Salty's

I wish 3d was that easy

Hey Dave how are you. Chips flying soon enough The code is done on a custom written piece of software, basically I can take any picture of good enough quality to make it a black & white then bring it into my program, tell it how thick, how long and presto in about 20 seconds I have a gcode file with a plot every xxx I tell it to plot. I run it at .005. What I can do is cut a sample in half, sand it flat, paint it white, scan it, photoshop it smaller and clean up any stray pixel/noise...then bring it into the program also as in previous. It's poor man's cam is what it is but you get much more cost savings than having to cad the whole thing. I kinda gave up on the banana thing btw, I am going to go back to it but viacad has a new upgrade of their program I have to get that will allow me to move it like I want to easier. After I save the file on the main computer I shoot it on the network to the machine-takes about 30 seconds from scan to saving a gcode file. Depending on the quality and how it comes out is how long to get a workable image. If it's clean and done right then it takes less than 5 minutes to clean up the picture to eliminate alot of the ramping of pixels. Once it's on the lathe I can then take my human knowledge of running the ultimate duplicator and erase/re-write parts of the program that lets me make the machine move where I want it to minimize time and movements. Someday I'd like to take a 2d cad file and bring it into the existing 2 axis lathe and see how that cuts. This new one is going to be sick. It's going to rough on the back and finish on the front with a few inch lag on it. Instead of having to make multiple passes I can make 2 passes in one shot...kaziiing!

2 hp spindle, 1000 in/oz servo motors, 4 axis, 2 roughing, 2 finish, spindle control forward and reverse. Only 2 axis up so far, waiting for another servo drive for the back. This machine ran like this for 2 hours today without failure. Thought some of you guys might be interested in seeing this. This video is a quick program I wrote moving 9" of Z and 5" of X in multiple formats both single axis positioning and multi axis. The block on the top is the tool holder block not finished yet. The main spindle is a Vega lathe with a custom tail stock I designed for making lures. Should have the rear axis up within the next few weeks. Working on the spindle drive tomorrow, forward and reverse. This will be hopper fed by the end of the summer. I been working on this machine for a year. The plans are all in my head. I never done this stuff before I started doing this 10 years ago. I'm a hack with a bridgeport and lots of nutso ideas http://youtu.be/F1fn4w35hF8

You can't put many solvent clears over water based paint. That is what is causing the wrinkling. Acetone lifts createx..

90 day warranty with a receipt. Either a shop or ours. My stuff goes in the ocean. It gets eaten by big fish, beaten off rocks, and thrown in the jaws of some very toothy critters. I can count on one hand a year how many complaints I get. But at the same time I don't offer lifetime warranty. Nobody can. You'd never make money if you did. There's so little to be made with all the competition these days you have to just set yourself apart with the stuff you make. Hence no complaints.

I got viacad also based on Bob's postings earlier. Very nice program, also CamBam is a great program too. Bob can you shoot me a email scott@saltwaterplugs.com I want to ask you something offline. I'm using mach 3 on my machine.

Not a sponsor here so not sure if this is ok or not but this is what I specialize in. You can contact me off the website.

awesome!

most excellent videos. Very nice job.

Bought Viacad yesterday. WOW what a program. $99? that's insane.

I'll keep you guessing on that one

Great looking mold! I asked on speed because many small machines like that have more problems with vibration and have to be slowed down is all. Good idea on the router. Do you see much of a difference in finish between the 10 and 35?

Diaery how does that little mill do on metal?Must run real slow? That has a real small cutter in it? Have you done any 3d stuff with it yet?

After he stops in Boston

Thanks for the input Bob. This is new stuff to me compared to what the other machines do. You didn't dis me. No worries. Ok on the hold tabs. Yep I know how to do that, but not needed on this. One of those you see in the video that it has to get broken out of there by hand. I can leave them all in there then pass it through the planer also... Don't seem to make a difference as the edges get radiused anyway.

I just typed a whole reply then hit some stupid button on my mouse by accident and it's all gone. I'm just a hack with a Bridgeport Dave

Yep using cambam, is one of the best programs to do this stuff. As I said before this is only 2d right now, I have to upgrade my main computer to do the number crunching for the 3d files. It is having a major speed issue with some of this stuff. Probably sometime this winter depending on how busy things are. Right now we're taking pictures off stuff out there and converting them to 2d cad dxf files and using cambam to post code. Have finished out a bunch of bodies so far and works out well. I'll show some more when I get the 3d up and running. [quote name=Bob La Londe' timestamp='1291248833' post='15638 6] Ok... cutting out blanks. I thought you might be using a blank and a touch probe to do a scan and actually "duplicate" crankbaits. There are some older videos around doing the same thing. Whacking out blanks. One guy left little holding tabs on each piece on the final pass so he would not have to hold or catch them as the cuts are finished, and then when it was done cutting a sheet of blanks he would just go through and pop them out by hand. That way he could make a lot more pieces without standing over his machine. Not sure what CAM you are using to generate code, but CamBam does holding tabs and 2D profile operations nicely. It also does 2.5D and does 3D pretty well from STL format files if you want to do more of your material removal with your machine. It took me a while to get there, but ViaCad for design and CamBam to generate code seems to work really well for me. Still, very nice videos. I bet that cuts down a lot of time over the old bandsaw method.

So I hemmed and hawed about posting this online. Someone nameless here said post it. Finally said ah the heck with it. If someone wants to duplicate what I built let them. I'm a hack with a bridgeport This is my 7th cnc machine. All home built, each one does a specific purpose in making my baits. This is a new machine I just got finished. These were early videos of cuts I did. Although these are 2d the machine is 3 axis and fully capable of 3d. Hope you like them. I hope to be duplicating bodies in large quantities shortly. These are for kits I am making. Hope you guys like this. I have many other videos on youtube that show how I make bodies. That top lure I can now make in about 40 seconds, by changing the router to go to a larger bit I hope to get these down to about 20-25 seconds each.

LOL

Well there's a big difference between waterproof and water resistant. This epoxy will yellow also. It is uv stable.

water resistant not water proof...

When guys were describing this it sounded just like a polyurethane and this post just proves it. The only way your going to get that coating to work is if it's crosslinked with Aziridine or something else.

Crankbait body sizes...what do you like. What's your favorite size-length and height for freshwater and or saltwater? Woods...I know alot of guys like Balsa. How about white pine? Or Basswood? Red Cedar?

Got it thanks I'll try it today!