Lol! He didn't know what happened until a couple minutes later.

Thanks man. I agree, the finishing pass really cleaned things up.

Thanks Jon!

Thanks man!

Thanks!

Thanks John! That was the plan, until I saw how the V bit cut the Lund logo out. Also the lettering was very small during our test cuts in wood, so we decided to just leave it blank. There are decals that the switches came with, however I'm not sure if my Dad will bother putting them on.

@@ProjectsbyBrian : Ahha! :o)

Yes but then after making that small CNC, in 5 years or so you can build a PrintNC or similar :)

@@ProjectsbyBrian as a mechanical engineer student... give me 2 more years and I can probably get a working cheaper version of a tool changer for a printnc

Nice! For the most part, yes. I'm taking very conservative passes here in the aluminum, and as long as you're making good chips, then you should be ok without coolant.

Spam Spasm: In addition to Brian's reply, the following will contribute to a successful result:- If you are using a small diameter cutter in aluminium, single flute gives best chip clearance, avoids chip re-welding, and runs cooler. (I think that's what Brian is using) If possible, use free-machining grade aluminium, such as 6061. Use an air blast to clear chips and add some cooling. I work on the theory that a chip that is not near the cutter cannot be re-welded! :o) I don't like liquid coolant on personal sized machines. It can cause the lightweight chips to stick in the cut zone. Adding to that, a lot of hobby machines use MDF (or similar) beds and spoil-boards, which would be ruined by any liquid. Flood coolant systems on heavy machines is, of course, very desirable, but hardly practical in most home-shop situations.

@@PiefacePete46 very well said John!

​@@PiefacePete46 I agree in terms of "traditional" flood cooling. But there are some clever solutions to that. It´s called "Minimalmengenschmierung" in german, i don´t know the exact english word for that but it´s basically an airstream with a tiny bit of coolant mixed in (basically like a carbureter) -> Here is a quick video (it´s in german, but you will still get the point). The part was engineered by a german youtuber who build an awesome DYI machine. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/i-CUo5d2uLq0XYk.html

@@d3rsch0rsch : The one I have seen on KZfaq is sold as "FogBuster", and there are other similar systems. They appear to work really well, although you still end up with a sticky coating on chips, and MDF would probably need more frequent replacement. I was off-track with my reference to flood-cooling... really only relevant to a CNC mill with waterproof enclosure, rather than a router.

1/4" or 6mm single flutes have worked best for me.

Thanks! I use a CR10. It's a silk filament by Eurome (I think). I have it on my Amazon wish list which is linked in most of my descriptions (it's an affiliate link). Most of the parts are 50-60% infill unless it's just for show, then it's probably just 10%.

@@ProjectsbyBrian Thanks for your reply/ I thought that looks like a silk. I wondered if you'd printed 100% since they needed to be extremely rigid. Is it PLA? And approximately what did it end up costing to build it and max dimensions of material you can fabricate?

@@partsdave8943 all printed parts will eventually be replaced with aluminum ones, at least the functional parts. I think above 60% and you start hitting the point of diminishing returns. My cutting area is about 22" x 33" and the machine cost me about $2k for the whole setup.

@@ProjectsbyBrian Thanks.

@@ProjectsbyBrian Going to use this CNC to make the aluminum pieces? How accurate is it?