What do you use yours for?

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T4 Concepts
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What do you use yours for?

Post by T4 Concepts »

Hi all,

I thought I would start a thread to find out what members are using their cnc machines for, and also find out the capabilities of the
V-Carve software ( as this section is for vcarve ), I'm not going to learn everything within a few weeks that's for sure. By seeing what you guys are making I think would show me ( and other newbies ) the possibilities of what vcarve can do, I think it would be quite interesting to see what lies ahead for the rest of us new to the software.

So far I've seen many people making things out of wood, mainly on YouTube and the fantastic Vectric tutorials of course. Wood seems to be the preferred material, mainly name-plates, banners and signs.

So what else are members making with V-Carve ?



TURK

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gkas
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Re: What do you use yours for?

Post by gkas »


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sharkcutup
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Re: What do you use yours for?

Post by sharkcutup »

Screenshot 2021-08-03 202223.png
These locations within the Vectric User Forum you can see many of the forum users projects created using their CNC machines.

Sharkcutup
V-Carve Pro Tips, Gadget Tips & Videos
YouTube Channel - Sharkcutup CNC
V-Carve Pro 11.554

T4 Concepts
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Re: What do you use yours for?

Post by T4 Concepts »

Yeah, been looking at those :wink:
I was particularly interested in Bob jr' toilet roll dispenser! as he used plastic.

As I'm also working with plastics I'll no doubt have many questions in the coming weeks ............... feeds and speeds, and the types of bits used. But the 'Projects' page just seems to be images of the finished articles.



TURK

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Bob Jr
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Re: What do you use yours for?

Post by Bob Jr »

Well Turk,
I have to admire your perceptiveness.
Currently, extensive testing and re-evaluation is in progress with the dispenser prototype.
Are you mainly interested in the product or the process?. There has been excellent discussion in this forum on the machining of plastics. This has been a valuable source of information for many of my adventures.
Have you seen my cheeseball accelerator?
Bob
"Be accurate."
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T4 Concepts
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Re: What do you use yours for?

Post by T4 Concepts »

Many thanks for responding Bob, very much appreciated :D
I was intrigued at what sort of things people were making besides wooden trinkets ............... your project caught my eye as it's not normally a material that most people would consider working with.

It's really the process that interests me, plastic has to be one of the hardest materials to work with and by that I don't mean 'hardest' in the sense of density, but the methods in machining it. Even drilling and cutting plastics by hand is difficult!

I haven't seen your 'Cheeseball Accelerator' yet, but I will definitely have a look at that also.
It's incredible what members are making, I do have plans in making stuff out of wood ( I've always wanted to design my own guitar ) but right now I'm concentrating on my headlight project, which means learning how to machine ABS plastic.

It's good to know that there is a part of the community that know stuff about plastics ................ no doubt I'll have many questions :wink:



TURK

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Adrian
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Re: What do you use yours for?

Post by Adrian »

I machine many different types of plastics as one of my CNC businesses is making instrument clusters and other parts for race cars.

The feeds and speeds I use for my machine wouldn't apply to your machine as mine can move more quickly, has bigger steppers etc etc.

Best place to start with feeds/speeds is the chipload charts (an example one - https://www.cutter-shop.com/information ... chart.html) from there you can adjust to what your machine is capable of and go from there. With pretty much all materials you're looking for chips while cutting and a bit that is not too hot to touch at the end of the cutting.

Make sure you're using the right type of bit for the plastic you're cutting as well. There are some that you can cut with the same type of but that you would use for wood but for the majority of plastic I use a single O flute upcut spiral bit.

The trick with any plastic is getting the feed rate at the level where you're not melting the chips back onto the material as you cut. It's just a matter of experimenting and working out what works for your machine AND what you're cutting. What I mean by that is if you're cutting out 12" squares of plastic then the rates for that will be different for a 2" shape made of complex curves as the machine will never get to the same feed speed as the square.

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Re: What do you use yours for?

Post by Leo »

That is a HUGE question.

I like to say - You are only limited by your imagination.

I have worked 40 years in industry and 14 years in my home shop in CNC.

I cannot see the end of the tunnel as to what the possibilities are.

As to my shop - I make signs for both fun and for money. I also make custom made items for a customers that make furniture. The stuff I make is unique. I like being challenged.

It's really hard to say what I do because it is always something different.

After visiting Scott55 up in Maine, I am challenged to try some extremely highly detailed 3D carvings.

To sum up what everyone on this entire forum does with their machines is near impossible to do in 100 words.

I can only encourage you to DIG DEEP into this user forum. Get to know all of us. Get to Know Beki and Stef and all the rest of Vectric staff. Get out to visit face to face some of the people. It really is a rewarding experience.

Try something. Dan Sawatsky from Imagination Corporation says that you need a minimum of 10,000 hours and a dumpster full of scrap just to be a beginner.

This is a HUGE lifetime fun experience.
Imagine the Possibilities of a Creative mind, combined with the functionality of CNC

T4 Concepts
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Re: What do you use yours for?

Post by T4 Concepts »

Good tips there Adrian, and a good link for the 'Feeds & Speeds' , a link I bookmarked a long long time ago when I was shopping for milling cutters. In fact, I almost bought my cutters from them but ordered from APT Shop in Glasgow instead ( they were cheaper! ). My plan is ( probably what most newbies do ) is to test with cheaper brands, and when you know what you're doing, then invest in quality cutters.

Working out the speeds on my spindle is going to be somewhat difficult! .................. it's a 'cheapish' Chinese import, with a variable speed controller ( a potentiometer type ). No doubt there are going to be an awful lot of ruined parts before I manage to settle on the correct settings.

It's also comforting to know that some people on the forum have experience with what I'm trying to do with my machine. Should I need help in the coming weeks can I get back to you ?


Many thanks for your time guys :wink:



TURK

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martin54
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Re: What do you use yours for?

Post by martin54 »

I buy some of my bits from APT shop as I am in Scotland & never had a problem with their bits so I doubt you will gain much from changing to a different brand. They are set up more for machining metals so you won't get all the bits you want from them.

Not sure why you thing you will have problems with speeds using a cheap(ish) Chinese spindle & vfd, you set the spindle speed you want either at the VFD or through the software if you are set up to do that, very simple,

You will need to do your testing with each different type of material you cut, don't think all plastics are created equal, you will not have one set of speed & feed settings for all plastics if you intend to cut a range of them, settings for something like acrylic will be different to ABS as its a completely different plastic :lol: :lol: :lol:

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