Etching Glass and Cribbage Boards #52 - Fort Ripley MN USA

[Drad98_98]

Hey guys,
Wanting to start a new MechMate build in Minnesota. Have previous experience with CNC. Built a 5' x 6' CNC plasma and refurbed a 2' x 4' MDF CNC router. I attached a few pics of what I have done so far, looking for you insight during this build.

P.S. Rad Racer is my brother so should be going quite quickly when the money shows up, lol.

[Drad98_98]

A little more info i guess. If you look at Rad Racers build history you see me, mainly the one covered in Ford blue powder:( Anyways we used the plasma to cut out his cyclone, it is working very good. The design for the plasma was just mine, I wanted to be able to cut 4' x 4' sheet. Rad Racer helped my with all the electronics and I did all the mechanical work (well with a little help). I think I am going to look to sell the plasma to generate money for the router MechMate. Wood is so much cleaner then plasma smoke and powdercoating. I will keep you guys updated.

P.S. Sorry about the mess in the plasma pics, always seem to have too much crap in the shop! :D

[domino11]

Welcome Dave, I dont mind some mess in the shop. Come and see mine some time, it will make you feel a lot better. :)

[Kobus_Joubert]

Nice looking Mach3 screen.. is this customised ? I noticed the STATUS message at the bottom saying 'Too fast for pulley...using Max' . I have the same message...machine is working fine, but maybe the Mach3 guru's can explain and suggest a possible fix.

[Drad98_98]

Thanks Kobus,
The M3 screen is just the MachBlue screen downloaded from Mach3. I think the error msg is something with spindle speed (which I dont use),not configed right.

[Drad98_98]

Ok, it 2am and just got my first 3d project done, lots of figuring out software but here it is.
It is 2.5" x 3" with .100 relief, the letters are about .25" high.
Off to bed til tomorrow so I can play again.

[Rad Racer]

Hey, I recognize that cnc machine.....have you been shopping in my garage again:)

Good looking sign, welcome to MechMate.

[Drad98_98]

Your garage is the best place to shop!

[Drad98_98]

Gonna order my profile parts next week from Metalhead. Gotta start sooner or later, actually really looking forward to this build.

[Drad98_98]

Well guys I ordered my profile parts from metalhead today and have my steel list to bring to the steel yard tomorrow, need to special order the c channel so hopefully I have it by Friday. Time to start welding the table this weekend.
Looking forward to it after countless hours reading everyones build threads but I learned alot and I know there will be questions, so thanks in advance to everyone and a special thanks to Gerald for the plans and your "upcoming" help.

[jhiggins7]

Welcome Dave.

Sounds like you are well on your way.

Good luck on your build. And don't forget to post pictures of your build progress.:D

[domino11]

Welcome Dave,

You sound well planned. Good Luck. :)

[jehayes]

Dave: Welcome to the club. Can you really weld in Minnesota in January? I thought the arc would freeze before completing the circuit!:D Looking forward to your pictures. Joe

[domino11]

Joe, I am further North than Dave, we weld here all the time in the winter. If we didn't, nothing would get done for 6 months. :)

[Drad98_98]

Joe, Even tho it is -28f it is still a nice toasty 65 in my shop :)
Ordered the steel for the table today, it will be here tomorrow (gotta love the supplier in my town). Hopefully start welding Thursday and I promise many pics.

[Drad98_98]

Well I picked up all the steel needed to construct the machine, got a great price from my steel supplier, $685 USD. Cant believe this pile of steel will turn into such an incredible working machine, Thanks again Gerald for the design.

[Gerald D]

Is that a plasma cutter on the right side of the last pic? The paint colour will pass! :)

[Drad98_98]

It is a cnc plasma cutter, DIY and where do you think I got the idea for the color? ;)

[Drad98_98]

Profile parts showed up today from Metalhead, awesome quality parts and he also threw in some extra goodies, THANKS again metalhead. Well, laying out the drill hole pattern for the main beams, cross members, y stage etc... gonna be a busy day but excited to get started, hopefully have a good start by the end of the weekend. One bonus thing about my job (well good and bad) is that it is seasonal, I am a heavy equipment operator so here in Minnesota we have to take the winter off until the ground thaws, this gives me lots of time to get this project completed. Well, better get back to the project, I will keep you guys updated

[jehayes]

Dave: You are really moving along, Keep this up and you'll be cutting before the pond melts! Thanks for the pics. Joe

[Drad98_98]

Getting everything laid out. Just a rough layout to get centers of main beam and rail

[jehayes]

Don't forget, The cross beams are offset towards one end! (Gerald will ding you if you lay them out symmetrically!:D)

[Drad98_98]

those cross members are just there to hold up the main beams while i drill them, they get kinda tippy alone.

[Drad98_98]

After a good day of work here is my progress so far. Starting to look familar :D

[Gerald D]

You have a nice team of helpers there . . . be finished by Spring? :)

[Drad98_98]

Hope to be done by spring, Rad Racer #25 (Wayne, my brother) is a big help on this project since he is a seasoned Mechmate builder. One thing I do have is time (seasonal worker) so I am hopeful it will be done fairly quickly.

[Gerald D]

I thought there was a familiar face there! :)

We can see Dave & Wayne in this post (http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?p=22954&postcount=54)

[Drad98_98]

Finished off the Y car this weekend, here are a cpl pics

[Gerald D]

Aircon, TV and radio all in one pic - that's a nice corner of the workshop! :)

There must be a beer fridge under the bench? :D

[Robert M]

I bet the stove is to keep the Pizza warm while …. :rolleyes:

[jessyjames]

Lets not forget the stove in the background. Maybe if he wants a crispy pizza?

EDIT: Wow I dont know how I missed Roberts post.. Need to get my brain on..

[Drad98_98]

Good idea for pizza, but actually that is just used for powdercoating small parts so I dont have to fire up the big oven :D

[Drad98_98]

Well, I got all the drilling and tapping done on most of the machine. Finished the gantry and it is even true :eek: Here are a few pics of the on-going progress. Superior Bearing forgot to ship my order last week so it looks like a few days before I get my roller bearings, was looking forward to seeing it roll back and forth, even if it would be by hand. I also enclosed a better pic of my plasma table I built. Gerald, the corner with the ac/tv/radio is a nice corner but you will see the other corner of the shop with the beer fridge :D

P.S. That last pic is of my MechMate building assistant:D

[Gerald D]

Nice progress, you have the orientations of the cars the right way around.

The dog's cute. I see that your fridge is guarded.

[domino11]

Or the fridge is being raided. :)

[smreish]

Dave,
The plasma table....are you using a THC controller or just a contact tip on the head?
Sean

[sailfl]

Dave,

Looks like your plasma table is about 4'x4'?

Your dog looks like he/she has not gotten any treats lately.

[Drad98_98]

Sean-I am using the THC300 from Campbell Designs, works great once I got it figured out, had alot of noise issues when building this, odd that the plasma generates that much electrical noise :rolleyes:

Nils - The table is 5' x 6' (cutting area), reason for that was I was able to get 5' x 10' sheetmetal real cheap then I cut in half for a 5x5 sheet.

Just using it as a shelf right now :(

[KenC]

... odd that the plasma generates that much electrical noise :rolleyes:
(

Plasma is man-made thunder after all ;)

[Drad98_98]

Received my remaining 2 motors and controllers along with other parts.

[Drad98_98]

All rails are ground (finally, but my little HF $9.95 grinder did it with out giving up her ghost :D). Everything rolls smoothly, time to start on the Z stage. Lots left to do, at least they are small jobs, just alot of them. Here are a few pics of the progress.

[jhiggins7]

Dave,

Great progress. Looking good.:)

[Rad Racer]

Great job Dave! You should be making dust in no time:)

[KenC]

Man... You are fast...

[domino11]

Awesome work!

[Claudiu]

Good looking build...Dave:)

[Drad98_98]

Thanks all, It is fun building this

[blakekoehn]

Great going Dave. Keep working at it. I worked on several different aspects of it at the same time such as the control box while the paint was drying. I had parts scattered everywhere and thot i was a long way from getting done. All of the sudden I started assembling everything and it came together really fast.

[KenC]

good progress blake, we share that exact feeling...

[Drad98_98]

Hey guys,
Metelhead just prototyped these new stop blocks for me to try. Just wanna say they are top notch, fit perfect and look great, I built mine like the print and it took me about 3-4 hours for all of them, these are a great time saver. Here are a couple pics of the blocks and my progress so far. I got my board all drilled, z-stage almost complete. Going to start disassembly this weekend and start powdercoating all the finished parts so far. Thanks again Mike, appreciate all your help.

[MetalHead]

These stop blocks were done by some of the other members, I just drew a set up with some mods and had them cut out.

So all the credit goes to other members. I am glad they saved time on your build !!!

Keep us updated, but I think they will work fine.

[MetalHead]

Here is the thread where Leo (Castone) brought up the LCB (Laser Cut and Bent) Stop Block.

Link removed

My mods were to make the sensor whole outside round and flare out the bottom to give the tabs more mass in case they impact the stops.

Mike

[J.R. Hatcher]

Mike when I click the link this is what I get .........

J.R. Hatcher, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:


Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.

Log Out (http://www.mechmate.com/forums/login.php?do=logout&logouthash=1266412864-bda4dd0d7af9159fe78162520e7e1821882bc85b) Home (http://www.mechmate.com/forums/index.php?)

[Gerald D]

JR, that link goes to a thread that was being divided and is still in the "quarantine" area, viewable only by admins.

[MetalHead]

:o oops - sorry about that !

[Gerald D]

Try this collection: Hard stops M1 18 000 alternative (http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2581)

[Drad98_98]

Had an issure with my powdercoat oven, few hours to fix it but here are a few pics. Everything will be powdercoated. Let me know.

[Rad Racer]

Wow deja-vu! Seems like just yesterday we pulled my Mechmate parts from this same oven:)

[Drad98_98]

Powdercoating all done and everything assembled minus the electronics, I should have the rest of the Kitchen Table parts here this week then start getting everything done there, my goal it to be tuning it the first weekend in March. Here are a few pics.

[Rad Racer]

Wow, looks really nice! Perfect spot for the Mechmate, garage looks different without the big powder oven.

Planning to come up on March 6th...it'll be fun to make some chips:)

[Sergio-k]

Nice Looking MM Dave.

You'll be cutting really soon !

I wish i had an oven too :rolleyes:

[Drad98_98]

Here are a couple pics of the gear drive units, finished the z stage be done with the others soon, waiting on bearings. I got these from metelhead, I believe they are based on choppers design. I still have to trim the shaft down but I want to get it mounted before I cut it to the correct length.

[domino11]

Nicely done Dave! :)

[Drad98_98]

Thanks Heath,
Hope to get it cutting this weekend!

[Rad Racer]

Looking really good! I see you have mounted your y-car control box.....string any wires yet?

See you tomorrow night.

[Drad98_98]

Not yet, working on the control box, hopefully I get my bearings tomorrow. I will post some pics of the box soon.

[MetalHead]

Can you give us a side shot of that setup. I want to see the replacement z plate.

Looks great btw !!!

Mike

[MetalHead]

That z mod was done to allow for a dust cover to be added.

Mike

[Drad98_98]

Here are a couple side shots for you Mike. I will email you some pics of the mods done to the y plate, pretty minor.

[MetalHead]

Did you press fit the bearings? Do you think the shaft could use a grove and a C-Clip or maybe even drill and tap the shaft and put a retaining screw and washer in?

How close are the two pullies? Could we use a little longer belt?

Looks great!! I'll take a look at my email.

[MetalHead]

Million thoughts in my head. If you flip the pulleys wouldn't it make the motor pulley closer to the motor thus reducing the lateral pressure on the motor shaft?

[MetalHead]

Oh yeah and in the spirit of King Moderator .... Nice Pepsi machine :D !!!

[Drad98_98]

Finished up most of the hookups last night, today we wired the router, soft start and all the E-stops. Cut my first part tonight, uploading video as I write. I will link the youtube as soon as it load. Thanks everyone who followed this build with special thanks to RadRacer #25 (my brother) who helped alot throughout this build and especially this weekend hooking up all the electronics. And thanks to Metalhead(Mike) for the help with the various parts, really appreciate that. I will continue to post stuff as I make it, love to show off the machine and the product it produces.

[Drad98_98]

Here is the Youtube link for the video.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVYIsFDT4d8

[MetalHead]

Wow great to see Dust, Paint and Logos. Looks like you get SN 52 !!!

Congrats on a great build !!! I'd love to see some videos of those belt drives in action!!!

Mike

[Drad98_98]

Ill post a few this week, i will do a 3d to really work them. I like the SN 52, kinda like my brothers SN with dyslexia. :D

[jhiggins7]

Dave,

Congratulations on a great MechMate and Serial #52. :)

Here is the Updated Builder's Log (http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AttqjIPMBEXKcExveGc4d3U0V25zQmMyX1U1eUVhU Xc&hl=en).

Please provide the dimensions of your MechMate for the Builder's Log. Also, please review your entry and let me know of any changes you want to make.

[Drad98_98]

Thanks John,
My dimensions are 97" x 49", all powdercoated frame, gantry stops and gear reductions from Metalhead.
Not sure, do I post them here or message them to you?
Machine built and running but still asking questions!! :confused:

[jhiggins7]

Dave,

Thanks for the updates.

Updated Builder's Log is here (http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AttqjIPMBEXKcExveGc4d3U0V25zQmMyX1U1eUVhU Xc&hl=en).

[Rad Racer]

Great looking machine Dave, nicely done.
Glad you finally made it "already cutting" page:)

[KenC]

Congrats! Well done Dave!

[jehayes]

Nice machine Dave. Well done. Joe

[Gerald D]

Well done Dave!

[sailfl]

Dave,

Congratulations on #52 and welcome to the club.

[Kobus_Joubert]

That machine needs LOTS more dust. Well done and enjoy..

[riesvantwisk]

congrats! Well done! happy cutting!

Ries

[SumBum]

Nice Job Dave. I'm going to be using the same drive reduction plates from Mike and I'm curious what you did for the shaft. Is it just a piece of 1/2" without any machining? Also how many teeth on that belt shown above?

[Drad98_98]

Bum,
I used cold roll 1/2" rod, milled a flat on it for the set screws to "bite" on. As far as the belt and pulleys, I got them from Standard Drive Products. www.sdp-si.com
Belt (4)- A 6B 3-080037
Driven Pulley (4) - A 6A 3-72NF03716
Drive Pulley (4) -A 6A 3-18H3716
Bearings (8) I got from Rick at Superior Bearing, part number FR8.
Let me know if you have any more questions and thanks.

[Drad98_98]

Thanks everyone and thanks again Gerald, what an awesome machine and a great machine to build and run.

[liaoh75]

Great job on a beautiful build Dave.

[domino11]

Congrats Dave!

[Drad98_98]

Cut my first 3D sample from vectorart.com. Turned out great except one small misfortune. I had some collet adaptors made up to use my 1/8 inch bits in my 1/2 collet, forgot to locktite the set screws holding the bit, didnt break but came out and gouged the "ass" of the bull. lesson learned. here is a pic, icut my finish pass a little deeper then planned so it kinda saved it. It was cut from plastic (not sure what kind, scrap) at 200ipm with a 1/8 ballnose for rough and a 1/16 ballnose finish cuts. It is about 6" x 6" x 3/4 deep.
Here is also a youtube video showing the gear reductions in use for you Mike!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiuXHh-ic04[/URL]

[Drad98_98]

Sorry dont think that link worked, i will try again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiuXHh-ic04

[Drad98_98]

And the youtube finish pass.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utDesKRivNg

[jhiggins7]

Nice work, Dave. Impressive!:) Thanks for sharing.

[KenC]

I like!

[Rad Racer]

Nice cut'n Dave....like the hi-speed passes.

[jehayes]

Dave: What software are you using for the vector processing? (I am using VCarve Pro and don't seem to be able to get the VectorArt Bull sample file to open in it.)

Thanks

Joe

[Drad98_98]

Joe,
I am using Artcam Pro, didnt have a problem. I am not familar with VCarve Pro.

[jehayes]

Dave. Thanks

J

[Kobus_Joubert]

I see you made our favourite snack BILTONG from that bulls behind. The word biltong is from our Dutch forefathers in the Cape. The BIL part is from bille or the behind part of our body..your backside... TONG is from tounge ,,,therefore biltong is sliced pieces of meat from the bulls behind that is treated with salt and spices and hung to dry. Better than jerkey as it is known in the USA. Hope I got the spelling right of jerkey.

[Drad98_98]

Sounds tasty, not sure it would be as good from this bull!:D

[Drad98_98]

I got my new dust collector hooked up today, pretty good machine for the price. now I just need to make a dust foot then time to surface the table.

[Rad Racer]

Wow, looks like that unit really sucks:) Like the trash can seperator, let us know how it works for you.

Wayne

[domino11]

Did you put a Thein separator on the trash can lid? They are supposed to work really well.

[Drad98_98]

Heath,
It is a Woodstock International cyclone, came free with the dust collector from Grizzley. It isnt necessary a cyclone, per say, but it does look similar to the thein, seems to work well so far but I havent made much dust for it yet. So far, even the small dust (not the fines) do collect in the trash can, time will tell, I will let you know. Either way it was a freebie so im not out anything.

[Drad98_98]

P.S. see the "nasty" behind the banner I pulled down? That is plasma "dust", another reason to switch to wood. The whole shop looked like that until a complete wipe down of the walls. Anyone in the market for a CNC plasma? It is for sale.

[MetalHead]

If you Google around I have seen some cool mods for those that takes off the bag an relaces it with air filters that work even better. I like Griz stuff. Have a good bit of it in my shop as well .

[jhiggins7]

Further to Mike's point, here is a Thread (http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?p=21324&postcount=1) where I describe the modifications that I made to my Grizzly 1029 Dust Collector including substituting a Wynn filter for the upper bag and a clear plastic bag for the lower bag. I'm very pleased with the results.

[sailfl]

I have a Harbor Freight dust collector and I did what John #26 did with his dust collector and I also bought a Wynn filter, I am very happy with the way the system works. It is worth buying the better filter. My filter is washable.

[Drad98_98]

I will keep the filter in mind, Griz does sell a filter for it also, just need to mod it a little to hold the extra weight. The bag that came with it is a 2.5 micron so that is pretty good filtration.

[MetalHead]

:o I guess I read about that filter here :o

[chopper]

Dave I was wondering how the belt drives were working out for you,
do you think they could be improved upon?
by the way nice machine....

and by the way hi everybody I am back...
//chopper

[riesvantwisk]

Hey Chopper, welcome back...

[KenC]

Hi Chopper,

[chopper]

thanks for the warm welcome,
I am sure that there are others not so happy about my return.....
//chopper

[Drad98_98]

Nice to see you back Chopper. The belt drive are working great, Mike made the tabs a little long but I think that is good in case others want to use different gear setups. I only tweaked them a little and shortened them about 1/2" if I remember right. I used the same as you did with the 4 to 1. I think Mike has them down pretty good.

[chopper]

thanks for the info,
just curious to see how they were performing...
//chopper

[KenC]

Hi Dave, I'm in the process of instally my DC, I see a lot of similarities in our wet up, would you tell me how long is your flexible host dangling from the ceiling & how much slag did yoiu allow for it to cover the whole cutting area?
Thanks in advance

[Drad98_98]

Ken,
I havent finished my dust foot yet so I just have it zip-tied to the z stage. I hung my rigid pipe in the center and am using a 10' length of hose which is plenty long but until I get my dust foot and rigid pipe on my z stage I dont want to cut it. I figure just run the table to all 4 extents of the table and give it enough slack so there isnt any stress on the z and go with that length. Sorry not much help but I can fill you in as I pregress with my final setup. BTW, how is you machine coming along?

[KenC]

Dave,
Thanks for sharing. I am pondering over how much stress is enough to keep the flexible host & Y-car happy.
My MM is cutting & squared. Have not face the spoil board yet due to foreseeable mess by the dust, will do facing once the DC is in operation.
Getting the decal on is harder then building MM... So no number yet but that really doesn't matter to me... Anyhow, I may just resort to cutting a few wooden sign & stick them on...
can't devote much time to work on it lately as work has to get in the way. Moreover, time were chewed up by the CAM software learning curve...

[liaoh75]

Hi Chopper, good to see you back. Did you ever get that roots vac hold down working? I got mine up and running on a 10 HP setup. Not perfect, but for the money spent, one would say it's perfect. Very usable. Anyway, Good to see you back.

[Drad98_98]

Well I finally made my dust foot, machined on MM S/N 25 and installed on MM S/N 52. Here are a couple pics.

[Drad98_98]

Oh, and a quick video of the table surfacing at 500 ipm, probably could have went faster but I wasnt in a hurry and it was my first time surfacing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaDNLK2ndis

[Rad Racer]

Looks great Dave....fits the router nicely.

[Drad98_98]

Here are a cpl vids of my new 2.2 Chinese spindle. Just got it hooked up tonight, not on the machine yet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urXTQ5yKpDI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-govrhvEqMA
Having a friend make a mounting bracket for it, going with 3/4" alum and machined to fit the z-stage, quoted my $40 USD, not bad.

[Rad Racer]

Nice and quite.....much better then the router :)

[Drad98_98]

My dad had an old phonograph and the front decorative grate was broken and missing parts. I scaned in the part of the grate that I had and drew around the good 1/4 that I had left, then mirrored it both ways to get symetrical. Here are a cpl pics, before and finished. I cut it out of 1/4" plywood.

[Robert M]

Nicely done Dave !
May you detail what cutting tools you used to make this happened, especially for those inside end point in the volutes ??
Robert ;)

[MetalHead]

Looks Great !!

[domino11]

Nice Work! :)

[KenC]

Nice!
What is the size of the work?

[gorantec]

Here are a cpl vids of my new 2.2 Chinese spindle. Just got it hooked up tonight, not on the machine yet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urXTQ5yKpDI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-govrhvEqMA
Having a friend make a mounting bracket for it, going with 3/4" alum and machined to fit the z-stage, quoted my $40 USD, not bad.

Can you please let me know where did you get this spindle ?

[myousry]

hi gorantec
from this site you can buy your spindle
http://www.kelinginc.net/CNCSpindleandController.html

[myousry]

or from this site
http://www.motiontek.ca/Spindle.html

[Drad98_98]

Sorry for the delay guys, havent checked my email in awhile.
Robert: I used a 1/8 upcut endmill. Wanted to use a straight but dont have one so I cut it upside down to minimize lifting of the plys.
Ken: It is 11" x 14.25"
Gorantec: I bought it off Ebay from LovesHappyShopping, around $525 USD total with shipping and received it in less then a week, Very happy with it so far.

[Robert M]

Thanks Dave ;)

[Kenrbass]

Robert,

Here is a 3kw air cooled version I got off of ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/3KW-AIR-COOLED-SPINDLE-MOTOR-AND-VFD-INVERTER-DRIVE-NEW-/260660831887?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb098a68f

I have been running it on the bench for a few days and am fixing to install it.

So fare so good. Got it in 4 days. Seems to run very well.

hint: if you want one offer him 450

Kenneth

[domino11]

Ken,
Does this unit have a fan or is it fed with shop air?

[Kenrbass]

The fan is mounted to the top of the spindle shaft and blows air down through cooling ports when the motor is running.

I ran it 10 hrs straight yesterday on the bench. It got warm, but not to hot to hold.

The vfd comes with a chinese manual, but the guy selling it will email you an english pdf version.

[smreish]

OH MY....I want one....off to ebay!

[Drad98_98]

I went with a liquid cooled spindle, way less noise. The only thing I hear is the bit in the wood and the steppers. I can actually hold a conversation while cutting!

[Kenrbass]

With my dust collector and everything else running in my shop, noise it not really an issue. It is about half the volume of my old PC router.

I have been told not to use the pump that comes with the water cooled spindles though. When the pump goes out the spindle dies. The folks I know running them are using pumps for small ponds.

Just FYI.

I hope you have good luck with yours.

Ken

[danilom]

I am using spindle from Deitech 2.2kW watercooled, even if the water pump die it would not overheat in a second and die. And it costed 300EUR with shipping. No rust at all on the spindle body like some received their from ebay.

[Drad98_98]

Mine didnt come with a pump, but I am using a small pond pump, seems to work well. Like danilo said it doesnt overheat rapidly, and actually I think it would run quite awhile with just the water in the lines but I am planning on getting a flow meter and hook up an alarm just in case. Speaking of rust, I was told to run a little anti-freeze in the water for corrosion/rust inhibit, what do you guys think?

[domino11]

Does anyone know what the guys in colder climates (like Canada :) ) would need to do in the winter months? Antifreeze instead of water is a given, but what about running the spindle when the shop is in the 30's? Preheat the coolant?

[Drad98_98]

Heath,
Im in Minnesota so it gets cold here too. I keep my shop at 50F when im not using it but I was also thinking about using a aqurium (sp?) heater to keep the bearings at operating temp, just not sure what the op temp is for the chinese spindles. Anyone know?

[Drad98_98]

I did a test on etching a old mirror I had laying around. It was a real cheap mirror and only about 1/8th in thick. Broke the first one using too much tape to hold it down.

[domino11]

Dave, can we get some more detail on how you did the etching? Looks Interesting! :)

[Drad98_98]

Heath,
I used a 60 degree solid carbide bit from Rockler (US) with a .005 depth, 60 IPM @ 17K RPM. I didnt have a big enough piece to make the text look good, the piece is about 2" x 3". I am going to try the wife's good mirror (1/4 thick") this week HOPEFULLY with good results. If you noticed, the etch down the right side is when you dont start the spindle and bring it to x-y zero and not lift the z, no broken miror or bit. I will post pics of the good mirror if it turns out good and she doesnt kill me lol.

P.S. Anyone notice the font?

[quadtech]

Nice! The next step is to make a edge lit sign out of it.
Use a multi-color LED for fall colors all year long!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Edge-Lit-Displays/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Awesome-LED-Edge-lit-Desktop-Nameplate/

[Drad98_98]

Messing around with some ideas for x-mas presents.

[smreish]

Is that a walleye or cribbage fish? LOL
Nicely done!

[Rad Racer]

Hey, I bet that's my Christmas gift :) (for those that don't know...Dave is my brother)

[Drad98_98]

Finally got around to cutting out my control box cover. Trying inlay for the first time using ArtCam (couldnt let RadRacer show me up :D) Couple chipping issues but all I used was plywood.

[domino11]

Dave,
Are you doing your inlays with a straight bit or V bit? Was wondering which method was easier.

[Drad98_98]

Just a straight bit, heard about using a v-bit but this was my first try at it.

[Greg J]

Dave,

Your gonna be blown away with what you can do with the inlays.

The 60 degree V-bit will give all the detail needed.

Have fun. :)

[Drad98_98]

Wow, over a year since my last post. Time flies when you are MMing. Been making a few signs here and there, mostly nightlights which you can see here www.craftworksmn.com started a web site showing off what the MM and my other tools can do. Check it out and let me know what you think. I still enjoy coming on here and watching the new builds coming thru also some of the incredible work done by the other members here. Have a great 2012 everyone.

[domino11]

Hey Dave,
Can I get a whole bunch of those FREE cnc carved signs? :) I also need a lot of the FREE laser engraved signs too.

I do like your pens. :)

[Drad98_98]

Just put your order in Heath, signs might be free but im pretty sure the shipping will kill you lol, my silly web site designer program wont let me put anything in there but a number, wanted to put Call for pricing!

[domino11]

Sorry Dave, Couldn't resist. :)

[Drad98_98]

Got this idea from one of the threads on here, turned out really cool. I did cut this on the laser but could be cut on the mechmate, I did convert this to a corel draw file and can dxf it out if anyone wants it. I got the pdf from the designer on instructables.

[darren salyer]

That is very cool Dave.

[hennie]

NICE, I see the underside of the MM is a storage place also, for some it is a place to have a lot of dust:)

[Kobus_Joubert]

:eek: Who ME ? I have better things to do.

[hennie]

Jy mis ook niks.Stuur daai pryslys more.

[Regnar]

NICE, I see the underside of the MM is a storage place also, for some it is a place to have a lot of dust:)

That is what the leaf blower is for.......:D


Nice job on lamp. It is on my bucket list.

[1planeguy]

Would love to get the dxf for that lamp...VERY cool...

[Regnar]

Would love to get the dxf for that lamp...VERY cool...

You can find them here towards the bottom of the page.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Woodpunk-LED-Desk-Lamp/

[KenC]

Cutting this on a vacuum hold-down is a challenge for me... Parts do move about if you are not careful. Use climb cut to reduce cutting thrust on the parts.

[Drad98_98]

Russell
That is where I got the idea, everytime I tried to load his files they were corrupt so I redrew them. Sorry for the delay, I have been sick the past few days, just getting back out in the shop. I will get the files out guys, thanks for your patience.