Thanks for the info and the offer.

The cost will come down when guys figure out how to hack these things together.  One of my best friends has a 3D printer that he built, and has continued to modify to where it prints incredibly intricate parts, with amazing resolution.  He has a masters in both electrical engineering and computer engineering, but once a guy like that figures it out they can dumb it down so a slightly above average Joe can build one on the cheap.  Then forums spring up, etc., etc.  Its a super cool world we're living in.

I want a CNC router/mill to do some engraving and milling on various projects, but I've held off mostly because I just don't have the time to mess with it now. 

TremendousWand wrote:

Can it do aluminum?  I've been looking for a desktop cnc that can do aluminum for a long while.

Yes it can, funny you mention that. I am in the process of gathering some info to make a sign for my wife. I also need to make a bracket for my Lightning, guys have mentioned on the Inventables forums that they've CNC'nd up to 1".
 

TremendousWand wrote:

I watched several review videos on the x-carve.  Wish I had $1200 laying around.  It's really cool how technology is advancing forward to the point where we can go back to making stuff.

I'm a mechanical designer and work in solidworks.  Right now I need a couple of radiator fan brackets fabricated.  I ordered them in plastic from shapeways to confirm design and then was going to get them fabricated in aluminum.  But I noticed if I increased the thickness to + 5/16" and use helical inserts it will be strong enough.  This is as opposed to ordering them in aluminum which is going to cost me $200 bucks just for the setup charge.  Really want a cheap way to work w/ aluminum.

You need help designing anything let me know.



 

I might take you up on that offer! I have been learning Fusion 360, it's slow going having no background in this stuff ,but I've made a few parts now for my truck and the feeling of freedom is so awesome!

How large are the brackets? If you can kick out an SVG file I can import it in to Easel (the free web based tool for X-Carve) and do a test cut in some MDF or something I have not figured out all the CNC stuff in Fusion 360. If it looks OK then I'd be happy to cut some aluminum for you.

Last night I finished up the carbon fiber relay/fuse panel I mentioned earlier.



 

TremendousWand wrote:

The brackets are are pretty small.  I went ahead and ordered them in .300 thick nylon plastic from shapeways.  Not ideal but it won't get anywhere near hot enough in their location to be an issue.  Plus I just use helical threaded inserts and it's gets me solid fastening and good structural support.  It will be stable enough until I can have the time and money to fab from your of aluminum.  I'm pretty content in ordering stuff in plastic either for prototyping or final pass from shapways.  It's fairly cheap is most non metal materials but it usually takes 2 weeks to get it. Obviously some things have to be made out of metal.  I'd post some pics but I always get an error when I try to upload pics on this forum.

I can help you design any sort of bracket, plate, adapter, tool, you want.  Solidworks can export to 2 dozen file types but .svg isn't one.  2D drawings can be saved to .dwg or .dxf and from there I'm sure there is some sort of free conversion software our there that can get the file type you need.  In the 3D world step, stl, iges, parasolid are the normal neutral files.

I can probably help you out w/ the software.  I live in Richardson, I don't make it out to Fort Worth too often these days but we can plan an adult play date and meetup.  I'd be interested in seeing your setup.

Joe 

 

Joe, I just saw your reply! I missed it somehow. That'd be awesome. Let me get my garage remodel squared away and presentable and we'll have to meet up.

I did cut a bracket out for the relay/fuse board. It came out pretty good. I used a 1/8" Destiny Viper end mill. It had no problems cutting .125" 6061. I was pretty conservative though only going .002 at a time so it took a while

Mounted the bracket where the stock airbox used to be. Tomorrow I hope to have everything attached to it. Ignore the two temp battery cables and extra long mounting screws those will be replaced when I have the bracket powdercoated.




 

Kelly_H wrote:

Funny that I should see this thread - I was just thinking yesterday about how neat it would be to have a nice finned aluminum dress-up plate for the Sanden AC compressor! There's one available for the York/Tecumseh compressor but it's not the right dimensions to square up on the Sanden.



But man would it be nice to have something to make the Sanden look a bit less unsightly - and I'll be honest, I would be totally ecstatic to have a flat plate cover that I could then use as another "tool table" in the engine bay  That's really the motivation here. I get real mad when I prop all my tools on the compressor and then they fall off the sides and get all tangled in the belts and stuff. 

I was thinking that a part like that would be easy to make with a CNC because dimensionally it's nothing particularly complicated. You'd just need a piece of rectangular aluminum stock and then would just have to slice the fins out, drill 4 holes, and bevel the edges of the piece a bit to clean it up. Of course, it could look totally stupid once installed, who knows.

Looks pretty straightforward. Can you get the bolt hole measurements?