As a follow-up to yesterday’s post, [owen] sent along a link to his computer controlled router table for balsa cutting. This was his project before switching to lasers and sheetmetal. The write up starts with an interesting discussion about CNC not really being a magical tool or time saver. Sure, it can be pretty quick about cutting accurate pieces, but you still have to assemble it. Most likely all of the time you saved cutting was spent designing and prepping, which you could have spent cutting accurate parts by hand. Owen had extra time to spend designing since he was traveling for business. He does admit that the ability to quickly generate replacement parts has made him a more courageous pilot.

Other gems from yesterday’s comments: CNCZone is apparently the one-stop shop for all of you CNC hobbyist needs. [javamoose] pointed out that he’s nearly done with his scratch built CNC machine seen on bit-tech. [mike]’s FIRST robotics team is in the process of converting a punch tape driven Bridgeport NC mill. They found the owner of wimb.net very helpful. [ivan256] recommended the plans found on John C Kleinbauer’s site.

Continue reading “Computer Controlled Balsa Router” →

There was a little interest in Graham’s 3D scanning probe, but this is what he is normally using his tiny CNC machine for: manufacturing components for a tiny RC ornithopter. The scale of this thing is amazing. From the tiny gear train to the 0.5mm carbon spars the frame is constructed from. The rudder control only weighs one gram and the entire device comes in at 17 grams.

Continue reading “12″ RC Ornithopter” →

Graham calls this touch probe his first useful milling project. He had already built the CNC mill and once he built this probe on the mill he essentially had a 3D scanner. The central hub is supported by three shafts spaced evenly around its axis. These shafts each rest on a pair of ball bearings to make a complete circuit. If the probe bumps into anything, one of the shafts will lift, breaking the circuit. TurboCNC has a built in routine for scanning with a touch probe. The program generates a point file which Graham pulled into Rhino for modeling. His example application was cloning a model airplane prop that had gone out of production. The TurboCNC routine isn’t very quick since the probe always returns to the same height so he’s coding a faster algorithm. This type of touch based scanning was also employed in agiecco’s LEGO 3D scanner.

Continue reading “Touch Probe For 3D Scanning” →