This week I are mostly been playin with me wee CNC mcahine

[WD Forte]

The weathers shite atm so keeping myself amused playing indoors.

I have a box made from bits of scrap/salvaged pine
with a white faced hardboard lid
Nothing special, just a box, but I fancied putting something on the lid.
I saw a line art image on the web which I felt would lend itself to cutting out
this image

https://imgur.com/YO83SD6.jpg

So I grabbed,vectorised,resized it and created toolpaths to fit the 200x150mm area on the lid

https://imgur.com/r2l1VjH.jpg

https://imgur.com/gQLUqrS.jpg

I used a 3mm 45 degree vee bit to cut away the white layer to 0.3mm
can you see what it is yet?

https://imgur.com/J6VOi7k.jpg

And got this

https://imgur.com/k6WfrTD.jpg

I rather like that brown/white affect but decided to try an idea for higher contrast
and fetched out the black boot polish
( I had put a layer of wax polish on before cutting I might add as I had this in mind beforehand)

https://imgur.com/h9QzPHP.jpg


A quick wipe off got it to this


https://imgur.com/hHrHGtZ.jpg


That'll do, it makes the box slightly more interesting.

I've done similar things before but used a more complex method
the two plates below are A4 sized Dibond 2mm thick.
Dibond is a layer of Polypropolene between two thin layers of aluminium.
It comes 'in a range of attractive colours' which can be wet and dried off,
this a bit of a chore TBH but you can get it to a high shine eventually.

After being cut out to approx 1mm they're filled with car body filler and black pigment
then sanded flat.
Neither had been polished at this stage.

I polished and gave the Joey Dunlop one to my MOT guy who's from N.I.
He'd always had a somewhat shabby and faded newspaper cutting of Joey on the wall for years
and I felt I might do better than that for him.

https://imgur.com/o72hRz0.jpg


Old Triumph one same method.

https://imgur.com/fHOwr34.jpg

with
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bikers smell of wee

[piazza]

Always fancied a go of that, in fact I have a water cooled laser printer in the shed..no idea how it works though. And cheers for putting me off with complications like being an expert in vectoring etc

Oh lordy

Looks great btw

[WD Forte]

Thanks but I don't regard myself as an expert in anything
I'm more an enthusiastic amateur.
Vectors are just lines rather than dots and the software does all the
hard work.
I think the secret to tinkering is keep experimenting and accept you'll make massive fuck ups at times but keep going anyway
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bikers smell of wee

[struan80]

You need to do one of the 2 Tone Logo. No other is worthy.

[virus]

nice work, what sort of machine are you using? any pics?
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own: 81 xs1100g...
owned: 85 rat CG (sold), 91 GS500e (stolen), 84 gsx400f (scrapped), 81 z250 (siezed, siezed, scrapped), 83 cb250rs (sold), 84 gpz750r ratfighter (killed) 84gpz400 (sold), '80 cb650 ratfighter (wrote off) 95gsx6/12f ratfighter (killed) 91 xj900 (sold)
stinkwheel Well I just had my hands up a pigs fanny. Which makes your concerns pale into insignificance.

[colink98]

[WD Forte]

Its a CNC 3040
A generic chinese made ( duh!) desktop cnc/engraver/router
the 3040 is the nominal bed size of 30x40 Cm, but the actual working area is
more like 25Cm wide (X axis) by 37Cm long (Y axis) or close to A3 paper size.

Height under the gantry which puts limitations on the workpeice height
is around 75mm
I bought it in a rush of blood like we all do, around 2012/2013 as I recall
and paid around £400

Most of them come part assembled but it wasnt hard to finish it off
and I've since modded it a bit.
You're not going to get a high class production machine for £400
but it is capable of say small scale prototype/ one off work
within its limitations.

Mine came with a parallel port controller, recent ones have USB
heres a USB one currently on sale for £399

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3040T-3AXIS-CNC-ROUTER-ENGRAVER-ENGRAVING-MACHINE-3D-CUTTER/303136308942?hash=item469454fece:g:b~kAAOSwjtNZeYXA

USB is better and more convenient IMO.
PP types need a good parallel port and cable with preferably a dedicated PC.
I use a Commell LV677 running win7/32 and Mach 3 which does little else when its running
as it's passing high speed signals via the PPort all the time its cutting.
With USB, any old lappy would probably do.

Software;
I'm currently using windows and use Adobe Creative suite for intial image editing on main PC.
Vectric software for final editing of vectors and creating toolpaths etc and Mach3 for machine control.
There are other option of course.
Were I using Linux I'd probably be looking at EMC, Gimp, Inkscape etc and there are
probably loads of other free alternatives about by now.
I use what I have and what I'm used to and tbh, too lazy to schlep the learning curve
of new software unless I feel I'd really benefit from it
especially as I've far from outgrown what I have.

This is mine.
I built a plinth or it with slot in hardboard sides and have a clear top and front cover to be used to contain dust
if cutting wood.
The black box underneath is the power supply and controller

https://imgur.com/d6NhLen.jpg

The Commell LV677 industrial PC I use as a controller
which also runs the setup and design software
https://imgur.com/s4qlz1Q.jpg


So, why buy one?
tldr;
Boys 'n toys nuff said

They're nerdy/techy/geeky fun and can be damned useful within their limitations
as well as arty farty stuff, I've made pcbs and gaskets and assemblies with mine
and will add some pics of experiments/failures later.
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bikers smell of wee