.  It does the job. Not well.  But it does the job of making something long much shorter for as cheap a price as possible.   I'm all about cheap and functional. To improve it's performance I added flood coolant system using a 5 dollar aquarium pump, polyline and a cheap lock-line orifice.  Video of the band-saw is below.

Also picked up a Harbor Freight tool cart for cheap.  I'll finally be able to organize my tools.

Flood Coolant Stepper Covers

Flood coolant is fully operational without leaks.

I was able to produce some stepper motor covers using left over acrylic from the chip tray.  By heating the plastic to melting temperature and bending it over a 4x4 I found lying in the corner I created some also wholesome covers. Sweet.

G0704 First Part!

Got my flood control working last night.

Tested my MasterCAM skills on some pine.  Got daring and tried my first run at 6061 aluminum.  Here are the results,

And here is a video of the first test cut,

These will be filter mounting brackets for a friends Ford Bronco Engine build.  Far from a model coaster, but i'm leaning.  Learning how to be a machinist is similar to learning a new language.  Learn the basics.  Then learn how to compile the basics into masterful skills.

One problem with the first test part is that the dimensions are not accurate.  I called for a 2.000" opening.  I received a 1.960" opening for both the wood and aluminum test piece.

I must recheck head tram for more accurate machining.  If that does not fix the problem, I'm clueless. As I should be. Noob. Gosh I hate newbs.  It's possible the stepper motors are skipping steps.  I might play with the settings to see if they make a difference.

MJ