584,830 active members*
5,897 visitors online*
Register for free
Login

Thread: Recent Work

Page 1 of 3 123
Results 1 to 20 of 52
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Posts
    621

    Recent Work

    We don't really post our work here, much, but it's nice to see what everyone's doing, from time to time. Parts that are boring to us can be fascinating to others, and sometimes we might see a problem we're having solved in cool ways. I'm starting this thread in hopes that everyone will post some of their stuff here from time to time.

    I'll lead off with some little parts I cut the other day. They're patterns that'll be used to make molds for casting jewelry. A local craft store has a classroom space, and when they found out I had some casting experience, they wanted me to do a class. So I'm gearing up for a "How to Cast Pewter in the Kitchen:101" class. If it's popular, I'll probably end up doing bigger, hotter classes in my backyard, for aluminum and bronze. (Lol, crafters are a lot like gold prospector/miners. They'll pour enormous time and effort into it, for little reward. The way to make money is to throw up a shack, and sell them blankets, whiskey, and hip waders.)

    These are cut from some hard cherry I had on hand. The blocks are 3" x 3" sq. for scale. The little rose is a .stl I bought a while back, but the others I cooked up myself, with BabCAD/BobArt. The conical thingies are the risers where the metal will be poured in. (Or wax, for doing lost-wax investment castings.) The cross was the first I cut, and it has some minor issues that I designed out of the next two. It was finished with a 1/16" ballnose. The others were finished with a 1/32" ballnose, to get the tiny details. The texture under the little celtic design is made with an [Emboss Texture] <From Image> using a picture of pebbles on the ground. The parts are shown straight from the machine. I needed enough detail that it basically negated most of the need for sanding.

    This job was the first time I really got deep into V26's DMS, and I can really see why all the machinists were so fired up about it now. Most of my stuff is signs, etc, but when I cut two of these from one board, I wound up with 11 features, and the management tools were just wonderful to use.

    Luke
    "All I'm trying to find out is the fellow's name on first base" -- Lou Costello

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Posts
    3376

    Re: Recent Work

    They took'th the like button away

    LIKE


    Luke,you have cast Aluminum???
    I wanna do this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP5L7EhXX5g


    You have a class on that I want to come.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Posts
    3376

    Re: Recent Work

    "The conical thingies"

    Sprue is what those things are called.
    I had no idea you could pour pewter into a wood mold.How many "miles" do you get doing that ? Or am I thinking wrong ? You making a sand cast ?
    Did a fishing lure mold once,the guy called back about a year after the fact to say it was a sucess catching fish and he sold enough lead casts to pay for the mold.This is to cast 2 lures at a time.


    Maybe we can rename this thread so it is more searchable and we can keep it alive from time to time.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails lure.JPG  

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Posts
    621

    Re: Recent Work

    I want the thread to be used by everyone. "Recent Work" seemed more or less descriptive, but I'm open to anything better.

    The wood parts are the master patterns. I'll be making plaster molds from them, which can then make wax parts for investment casting, or a few metal parts. For long-lasting molds, I'd want to make them from metal. It's possible that I could cast bronze molds, later on. Given the right equipment, (most of which I have), it's pretty amazing what can be cast. It'd be easier if I had even a tiny mill, but I don't, and money's extremely tight right now.

    Luke
    "All I'm trying to find out is the fellow's name on first base" -- Lou Costello

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Posts
    3376

    Re: Recent Work

    Luke,if you have a small mold that you had in mind,I'll run it for you.You supply the CAD and CAM.I'll supply the rest.I'd like to have the opportunity to machine something thru someone elses eyes.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Posts
    621

    Re: Recent Work

    Thanks, that's really generous of you to offer. I don't really have anything in mind at this time, though. For low-temp production casting, they use rubber molds on a spinning table, which is pretty neat.
    I happen to have a nice electric potter's wheel, btw. I could convert that to spin casting in about an hour, I think.

    The video of the anthill cast in Al. is awesome! You should do it. Melt the AL in a cast iron pot, and just have at it. (Oh, try to do it during a real drought, or maybe dig out around the outside of the hill and let it dry first. If the ground's got much moisture in it, you could get metal thrown back at you. Not fun...)

    I don't need a mold cut, but if you want to make something fun, here's the file for the round medallion. Just delete or suppress the 2-rail sweep to get rid of the sprue/riser. That textured background makes for a long cut, but once you shoot some spray graphite over it, buff off the high spots, and wax or clear coat the whole thing, it'll look great.

    Luke
    "All I'm trying to find out is the fellow's name on first base" -- Lou Costello

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Posts
    1852

    Re: Recent Work

    Okay, since you asked!

    On April 27th my American Legion Post celebrated the grand opening of our new building. This one we own and do not rent for the first time. Also, it turned out it was the 30th anniversary of the founding of our post, American Legion Post 318 in Port St Lucie, FL. When I learned that it was the 30th anniversary, I decided to make a plaque to commemorate the event. I had just two weeks to get it all done, but I managed to finish it. The plaque was presented to the Commander at the ceremony, which was attended by hundreds of members, our U.S. Congressman, City and County officials and such. I got a big hug from the Commander!!!! I told him I was making something, but did not give details until I showed up at the ceremony.

    I took a picture off of the internet and brought it into BobCad. I could not find any DXF or other images to use. BobArt does not work well for these things, so just hand traced it using splines and such. It is not perfectly symmetrical or anything, just what the picture gave me. The emblem itself is in 5 pieces that stack together and bolt together through the wooden plaque. All five pieces were anodized gold and so will last for decades. The emblem itself is 12 inch high. I meant to order brass to the engraved plates, but mistakenly ordered copper. Did not have time to replace it and kind of like the result and the look of copper. A neighbor in my complex who is a cabinet maker did the wood plaque for me.

    I am posting the BobCad files along with the pictures, just in case anyone can use them.

    Cheers-----Mike
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 1.jpg   2.jpg   3.jpg   4.jpg  

    Attached Files Attached Files
    Two Haas VF-2's, Haas HA5C, Haas HRT-9, Hardinge CHNC 1, Bother HS-300 Wire EDM, BobCAD V23, BobCAD V28

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Posts
    621

    Re: Recent Work

    That came out looking great! I kinda like the contrast with the copper, too.

    Luke
    "All I'm trying to find out is the fellow's name on first base" -- Lou Costello

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Posts
    3376

    Re: Recent Work

    The Copper and Brass look good together,,,who would of known ? Nice job.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Posts
    3376

    Re: Recent Work

    Well,the offer stands for in the future Luke,if you needing a metal milled something or another.
    I do believe the next "fun" machined item on my list will be the Mayan calendar.hmmmmm...........

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Posts
    621

    Re: Recent Work

    Thanks

    I really want to see one of those calendars in metal. With the variety of finishes possible, it could be really stunning.

    Luke
    "All I'm trying to find out is the fellow's name on first base" -- Lou Costello

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Posts
    1577

    Re: Recent Work

    Nice shares guys!

    I don't have anything near as interesting that I've been working on. More like "plates with holes" the last few months. All were done with V26.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Posts
    1577

    Re: Recent Work

    A little more interesting, but "standard" work for us. The knife blade was cut using a DMS strategy that I now use for most knife blades. I use the same speeds, feeds, stepover, and general machining strategy:

    Adv. Rough +0.015
    Semi-Finish +0.0015
    Finish
    Finish - Finish (blade honing)

    They barely need dressed with a sharpening stone.

    The other piece is a one-off weldment. I had to put a 0.090" x 0.500" DP profiled slot in the middle of the bend. Fun times.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Posts
    1577

    Re: Recent Work

    More DMS strategies. Plastics machine very easily but will bend, bow, and break if your not careful. I use a combination of High Speed Roughing and a finishing strategy using a 3 flute Aluminum endmill with slight radius ground on the corner to keep chipping to a minimum. There are a total of 10 unique part numbers (5 left hands, 5 right) that I use the same basic strategy on.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails WIN_20140506_103702.jpg   WIN_20140506_113013.jpg   WIN_20140527_104303.jpg  

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Posts
    1577

    Re: Recent Work

    The only thing even remotely "fun". I made an adapter for an Edelbrock carb to mount these two ridiculous velocity stacks to a guys bike. Who cares that it will run like ****, it looks cool! Also, extremely expensive set of Oven dials for someone richer than I'll ever be.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 2014-02-06_15-42-29_126-s.jpg   2014-03-03_10-15-44_34-s.jpg  

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Posts
    621

    Re: Recent Work

    I'm really digging this. Even the "boring" stuff is fun to see, just to try to figure out wth something is and what it's going to be bolted to. Little stuff like the way you mark up your stock can be interesting to others.

    The stacks are very nice looking, but I'm with you. I'd much rather see things that are cool looking because they function well, instead of gingerbread that actually gets in the way.

    Luke
    "All I'm trying to find out is the fellow's name on first base" -- Lou Costello

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Posts
    6

    Re: Recent Work

    Attachment 238720Attachment 238722Attachment 238724

    First part is a vane defuser the vanes are about .25 wide and stand about an inch tall. That one if I remember right was 46 inch in diameter.

    Next 2 pics were a sole plate. The keys are an inch tall and about 24 inches long. That plate is around 3.5x26x78.5 we mill it from a 4 inch thick plate.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  18. #18
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Posts
    33

    Re: Recent Work

    Here is the fun side. This is a project my son and I started little while back as a gift for my Dad.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	clocktall.jpg 
Views:	0 
Size:	78.3 KB 
ID:	238726

    Ronnie

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Posts
    1577

    Re: Recent Work

    Ahh, that's the stuff. Very nice work. Are the gears cut from wood or metal?

  20. #20
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Posts
    33

    Re: Recent Work

    The gears are cut from Baltic birch plywood. I would love to try metal but my cnc router wont do them. I may try plexi glass or acrylic at some point to see how that works.

    Ronnie

Page 1 of 3 123

Similar Threads

  1. Recent purchase VMC 760/22 w/ DX-32
    By rickylm in forum Bridgeport / Hardinge Mills
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 09-17-2015, 01:31 PM
  2. Our most recent Scorpion
    By ezRouter in forum Commercial CNC Wood Routers
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 06-29-2012, 10:15 PM
  3. uk recent member
    By djfwalker in forum European Club House
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 02-23-2009, 08:36 PM
  4. recent work
    By owhite in forum Laser Engraving / Cutting Machine General Topics
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 04-11-2005, 06:15 PM

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •