PDA

View Full Version : Attached Foredome to my CNC.



Michael Simpson Virgina
11-07-2011, 8:30 AM
I kept stripping out the main motor to gear hub on my large robot. I had a couple of choices.

1. Go to a hard wood, Plastic or MDF wont do it.
2. Add set screws
3. Create an aluminum hub.

My current router attached to the CNC is too fast for this task, so I deceided to attache my Foredom to the CNC. I have a ton of 1/8" shaft end mills I could use.


So after attaching the Fordome, I did a couple practice runs in hardboard, wood, and plastic. Here is my first attempt in 1/4" aluminum.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=374ePHwPOlI

It took me a while to get the sweet spot (RPM and Feed). After breaking four 1/16" bits I got it down.

My next step is to create a new router mount for the DW618 that also has the mount builtin for the Foredom. As it is, it sticks out too far to keep the mount attached. I think I would like to use the Foredome when I cut small things and do circuit board isolation routing.

Michael Simpson Virgina
11-07-2011, 8:04 PM
Things I learned about cutting aluminum.

-Use fixtures, dont use clamps directly
-Create very thin tabs. Aluminum wont just break off like wood or plastic.
-Go Slooooo when using thin bits.
-Take shallow cuts when using thin bits
-Practice on scrap.

Mike Heidrick
11-09-2011, 12:18 AM
Can we see better picture of the foredom mount and how that all worked? Pretty cool.