What do you do while the CNC is running?

[rtibbs]

We can tell Leo is not a real "old guy" yet, notice he did not mention a nap?

Must have missed that Ted. I just woke up

[Leo]

NOPE - not yet anaway

[Tailmaker]

Put my noise canceling headphones on, lean back, feet on the table, and listen to music. The headphones leak enough machine noise to hear in the background if something is going wrong. Best suited: Hard Rock, Reggae, Irish Folk and Bluegrass. Well any kind of loud music.

Occasionally check the phone or browse a forum or look up some internet news (the latter not so interesting lately). Maybe sand something or other stuff that does not need much focus. My machine jobs usually take only between 5 to 45 minutes. Would not work well for 24-hour jobs.

[Rcnewcomb]

Very interesting clamping jig you're using. Are those plastic tubes or metal?

Tex,

This is a go bar deck. It is handy for gluing things that are irregular and/or not flat. In this case the wood is sitting on a dish with a 15' radius to give the back of the guitar some curvature. The brace wood has been sanded to conform to the 15' curve too.

The rods are 0.125" OD solid fiberglass rods that I purchased from goodwinds.com. In retrospect I probably should have gone with 0.250" rods.

Some people use adjustable curtain rods that are spring loaded.

Bamboo rods can also be used, but may be more prone to breaking than modern materials.

[Tex_Lawrence]

Well, while my machine is cutting, I'll do what I always do ... look for "Go Bar Clamps!" or something else I've picked up here. Some form of that will solve one of my wood clamping problems where I only want to clamp surface stock until the glue sets. Thanks!

[Phil]

This is a project I worked on; viewtopic.php?f=5&t=34772 while my machine was carving this; viewtopic.php?f=5&t=34621.
I'd like to take a nap but the machine would keep me awake.

phil

[mark-s]

Prep more wood for next project, surf the net, check the phone.
Today unloaded 25 used raised panel cabinet doors free I picked up earlier this morning.
mark-s

[jimandi5000]

Clean the shop.... that is what tell the wife Watch YouTube videos

[ozymax]

Clean the shop.... that is what tell the wife Watch YouTube videos

Jim.
I thought you'd be spending time creating your gadgets.
Awesome job on that, by the way.

[jimandi5000]

Clean the shop.... that is what tell the wife Watch YouTube videos

Jim.
I thought you'd be spending time creating your gadgets.
Awesome job on that, by the way.

Thanks!

[litzluth]

Very interesting clamping jig you're using. Are those plastic tubes or metal?

Tex,

This is a go bar deck. It is handy for gluing things that are irregular and/or not flat. In this case the wood is sitting on a dish with a 15' radius to give the back of the guitar some curvature. The brace wood has been sanded to conform to the 15' curve too.

The rods are 0.125" OD solid fiberglass rods that I purchased from goodwinds.com. In retrospect I probably should have gone with 0.250" rods.

Some people use adjustable curtain rods that are spring loaded.

Bamboo rods can also be used, but may be more prone to breaking than modern materials.

I've had very good success with fiberglass driveway marker rods. Real cheap too!

[mikeacg]

I have to go with Leo on this one! As many years as I have been running my CNC machines, I am still fascinated by seeing the bit go up and down, left and right... I always have my tablet with me out there so I do get a great deal of reading done (Kindle app). My jobs tend to go long but, even with ear plugs in, I can still hear any sound variations from the spindle or bits to catch it if something goes south...

[rscrawford]

I start sanding parts while other parts are cutting. Building furniture, the CNC cutting is the fastest part of the job usually. While one piece is cutting I'm either jointing and planing and gluing up the next blanks, or sanding the last parts to come off.

I try to time my cuts so that they take about the same amount of time as my pre-assembly sanding. So if I'm building 8 chairs, I cut the legs and try to time it so that I can have one set sanded by the time the next set comes off. There is always a balance between taking longer on the CNC and getting a more finished part, or cutting more quickly and have a little more sanding to do. If I get the balance just right I don't waste any time sitting around, and the work gets done the most efficiently.

[jay pieper]

After reading Russel's post----
Guess I'm lucky I'm just lazy like to watch the spindle go
round and round. Oh and post stuff on the forum.

[jfederer]

Coming from a software development and volunteer management background, I have to quote Fox Mulder... "Trust No-one". Certainly I don't trust my very capable CNC machine. I seldom leave the building (stand-alone workshop) unless nature is calling very loudly. So I usually stay in the power machine room, sanding previously made parts. Sometimes I'll go to the "no power tools" room (AKA office) and do something on the computer like check the next file. If it's a short-run job, I'll just monitor it. If I'm not sure of clearances or feed rates, I monitor it with my thumb on the e-stop button. In any case, I always start all jobs with my thumb on the e-stop button. Because... X-Files.