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They're working on that. Check out the movies of this algorithm designing a bracket. Nobody explicitly tells it about concepts like cross-braces; they just emerge naturally:
...

Possibly off topic, but it got me thinking.

Between mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, software engineering, and the study of artificial intelligence, there are at least four full...

I probably won't be using CAM, because nobody is going to shell out $10K for a license. Mach3 is probably the most advanced program I'll be using. Once the mill is up and running for a while, i...

Hello,

So there's a recent post by me that should be close to this one that explains that I'm looking to learn to use a benchtop CNC to mill some PCBs. Since I wrote that, I've stumbled upon...

I tried batchPCB, and the turnaround time was just too great for me. If I pay for PCBs, I like to go with 4PCB.com; the quality is good, you get the PCBs in the time you paid for, there are some...

Hello,

I know this must have been asked before, but the search terms are so ambiguous that I can't find anything useful. Is is possible/difficult to make a benchtop CNC mill perform as a PCB...

I think I picked up 'mil' the same way ahren did; my background is EE and PCB trace width is marked in mils. I'm trying to absorb the lingo. :)

Yeah, the Sherline isn't the mightiest of tools,...

A mil is a real unit of length.

Here's a length conversion utility that will let you convert one inch into mils:

http://www.onlineconversion.com/length_all.htm


Anyway, there have been...

HuFlungDung:

I don't know the answer to either of the questions with confidence. If the quill is the rotating armature that holds the mill bit, then I do not have a means to lock it. I'll try...

A POX ON IT!


Seriously, I have no idea what I'm doing wrong here, but this thing is acting like the mill isn't squared, when it is in fact squared to the best of my abilities. Both "roll" and...

Well, I fixed it.

Just some loose screws connecting the base to the vertical risers.

Woo.

Hello,

I have a Sherline model 2000 mill; the type with all the adjustment points. Recently it's become unuseable because one of the adjustment points has developed about 100 mils of play.
...

I think the best acelleration I've gotten from it has been the starting RPM (me flicking it with my finger) to 450rpm in about 8 seconds, 15 seconds average. I haven't actually weighed the flywheel,...

Some of you guys (Bubba, Me2, McGyver, HuFlungDung, One of Many, ESjaavik, RotarySMP, and Bluesman) gave me valuable advice in the early stages of fabrication, so thanks. :) Incidentally, I was...

So I've moved on to aluminum from iron (I'm very happy with the iron piece and have taken pictures that I will post one day). The process requires a 1" deep, .74" diameter hole to be bored in a...

I don't know if this isn't already an established method, but I sort of improvised it and found that it worked quite well. I drilled holes for screws that needed to be very slightly widened. I had...

It's some random brand, not Sherline.

Indeed, it seems that everything cuts this iron EXCEPT the parting tool. I was able to take off 15 mil at a time with a boring tool with no chatter,...

Success!

Slowing the RPM down to about 4Hz made a huge difference. I was able to face the piece, and then begin removing metal from the center. The lathe still chatters some, and the cuts are...

...So now I'm hearing contradicting advice. On one hand, Mcgyver says nice cast iron machines beautifully, and the Sherline book seems to imply that this is also true. On the other hand, One Of...

I blew my nose this morning and it was all full of iron particles.

I wasn't even aware that I was making dust. Next time, mask.

The bar stock came from Small Parts corporation, and is listed as:

CAST IRON, ROUND - Class 40, Grey ASTM-A48

I'll try to respond to some of Mcgyver's points:

-The original idea was to make...

Hmm.. . 2-250 rpm is about 3-4Hz. I think I was actually around that range. I tried a bunch of speeds. I'll try 225rpm the next time I attempt to machine the piece, but do you think it could be...

Hello,

So I'm trying to make a Stirling engine to practice metalworking. The design I am working with requires a "heater" which should not be aluminum. I chose to make this part out of cast...

Hello,

Guess what I discovered at work? It is the neatest thing. In some bygone day where the lab had extra funding, a Sherline mill and lathe were purchased, along with most of the acessories...

Hello,

I'm posting in this forum because a myself and a friend are planning to interface EMC with our own servo controllers. From reading the linuxcnc.org handbook, it seems that they support...

Hey,

People occasionally ask where they can get Siegs; while Lathemaster has the mills, I stumbled on this place:

http://www.machinetooldistributor.com/bench_top_mills.htm

That appears to...

Sounds like good advice. You're right that the Sieg X3 is a safer bet in that so many people have bought that very model and reviewed it.

The original plan was to purchase the mill specifically...

Hello,

Probably one of the most popular topics. I've done as much research as I can regarding mill operation and such, but I'd like the opinion of people who have made major investments into...

I've been browsing around, and have found some of the rectangular-type control servos that are pretty beefy.

Here's one: http://www.hobbyengineering.com/SectionM.html#CatMS

Scroll down to the...

The ball and socket is actually something I've made before by hand from both materials, but it was absolutely arduous, and it took about four prototypes to zero in on the correct dimension that woud...