Burnsmod

After my post on milling HDPE on the Shapeoko CNC I wanted to try making a thinner "top layer" than 0.05".  So I painted some wood and some acrylic: new ideas for next etching session (paint on wood and acryllic, 808 bass drum) pic.twitter.com/i5CEYx9APm — tom.exe (@gravitronic) January 5, 2016  Yesterday I had a chance to cut and engrave those painted pieces.  When cutting the acrylic to 4"x6" size it.. stank.  Like, "death by poison" stank.  I looked into it a bit more and decided to avoid milling acrylic.  It's tough, ruins bits, melts, stinks, etc, etc.  Not worth it.  Even...

Today I tried a more "artistic" engraving, but since I don't have any visual art talent I substituted programming for art.   My workflow's basically: draw an SVG using svg.js in jsfiddle export the drawn SVG using the SVG Crowbar Chrome bookmark resize and customize the design using Inkscape. open the design in MakerCAM create CAM "follow path", calculate, export gcode open GrblController, connect to CNC position end mill justttt touching the top of the HDPE at the bottom left corner, set the position to "home" turn on my dewalt 660 spindle run the G-Code sand, cut, wipe off the remaining burrs. The...

Engraving day 2 on Shapeoko went better. I did a bunch of things to make it go better: I levelled my waste board.  I used a depth of 0.05" and which was deep enough, but still easily done in 1 pass.  The first time I tried the levelling cut I learned of a new mistake I had made.  I did not give my z-axis motor wires enough freedom, which caused the whole carriage to jump back when it started reaching the furthest points on the work surface.  So I also had to move my arduino + motor controller into a better position...

I spent the afternoon learning to engrave text using Shapeoko.   For software I'm using an inkscape plugin called Hershey Text to generate paths suitable for engraving, and then generating GCode using MakerCam's "follow path" operation. Some takeaways: Ideal depth is around 0.01". GrblController doesn't appear to put the controller back into "relative position" mode at the end of the run, which can be dangerous.  I should build an emergency stop so I don't have to yank the USB cable from my laptop. At 0.01" target depth, work area flatness becomes very important.  Time to mill a flat work surface off my waste...

I wrote a Google Chrome extension that removes "Trending Stories" from Facebook and Twitter