Kirk Wallace wrote:
On Thu, 2008-12-11 at 10:50 -0600, Luke Scharf wrote: ... snipMy questions are:* What kind of a desktop mill (for a hobbyist-sized workload) would you all recommend for me?I've had in the back of my mind the thought that a person should have a different machine for each general type of project material.
I agree in-principal, however I have a limited work-area. My garage is a one-car garage -- we don't actually park cars there, but that's just because my girlfriend likes what I've built so far. :-) Plus, since I'm a hobbyist, I can afford more setup-time for each task than someone who is more production-oriented. It seems like I should be looking for flexible, small, precise, and slow. Of course, if I get really good with this machinery, then I assume my needs will change.
A desktop to Bridgeport type mill for metals, a 4x4 or 8 foot router type for wood and a small router for PC boards. One reason I am thinking this way is because every time I think about putting a wood project on my mill, I talk myself out of it, because I don't like the wood mess and running the spindle flat out for a long time. Wood projects often have pieces larger than my mill's travel. For PC boards, I don't like to have abrasive glass dust getting in the mill's ways. For your situation, maybe a desktop mill should come first so that you can use it to make a CNC router. Just thinking aloud, FWIW.
Good info -- I hadn't thought about cleaning the mill between projects.I did have to clean my drill-press after drilling some plastic last night. (It turned out really well -- and my small-router now fits my router-table. The countersunk holes came out really well -- but there were black plastic shavings everywhere. I keep wondering if I should just duct-tape a shop-vac attachment onto the platform.) I don't mind doing this if that's what I have to do in order to use my space effectively --- but it is work.
* Any recommendations for CAD software?Check out: http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emcinfo.pl?Cam http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emcinfo.pl?Simple_EMC_G-Code_Generators http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emcinfo.pl?Case_Studies and more at: http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emcinfo.pl You can make allot of useful g-code programs manually.
It does look like a comprehensible language. It reminds me a little bit of an assembly language, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. :-)
* Are there any FAQs that I should review to get myself up to speed on the small-scale CNC technologies?You might think about downloading an EMC2 CD and play with the simulations. I usually run my parts on a simulator first to work out the bugs, so you might want to get used to it.
I didn't realize that a simulator was available. I'll take a look.Is that simulator available for Debian or Ubuntu? Also, is it graphical? Or a command-line program that outputs some sort of geometry file that I can view in another application?
How much of the CNC machine do you want to build yourself or buy of the self? Are you more of a CNC machine builder or machine user?
I'm hoping to be a CNC machine user, at this point. But I'm willing to do more work on the machine to save money and make it more flexible but, since my end-goal is to use the CNC machine the way I use a drill-press or a table-saw, I'd like to stay on th beaten path.
My background: I'm a sysadmin with a CS degree who can solder surface mount components, use power tools, and muck with embedded systems. I've supported users who have designed PCBs, users who've done complex algorithms with FPGAs, and users who have dabbled in robotics and embedded systems... So I have some appreciation of how much time and effort it takes to make an electronically-controlled mechanical system work well. :-)
-Luke
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