Scratch Build – Complete Puddidium235 - Feb 2023 Complete +Final pics

Holy moly, there are some intricate details on show here!!

 

Thanks. I try to challenge myself with each build. I overdid this one.
@Nexxo -Not sure what you mean. I've had a cnc forever. You haven't been away THAT long.

 

I have been... distracted. I knew you had a mill. I guess I never really clocked the CNC goodness.

 

I have little to show. I've been having not much fun with win10. It seems hell-bent on deleting my drivers and software lately.

-I managed to dremel and sand out the bridge under the 2 O-rings I mentioned. The 1/64" O-ring retainer is gone at this point. I don't know what kind of brain-fart I had that made me think that tiny lip would survive. The blue is remnants of permanent marker so I could (sort of) see what I was doing.

-I've decided to remake this one, so the masking came off. The clouding to the left is when I noticed the bit was going dull. It's about time. I used it on all the aluminum for the gantry mill too.

-You don't think I'd throw away a dull bit with a name like 'Cheapskate' though, right? I just shifted it to wood duty.
It's gag-gift season, and i thought I'd try dovetailed wood. I finished up the sharp corners with a 1mm bit. I'm starting to really like those.

 

In case you're looking for easy dovetailing, I use this router bit in my mill, which cuts 4mm fingers:



They're only about $20,--, but work surprisingly well. I clamp two wooden panels (one at the back propped up 4mm relative to the front one) in front of a sacrificial plank and then cut gradually deepening cuts, front to back, to prevent the wooden fingers splintering or being ripped off.





Fairly snug fit:



Sorry for the digression; I thought you might want to know!

 

Keep update, good work! I hate win10 too! lol

 

Just to be that guy thats a box joint dovetails are cut on an angle

 

Thanks, guys!
@Osgeld - YOU HUSH!
@Nexxo - I've got a radial arm saw that could do that, but that defeats the purpose of cnc-ing it.
@4LIEN - Turnip is unplugged, but it's trying to re-install all the stuff I undid already. I need to remember not to alt-f4 it to shut down from now on.
I could rant on 10 all day. They owe me for 5 days downtime since November.

 

CNC-ing dovetail joints. Hardcore!

 

-I'd like to take a moment to confess that I am WAY too stingy with the plastic. I had to tile saw this to fit the surfacing job I did on the MDF. I cut just enough material off to leave .14 inch between the two parts. That was some really tough zeroing.

-The white Christmas turned into a blizzard.

-The last time I tried to tap using the drill press, my setup managed to still drive the tap crooked. I decided to make a tap guide that doesn't have 15 degrees of play. I got really elaborate with it. Here are two bits of acetal that will hold the tap.

-I know what you are thinking, "just drill a hole in a chunk of wood." I tried that, the smooth bit on the tap is small enough for the end to tilt.
I was doing great with the acetal, until I used the big bit. It got the plastic hot, and it promptly started stinking. It turns out acetal vents formaldehyde. -So I got some traumatic flashbacks of high school biology rat dodgeball, and burning, itchy eyes.

-I think I'm ready to tap the manifold now. The tap is pressed into the guide, and the back has slots for a wrench.

I also cut the middle baffle layer. The frosted stuff is a lot more opaque than I thought.

That's it for now. Thanks for putting up with me.

 

Looks impressive - and a great, obnoxious color like you said. How heavy will this be?

 

Thanks. I don't know yet. It shouldn't be too bad since it's all hugging an itx rig pretty closely.

 

You know i'm a big fan of custom tools for custom mods !
formaldehyde ! now you got me thinking about the neighbours pesky cat........

 

What did you do to the neighbor's cat?

 

Cant wait to see this water cooling system in action, looks like its gonna be sweet

 

Thanks! Me too. I'm hoping it doesn't rattle.

 

Merry strange Christmas fellow munkeys!

-I said I'd remake it, and I did. There was a slight problem again, however...

- The sheet I used to make this part was REALLY warped. Even after gluing it down with all my lead shot on top of it, one corner lifted off the waste board. The result is that the O-ring channel around the tube area is too deep. I think I can fix it by adding some clear paint to the low area.

-I remade the center baffle too. The first one's color was fantastic, but it obscured the view. This is 'Florescent blue.'

-Hey! Someone made the tap tool a perfect fit for a wrench! I totally planned that out, and didn't have a crescent wrench ready. The tool worked perfectly, and the tapping was right on.

-I also had some horrible discrepancies in each part. The low spot in the middle is unsanded, and you can see the first part had a nice clean cut, while the other two look awful. I changed the speed for these and sped up the spindle to give my ears a break. There's also a nasty tilt in the cut from me not leveling the machine yet. I resorted to 80 grit to get all this even. That's not something that should happen with cnc. I probably need to get this thing dialed in a little better.

-This is my mill set as high as it can go. There's like, 1/8" of space in there. I need these flat and level to mate the radiator connectors.

-And I still have a collision. the light box got repositioned to the front.

-Next, I had to cut that tunnel... Let's just say the first time was cleaner.

This one got a little potato-shaped.

I marked up the centers for milling the ports... I'm not sure why I did the ones on the end of the part. I still have to mill that one flat tonight.

-When I get that fixed up, next up is THIS bad boy. 1&1/4" plexi. I'm just waiting for a warm day to tile saw off what I need. You don't want to get sprayed with ice cold water in winter.

-Thicker than the manifold. This is going to be obnoxious.

On that note, I'm finishing up with Christmas stuff:

-Holiday gag gift finished! -Except for cleanup. The varnish was OK with 50-degree weather, but the tape wasn't.

-Take that! Pesky phone solicitors! So far, this is the only successful gift delivery. Everything else is stuck in a post office somewhere. We have a 14 pound turkey for three, and family will be coming by to collect pots of food from the doorstep. What a weird year.
I hope everyone is doing well, and have a merry Christmas.

 

Inspiring!! Have a nice holiday too!

 

Thanks.

 

-Side ports... That was... snug. I set up this bit to cut 1/2" deep, while making sure there was clearance for the collet. When I started the process, The Z ran up the 1/4" clearance gap I normally work with, and crashed into the top of the frame. Oops, forgot about that one. There was a lot of tinkering to get everything to fit.

-I got my ports cut, though. Next I sanded.

-I didn't too fancy. I roughed out with 150 and 240 grit, then went straight to the powdered cleaner buff.

-Until I finish up, I'm leaving the masking on. For now, have a nice pic of my ceiling.

-I milled out this chunk of 3/4" and 1/2" to make a switch marble housing. There was a tense moment when I misplaced my ballsack.

-Eventually, this will be backed with this pearl stuff, and a tiny switch placed behind.

-Oh, right. I teased I was going to get after this big plastic. I sliced off a 4 inch slab. I wish The new mill was as easy to level as the tile saw.

-Say hi to the new "air compressor." It's quiet, low power consumption, and an effective calf workout. This quarantine hasn't helped my weight any.

-This is the start of a 3/4" deep pocket. The total time was around 3 1/2 hours. I could have made a more efficient operation, but this is such a huge chunk. I'd hate to screw it up.

-This is where I'm currently at, and where I'll likely be for a week. I was impressed enough with the finish of the 1/4" ball bit, that I decided to get a square end to finish up the outside. I didn't want to use the 1" depth of cut bit on this and potentially muck up the part where the shank would touch.
-If any of that makes sense.
TL;DR - I bought a long bit to finish.
-Well, as long as I could get.