(Part 2) Best products from r/CNC

Ok, I looked for about an hour and I honestly could not find a video. Here's the best I can do to give you instructions.

(I'll try to skim over the obvious)

First, you're using this edge finder or similar

Offset the edge in the y-direction such that it is towards the part. Bring it in to the part until it touches and keep moving at a lower rate (about .01 should be efficient) until the cylinder looks all but solid. Now moving at about 0.001, keep moving while rubbing your thumb up and down the side inline with the y-axis until you no longer feel a lip. Mark the position and then continue in the same direction by 0.001 (or smaller) until you feel a lip again. At the point that you feel a lip again, you are about .0985 (+- .0005) off from the edge of the part assuming you did this right.

Do the exact same thing on the x-axis.

Let me know how this works out for you. It should be the next best thing to buying a dial edge finder for like $470+

Machining the chocolate directly is going to involve a lot of complexity.

For starters, you'll have to make your whole machine food safe. That means it will need to be sanitizable and your cutting bits will have to not leave any hazardous chemicals or metals behind.

Beyond this, you now face the challenge that chocolate has an extremely low melting point and is therefore likely to melt rather than cut. When I've seen people machine chocolate its typically done in a freezer for this reason.

A simpler solution might be to machine something like jewlers wax into a positive of what you want your chocolate to look like. Then cast the wax in a food-safe silicone.

Once you have that the silicone mold should be able to safely cast the chocolate, and should be reusable to boot.

I would suggest waiting on the ballscrews until you are going to build a bigger machine, a lead screw like this with a diy anti-backlash nut would save a fair bit a money and might work better with your motors. Aluminum and MDF could make a frame solid enough for what you need, I would suggest looking on youtube and seeing what others have done.

If you want to build out of aluminum this and this might be a good place to look for ideas and materials. I haven't bought anything from them myself, but it looks interesting.

What are you planning on using for a motion controller? linux cnc, GRBL?

Where about are you located?

great price, good size for the garage, and since its a gunsmithing you can do something that is really long, there were a lot of reviews on it, and a few people have converted it and seems pretty straight forward conversion.

just picked up a DRO setup for it while planning out the conversion was off amazon, custom cut for the machine and also a decent price for a magnetic DRO setup

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019X9I5I2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That's an interesting concept. I wonder how I'd attach something like this to my rails. This requires more research.

I don't really know much about gears (or rack and pinion). Anyone care to offer advice on pitch, pressure angle, or whatever, for this purpose? It looks at a glance like Amazon has some options, though they're a bit expensive. This might be a future upgrade.

http://www.amazon.com/Boston-Gear-L20206-Degree-Pressure/dp/B004N630GI/ref=sr_1_4?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1451405391&sr=1-4&keywords=rack+and+pinion

http://www.amazon.com/Martin-14-5%C2%B0-Pressure-Angle-Backing/dp/B0051V9MH0/ref=sr_1_4?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1451405692&sr=1-4&keywords=rack+and+pinion&refinements=p_n_availability%3A1248818011%2Cp_89%3AMartin

I've been using Venom Steel Nitrile Gloves in my shop and they are good, but not as thick as you'd like. However, Liberty Glove & Safety make some 15 mil nitrile gloves.

I recently read this book with a very different stance on how far this future state is from today:

Humility Is the New Smart: Rethinking Human Excellence in the Smart Machine Age

I'm not saying your wrong, it's fascinating to me that every industry is full of people saying "but my role can't be automated, they will still need a human here".

No you would need a router and a mount. CNCRP sells nice mounts also. The Porter Cable 690 would probably be your best bet and you would still be slightly under your 3k budget.

Porter Cable 690 Mount CNCRP $93

Porter Cable 690 Router - Amazon $125

Those look fine but they aren't super powerful. The g shield can supply 2.5 amps so any motor that needs less power than that will be fine. If you are just cutting wood those steppers are fine, maybe shop around for something with a lower inductance, 13mh is pretty high. These guys look much better but you won't be able to get full current into them:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PNEPF5I/ref=asc_df_B00PNEPF5I5078529/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=395033&creativeASIN=B00PNEPF5I&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198064502357&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4174940156511751979&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9032550&hvtargid=pla-323464553412#productDescription_secondary_view_div_1500259475627

Most t-slot clamping kits come with them: https://www.amazon.com/Pro-T-Slot-Clamping-Bridgeport-Mill/dp/B01BH8MTCU

I think they're called "Step Clamps" though: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=step+clamps&i=tools&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

If I'm buying stuff for work though, I usually go through MSCDirect. Don't know if it helps you over there, but they usually send out weekly discount codes in their e-mails. They're better for higher-quality industrial-use stuff, but I don't know if you wanna spend that much! https://www.mscdirect.com/browse/lookahead/?searchterm=step+clamps&hdrsrh=true

Tool change to T0, which should empty the spindle and clear out the active tool offset. Double check to confirm that the tool offset is no longer active.

Jog the spindle down until you can just barely slide a 1-2-3 block (or anything flat and square) between the spindle face and table. You will want to make sure the table and spindle face are nice and clean.

Without moving the spindle, tab over to the Set WO page, and and press the Z=0 softkey. Your current position should now be Z0.

Jog the spindle up in Z, and manually load a tool in the spindle. Bring the spindle down in Z, again until you can just barely slide the 1-2-3 block in between the tool and table.

The position that Z is reading at this point is the gage length of your tool. Tab over to the offset page, and put this length in the Geometry field. Repeat as necessary to measure your tools.

FYI The 1-2-3 block could also be replaced with something like this for greater accuracy. https://www.amazon.com/Pre-setter-Setter-Router-0-005mm-Magnetic/dp/B00O67AKK8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1536510059&sr=8-1&keywords=tool+presetter

The guy who created the Shapeoko line has written a book that is a great into and how to for CNC starters:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1457183366/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This thing is tremendous. It looks like a chop saw, but it uses a carbide-tipped sawblade instead of an abrasive disc. Cuts steel in seconds, leaves a clean edge, doesn't heat up the stock like an abrasive saw.

I will second drillman1 on ebay.

I don't have any local suppliers that sell off cuts so I have to resort to online purchase. I've bought a good bit of aluminum off cuts from Metal Remnants Inc on Ebay and have been very happy.

If you have Amazon Prime they actually have what I feel are decent prices on aluminum flat bar and other raw materials.

I'm going to put the links in a comment, I think they caused my post to get removed due to spam filter earlier:

• 2X STEPPERONLINE Nema 23 Stepper Motor 2.83Nm(400oz) 4A 8-wire 6.35mm Dual Shaft - $96
  
  
• 2X STEPPERONLINE CNC Stepper Motor Driver 1.0-4.2A 20-50VDC 1/128 Micro-step Resolutions - $72
  
  
• 1X STEPPERONLINE 1 Axis Stepper CNC Kit 8.5Ncm(1204oz.in) Nema 34 Stepper Motor & Driver - $160
  
  
• 1X SainSmart 5 Axis Breakout Board for Stepper Motor Driver CNC Mill- $20
  
  
• 1X Adjustable DC Power Voltage Converter AC 110V-220V to DC 0-48V Module Switching Power Supply Digital Display 480W - $43
  
  
• Total: $391
  
  Don't necessarily have to use Amazon, but I'd prefer a US based company.
  
  Thanks!