[r00t4rd3d]

These 1/16 ball nose work very good for 3d stuff. Dremel bits generally suck for CNC.

Korea Import 1101 7760 1 16" 2 Flute Carbide TiAlN Coated Ball Nose End Mill J6 | eBay

[JCvdW]

Thanks for the link. The seller indicated that he can ship to South Africa. Are these cutters good quality carbide cutters that can be used on hard woods? They are much cheaper than anything I can buy locally!

[JCvdW]

First complete model of Chess Knight milled from MDF. Took about 3 hours to complete. First a rough cut with a 3mm Dremel bit, followed by a finishing cut with a 1.4mm bit. Quite satisfied with the result. A fourth axis will nicely take care of the region between the ears. Any feedback on the quality of the Chinese fourth axis units available on Ebay will be appreciated.

Also need to figure out feed and spindle speeds when cutting with real ball nose cutters in hard wood like Madagascar Ebony.

[JCvdW]

Just received my 4th axis drive and tail stock ordered from China. Seems solid and sturdy enough and should be perfect to cut the chess knight using indexed cutting with DeskProto, and also to cut the rest of the chess pieces. Should have it fully integrated by the end of the weekend.

[JCvdW]

Quite satisfying to use the CNC machine to accurately drill the mounting holes in the 8mm aluminum mounting plate for the 4th axis!

[JCvdW]

Attachment 189002

[JCvdW]

G251 GeckoDrive for fourth axis integrated with G540 GeckoDrive - ready to roll!

[JCvdW]

First cut with 4th axis - still need to figure out how to set up properly

[JCvdW]

Completed machining the first set of 16 black chess pieces out of Madagascar Ebony. Also machined a piece holder out of foam. Average machining time per piece about 2 hours.

Attachment 197798

Attachment 197800