Adding 4th axis to the desktop CNC
Just finished setting up the 4th axis.
That table is starting to look a little crowded.
Just finished setting up the 4th axis.
That table is starting to look a little crowded.
Programmed and machined a T-800 head from thingiverse:
Here is a finished scull video from all sides: https://youtube.com/shorts/mdclf5LvdyM?feature=share
In the 1st op I milled the base with a 1/4-20 tapped hole right where my Z0Y0Z0 will be.
Then I mounted the base on a square fixture using the tapped hole. This way as I index the square fixture in the vise, my part Z0Y0Z0 remain in the same spot.
2nd op was the back of the scull
3rd op was the face, and the 4th and 5th were the sides
Here is a YouTube video of some of the 3rd op machining. Warning Loud Noise!
Thinking about getting your self an affordable desktop CNC?
Check out this Shariff DMC2 designed and built by my fellow Canadian!
I wanted to purchase the first version about a year ago, but his Kickstarter campaign has ended by then and I ended up buying a used Prolight 2000 with auto tool changer.
This looks like a quite rigid, fast and a very powerful (3HP, 24k rpm) machine.
Certainly has better accuracy and power than my old heavy desktop machine with 0.001" backlash and just 1hp, 5k spindle.
Not affiliated in any way, by the way. Just looks like a great product all around.
Ever since getting my benchtop CNC running, I have not been very happy with the lack of manual control over overrides and buttons.
This DIY Engineering video gave me a great idea: build one myself.
I wanted the smooth speed and feed overrides, so I decided to not go with HID device, but instead with a full serial control paired with a custom plugin on the UCCNC side.
Here is the Fusion design of the enclosure:
And here it is 3D-Printed.
Acrylic face engraved from the back side and painted.
And all buttons and controls mounted:
All I have to do now is wire the Arduino board, program the plugin, and test it!
Update:
Here is the video of the pendant in action:
If you don't have a 3D printer and/or a CNC Mill, please contact me and I will send you a 3d-printed enclosure and the 3d-printed or milled acrylic face plate:
StandardFirmata
sketch used for Arduino NANO is also added to the release packageArduino USB Driver
in order for your Arduino to work on the target computer!LEETArduinoPendant.dll
plugin file to the C:\UCCNC\Plugins directory!Solid.Arduino.dll
file from the Solid.Arduino
release folder to the C:\UCCNC directory.Arduino USB Driver
in order for your Arduino to work on the target computer!Settings->Configure Plugins
, and mark the LEET Arduino Pendant
plugin as Enabled
and Call startup
Here is the promised portrait screenset for UC400.
IT ONLY WORKS FOR UC400!!
You would have to adjust to your controller by hand.
The job of a software developer is to solve problems.
So naturally, when I wanted to easily edit a screenset for UCCNC motion control software, I decided to create an app for that!
You can find it here: https://snapwebapps.com/uccnceditor/
Since my garage/shop has a limited workspace, I have long wanted to upgrade the big and clumsy computer I used to drive my little Prolight desktop CNC to something more elegant and convenient.
TL;DR: You can read about the printing settings and download files on Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4754968
Here is the shared Fusion Project: https://a360.co/36UhI15
After quite a bit of googling, and testing the UCCNC control software that i already have I decided to re-use my old Z83 mini-PC with Intel Atom processor.
Then I ordered a SunFounter 10.1" touchscreen monitor with a nice resolution of 1200x800 from amazon.
Since the display does not come with an enclosure I decided to design one myself.
A good opportunity to dust off my 3d modeling skills:
Did some testing for HSMAdvisor in A36
Tool: 3/16" 4 FL 0.25" LOC 0.7 Stickout
RPM: 5000 Feed: 32.0ipm
Original engagement DOC: 0.25, WOC: 0.083
Was successful and sounded nice, but the TTS holder started to pull out. Had to half both DOC and WOC for the video:
Machined this 2-piece utility knife on my ProLIGHT2000 benchtop CNC.
Just one little lock left!
View this post on Instagram
Finally got my proLIGHT CNC Mill running with UCCNC control software.
Chose that over mach3/4 because uccnc software seemed better made. Unfortunately, it too has bugs.
Most importantly, executing gcode.
Instead of running all codes in a block simultaneously, it does them in the incorrect order.
For example, code like
Don't need to tell you this may lead to crashes.
So I changed the MasterCAM's post processor to output some of the codes in different lines.
Hopefully, devs will fix this issue soon.
In other news, I have just finished the first 2-tool piece.
It was a miniature skull figure made out of aluminum:
I got 150 bucks for machining that for a guy I met in a Facebook group. Nice!
The smallest endmill was 1mm ball nose, and it held up perfectly at max RPM of 5000 and feed rate of about 25ipm.
The DOC and stepover were about 0.004"
Now I wish it had a 20k spindle. If I could run at 100ipm, it would make a quick work of that little piece.
This way, it took 1 hour, which is not too bad either.
Cheers!
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