New Sainsmart 4040 Pro Owner - with newbie questions!!


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Thread: New Sainsmart 4040 Pro Owner - with newbie questions!!

  1. #1
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    Default New Sainsmart 4040 Pro Owner - with newbie questions!!

    Hi Guys,

    I actually have a background in selling CAD/CAM software for the cabinet making industry and have set up a Morbidelli in the workshop I was in charge of, so I am familiar with the process. However I would never consider myself an expert and these small machines are a different kettle of fish that's for sure.

    I look forward to many melted plastics and broken bits as I learn what works and what doesn't with these machines and I also look forward to weighing up the pro's and cons of the various free versions of CAD/CAM and Sender software.

    I am currently running Candle and it seems simple enough if a little lacking (but then so was Xylog on the Morbidelli!!) but it's fine as I approach my first job.

    I am not going to limit myself to materials or project ideas but right now I have one thing I am trying to do and that is build instrument and switch panels for a flight simulator. For any one panel (size approximately 180 x 120mm but still TBD),I need to cut two copies, one in 5mm opaque white acrylic and one in 5mm clear acrylic. The opaque white acrylic has to be painted grey on top and sides and then reprocessed with laser text engraving to allow illumination through the text at night. As you can see, this is going to require multiple placements of the same piece for additional processing and this is where I come unstuck. I am happy with the machine bed 'Home' position and I understand how to set XY zero for the work /job origin. I also understand how to 'restore origin' (so long as I don't turn the machine off) so I can return the spindle to the job start point again after changing a tool for example.

    However, how do I ever get the piece to sit in the exact position and orientation it had before I removed it for painting and moreover, how do I set the painted piece up for laser engraving when clearly I have had to depower the machine and have lost the job origin?

    Thanks in advance for any help with this.


    Cheers

    Terry

    Auckland, New Zealand



  2. #2
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    Default Re: New Sainsmart 4040 Pro Owner - with newbie questions!!

    Me, I would put two hard straight alignment edges on the table, on the X and Y axes. I would align the spindle to these edges (ie X=0 and Y=0).
    If necessary you can change the X & Y zeros later, by fixed known amounts.
    Clamp the panels down against those edges, and machine.

    Yes, I do this all the time, while working to about 10 microns accuracy.

    Cheers
    Roger



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    Default Re: New Sainsmart 4040 Pro Owner - with newbie questions!!

    Hi,
    I make PCBs and have done for years using isolation routing, and in the vast majority of cases double sided.

    To ensure proper alignment I drill two 1.5mm alignment holes outside of the eventual outer dimension of the PCB and install two 1.5mm diameter pins. This means when I flip the board
    it can only be in perfect registration. Once the PCB is complete, that is the top and bottom layers are 'etched', in truth engraved, the component holes drilled etc, THEN do I go around the
    periphery with a small endmill to cut the outer dimension of the PCB. The two alignment holes and pins are thereby removed from the PCB.

    Can you use a similar process? Do all the painting and laser etching or whatever and then cut the periphery using alignment pins or dowels.

    By the way I always use flood coolant with plastics, acrylic particularly, the chips are so heat sensitive they weld themselves back together and you get a very poor job even if it does not
    fail all together.

    Craig
    Christchurch



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    Default Re: New Sainsmart 4040 Pro Owner - with newbie questions!!

    For PCBs I use the pins as described by Craig, with a vacuum table. Works very well.

    Cheers
    Roger



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New Sainsmart 4040 Pro Owner - with newbie questions!!

New Sainsmart 4040 Pro Owner - with newbie questions!!