Scratch Build – In Progress Baby Moon *Complete*

AL99 would be good to bend, but unfortunately also very soft and melts at the milling more.

 

I'm still pretty much a n00b when it comes to milling so I'm worried about materials that are difficult to machine. Alu that's easy to bend is usually crap to machine. I'm thinking the best solution is to go ahead and make the part with the tempered material I have and then annealing it before I try bending it. Strength isn't a huge deal so hopefully I won't have to re-temper it when I'm done forming it. I guess I could also remove a bit more material, but it still needs some rigidity.

 

Update!

To redeem myself from yesterdays complete failure, I started work on the uprights for the base. Using some 1"x2.5" flat bar, I ended up with this...















Quite a bit to go with them, but I'm pleased. I also ordered more ball nose bits, should be here soon so I can get back to the shell.

Thanks for looking!

 

Hey, Even in failure, you look awesome! I can't wait to see how all this goes together.
-I'm betting the sides will be held on with magnets- they are steel, after all.

 

I'm not at liberty to say...

Actually, that's exactly what I was thinking. They'll probably just be mounted at two points, top and bottom. That way you can push on either the left or right side of the hubcap and it will break loose. Nothing set in stone yet though.

 

This look awesome! I hope you have more luke at the 2nd milled ring.
I don't think, that you are an noob at milling. All you milled pieves looks very good!

 

Your absolutely right, though with the aid of fiberglass insulation you may be able to keep the temp up.

 

Well, I'm going to have to buy some more aluminum. I didn't make it very far into the second piece before completely ruining it. Someone want to lend me $2k so I can build a CNC router?

 

Update!

Good news! I'm finally back to where I was two weeks ago.











There's still a bit of a flat spot I only noticed just now looking at the pics. I also need to sand the inside and smooth out all those little bends.

But this one came out almost perfect and it only took three attempts . The annealing helped a ton, you can still see the faded permanent marker I used as a temp indicator. Hopefully I'll have some more updates soon!

 

I still can't get over the design, really looking forward to this!

 

Awesome recovery shinji.
Remaking bits feels like a game of snakes & ladders falling to an earlier spot.

 

It's cool isn't it?

It's very Apple... I hope you don't take offence at that but the shiny silver and unique shape remind me of Apple's designs

 

WOW, awesome design and great skills with the mill
Cant wait to see it up and running

 

A wooden or rawhide mallet would probably help knocking the facets out, any random bit of hardwood will do - rolling pins work well.

Another option would be to work from the inside, make a section of your outer curve, just 45 to 90 degrees worth will do, use a rounded piece of hardwood of a smaller diameter - again rolling pins should work well - as a punch and whack it with your hammer knocking the curve out rather than forming around.

 

I like to be different .

I always land on the ladder that takes you all the way back to the start. I did plan for some trial and error with this piece. Hopefully the rest is more straightforward.

I'll take that as a compliment . For whatever criticisms one may have of Apple, they at least know a thing or two about design.

I've played around a bit, but this is actually my first time using my mill to make something. Just making it up as I go!

Thanks for the tips. I'll try to get a picture later, but the annealing made the metal almost too malleable. I was able to easily bend it by hand around a smallish chunk a wood that was formed to match the inside curve. A rubber mallet coaxed the tabs on the ends into shape. It's so soft I'm worried I might need to re-temper it when I'm done. As I found with the first piece, it didn't take much sanding to smooth out the inside.

Thanks for the comments everyone! Possibly an update tomorrow.

 

Enjoyed reading your log so far, Glad you tried again, the design is wonderful. Looking forward to seeing more

 

First time using your mill on a project? Damn good job. Will follow your progress with interest.

 

Update!

I can't believe I went a whole year without working on this. Well, I'm between jobs at the moment and I think I've worked through some of the elements about the design I wasn't happy with. I think it's time to finally finish this.

Making the uprights wasn't going very smoothly so I'm trying something different. I have some parts on the way but for now this is what I'm left with.





To mount the motherboard tray I made these blocks that I will hopefully epoxy on. I think some JB weld will be good enough. Still waiting on some magnets before I'm ready to permanently affix these.





And here's the motherboard tray with a 2.5" HDD/SSD mount.





Here's a quick mockup.







A lot of the missing bits and pieces should be here soon, hopefully I actually make some more progress.

Thanks for reading!

 

Lookin' good!

So the steel domes aren't a tight fit within the aluminium band, and the gap is what provides ventilation. Clever.

 

Oh yeah, you're back for one of the most promising and amazing project of these last years ! And, as always, great aluminum work.