I was wondering if I could ask some questions that I couldn’t find answers for involving the CNC machine and membership.
To cut a long story short I’m partway through a project that’s been on and off for a couple of years and I was going to 3d print with metal part of it, but I recently heard about this place. As such I was wondering if I could ask about how advanced the CNC machine is, the one I have access to at the men’s shed in Reading can only do flat surfaces, so things like cut out cubes, or stars, or anything like that but flat. So I was wondering if the CNC machine here was a bit more advanced and if I could cut out a more complex shape, (I’ve got the materials as it’s special-ish wood).
I was also wondering if there’s some sort of day rate? as I’m based in Reading and for now only need to do one or two things (though each is a pair).
I’d happily pay (though I can’t pay much as I’m a jobless student) for the privilege as it’d actually save me a lot of money if I could use the CNC machine.
If not no worries, and thanks in advance regardless.
You can definitely do non-flat shapes, basically anything 2.5d - we use VCarve mainly for generating toolpaths so you might be able to find some examples, it’ll do 99% of 3 axis jobs including bas-relief decorative type stuff
We don’t do day rates unfortunately as you’d need time to do the safety inductions etc. before you can use the CNC - it’s not a huge timeline but definitely not same day
One thing worth considering: if your CNC runs on gcode the limiting factor might be the gcode generator you’re using - it’s possible you could unlock some more flexibility in the machine with some different software
Interesting, yeah it runs G-code, I know that, but beyond that it might as well be magic to me, I know very little about it. Would it be possible for me to provide the designs and material and ask one of the members to operate the CNC machine? I’d happily pay and/or donate for it.
BTW, what does 2.5 D mean? I can only find it being referred to in the video game capacity.
To clarify, you mentioned specialist wood for this particular piece. We do have a full table router setup for wood that does have Z axis travel. At least 100mm.
If you know a specific date you’ll be in town, someone would likely be able to help with enough notice in order to book the machine. Any payment would be on their own terms.
For smaller (and aluminium things) we do have a desktop cnc that is currently getting a new spindle mounted. Not sure if that’s ready to go yet.
I used 2.5d to mean 3d but with no overhangs, basically anything you can do on a standard 3 axis cnc - though it looks like the term gets used to mean various different things haha
Basically if the machine can move in x,y,z directions then probably the limiting factor is the gcode generator to tell it what to do - there’s often a bit of a learning curve, but there are a few free gcode generators available - some good, some less good
Sorry for the late response, it was a friends Bday yesterday, so what I’ll do, as there’s 4 models, and I might produce 3 of them (I know I originally said 2) I’ll divide them into halves, because based on some research it’s definitely not possible to do them in one go, but in might be possible to do them in two, so first cut out the inside, which leaves a flat surface to rest on, then cut out the outside and I can then stick them together.
This is the first one as a new user I can only send one item at a time.
Interesting, ok sounds like my premise of not being able to do it due to the machine may be wrong, what I’ll do is respond to Nhjansen with the file images to see if it’s even possible and do some research about G-code incase I can do it at the shed, I’ve been told probably not as it’s a custom one made from an engraver and raspberry pi.
But thank you for this little tidbit of info, it’s very useful.
These look remarkably similar in concept to the sword handles that I recently cut on the CNC router.
I cut both the inside tang grooves with the parting plane as one surface of the material face up. Then flipped the material and cut the 3D contour on the backside of the material to get the outer round shape, which is also tapered.
I took a bit to figure out all the steps, but ended up great!
There’s definitely a reason they look similar, they’re French grips for Epee’s.
Glad to hear something similar has been done before, I have to ask, how does a cnc router differ to a regular router? I’ve only ever heard of one and found it’d be very hard to get the exact shape.
Edit: Forgot to ask, if you were willing to do this, how much would you want for it? I’ll check to see if I can do it at the shed, as Sean pointed out to me that the issue might not be the machine but the code.
You could definitely get the general shape from the CNC, those round overs with varying radius along their length would be extraordinarily difficult to get right on a standard 3 axis cnc - I’d recommend getting the general shape on the CNC then smoothing / rounding by hand
