Yes, it will be a fun experience all the way around. I've not used CNC in 20 years, so it will be new all over. However, at least I've kept up on my CAD. You know I'll get it dirty! I do remember him saying that. The biggest pieces I have to cut are the side panels. I can get carbide end mills for about $8 a piece, and I'll try and get plenty on hand. End mills specifically for composites like carbon fiber, are around $80... so I'd like to avoid that unless I know they would last a long time. I can buy a hell of a lot of end mills for what water jet would cost me. So, I'm going to tackle this myself. I don't want to outsource if I can help it, especially if I have capable equipment myself.
I would love to own a waterjet. But they are very expensive. A year ago I went at looked at a used waterjet for sale here in Portland Oregon. It was $25k for the waterjet itself, and that was how they advertised it, what they didn't say was that the Pumps and support gear was another $100k!!! And that was a 4ftx2ft machine. You can get a brand new 4ftx8ft CNC Router for less then $20k. And small machines like the one Craig is getting for FREE, the *******, complete for about $4k.
Exactly, waterjets are nowhere near cheap. As such, the cost to have work done, isn't cheap either. Remember, before I knew I was getting the CNC, I fully expected to do all the cutting with a scroll saw. I have no idea how long that would have taken, but I figured it would be worth it in the end. Now that I've got an easier method of getting things done, I'll just have to make more complex designs...
redoing the renderings!!!!! oh sweet mercyful mother of............ your an evil man now we will have to wait even longer
Nah, hopefully it shouldn't be that bad. I'll just add more detail to what I already have. When you think you'll have to do all your work by hand, there are certain things you sometimes simplify. I no longer need to do that. I've got to translate a lot of my 3D parts to 2D for milling, and I'll make the changes then.
Most people I have seen using their routers don't really do 3d stuff anyway. You need smarter programs to generate the g-code than when you're doing simple 2d shapes. The structure of the routers don't really lend to 3d as well as a mill construction would.
without all of the programming in the world a machine is just a pile of metal nothing more then just a paper weight
Lol, trust me, it's been a long wait here too. Only 2 days now! No, you can't. not that I need to do a lot, but it's nice to have the ability. There are some great youtube videos of this machine running with a 4th axis, as well as doing regular 3D work. It's quite impressive. Yeah, well, no matter what project I start, things tend to get more complicated as time progresses. This machine isn't going to help any. The cost of the software is definitely an issue. Regardless of the value of the machine, software could easily run me up to $1000 for full 3D capability. If I kept it simple, it's closer to $300. Which is what I'll likely do to start. I'll move to 3D when the need arises, but I don't think I'll need it on this project in particular.
So, it looks like EMC2 is just a g-code interpreter. I'd still need a program to generate the code. I don't suppose there is a free version of something like that?
Are you guys ready for this? Well, it's finally arrived! Thanks to Ron Rogers of Romaxx for making this possible. What you are about to see is the unboxing of a shiny new HS-1 CNC router. This machine is considered a tabletop CNC, and as such, doesn't take up a lot of space. Since I work primarily in small form factor, this will fit 99% of every need I have. Even though it's a compact design, this thing arrived to me in a 125 pound box. 105 pounds of that is the machine itself. If weight is any indicator of strength, then this thing is a beast. So, shall we look at a few pics of this thing? The box... Let's crack this thing open. It's definitely well packed, and bolted through the bottom of the crate. That's it for now, but I'll follow up once the machine is setup in the shop. Until then!
Thanks man! I'm heading home now, and I'll get it set up in the shop. I'm not sure how soon I will have it running, but I'll do my best!
