OP
OP
ttocs
Post Whore
I thought you would like that. Demon was too big.
late night cnc
- Thread starter ttocs
- Start date
castine917
Well-Known Member
Lol. Especially silly not to have eject part.
This will really help tie everything in! Looks great!
Scott I could totally see people buying these. Please tell me your considering making them and selling them?!?!
Now that you have the main specs created and saved, you’d just have to see what they wanted typed in the spaces or how many switches they want.
I’m thinking stuff like this could be UUUUGGGGEEEEEEEEE!!!
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Now that you have the main specs created and saved, you’d just have to see what they wanted typed in the spaces or how many switches they want.
I’m thinking stuff like this could be UUUUGGGGEEEEEEEEE!!!
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OP
OP
ttocs
Post Whore
Like you said the hard part was all figured out. If anyone wanted one I could push the button and make another and would be happy to if someone wanted one. I am already starting on my next project, a custom acrylic mount for a first day postal cover signed by 11 of the 500 home run hitters club that are of course in the all of fame. I did a quick trial of it last night on a scrap piece as I figured I would have issues and did. This time I am learning how to make a big project into smaller ones that are "tiled" together to make the big project. For some reason it pushed the larger letters on the bottom up into the names. Once I figure out the "tiling" then I can make project pretty much as big as I want or need. It has a jig that you can slide 7-8" boards through to make custom carved signs pretty quick and that is the next thing to learn. I already have one friend that wants me to make a sign for him, there could be more of those. So yes i hope to put it to work and gets some of the money spent on it back. Its something I can do late at night if I was sick all day or at my own pace so who knows.
OP
OP
ttocs
Post Whore
on to the next project as I am again waiting parts. I know some people are curious how it all works so I thought I would show it a little further. It starts as 2 dimensional drawing that I make on v-carve software. I started with the circles as they will fit around the volt meter and then drew it out from there using the tools shown on the left.
This is going to house a dual battery volt meter in the hole on the bottom, and then there are the two words that will light up when activated again with a small strip of EL lighting. "Smoke mode" is when the line lock is on and the "Power on" Just tells me when the dual battery solenoid is on and both batteries are active rather then just one. The words are backwards because its the back of the piece we are looking at. I paint the back of the acrylic and then use an engraving tip to put the words and the boxes around them so you will be looking at them from the other side when its done. The piece above it is where the EL strips and the volt meter will mount. Both of those pieces will be cut out of .1" thick acrylic and then there will be a trim ring that goes around both(not shown) that will be cut out of .22" thick acrylic. The little "Ttocs rocks" part will hold the light/meter mount in place. This will be mounted where the defrost button and the headlight switch use to be in the gauge bezel.
after you get the 2 dimensional image you like then its time to transfer those lines over to tool instructions that are shown on the right. you highlight a line/vector on the image that you want to cut and then select the toolpath operation you want to perform on that line to the top right. From there you pick which operation(pocket, drill, engrave, follow, ect), the bit you want to use, how far down to cut on the Z axis(up/down), if you want tabs on the piece and a few other options till the tool path is saved in the files shown on the bottom right. There are 7 toolpath programs listed on the bottom and they are shown on the image now with the arrows. From here I save the tool paths I want to use and then save those into a cut file that the handibot can then read and then start cutting. There will actually be 3 different cut files saved because I am using 2 different bits on two different thicknesses of material. Prior to the actual cutting you need to let the tool know how long the bit is by zeroing out the Z-axis. This takes a few minutes and is done through a system where it senses the end of the bit by touching the chassis ground. This way it knows exactly where the cutting end is. After that you just need to make sure the tool is clamped down so it will not move and then its off to work. Now its at this point that you need to be careful. While the cnc is super smart and can cut with in .00001 of a inch, it does not know or care if its cutting through the acrylic or your hand. Because of this my machine has a series of buttons to push to finally activate it to be sure that anyone around it is out of the way, not sure how others do it.
Any requests?
This is going to house a dual battery volt meter in the hole on the bottom, and then there are the two words that will light up when activated again with a small strip of EL lighting. "Smoke mode" is when the line lock is on and the "Power on" Just tells me when the dual battery solenoid is on and both batteries are active rather then just one. The words are backwards because its the back of the piece we are looking at. I paint the back of the acrylic and then use an engraving tip to put the words and the boxes around them so you will be looking at them from the other side when its done. The piece above it is where the EL strips and the volt meter will mount. Both of those pieces will be cut out of .1" thick acrylic and then there will be a trim ring that goes around both(not shown) that will be cut out of .22" thick acrylic. The little "Ttocs rocks" part will hold the light/meter mount in place. This will be mounted where the defrost button and the headlight switch use to be in the gauge bezel.
after you get the 2 dimensional image you like then its time to transfer those lines over to tool instructions that are shown on the right. you highlight a line/vector on the image that you want to cut and then select the toolpath operation you want to perform on that line to the top right. From there you pick which operation(pocket, drill, engrave, follow, ect), the bit you want to use, how far down to cut on the Z axis(up/down), if you want tabs on the piece and a few other options till the tool path is saved in the files shown on the bottom right. There are 7 toolpath programs listed on the bottom and they are shown on the image now with the arrows. From here I save the tool paths I want to use and then save those into a cut file that the handibot can then read and then start cutting. There will actually be 3 different cut files saved because I am using 2 different bits on two different thicknesses of material. Prior to the actual cutting you need to let the tool know how long the bit is by zeroing out the Z-axis. This takes a few minutes and is done through a system where it senses the end of the bit by touching the chassis ground. This way it knows exactly where the cutting end is. After that you just need to make sure the tool is clamped down so it will not move and then its off to work. Now its at this point that you need to be careful. While the cnc is super smart and can cut with in .00001 of a inch, it does not know or care if its cutting through the acrylic or your hand. Because of this my machine has a series of buttons to push to finally activate it to be sure that anyone around it is out of the way, not sure how others do it.
Any requests?
Sounds like a pretty cool machine! I wished machining steel were just as easy.
OP
OP
ttocs
Post Whore
it can do aluminum. I have not explored this yet but will....
OP
OP
ttocs
Post Whore
well I might be learning a little bit as I only had one piece that was cut incorrectly because I had the plunge setting just a tad too high. After a quick adjustment and painting another section of acrylic it cut the two inserts out perfectly and after only a light sanding to get rid of and high spots they slid right in. The switch panel I am not sure how many pieces I "learned" something on rather then enjoying the piece that it made and they still needed some work on the file to get the fit I needed for it. The fit here is not as critical since two pieces will be glued together and the 3rd will hopefully mount with the "ttocs rocks" mounting strap I showed above.
The protective film is still on the fronts is why it look hazy and the edges ugly. Once its pulled off its beautiful
! The spots on the back mounting piece where the paint is smudged in the little insert isn't a big deal at all. The pocket is only .03 deep to give a mounting spot for the EL strips to help hold them in place. It was only painted because it was easier to paint a larger section of the acrylic then try to land just the front spot in the painted section and the back in a non painted in one cut. Like I said once it is put together it will not be a problem.
Like I said above the trim ring around the outside as well as the front panel will be mounted in the dash and floated in to look like it belongs. Its not a horribly hard process so I will show it next and maybe if anyone else has the urge I can make one of these for them and they can install it.
The protective film is still on the fronts is why it look hazy and the edges ugly. Once its pulled off its beautiful
! The spots on the back mounting piece where the paint is smudged in the little insert isn't a big deal at all. The pocket is only .03 deep to give a mounting spot for the EL strips to help hold them in place. It was only painted because it was easier to paint a larger section of the acrylic then try to land just the front spot in the painted section and the back in a non painted in one cut. Like I said once it is put together it will not be a problem.
Like I said above the trim ring around the outside as well as the front panel will be mounted in the dash and floated in to look like it belongs. Its not a horribly hard process so I will show it next and maybe if anyone else has the urge I can make one of these for them and they can install it.
Neat
I wish my mind worked like yours. I couldn't find a neat place to put anything.
That video was interesting but I kept thinking he needed to clamp it down and he needed oil. So then he says it and does half of it. WD40 is not cutting oil. If you ever get to cutting aluminum get a small bottle of cutting oil like you use on a drill press.
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
OP
OP
ttocs
Post Whore
As I was working on the dash today I realized that not since I first got and started using my welder did I get this excited about all the possibilities that a tool unlocked for me. This is all stuff I have seen pics of and thought they were cool "wish I could do that" kind of stuff but never thought I would be making them in my basement.
I thought the same thing even to the point when he was tapping the hole with no oil. I already have cutting oil for the drill press so its no big deal to pull it out. I really didn't think it had the power/ability to do aluminum till about two weeks ago and its got me thinking of cool stuff later on.
Today I started integrating it all into the dash. First step was to mark where I was going to put it which I did by simply tracing the outline of the trim ring with an exacto-knife.
After that with my dremel and a series of files it took about 45 mins to get the hole made.
Very nice!!!!!
I wonder if with your help we could make my custom vents for my termi hood. I had a machine shop who said they could years ago. They had my factory vents for measuring for over 2 years and never even started. I walked into dudes office and took my vents and went off on him for wasting my time
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I wonder if with your help we could make my custom vents for my termi hood. I had a machine shop who said they could years ago. They had my factory vents for measuring for over 2 years and never even started. I walked into dudes office and took my vents and went off on him for wasting my time
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OP
OP
ttocs
Post Whore
now is when it gets messy, and a little slower then I would like. I started off by using CA/super glue on a few spots around the back. This is only meant to hold it in place till the epoxy is in place, tack-welding for plastic basically. After it dried I used plastiweld as the epoxy and a filler starting on the back, letting it dry and then doing the front. The challenge on this piece is putting a perfectly flat piece of plastic onto the dash piece that has gentle bends in almost every direction so the epoxy is thicker in the low areas and not at all in the upper areas.
The slow part is waiting the 4 hrs it recommends to let it set up, then I get to sand for 30 mins, put another coat on and hurry up and wait again.
like said at this point it gets messy...
There could still be one more light coat needed in a couple of areas. The plastic welder is at the bottom, I got it at autozone I think for $7 so you can get it anywhere. Its just a thick two part epoxy about the consistency of cake icing but as you can probably tell by now I was never a baker or an english/grammar teacher, motivational speaker the list goes on......
The slow part is waiting the 4 hrs it recommends to let it set up, then I get to sand for 30 mins, put another coat on and hurry up and wait again.
like said at this point it gets messy...
There could still be one more light coat needed in a couple of areas. The plastic welder is at the bottom, I got it at autozone I think for $7 so you can get it anywhere. Its just a thick two part epoxy about the consistency of cake icing but as you can probably tell by now I was never a baker or an english/grammar teacher, motivational speaker the list goes on......
Isnt most 2 part mixed glue UV accelerated? Like put a florescent light to speed up the process
OP
OP
ttocs
Post Whore
I considered it or heat but I really only needed to wait the 4 hrs for the 1rst 2 coats, one each front and back just to ensure the ring is held nice and tight and had not flexed or bent. I made it a pretty tight fit in the dash and the first two were basically structural the rest were just filler. I could have saved time if I could have found my glazing putty to fill the spots shown although it is more likely to flex/break off then the plastic welder is. I know I have a tube of putty somewhere but I can't find it and we got hit with 6" of snow last night on top of ice last night so a run to the store for a dab of putty in this weather seemed like more work then using the plastic welder so I just used it. I also put the mounting screws in that are holding the back strap in place. I just drilled and tapped the holes and then used nylon screws with epoxy to hold them in place. LOL now I just realized its 2019 again...
One point to make is that if you look closely above I have been careful not to sand on the inner edge of the trim ring. I have sanded the outer edge to help float the flat shape on the curved dash but by preserving the inner edge the flat display will have an even edge all the way around it. In the pic below I have finally started sanding up to that inner edge now but again taking care to ensure its still flat. Now after some high build primer spray hopefully after a 320 grit sanding it will be ready for color/clear and after that I can put it all together although still waiting on the lights....
One point to make is that if you look closely above I have been careful not to sand on the inner edge of the trim ring. I have sanded the outer edge to help float the flat shape on the curved dash but by preserving the inner edge the flat display will have an even edge all the way around it. In the pic below I have finally started sanding up to that inner edge now but again taking care to ensure its still flat. Now after some high build primer spray hopefully after a 320 grit sanding it will be ready for color/clear and after that I can put it all together although still waiting on the lights....
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Beautiful..
OP
OP
ttocs
Post Whore
I was slowed down yesterday and today with my usual stomach crap but at this point I only need to spend 20-30 mins of quick sanding and then another coat or two of high build primer. Its hard to see in the pic above but there are still some low spots that are the size of a pencil tip or smaller but once its gloss black they will all show up. The pic below now they are filled. This was one last fit check before I started the color and clear. Its shaping up very nicely.
and now with fresh color and clear on it, again hurry up and wait.
Tomorrow or the next day will be fun putting it all together and taking the protective covers/tape off to see it all together. As much as I want to hurry up and throw it together I like to leave the paint alone for as long as I can to let it cure. If it were summer I would just throw it in the car outside for a few hours but this time of year, I wait....
and now with fresh color and clear on it, again hurry up and wait.
Tomorrow or the next day will be fun putting it all together and taking the protective covers/tape off to see it all together. As much as I want to hurry up and throw it together I like to leave the paint alone for as long as I can to let it cure. If it were summer I would just throw it in the car outside for a few hours but this time of year, I wait....
Michael Plummer
Active Member
I must admit, you're very clever with the unique touches you've added to your car. Granted, I'd rather see you get the thing where you're actually able to drive the car somewhere, but in the end it's your car, and your time.
Good luck
Michael Plummer
Good luck
Michael Plummer
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