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Oct 31, 2007 14:26:14 GMT
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Hey all, Well my amazon got sold, ime sad it went but I needed the room..to finish constructing THIS:    Hard to tell from the non-revealing pictures but this is the electronics side of my homebuild CNC (computer controlled!)milling machine. When finished should have: -x-axis of just shy of 1m (chain driven from 1 stepper motor). -Y-axis of roughly 0.8m -i am still undecided on the Z axis. which will probably be about 0.3 - 0.5m. All motors are 3nm steppers, with the x-axis chain drive having a 2:1 ratio for more torque! Big eh? reason being I am going to be making a seperate section bodywork plug of one of THESE so I can make fibreglass bodies  :  (sorry for the small image...the only other one was a massive one!) Also an interestingly sad story, the above car, even though beautiful..met its demise a day after the picture was taken. With a chap called Peter Brock at the wheel, the Bathurst legend Peter Brock. He died on impact!  Annoyingly to get to the next stage with my CNC machine I need lots of metal for the mountings (i also have about £150 worth of precision ground steel rail and bearings for the runners)... but ime super poor at the moment. So I investigated way round not having money for the metal, and the internet came up trumps again with the home metalcasting craze. see www.backyardmetalcasting.com. I am about half way through constructing my furnace so I get some chunks of aluminium from scrap metal to make my bits for the CNC mill.. so to run through that. I have to make a furnace to cast my own metal, which I use for my CNC machine, so I can make a large bodywork plug, which will enable me to make a fibreglass mould....to make a fibreglass bodyshell! Long winded eh? so the next few months of my life are going to be dedicated to tooling up my tiny garage! To speed up the roughing phase on the CNC mill I decided (drunkenly and late at night) a big milling bit would be needed! so I wake up the next morning, check ebay and hang my head in shame... but I had already paid for the bloody MASSIVE end mill you see below!  Complicated? Hell yes! But to have my own Daytona replica it's worth it! Also bought my first lathe a fortnight ago. A Gap-bed Colchester student. Its quite in need of a paint but it works real well so far! The Girlfriend has been giving me a helping hand stripping off the years of gunk and paint from the bottom and giving it a coat of hammerite! (not shown here)  Pretty chuffed at how my workshop (garage!) is turning out so far...i love having heavy machinery at my disposal! Edd |
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Shelby Daytona - Scratchbuild project.
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bigrod
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,654
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Oct 31, 2007 15:06:05 GMT
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That's quite an ambitious project Eddie!! Good luck!!
So let me get this straight, you're going to be milling a complete car yes, or have I the wrong end of the stick?
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If I have to explain, you won't understand.
Maximum signature image height = 80 pixels
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dugong
Posted a lot
One Of Us Will Live To Rue The Day We Met Each Other (Wire : 2008)
Posts: 3,292
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Oct 31, 2007 16:53:39 GMT
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Edd that looks awesome.
So you sold the Amazon in the end......someone off here or eGay?
I'll be sad to see the back of that....it would have been awesomes.
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BiAS
Club Retro Rides Member
Insert witty comment here
Posts: 2,231
Club RR Member Number: 147
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Oct 31, 2007 18:47:03 GMT
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Love it Eddie,
Anyone who is gonna cast the metal to build their own cnc milling machine so that they can mill a buck DESERVES the fibreglass body they end up with!
Go on son!
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(car+wheels)-rideheight=WIN
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Oct 31, 2007 19:15:26 GMT
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nutter!
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Oct 31, 2007 20:14:03 GMT
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AMAZING!!! I wish you every success with this - a truly massive project and all in the backyard-stylee. Respect!  |
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Cheers chaps, didnt expect a response like that...really cheered me up! Jon- Sold it to a friend of tommymanta's on this forum.. they came with the smallest trailer i've ever seen but lovely chaps...its gone to the right home! Did some work on the foundry last night, Got the stainless beer barrell shell all finished but i am short of the materials for the refractory (the heat proof liner of the furnace!). All the recipies for home-made refractory include something called "fireclay", which is basically clay thats already been fired..then crushed up! But god damn it i cant find it ANYWHERE! i tried about 20 places last night but no luck... i can only find small pots of "fire-cement"! So todays side-mission at work is to find some commercial refractory! And this morning i had a brain wave of which medium to machine with the CNC mill... roof insulation foam! it comes in HUGE sheets(8' x 4' x 50mm deep)... reasonably high density(good for machining)...price is more reasonable that mixing my own foam...i can stick sheets together with a glue gun (or similar) and most importantly..i can cut through it like butter (hmm......a butter buck?? ). So i think i may cut a rough shape of each section (the body will have to be built in about 10 sections....my mill is'nt big enough!) in foam, about 2mm below where i actually want the surface, and then slather in in plaster(or high build primer?) and go for another pass on the machine... but a finishing pass.. I reckon each part will take a good day to machine up.... Oppinions? Any help appreciated! Edd |
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Shelby Daytona - Scratchbuild project.
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you are completely nuts mate, brilliant, just out of interest would u be willing to make fibre glass panels for other cars once ur looney project is finished??
i thought my uncle was mad for having a lathe in his celler but building ur own CNC machine takes the top prize.
congratulations
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stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,960
Club RR Member Number: 174
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Excellent skills wish I had the brains to do stuff with electrics people on here make some really interesting stuff.
Will you do lathe work for RR members for extra beer tokens i've got 4 hubs that need re-drilling?
Matt
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sav
Part of things
Posts: 842
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Very impressive! Good luck with that, looking forward to seeing how it all progresses. |
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you are completely nuts mate, brilliant, just out of interest would u be willing to make fibre glass panels for other cars once ur looney project is finished?? I thought my uncle was mad for having a lathe in his celler but building ur own CNC machine takes the top prize. congratulations I have already formulated that into the plan! Well...it needs a use after ive used it! either that or I can just make the foam moulds and the owner can do as they please with that! But anyway thats over a year off I reckon...i will be lucky to get it running before easter I reckon! OOOON a similar note. If any of you understand what I am on about...this is what point I have got to: -Currently making the first steps into designing via Pro/manufacture (pro/e add on) the NC sequences for controlling the axis'. However its tedious. I use Pro/E every day in my job (truck transmissions) but for simple curved shapes its just not up to the same level as other comparable programs like solidworks... So if anyone works on solidworks and AMAZINGLY has a copy of SOLID-CAM (cheeky I know) let me know will you! - I have looked tonight into a program called FeatureCAM. But cant fingure my way around it! Does anyone know of a program which can automatically recognise 3d surfaces? Tall order I know! For all you who I have stirred an interest in...good news - And if it hasnt even vaguely interested you...why not? you can make anything you want!! www.grabercars.com/content/view/67/2/And also a MYRIAD of other sites on the net Go explore the idea... Its pretty cheap (no seriously..!) and there is LOTS of help across the internet Anyone who is interested PM me and I can guide you to some sites... Edd EDIT: Stealthstylz - Electronic-trickry is the hard bit about making this...but not impossible... Ime an engineer - which means at birth i was born with a electronics understanding deficiency...so if i can do it anyone can! |
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Shelby Daytona - Scratchbuild project.
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Dec 11, 2007 12:56:31 GMT
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The hilarity of my tiny garage collection continues!   Now in my garage (not shown...pics soon!) and it aint small... About 6ft 2, over a tonne and amazingly cool Took 3 of us a whole day to move it 5 miles, involving dissasembling most of it... some very edgy moments when moving the main parts.... at one poing we were using my lathe (about a tonne i think?) as a winching point... and it was getting dragged across the garage!!! Dead chuffed now as my machine collection is finished.... in theory i can make almost anything now Edd |
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Shelby Daytona - Scratchbuild project.
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Dec 11, 2007 17:28:32 GMT
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so what is the blue thing??? reminds me of a pillar drill but I'm not too sure?
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Dec 11, 2007 19:50:42 GMT
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Milling machine, I think
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tobyk
Part of things
Posts: 12
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Dec 11, 2007 20:23:41 GMT
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Yeh that's a vertical milling machine. For the interest of the original poster, I use those Colchester Student lathes at work. As I'm an apprentice, we have to use the older stuff to learn on haha - expect to have to overhaul the brake on the tailstock, and it's quite common for them to jump out of gear. Just dump plenty of EP90 in and it'll be fine Got to love the effort and determination you have in this - most people wouldn't even think of doing this sort of thing! Definately going to be watching this topic. And hello, this is my first post lol |
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Last Edit: Dec 11, 2007 20:25:38 GMT by tobyk
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slater
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,390
Club RR Member Number: 78
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Dec 11, 2007 21:56:51 GMT
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Lovely dumpy thing, i feel some big cuts coming on! Get any tooling with it? |
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blue roofing insulation foam is the ideal choice, you will find that many universities and even professional design studios use it at times as a cheaper alternative to proper modelling foam.
I am a little concerned with the refinery/smelting of aluminium in your backyard though, not sure how you are going to get the purities correct for any given application?
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Remade In Australia
thereimaginarium.com.au
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Dec 12, 2007 12:48:35 GMT
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slater - no tooling other than an iso30 shank (a good bit stiffer than bridgeports R8 taper), a big old vice (they found it UNDER the machine when they moved it.... how it got there we don't know!), and a 4-5" fly cutter, which is a bit dead but should do fine for surfacing. I also got lucky on ebay a few months ago and bought about 100 milling bits..with a good range of sizes.. for about £35! Bargin! Pictures tonight!
DD - I shall be looking more into insulating foam then... I am also going to have a crack tonight at making my own machinable wax (for prototyping without wearing the milling bits!) from 4 parts parrafin wax to 1 part polyethylene!.. updates on this if it works..which i doubt!
As for the furnace, thankfully I only use the castings for non-structural things or protoyping. As you mentioned there are some impurity problems, however aluminium seems very tolerant of impurities and so its almost a simple case of "what you put in...you get out". Hence my post in the wanted section asking for large alu castings.... due to them being cast previously..i know the metal is of a composition which lets it flow well!
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Shelby Daytona - Scratchbuild project.
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Dec 12, 2007 12:52:58 GMT
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And also to tobyK, Welcome to the forum. Thanks for the input on the student...
Ive already noticed that it has a tendancy to jump out... but only when its running in the lower gears... nothing to worry about really as i can just lightly rest my hand on the lever as its feeding..
My tailstock is hammered however... looks like its had a run in with a concrete floor... and the brake is already botched... so i may try to find a new one when i get round to using it!
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Shelby Daytona - Scratchbuild project.
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stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,960
Club RR Member Number: 174
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Dec 12, 2007 13:23:28 GMT
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I need more machine tools in my life lol, nowhere round here that will do one off machining for the public they all want to do big batches for companies.
Matt
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