small scale cnc fun

[WD Forte]

In rush of blood I bought a desktop cnc machine
with view to using it for isolation milling PCBs and stuff
like whats going on in this pic I found on the web.
https://makerflux.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Isolation-milling-1.png

As it came with some cheap crap engraving bits and as I didnt have a current pcb to make
anyway, I wanted a project to help me get my teeth into it and didnt want to carve
the typical 'Mon repose' stuff out of wood I saw on many sites.
I did have some half decent small end mills though.

Then I remembered I always fancied a throttle lock for the old CX.
On longer motorway runs, its nice to be able to rest/relax your right hand at times
Sure I could buy one but
A I'm a cheap bastard
and
B wheres the fun in that?

So Looking at the throttle on the old thing and taking some
measurements, I came up with a cunning plan to have clamp thin enough to
grip on the throttle tube between the grip and switch body.Its only
about a 2mm gap at most

https://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n302/reggiecx/throttleandswitch1_zpseb9acb62.jpg

Luckily a shop up the road threw out some 3mm plastic sheet
that seemed tough, stiffish, yet slightly flexible so I liberated it
for a higher purpose.

(I wont go into the arseache of getting the software to allow me to quickly
knock up what is a simple design and produce the G code.)

Anyway, skipping over that painful episode
I sent the g code to mach3 on a mini itx PC I use to run the mill
and cut out this to test the concept

https://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n302/reggiecx/cutout1_zps6c869292.jpg

After a quick clean up and assembly I fitted it and it worked
(more or less)
A few mods and adjustments here and there and changes to the length
of the over centre locking bars and its now working pretty well.

https://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n302/reggiecx/tlfitted1a_zps6261a2dd.jpg

It could be better of course, its basically just a prototype and I'm sketching out revisions already
but I'll keep it on the bike for the time being for some real world testing
and tweak and develop it as time goes on.
I've since found that knocking the pins out of long 3.2mm pop rivets allowed me
to swap out most of the small nuts and bolts for carefully inserted
and peened over rivets which looks tidier.

I'll also hunt for some grey or black plastic material too.
I find white is a bit sanitary looking and doesnt carry the same
patina of age, abuse and neglect in keeping with the rest of the bike.


What I do like about it is this.
Be it ever so humble, I actually made something practical from the wee cnc machine
____________________
bikers smell of wee

[331X2]

That's convenient, I was about to post a topic asking if anyone had a small CNC mill and was willing to knock a PCB up! Any idea what you'd charge for one of these dual layer boards?

Cheers