[kool-lites]

I have placed my thread here cause it has the best fit. (mod feel free to correct as needed)
I am building a small desktop router to investigate the possibilty of creating limited use leather punch dies.
My wife and I operate a smal business created custom hand made leather products ( we ONLY use Australian leather) and todate I have limiterd the dies to our logo and pretty ordinary type face for product personalisation like initals. To upgrade to multiple brass fonts in a couple of sizes is very costly.
A logo cost me $40AUD from china and 5 to 6 weeks.
So I thought I will acquire a CNC router from ebay with a small working area See attached image.
I am thinking I will glue 3 mm polycarbinate to an aluminium base place that I can then route a logo or letter.initals or even whole names.
I will then see how many punches I can get before it needs replacement.
BTW We will charge a set up fee for this personalisation.

This thread will detail my journey.
The milestones I have set are as follows:

• Acquire base hardware
• Determine how to convert logo image ( my graphic artists uses JPG or PNG) to a routable file
• Determine most suitable control software.
• Create tooling base plates
• Have fun do this

I am very open to contributions and advice.

[routalot]

Thats a new use for a router in my experience and it should work well.The only polycarbonate routing I have done was following a pattern with a hand held router and it machined quite well.It certainly didn't have as much of a tendency to weld itself in a fuzzy mess behind the tool in the way that acrylic does.For software you might consider a couple of free applications since I believe they will do most,or even all,that you need.Gimp is for image editing and does just about anything that Photoshop does and it works on various platforms it will take an image and allow you to save it in a huge number of different file formats.
If you are looking for something to produce the Gcode I can recommend F-engrave as it will pick up the outline of a .bmp file and turn it into Gcode.For the kind of embossing tool you are planning to make you will have to invert the process and all it takes is a tick in a check box.There are other check boxes to specify the size of the tool that clears the remainder of the material and the precise geometry of the tool following the outline.There are some very useful videos of the process on youtube.It was remarkably generous of Scorchworks to create this program and make it freely available.

[kool-lites]

Thats a new use for a router in my experience and it should work well.The only polycarbonate routing I have done was following a pattern with a hand held router and it machined quite well.It certainly didn't have as much of a tendency to weld itself in a fuzzy mess behind the tool in the way that acrylic does.For software you might consider a couple of free applications since I believe they will do most,or even all,that you need.Gimp is for image editing and does just about anything that Photoshop does and it works on various platforms it will take an image and allow you to save it in a huge number of different file formats.
If you are looking for something to produce the Gcode I can recommend F-engrave as it will pick up the outline of a .bmp file and turn it into Gcode.For the kind of embossing tool you are planning to make you will have to invert the process and all it takes is a tick in a check box.There are other check boxes to specify the size of the tool that clears the remainder of the material and the precise geometry of the tool following the outline.There are some very useful videos of the process on youtube.It was remarkably generous of Scorchworks to create this program and make it freely available.

Thanks for the input.
I am a proficient Gimp user.
I'll check out F-engrave, it sounds like it will suit my needs.
Matthew

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[kool-lites]

I am excited. The baby CNC arrived this morning is now ready to tweak.
I feel nervious not having end stops - I am assuming I can add some if I want to - should I?
I also want to add a way to zero the Z axis.
Using GRBL Control, I jogged X,Y & Z axis. Although I noticed the Z Axis direction seems to be reversed. hitting the UP arrow move the router down.

May the fun begin.

[pippin88]

May be worth spending a little more on the CNC router and you may be able to slowly cut soft metals.

[kool-lites]

May be worth spending a little more on the CNC router and you may be able to slowly cut soft metals.

I see your point, however I want try a low cost option first, particularly as the punches may only be used once or twice.
M.

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[awerby]

If you want to make a good impression on leather, I'd advise metal punches rather than plastic ones. But you can test this out for yourself. Copy one of your existing brass punches in polycarbonate by hand-carving, and try them side by side. If you're really happy with the results, go ahead with your router plan. But if not, start looking for a small CNC milling machine, which is meant for cutting metals, not just wood and plastic.

[kool-lites]

If you want to make a good impression on leather, I'd advise metal punches rather than plastic ones. But you can test this out for yourself. Copy one of your existing brass punches in polycarbonate by hand-carving, and try them side by side. If you're really happy with the results, go ahead with your router plan. But if not, start looking for a small CNC milling machine, which is meant for cutting metals, not just wood and plastic.

I have a couple of timber punches that work OK in some leather, but I find buy decent timber is getting harder.
M.

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[joeavaerage]

Hi,
there must be hundreds of CNC machines in Australia lying underutilized and as many operators/owners desperate for work
for them. Have you given any though to supporting your local artisans/craftsmen/tradesmen? You clearly value and support
the local leather industry....why not others?

Craig

[kool-lites]

Hi,
there must be hundreds of CNC machines in Australia lying underutilized and as many operators/owners desperate for work
for them. Have you given any though to supporting your local artisans/craftsmen/tradesmen? You clearly value and support
the local leather industry....why not others?

Craig

You make an excellent point. I would if they made it easier to contact and find. I simpler am not aware of any locally.
I use a IT guy for my Web stuff in Port Elizabeth cause he advertised his skills and availability.
Is there an "UpWorks" for machinists look for short jobs?
M.

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[kool-lites]

First and foremost this is my journey. I appreciate all the input to date as I learn some thing new.
I don't expect to fail, but if I do, I will know why I shouldn’t have gone down this route(!) I would love to mill brass and Al, but can't justify it for once off punches. My wife is a book binder and we could go to the guild and use their lettering sets, but that would involve driving half way across our great city.
Unfortunately life just got busy again so I wont get to try making chips ( or more accurately MDF dust) until mid week.
Thanx.
M.

[philba]

First and foremost this is my journey. I appreciate all the input to date as I learn some thing new.
I don't expect to fail, but if I do, I will know why I shouldn’t have gone down this route(!) I would love to mill brass and Al, but can't justify it for once off punches. My wife is a book binder and we could go to the guild and use their lettering sets, but that would involve driving half way across our great city.
Unfortunately life just got busy again so I wont get to try making chips ( or more accurately MDF dust) until mid week.
Thanx.
M.

I think you have the right attitude. In the CNC world, you will always find a wide range of opinion from "utter rubbish" to "gee whiz" about any machine or process. The reality is that even the worst machines can be made to do some amazing things if you work at it. I have a little extruded aluminum VWheel CNC router that you will find people saying can't do anything. Yet, I've been able to make a number of really nice things with it. Granted, it took more time than the big boys. If you stick at it and don't push the machine too hard you will likely be able to do what you want. By far your biggest challenge is the learning curve, not the machine. Good luck and please report back with show and tell when you get some results. I (and lots of others, I suspect) am very interested in the outcome.

[kool-lites]

I finally got arround to some serious time with the little router.
Fixed my in ability to use the hold downs
Routed some MDF.
Attachment 435262
But I definitey need to calibrate the unit as the finished product is about 1/2 the actual size.
I am using grblControl - but I can't see any way to add a callibration factor
I fired up the lazer writer driver to swap the Z dirrection, but again there doesn't seem to a place change the calibration.
Any pointers where I should look next.

F-Engrave has a G Code header of G17 G64 P0.001 M3 S3000 - what does this mean and how do I determine if it is correct?
Thank you for your continued support
Matthew

[joeavaerage]

Hi,
I suspect a post on the NZ/Australia board asking for assistance will generate any number of replies.

(Note how I VERY CUNNINGLY place NZ in front of Australia!!!)

Craig

[kool-lites]

F-Engrave Rocks!
I have been playing arround with ths morning and can see it will be very powerful for my needs.
Initially I will stick with Monogram personalisations.

[routalot]

Its nice to know you have got a bit further along the path.The final piece of the jigsaw will be verifying that the Gcode from F-engrave won't upset your machine.I use it with LinuxCNC and it works really well,most of the basic ebay machines seem to arrive with a demo version of Mach3.I expect that with so many of the machines spread around the world and with an even larger number of Mach3 users,it shouldn't be too hard to resolve any problems should they occur.

[kool-lites]

Thought I would share the output some F-Engarave files I will be playing with - my initials in a couple of fonts.
The plan us to route these in MDF. then I migh try some poycarbonate sheet.

[philba]

F-Engrave is a gem. Surprisingly powerful and free. I was going to buy V-Carve but, so far, there isn't anything I wanted to do that F-Engrave didn't work for so I didn't. The author responds to email and is proactive in fixing bugs (not that there are many).

If you are using it with a GRBL controller, you'll need to edit the preamble sequence.

[kool-lites]

it is encouraging you found F-Engrave so useful. I am yet to decide how to control it.

[kool-lites]

If you are using it with a GRBL controller, you'll need to edit the preamble sequence.

Ok this is the next item on my agenda.

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