Above 1200 Sq/FT Cleaning Up My Shop

[Bears Fan]

Awesome job on that bracket! You have some mad casting skills going on there

 

[Vieux]

It's very cool Andy!

 

[jbmatth]

Sorry to all about the late replies on the fun Andy and I had. I'm back now and want to show off a few things he helped me out on. First of all I was the lucky recipient of hammer #3 and the optional handle, some assembly required:

He dropped this off last year when we worked on some of my water drainage issues and I haven't needed it so it never made it to the top of the list to work on. Well I still haven't needed it but decided to give it a go, pretty easy all in all. The belt sander did the heavy lifting with just a little cleanup with a knife and then some wedges:

Here you can see the master setting everything up:

Then he let me give it a go screening some sand and slowly packing it around the mold until it was time to flip it over:

More pounding sand:

The as cast trivet before much clean-up:

Now all cleaned up and painted, I think it came out great, I'll wait to get my wife's reaction until mother's day.

Thanks again Andy for all the help, little by little I'm getting back some of the aluminum I've given you over the past couple years.

JB

 

[drivesitfar]

Handy: nice that you now have chemicals in your shop with your name on it so you can remember who you are.

i'm reading between the lines so to speak and thinking that TODAY IS ANDY'S BIRTHDAY. YES??

If I remember correctly you are not quite 70 yet, but getting damn close and only 365 days left before you are. you get more done each day than a lot of 20 year olds and I enjoy watching and learning and hoping to do as well when i'm as old as you are.

this sign doesn't quite apply, but i think I recall this year you were going to work on being 18 instead of your fifth effort at being 17 so best wishes cause this is a sign my wife bought me a couple years ago.

cheers and hope you have a very good day!!

Guster: VERY WELL DONE!!!!

 

[dchance]

Andy let me add a Happy Birthday and glad to see all the work in the foundry. Brackets look great.

Dwight

 

[oldironfarmer]

Wow... that arrived quicker than I thought it would.

Just in time for your birthday. Happy birthday Andy!

Thanks again!! A great birthday present.

Guster, you have let the cat out of the bag...

Happy birthday Andy..

Are you sure? I'm not feeling old...

Andy can you share more details about this sand shaker? I need to make something more efficient for sifting my sandblasting media.

Bret

It's just screen wire I had (it's aluminum so I'm not sure how long it will last under vibration). I bought a cheap turbine ******** which takes no lubrication. It does not use much air. It is sloped enough that the big pieces roll off under moderate vibration. I have a YT uploading now. It has two thin boards the go into the bucket, snug.

There's a gate halfway down with about a 3/8" gap under it.

I started with more gap but the sand was existing before it could get through the screen. So I put a piece of flashing on it. There is a sheet metal (flashing) funnel on the upper half to get that sand into the bucket.

A full bucket full and I got all the trash out and a little coarse sand. My screen is finer than I would prefer but sand is incredibly cheap and I can use some sand in my work area.

Sand Sifter

Hey Andy,

Happy Birthday To You and Many More!!!!

Thank you so much!!

Awesome job on that bracket! You have some mad casting skills going on there

I'm obviously a novice but I am learning. And it is incredibly fun to be able to make stuff like that. It widens my horizon dramatically.

It's very cool Andy!

Thank you sir!

Sorry to all about the late replies on the fun Andy and I had. I'm back now and want to show off a few things he helped me out on. First of all I was the lucky recipient of hammer #3 and the optional handle, some assembly required:

He dropped this off last year when we worked on some of my water drainage issues and I haven't needed it so it never made it to the top of the list to work on. Well I still haven't needed it but decided to give it a go, pretty easy all in all. The belt sander did the heavy lifting with just a little cleanup with a knife and then some wedges:

Here you can see the master setting everything up:

Then he let me give it a go screening some sand and slowly packing it around the mold until it was time to flip it over:

More pounding sand:

The as cast trivet before much clean-up:

Now all cleaned up and painted, I think it came out great, I'll wait to get my wife's reaction until mother's day.

Thanks again Andy for all the help, little by little I'm getting back some of the aluminum I've given you over the past couple years.

JB

It is always a joy for JB to come visit. I think once you use the aluminum hammer you'll appreciate it's utility. I was surprised. It was just supposed to be a sample for my brass hammers to come. But the aluminum is good.

You did well on the trivet. I told my Zumba teacher she has to make her own.

Handy: nice that you now have chemicals in your shop with your name on it so you can remember who you are.

At my age i was having difficulty remembering.

i'm reading between the lines so to speak and thinking that TODAY IS ANDY'S BIRTHDAY. YES??

If I remember correctly you are not quite 70 yet, but getting damn close and only 365 days left before you are. you get more done each day than a lot of 20 year olds and I enjoy watching and learning and hoping to do as well when i'm as old as you are.

Turning 69. But I'm still doing 17 over until I get to four 18's.

this sign doesn't quite apply, but i think I recall this year you were going to work on being 18 instead of your fifth effort at being 17 so best wishes cause this is a sign my wife bought me a couple years ago.



cheers and hope you have a very good day!!

Guster: VERY WELL DONE!!!!

Andy let me add a Happy Birthday and glad to see all the work in the foundry. Brackets look great.

Dwight

Thank you!

You really need to take a chance on a visit.

 

[oldironfarmer]

I worked on more clamps today, and made another trivet. They're getting easier. Last one is for my daughter in law.

I use a double boiler to melt the paraffin/wax ring wax mixture and have found I can brush it on sharp corners while it is very liquid and it will make a nice fillet.

And a close up

Then they get painted with thin sheetrock mud. You can make out the name Kim (upside down) on the face. It will show up in the casting.

I have been casting the foam in this bucket, and with more careful pouring, and a heat shield, I haven't melted the bucket again.

But I'm not using a new bucket either.

Thanks for stopping in, guys!!

 

[leshyi]

I really like the foundry, I want to do it myself, but first I'll learn from you

 

[xtremek]

As always, I'm enjoying learning so much from you. Quick question, the ******** is the yellow thing on your shaker? Where did you get it? And just so you know, your building of the Stude parts has inspired me to rebuild the core support on my daughters '03 F-150 Screw. Keep up the good work.

 

[jbmatth]

Andy,
Thanks for the tip on the turbine ********, I've been looking for something to help the sand drop to the bottom in my blast cabinet, I have one on order now to test out. For some reason the last time I looked the only ones I could find were in the $100 plus range.

JB

 

[Bob Heine]

Andy, Happy Birthday Brother! It's good to see you enjoying your play time.

I understand the 17 thing but prefer to get to adulthood (voting age) before resetting my clock. I'll be turning 2 (for the fifth time) this year. Toilet training and sleeping through the night is going well.

 

[madison069]

Andy, Happy Birthday Brother! It's good to see you enjoying your play time.

I understand the 17 thing but prefer to get to adulthood (voting age) before resetting my clock. I'll be turning 2 (for the fifth time) this year. Toilet training and sleeping through the night is going well.

Atleast you got that going for you, I still mark my spots outside.

 

[Guster]

Those are some super fancy looking clamps Andy.

Thanks for the detail on the shaker. Something I also didn't know about. I've got a little motor that I made a small eccentric flywheel for but can't use that everywhere. This must be what the guys talk about fitting to concrete hand screeds to make pneumatic screeds. Definitely a few things I can use those for and they are not expensive either. One more for the shopping cart.

How many bottles of Handy Andy do you have? Noticed they are just sitting all over the place now or are you secretly hoping to secure a promotion sponsorship deal. You know you need to work through your agent so I can get my agency fees!

Finally cut the top of my beer keg open, washed it out, cut a drain hole and started planning on where to cut the burner hole. Need to make some handles and find some bendy plastic sheet material to make an internal mold. My new foundry build has finally started.

 

[oldironfarmer]

I really like the foundry, I want to do it myself, but first I'll learn from you

Thank you! There are many foundry furnace ideas on the internet, from simple no-weld to complex. Scrap is everywhere and used motor oil and cooking oil are great fuels in addition to propane. There's nothing like jumping in and trying it. I wish I'd done that years ago.

As always, I'm enjoying learning so much from you. Quick question, the ******** is the yellow thing on your shaker? Where did you get it? And just so you know, your building of the Stude parts has inspired me to rebuild the core support on my daughters '03 F-150 Screw. Keep up the good work.

******** is the yellow thing. $20.99 on eBay. Search for GT-10 ********. There are many different sizes. Good idea to get one with a silencer.

Glad you are working on the F-150. I'm glad there is some value here other than my own motivation I'm getting back on the Studebaker soon...

Andy,
Thanks for the tip on the turbine ********, I've been looking for something to help the sand drop to the bottom in my blast cabinet, I have one on order now to test out. For some reason the last time I looked the only ones I could find were in the $100 plus range.

JB

I couldn't find cheap ones until I went to eBay. You'll need a control valve. I'm using a brass needle valve. It should do a number on the blast cabinet. I need to come up with a quick mount method so I can move it around. In the interim I bought another one. Mine takes an 8 mm OD tube which I didn't have. But an old piece of vacuum tubing worked well.

Andy, Happy Birthday Brother! It's good to see you enjoying your play time.

I understand the 17 thing but prefer to get to adulthood (voting age) before resetting my clock. I'll be turning 2 (for the fifth time) this year. Toilet training and sleeping through the night is going well.

Thanks!! They haven't called for me to come in yet so I'm staying and playing.

I don't want to vote. The choices are too hard.

Are you sleeping through the night? Diapers make a difference, I guess. You know "golden years" refers to the tracks in the underwear. You do know that.

Come over and play if they'll let you.

Atleast you got that going for you, I still mark my spots outside.

Those are some super fancy looking clamps Andy.

Thank you sir! They are a bit much for the job, but it is fun.

Thanks for the detail on the shaker. Something I also didn't know about. I've got a little motor that I made a small eccentric flywheel for but can't use that everywhere. This must be what the guys talk about fitting to concrete hand screeds to make pneumatic screeds. Definitely a few things I can use those for and they are not expensive either. One more for the shopping cart.

This little yellow one seems to work well. I've bought another because there are so many places I want to use one.

How many bottles of Handy Andy do you have? Noticed they are just sitting all over the place now or are you secretly hoping to secure a promotion sponsorship deal. You know you need to work through your agent so I can get my agency fees!

Just have the two you sent me. Thanks again. I don't know what you're getting at.

Finally cut the top of my beer keg open, washed it out, cut a drain hole and started planning on where to cut the burner hole. Need to make some handles and find some bendy plastic sheet material to make an internal mold. My new foundry build has finally started.

Great! I'll jump over to your thread and look at pictures!

I drilled the mounting holes and bored the clamp hole on the first clamp to make sure it will work before casting much more.

This is how I intend to mount them, holding the shelf above and clamping solidly to the pipe.

Thanks for dropping in!

 

[1/2 Cup]

Andy I love how Handy Andy containers feature in all your pics now.

I guess its like Dewalt drills

 

[drivesitfar]

Handy: since it looks like you are using Handy Andy bottles as size objects in your pictures I think we need the dimensions of the bottles so we can understand what size everything is.

or did your Handy Andy bottles start breeding once Guster sent them to Andy's farm of conception?

cheers and have a great SATURDAY!!

Bob: so when you hit 70 you become a 2 year old and just keep track of years that way?

 

[Bob Heine]

Bob: so when you hit 70 you become a 2 year old and just keep track of years that way?

Drives, for many codgers like me, growing old is hard to take because my brain works like it did when I was young (the rest of me not so much). I've noticed many of my peers use 18 as their milestone: we were 18 when we turned 18 the first time, 36 the second time, 54 the third time and 72 the fourth time. When I turn 74 later this year I'll be re-living my life as a 2-year-old.

Truth be told my train party at age 20 reset my clock in more ways than one. I have enjoyed the 64 years I've been gifted, the good and easy ones as much as the bad and hard ones. I don't think any of us can choose the life we live but we do choose to love it or hate it. Pretty sure Andy and I figured that out -- if he hates his life, he's doing a good job hiding it.

 

[walt111]

They are not the golden years they are the rusty yeatrs. That is what my dad called them. I am begining to belive him, he has been dead since 1987.. My mother died on monday April 16 2018, she lived for 99 years.
walt

 

[Guster]

Great! I'll jump over to your thread and look at pictures!

Knew I forgot something...

I do have some random pictures I need to wrap up with some words and I have a 5-day weekend coming up to do so.

Andy I love how Handy Andy containers feature in all your pics now.

I guess its like Dewalt drills

I showed it to my wife and she thought it was the neatest thing!

Do feel like I definitely missed an opportunity there especially had I known it was Andy's birthday coming up and this would arrive in time.

Drives, for many codgers like me, growing old is hard to take because my brain works like it did when I was young (the rest of me not so much). I've noticed many of my peers use 18 as their milestone: we were 18 when we turned 18 the first time, 36 the second time, 54 the third time and 72 the fourth time. When I turn 74 later this year I'll be re-living my life as a 2-year-old.

Truth be told my train party at age 20 reset my clock in more ways than one. I have enjoyed the 64 years I've been gifted, the good and easy ones as much as the bad and hard ones. I don't think any of us can choose the life we live but we do choose to love it or hate it. Pretty sure Andy and I figured that out -- if he hates his life, he's doing a good job hiding it.

My Gran told me something along these lines too. Something like, you cannot control what life hands you but you have full control of what you do next and the worst you can do is nothing and be sad about it. Like most kids, I wasn't really listening at them time, part of me heard her and it has been a frequent driving influence. As such the bad times have been the most defining moments in my life for where I've ended up because of them.

Thankfully us 'youngsters' are taking note of how to retire without getting bored or doing nothing and feeling sad about it. From most accounts here it starts with organising and cleaning a workshop. I'm well on my way there...

 

[oldironfarmer]

Andy I love how Handy Andy containers feature in all your pics now.

I guess its like Dewalt drills

Containers in all the pictures? I'll have to go back and look, I'm not sure I follow you there.

I remember the DeWalt drills! What fun that was...

Handy: since it looks like you are using Handy Andy bottles as size objects in your pictures I think we need the dimensions of the bottles so we can understand what size everything is.

or did your Handy Andy bottles start breeding once Guster sent them to Andy's farm of conception?

cheers and have a great SATURDAY!!

Bob: so when you hit 70 you become a 2 year old and just keep track of years that way?

You guys and your Handy Andy stuff, what is going on here? You started it, you know. I just have the two bottles Guster was kind enough to send me. I'm not really sure where to keep them, and when I get back to Cleaning my Shop I will use them. One is ammonia based so it will be Handy for checking cast scrap for magnesium.

Umm, if it matters, the bottles are 750 ml.

They are not the golden years they are the rusty yeatrs. That is what my dad called them. I am begining to belive him, he has been dead since 1987.. My mother died on monday April 16 2018, she lived for 99 years.
walt

I like rusty years! Just like with equipment exposed to the elements, if you don't keep operating and moving it, it will set up and freeze. We're the same way.

Sad to hear of your mother's passing. My mom died two years ago this August. The Bible says "a time for everything, a time to be born, and a time to die." It never seems the time is right, however.

Thanks for commenting.

Knew I forgot something...

I do have some random pictures I need to wrap up with some words and I have a 5-day weekend coming up to do so.

I showed it to my wife and she thought it was the neatest thing!

Do feel like I definitely missed an opportunity there especially had I known it was Andy's birthday coming up and this would arrive in time.

My Gran told me something along these lines too. Something like, you cannot control what life hands you but you have full control of what you do next and the worst you can do is nothing and be sad about it. Like most kids, I wasn't really listening at them time, part of me heard her and it has been a frequent driving influence. As such the bad times have been the most defining moments in my life for where I've ended up because of them.

Thankfully us 'youngsters' are taking note of how to retire without getting bored or doing nothing and feeling sad about it. From most accounts here it starts with organising and cleaning a workshop. I'm well on my way there...

Glad your wife has a sense of humor. She could have called the men in white coats instead...

You sure didn't miss an opportunity. The Handy Andy arrived right on time!

Sounds like your gran was a wise woman. Life is sure what you make it. There is always somebody smarter, dumber, richer, poorer, luckier, and less fortunate than you should you choose to compare. Comparing yourself to others is seldom of any benefit. If you want to feel better than others, go down to skid row and then come away mystified because they seem happier than you are. Best to just be yourself and make the best of your situation.

Of course, I actually like lemonade...

 

[drivesitfar]

Andy: sorry if we all thought your Handy Andy bottles were breeding, but you had them in almost every picture.

good to hear you and Bob and i'm sure a few others here are not rusting in the field as you get older. isn't it nicer to throw out a few good words than complain?

have a great day and i'm sure yours is already half done since the cows and the farm probably never sleeps.

cheers

 

[Guster]

Glad your wife has a sense of humor. She could have called the men in white coats instead...

I do get a little analytical about my purpose in this rat race driving what often feels like a false economy. You end up justifying a lot as "doing the best for your kids' futures". It is that thin line between being happy with your career or happy about a job well done. They are not the same thing.

But she reminds me often that we are still married, have jobs that cover our expenses, a house, food in the fridge and two happy, healthy kids. Don't need a happy bank account to be rich.

Think you'll get away with it if she hasn't already interred me to a life of wearing backward fitting, figure hugging, duck canvas outerwear with heavy leather and brass fittings. She knows my crazy and I think my sentence is more of a 'community service' deal

Sounds like your gran was a wise woman. Life is sure what you make it. There is always somebody smarter, dumber, richer, poorer, luckier, and less fortunate than you should you choose to compare. Comparing yourself to others is seldom of any benefit. If you want to feel better than others, go down to skid row and then come away mystified because they seem happier than you are. Best to just be yourself and make the best of your situation.

She lived a hard live that I never fully grasped without the perspective of an adult and much to late to fully appreciate. Good reminder to appreciate the living while you can. Some days all it takes to be happy is listening to my happy kids telling me about their happy days.

Of course, I actually like lemonade...

Lemonade +1

Besides citric acid is a very handy substance in the workshop and in the kitchen.

 

[bolensboneyard]

Wise words that I have repeated many times. Glad to see i'm on the right track.

 

[oldironfarmer]

Andy: sorry if we all thought your Handy Andy bottles were breeding, but you had them in almost every picture.

I'm still having fun!

good to hear you and Bob and i'm sure a few others here are not rusting in the field as you get older. isn't it nicer to throw out a few good words than complain?

Of course!! I'm trying hard not to rust or seize up. (I hope you didn't think I was displeased by your responses.)

have a great day and i'm sure yours is already half done since the cows and the farm probably never sleeps.

cheers

Actually, the cows do sleep. No cow tipping around here But I have quit feeding them, there's enough grass so that's their diet for the summer. I have cautioned them about walking on their food.

I do get a little analytical about my purpose in this rat race driving what often feels like a false economy. You end up justifying a lot as "doing the best for your kids' futures". It is that thin line between being happy with your career or happy about a job well done. They are not the same thing.

But she reminds me often that we are still married, have jobs that cover our expenses, a house, food in the fridge and two happy, healthy kids. Don't need a happy bank account to be rich.

I enjoyed my work but hated my jobs, so I had several. I really did not like supervisors who did not understand what we were doing but tried to direct it anyway. Very frustrating to me. So retirement is a real joy, I have no one to blame but myself when things go wrong, and so far I've been pretty lucky. I agree wealth has little influence on a rich life.

Think you'll get away with it if she hasn't already interred me to a life of wearing backward fitting, figure hugging, duck canvas outerwear with heavy leather and brass fittings. She knows my crazy and I think my sentence is more of a 'community service' deal

Sounds like your wife has figured out how to get along with you! That's a blessing indeed.

She lived a hard live that I never fully grasped without the perspective of an adult and much to late to fully appreciate. Good reminder to appreciate the living while you can. Some days all it takes to be happy is listening to my happy kids telling me about their happy days.

The hard life she lived apparently did not diminish her joy and enthusiasm for life. A little struggle is beneficial for a happy life. It's hard to understand until you have no struggles and feel lost. I was pleased greatly when I paid off my mortgage but then had a little difficulty dealing with not having to work to make the mortgage payment. I didn't expect that.

Lemonade +1

Besides citric acid is a very handy substance in the workshop and in the kitchen.

I've always had plenty of opportunities to make lemonade.

Wise words that I have repeated many times. Glad to see i'm on the right track.

We all appreciate the wisdom you pass along, Bobby.

I have an opportunity to make a plaque for one of the guys on a foundry forum. He's a retired Navy guy and did foundry work in the Navy. He had some CNC models made for 3D printing and found he couldn't get the detail he wanted. I offered to CNC route it but I'm having to learn a lot. Processing the model into router commands (gcode) has given me a challenge. The first try was an 850,000 line program. Unfortunately the program did not clean up around the little stars, and several other details need refining. But I'm not giving up. This took 5 hours of machine time to cut out.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Andy, that's a pretty good effort..

 

[oldironfarmer]

Thanks, Steve. It's a struggle but I think I'm getting there.

 

[jbmatth]

Very cool stuff you have going on Andy.
JB

 

[bolensboneyard]

Great design.

 

[drivesitfar]

Andy: since you don't have to spend your mornings feeding the cows I bet you still have plenty of chores on your plate on the farm. that being said i have a hard time keeping up with weed control on my 1/3 acre and blackberries are maybe the hardest to control.

so how do you manage to control all the weeds and not nuke your grass so that your cows can still eat it and not make them sick or pass those chemicals forward when they become beef (hamburger)?

i love all the forging, 3D modeling and your CNC work and you are starting to go down a fairly big rabbit hole i'm guessing. that said I thought i'd pass on a few pictures of some cool stuff similar to what i've seen for sale that I thought was pretty cool that does layers (topographical mapping for one) and brings out the cool grains of the wood.

hope you are having a nice rest day now that it's Sunday!!

cheers

 

[oldironfarmer]

Very cool stuff you have going on Andy.
JB

Thanks JB!!

Great design.

Courtesy U. S. Navy

Andy: since you don't have to spend your mornings feeding the cows I bet you still have plenty of chores on your plate on the farm. that being said i have a hard time keeping up with weed control on my 1/3 acre and blackberries are maybe the hardest to control.

so how do you manage to control all the weeds and not nuke your grass so that your cows can still eat it and not make them sick or pass those chemicals forward when they become beef (hamburger)?

Blackberries are hard to control. For a spray 2-4, D is an excellent herbicide which only attacks broadleaf plants. It is also pretty benign to humans. Some weeds the cows eat, however the best weed control is good soil fertility. Lush thick grass goes a long way toward keeping weeds down. And, unlike a lawn, in the pasture we don't really worry about a few weeds. And all the legumes are broadleaf plants which fix nitrogen in the soil so we don't want to spray and get rid of the good species. Blackberries are difficult to control however keeping them mowed close and spraying in the late summer are pretty effective.

i love all the forging, 3D modeling and your CNC work and you are starting to go down a fairly big rabbit hole i'm guessing. that said I thought i'd pass on a few pictures of some cool stuff similar to what i've seen for sale that I thought was pretty cool that does layers (topographical mapping for one) and brings out the cool grains of the wood.

hope you are having a nice rest day now that it's Sunday!!

cheers

Of course all the 3D and CNC work is just part of the foundry pattern making effort. But retirement has become one big rabbit hole.

Cool layered art. I've made topographical representations out of cardboard to help people who had difficulty visualizing what a topographical map shows improve their understanding. That is an amazing revelation to most people who can't visualize it, when they see the layers it all becomes clear. When topographical maps were cheap it was fun to cut them apart and paste to plywood, then cut each piece at the outer edge with a scroll saw, then when stacked up you get the map and contours together.

Yesterday rained all day, and I took my son's tractor home (120 miles). He had my sister over, it was her birthday, so they had a birthday party for the two of us. Great fun but it was too wet to work calves (we're wimps) so I'll go back in a few weeks.

My grandson had picked up a Studebaker pickup bed (with a nice Dodge tailgate) for me, as well as a 350 small block, headers, and a 700R4 transmission. It is wet here today so they're still on the trailer under the carport.

 

[sawduststeve]

Holy cow, that Sir, is beautiful, outstanding work Andy.
What timber is it, Walnut?

Steve

 

[Hubscrub66]

Looking foward to more Studebaker!

 

[oldironfarmer]

Holy cow, that Sir, is beautiful, outstanding work Andy.
What timber is it, Walnut?

Steve

Thank you!! Yes, it is American Black Walnut. This is some I inherited from my dad, cut over 30 years ago and stored inside all that time. It's pretty dry and stable.

Of course all I did was route the file sent to me, after some post processing. And I have to figure out how to do more to get it right, but I think I'm homing in on it.

I found this pin on the internet, this is what the plaque is supposed to be like:

Looking foward to more Studebaker!

Me too! How can I get started?

 

[Terrick down Under]

Programming ion Gcode is so slow, but you can do so much with repletion. I did a "equilateral curved heptagon" for some coinage while I worked at the Royal Australian Mint, it took 3 days to program in....on a vertical control panel....I just about went nuts. But as the week progressed it worked out real nice. I could use the same program for the dies, collars, tooling etc, just altered to size of the cutter each time.
So looking at your work it is very nice, and you deserve a slap on the back for good job.

 

[oldironfarmer]

Thanks! However I'm a cheater. My gcode is all written by Fusion360 CAM function for the router, and by a CAM program supplied by the 3D printer manufacturer. Years ago I tried writing gcode for the router and gave up on it. I could make it do what I wanted, but the time involved to write more than a hundred lines of code were just prohibitive. For making plaques I dreamed of creating a font with routines for each letter but even that was unmanageable for me. A capital block "C" was all I actually created and routed. At least I do have some comprehension for what manually writing gcode is like.

So I'm quite impressed when the program creates several thousand lines in a few seconds, and curves are smooth with a consistent tool path velocity. I'm using 200 mm/min currently (a little slow but safe) and the actual velocity varies between 190 and 210. The plaque shown was about 850,000 lines of code and I'm ready to try a cleanup programme of 150,000 lines to clean up missed areas.

Quite a learning curve but it is a very powerful program which I believe will be useful for years to come.

The task at hand is a bit more complex than I would have preferred to tackle as my first project however that is what was needed.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

[Bob Heine]

Andy, that's an amazing first project for your CNC router. I ordered another router in a feeble attempt to keep up.

 

[oldironfarmer]

Andy, that's an amazing first project for your CNC router. I ordered another router in a feeble attempt to keep up.

Keep up? You're ahead of me. I've only got three routers and the zip tool in the 3D router setup.

I did get the piece trimmed out and ready to mail.

 

[shortykorte]

Cool Andy. A man of many talents. Not sure how you fit all that in on Saturdays.

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

You should carve one out of foam for fun.

 

[Craptain]

Cool Andy. A man of many talents. Not sure how you fit all that in on Saturdays.

It helps to have 6 Saturdays in every week.

Keep up? You're ahead of me. I've only got three routers and the zip tool in the 3D router setup.

I did get the piece trimmed out and ready to mail.

That's absolutely gorgeous. I might have to look at one of those cnc router things.

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