[QUELAB CNC] Shapeoko->Xcarve Status

[Morgan ``indrora'' Gangwere]

This is for John Anthes, who asked for this, but also for the CNC list so  
we know what's needed:

* A set of bosch-compatible collets (need to obtain) *

Galaxy Products makes replacement collets <  
http://gpcollets.com/bsch_cross.html > that run ~$15/pc and come in  
Imperial and Metric sizes. This gets weirder when you consider that CNC  
milling is all metric.

There's some evidence that newer Bosch routers have horrible runout <  
http://www.precisebits.com/lab_reports/bosch_colt_TIR.htm > Personally,  
for most of the things we're looking at doing, this shouldn't be a problem.

* Endmills (need to determine what to obtain) *

Certainly, some endmills can be borrowed from the metal shop, but a set of  
"kinda common" ones are good to keep *with* the machine, as I'm pretty  
sure Eric would be less than happy with endmills walking around. In a pipe  
dream beyond pipe dreams, we'd get a set of endmills from an absolutely  
insane company out of Japan called OSG; their prices range in the  
$30-60/endmill.

What I need to know is: What endmills do we need to have a good variety?

* A tooling chain (I mostly have) *

Currently, DXF2GCODE is the sanest, but supposedly, Easel is getting  
"better". This will be an evolving process.

* A machine to run the machine (I mostly have) *

I need to go hunt it down again, but I've got a light windows touch device  
that we can smush and use. No fans, no moving parts. USB Extension cord  
and some other stuff and I should be good to go overall. This isn't for  
design, it's for dumping g-code to the machine.

* training (moderately hard) *

We should probably list this as a red/yellow tool, frankly. A 1hp router  
is nothing to laugh at in the long run. Someone who doesn't know what  
their doing can take off fingers, etc.

Marty (the snowboard guy) has been working on some stuff for the CNM  
makerspace -- I'll see what he's got, since they've got a shopbot and a  
plasma cutter and some other fun stuff. We can probably cop some of their  
training materials.

* A place to live (easy) *

No seriously, it doesn't have a home and needs one. It needs a spot carved  
out (pun *intended*) for it. It needs open ventilation and some storage  
area, as well as a means to lash it to the table. It'll vibrate a lot.

Tiny chips of material, cutting fluid in some cases -- these are the  
things that are going to come off of this. When cutting wood, it'll fling  
off dust, when cutting metal, we get metal flakes (hot!) and cutting  
fluid, and when you get into PCB manufacturing with it (which I definitely  
want to do) we'll get fiberglass shreds and atomized copper. Ew.



So, that's where the CNC machine stands.

-- 
Morgan Gangwere      <morgan.gangwere at gmail.com>
www: zaibatsutel.net twitter; @indrora (also GH)