I finally got to put sharp implements in the collet today and let them touch some wood while spinning. That was originally planned for yesterday, but as I noted in my other thread, I had to spend some quality time entertaining some medical professionals for most of yesterday. Given this was my first actual "hands on" experience with CNC, I decided to start with the simplest operation and add a little to each subsequent effort. Why? Because I want to build some habits via repetition into the process to hopefully avoid common errors later.
The first thing I did was to grab a piece of MDF I had hanging around in the shop to use as a smaller, temporary spoil board for my learning while I work on what I want to do for my full size spoil board solution. The first machine operation once I fastened that piece of MDF down (with screws for now) was to surface it flat and coplanar to the gantry. I used a great, easy to use utility from Mick Martin to generate the code for surfacing the 26" x 32" testing/training spoil board and it worked like a charm. The Amana insert cutter I used left a surface as smooth as a baby's butt...assuming said baby has an MDF butt, of course.And then the real fun began.
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I decided to start with a simple V-Carved sign that says "Welcome" and add some things to each iteration to insure that I was following those "every project" steps I mentioned previously. For the purpose of the exercise, the workpiece was set to 15" x 4" and .75" thick, indexed to the center point and top of the spoil board. I'm using the top of spoil board reference for tool measurement/Z axis zeroing because ultimately, that will be the standard once the FTC (fast tool change) sensor switch is enabled on my particular machine. For now, I'm measuring tool length with the contact plate. The local X0,Y0 was set using the handy laser pointer...a good exercise in controlling movement using both the PC screen and rodent as well as the remote keypad. Tooling was a 1/2" 90º V-Bit and a 1/4" two flute end mill. This is all boring, I'm sure, for folks who have been "doing CNC" for a long time, but I suspect newbies like I am right now might benefit from the description.
Since I installed an instance of V-Carve Pro on my control PC, I simply used that to create the simple drawing and initial tool paths to cut the very first thing I've ever created with a CNC machine.
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Exciting, no?But seeing it happen for the first time on the new toy actually was an exciting moment...
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A few minutes and a tool change later, I was done cutting my very first "thing" on the "Yellow Monster" (still to be named...)
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So the simple square sign worked out and it was time to add a simple profile cut to make it (slightly) more interesting.
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