Calling all NE Ohio people!!!!

[freak_brain]

There are a few of us that are looking at having a local "get together" with hobby machine builders in NEO. If you are interested in meeting with us please post on this thread.

As far as what we will be discussing or any formal type meeting, I don't think anyone wants it to be anything that is set in stone as to what we will do or discuss. Just get together and BS about our machines, what we are doing to them and asking for help with whatever problems we may have.

If interested then lets talk!!

I am in barberton, akron area. Please put in your area if you post on this thread so I can come up with a place that is close for everyone.

Have a good one!!!

Allen

[tgreening]

Originally Posted by freak_brain There are a few of us that are looking at having a local "get together" with hobby machine builders in NEO. If you are interested in meeting with us please post on this thread. As far as what we will be discussing or any formal type meeting, I don't think anyone wants it to be anything that is set in stone as to what we will do or discuss. Just get together and BS about our machines, what we are doing to them and asking for help with whatever problems we may have. If interested then lets talk!! I am in barberton, akron area. Please put in your area if you post on this thread so I can come up with a place that is close for everyone. Have a good one!!! Allen

I'm interested. I built the "old" large solsyla table but the new belt drive version looks darn interesting. I just bought a sherline mill /lathe that I want to convert over to cnc control. The router table is fun, but it doesn't lend itself well to "tinkering" without sacrificing family time. It's out in the garage and for some reason the rest of the family doesn't choose to hang out there. I figured the sherlines are small enough to set up in just about any location and allow me to continue (read begin) figuring out the cad/cam end of things.

My big downfall is not having any real skill in cad.



Tom... Canton area.

[aspenelm]

another here, in northern portage county.

working on a building a couple of cnc routers.

Jim.

[tgreening]

Boy, that petered out pretty quick! Where did all the interest go?

[Bob Cole]

Perhaps people just dream about building and never get past that. I am in Berlin Center, and am available for a meeting. I have most of my parts already. just need to finalize a few plans and my build will be starting after the Christmas holiday.

Let me know where and when you all want to get together.

bob C.

[aspenelm]

Come on guys lets talk, now that the holidays are over. Another option if no one wants to meet we could use IM. I use Google talk.

Over the break, I cut a sign out with my wood frame router. It came out real nice. This was the first real test I have done with it. Need to do something for dust collection before going much further. I have 2 possibly 3 routers in the works as future projects, all metal frames. Does anyone have any news on their routers or plans?

[tgreening]

Originally Posted by aspenelm Come on guys lets talk, now that the holidays are over. Another option if no one wants to meet we could use IM. I use Google talk. Over the break, I cut a sign out with my wood frame router. It came out real nice. This was the first real test I have done with it. Need to do something for dust collection before going much further. I have 2 possibly 3 routers in the works as future projects, all metal frames. Does anyone have any news on their routers or plans?

I think I finally got my table top mill working properly. I think in the spring I'm going to have another go at the homebuilt router. I had intended to look into belt drive since I wasn't crazy about the all-thread performance. Still up for a meeting somewhere as well.

[aspenelm]

tgreening, thats cool. what are you going to make? those sherlines are pretty neat. I am still sorting out my cad/cam options. There is next to nothing for Linux, so I am using another machine with windows. I have a previous version of TurboCad but do not like it all that well. I like Sketchup but it is pretty basic.

where did freak_brain go?

[tgreening]

Originally Posted by aspenelm tgreening, thats cool. what are you going to make? those sherlines are pretty neat. I am still sorting out my cad/cam options. There is next to nothing for Linux, so I am using another machine with windows. I have a previous version of TurboCad but do not like it all that well. I like Sketchup but it is pretty basic. where did freak_brain go?

I don't have any particular projects in mind. I'm just your basic gadget freak and like nothing better than tinkering with "gadgets", especially if it's somehow tied to a computer. The router table OTOH will probably have some practical use once I get it up and running properly. The wife likes designing and building bits of furniture here and there and I can see potential use there. Here again, my downfall is cad experience and weakness in the use of milling/machining related software in general.

The first useful project I did was on the sherline mill and that was to mill out a row of 4 db-9 connector openings in the faceplate of the enclosure I used to house the electronics. Pretty plain jane but it was the first USEFULL thing I managed to get done with my milling/routing gear.

The router table never did get anything useful done because 1) I could never get the electronics functioning reliably, and 2) winter rolled around and I needed the garage space for my vehicles. My basement is finished and not a very convenient place for a sawdust factory. For that reason I bought the sherline gear because I can set it up in my spare room upstairs and continue to fiddle with CNC related stuff.

[aspenelm]

tgreening, I am sure you will find no end of things to make on the sherline. I am already scheming, but have to stick to 28"x20" area of my router. can I ask what your using for you cad,cam, and controller software. On my router I am using emc2 for the controller. However for cad/cam I was using a trial of vcarve to produce the sign. I am exploring options for cad/cam. I too am learning the software steps required to produce the part.

[tgreening]

Originally Posted by aspenelm tgreening, I am sure you will find no end of things to make on the sherline. I am already scheming, but have to stick to 28"x20" area of my router. can I ask what your using for you cad,cam, and controller software. On my router I am using emc2 for the controller. However for cad/cam I was using a trial of vcarve to produce the sign. I am exploring options for cad/cam. I too am learning the software steps required to produce the part.

I haven't heard of emc2, but I'm using Mach3 for control. It works for milling, routing, lathe, plasma, etc. While it can be somewhat complicated to set up the support seems great and timely which is important.

I've played with vcarve as well and without a doubt it's an awesome program but as cheap as it is compared to the competition, it's still quite a bit to swallow for someone who is just a hobbiest. If signmaking is your business it would be tough to beat.

For cad I'm trying to bash my way through autocad and so far have barely scratched the surface. So far actually drawing a part seems to be the least of the difficulties. Properly setting up a drawing seems to be THEE single most important thing in autocad, and it can be complicated as all hell to my inexperienced brain.

[aspenelm]

tgreening, emc2 is a free controller for the linux system. I read that long ago, mach2/3 was derived from emc and they bear no resemblance now. emc2 was a little tricky to set up the config files for the distance moved in one step of the motor for each axis. But it seems to work so far.

I'm not intending to go into the sign business. Just would like to make a couple for myself and a few to give away. I wont be purchasing vcarve anytime soon.

are you doing 2d or 3d in autocad? I played around with r12 a few years ago, and 2d was pretty easy. Never got into the 3d. It was also before I had any knowledge/interest in cnc.