Messages

8191

General Mach Discussion / Re: which limitswitch is being triggered

« on: June 09, 2009, 06:17:50 AM »

if your limit switches are each wired separately to an input pin then yes Mach screen Diagnostics will tell you but if your limit switches are all serial or parallel connected to one input pin then the answer is no.

Tweakie.

8192

General Mach Discussion / Re: better to ask first than pay later

« on: June 07, 2009, 12:25:39 PM »

Before you go buying anything and for what it is worth, I would suggest that steppers will be far too slow for a table that size and you will be disappointed with the time it takes for the rapid positioning moves and that servo motors are the way to go.

Tweakie.

8193

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: Gertrude Gets Some!

« on: June 07, 2009, 03:28:09 AM »

Hi Chris,

I don't think that anybody who works in a 'hands on trade' by using their skills really earns any money. I know quite a few skilled craftsmen from various ,apprenticeship backed, trades and they just earn average money (and work hard for it).

The way to go is to provide a service rather than a product and just use your skills for private and personal jobs. I know a few rich people and none of them physically produce a product in their work. They perhaps don't sleep too well at night but they don't seem to me to be working very hard for their money.

It's sad but true.

Tweakie.

8194

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: Gertrude Gets Some!

« on: June 05, 2009, 10:54:03 AM »

Hi Chris,

I really don't know where you get the time to keep doing all this work - haven't you got any hobbies ?   

Tweakie.

8195

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: Laser Cut Gaskets using a low power laser.

« on: June 04, 2009, 02:43:09 PM »

Hi Daniel,

It's the rust preventing paper that they use to wrap up tools etc. None of my proper gasket material is thin enough for this job.

Tweakie.

8196

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: motion test on the horizon...

« on: June 04, 2009, 11:11:22 AM »

Very neat Barry - I wish my wiring was that tidy.

Tweakie.

8197

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: My New Router Gantry Build

« on: June 04, 2009, 11:08:41 AM »

Looking good Gary.

Tweakie.

8198

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Laser Cut Gaskets using a low power laser.

« on: June 04, 2009, 11:00:55 AM »

My favorite model plane has an aging OS 61 which is now due for new crankshaft bearings and a clean up. The new crankcase gaskets have always been a pain to make (can’t buy them anymore – people don’t still use engines this old) and as I saw a posting recently about laser cut gaskets I decided to give it a try. I scanned the crankcase and got a reasonably good image which I converted to vector and then to GCode. Cutting at only 40 mm/min the 150mW laser made a pretty good job and didn’t set fire to the thin material as I half expected it to.

A couple of pictures of the laser and it’s control box on my Z axis, the finished gaskets and where they fit on the crankcase.

Tweakie.

8199

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: My first attempts at laser engraving.

« on: June 02, 2009, 12:26:53 PM »

Yea -  Australia prohibits imports of anything greater than 50 mW.

Never tried green lasers either - please post your results.

Tweakie.

8200

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: My first attempts at laser engraving.

« on: May 29, 2009, 04:16:16 AM »

Thanks for the kind words Kent.

One thing about using lasers is that there is no loading on the tool head therefore even converted pen plotters would be good to use. You need to have no worries about MDF with low power lasers - the worst that could happen is a few scorch marks perhaps. 

Tweakie.