At the risk of being laughed out of the forum...

Storebought or Homemade: Tell Us!
tippie53
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Re: At the risk of being laughed out of the forum...

Post by tippie53 »

learning curves
one thing you may want to thing about is permanent grounding on the machine and you touch the ground wire first they have grounding applications for your shoes and grounding mats on amazon
keep posting the info will always help someone
John Hall
Blues Creek Guitars Inc
Authorized CF Martin Repair Center
president of Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans
http://www.bluescreekguitars.com
Diane Kauffmds
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Re: At the risk of being laughed out of the forum...

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

tippie53 wrote: Wed Nov 17, 2021 7:32 am learning curves
one thing you may want to thing about is permanent grounding on the machine and you touch the ground wire first they have grounding applications for your shoes and grounding mats on amazon
keep posting the info will always help someone
You've brought up the crux of the entire problem.

The first board arced. I saw the arc. The on/off button was a tiny button buried on the bottom of the board, in a bad place. The new board is an upgrade, basically making the machine Sainsmart's best 3018-PROver. It has a nice rocker button at the top.

But, the problem remains. I've been talking to Frank about grounding schemes, because it's a definite issue. I was going to ground the machine to one of the copper water pipes that run across the ceiling in the shop. I have (or used to have) a wrist ground that I wore when I built computers. I thought of wearing it to ground myself to the machine when I operate it.

Thank you for bringing this up. I meant to mention it.
Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
Diane Kauffmds
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Re: At the risk of being laughed out of the forum...

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

Kevin Sjostrand wrote: Tue Nov 16, 2021 1:30 pm Diane it sounds like you had your share of issues getting going with your machine
I'm glad it is finally working for you.
Once I'm retired end of the year I am hoping to do more with my machine, play around with the fretboard inlays for sure. I had not thought about marking the heel block...excellent idea, especially using the laser.
On this cut for your logo, are you using a V bit, or a straight milling bit?
The V bits will give a little better/cleaner edge. But cutting in soft wood you get some of that just about no matter what.
I got that Fusion 360 Hobby (free) but have not ventured into it yet. They are no longer offering it so I wasn't sure if the downloaded version would still work??
This is just a practice board, so it's scrap pine. On my builds I'll be using ebony. I'm using square bits here. I'm wanting to pour art epoxy into the logo in lieu of pearl, so I'll be trying the v bit to see how it comes out. A V bit would probably allow me to use a more scripted logo too.
Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
tippie53
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Re: At the risk of being laughed out of the forum...

Post by tippie53 »

you can cut the pearl you should be able to do an offset . I usually allow .002 undersize
it is fun to learn new things.
you can also use powered metals like brass and copper for a neat effect
John Hall
Blues Creek Guitars Inc
Authorized CF Martin Repair Center
president of Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans
http://www.bluescreekguitars.com
MaineGeezer
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Re: At the risk of being laughed out of the forum...

Post by MaineGeezer »

A down-cut bit (Stewmac sells them) will give a clean edge. You have to be careful about choking the cutter with chips and breaking the cutter though, because the downward spiral drives chips into the slot you're cutting. Use a
regular up-cutting bit to take out most of the material, leaving about a 0.003" machining allowance, then change to the down-cut bit and finish to size.
Don't believe everything you know.
Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about.
When things are bad, try not to make them any worse, because it is quite likely they are bad enough already. - French Foreign Legion
tippie53
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Re: At the risk of being laughed out of the forum...

Post by tippie53 »

tools today will have them cheaper than stew mac
John Hall
Blues Creek Guitars Inc
Authorized CF Martin Repair Center
president of Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans
http://www.bluescreekguitars.com
Diane Kauffmds
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Re: At the risk of being laughed out of the forum...

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

Finally, success!

I've cut an inlay pocket for my logo, and art deco style letters out of Korean awabi pearl ablam for someone else. I did it without breaking my bit. I've cut 2 sets of letters out of the shell.
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Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
tippie53
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Re: At the risk of being laughed out of the forum...

Post by tippie53 »

you getting more comfortable with the machine
John Hall
Blues Creek Guitars Inc
Authorized CF Martin Repair Center
president of Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans
http://www.bluescreekguitars.com
Diane Kauffmds
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Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:13 pm

Re: At the risk of being laughed out of the forum...

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

tippie53 wrote: Mon Nov 22, 2021 10:05 pm you getting more comfortable with the machine
Yes, I am. I'm also getting more comfortable with the software. I'm still learning something every time I run it.

I was breaking 1/32" bits (5 of them) so I cheated. I bought 1mm bits. The additional 0.2mm in size makes them more resilient. But, I also slowed down the feed rate to a snail pace and cut these using 11 passes. I probably don't need to go quite this slow, but at least things are getting done.

Tomorrow, I'll try another 1/32" bit, using my slower-than-grass-grows feed rate with the 11 passes to see how it goes. The shell is only 1.25mm thick, so each pass is only 0.114mm deep. 1/32" are the smallest bits I own.
Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
Diane Kauffmds
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Re: At the risk of being laughed out of the forum...

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

banjopicks wrote: Fri Nov 12, 2021 9:24 am Thanks for the update. It's definitely looking promising.

What's the white junk around the cutter in photo 2?

How can you extend the bed, aren't you limited by the travel limits?
That's just the dust from cutting the pearl. I'm going to add a dust shoe to the spindle, so I can attach my vacuum and run it while it's cutting.

Genmitsu makes an expansion kit. It turns the 3018 into a 3040. The expansion kit runs $60. They also sell an expansion for the table, which includes everything to double the table size. It also runs $60.

It's easily to expand the x or y axis on this little cnc, to whatever size needed. The aluminum t-track, 10mm guide rail, and 8mm lead screw, are all sold on Amazon in various lengths.
Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
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