Good morning to all!

 

My name is Sean and I have joined this Forum in order to have a place to ask questions and seek out assistance as needed. 

 

I live in Armstrong, BC which is approximately 6 hours Northwest of Spokane, WA. 

 

My wife and I call ourselves PSMWoodcrafts, which is our "Hobby" name. We come up with ideas together then I'll do the majority of the cutting and building. My wife does the sanding and finishing.

 

What we make is either something for our house or a gift for friends/family. I may try to sell the odd thing on Marketplace to recover some costs of new tools, however so far I'm unsuccessful.

 

So have a great day everyone and soon I'll be asking CNC questions as I have a Fox Alien Masuter Pro which I have very little knowledge of how to use!

 

Slàinte Mhath!!

 

 

Welcome Sean! I won't be of any assiatance with the CNC stuff but there are several others here who will be.

Welcome to the forum. I cannot help on CNC but by some strange coincidence I had an Uncle named Fox Allen.

Glad you found us Sean.  We have some members that are very good  at CNC.  Hope they can help you with your questions.

Welcome aboard Sean, glad to have you here.  Looks like all our CNC folks are sleeping in this morning... coffee & donuts might help, did you bring any?  Asking for a friend

We met on your profile page Sean, so welcome again!

Your image header at your profile page shows a main street that is beautiful! What a cozy looking town

Welcome to The Patriot Woodworker Sean. Glad you found us and came aboard. Looking forward to your on-going participation and seeing your projects. Jump in, join the learning, sharing, friendship and fun we have here. Don't hesitate to ask questions about your projects or the site.

 

As for the Alien CNC, I'm no help. I can't even spell CNC (see there, got it backwards). Perhaps because they still haven't landed here yet. Anyways, we do have some very knowledgeable and helpful folks on-site. Hopefully they'll arrive soon unless theyve been abducted by aliens. @honesttjohn @4DThinker @difalkner @KevTN.

 

Also, I'm pretty ignorant about your part of the world. Do they have donuts up there in B.C.? Asking for some friends.

32 minutes ago, Grandpadave52 said:

I can't even spell CNC (see there, got it backwards)

That's why I drove BMW's for about 20 years (had 4 of them, 7 Series); they spell the name for you! 

21 hours ago, PSMWoodcrafts said:

I'll be asking CNC questions

Ask away, and welcome to the forum!  I may not be able to answer your questions but one of the smart CNC guys probably can.

4 hours ago, John Morris said:

We met on your profile page Sean, so welcome again!

Your image header at your profile page shows a main street that is beautiful! What a cozy looking town

 

55 minutes ago, Grandpadave52 said:

Welcome to The Patriot Woodworker Sean. Glad you found us and came aboard. Looking forward to your on-going participation and seeing your projects. Jump in, join the learning, sharing, friendship and fun we have here. Don't hesitate to ask questions about your projects or the site.

 

As for the Alien CNC, I'm no help. I can't even spell CNC (see there, got it backwards). Perhaps because they still haven't landed here yet. Anyways, we do have some very knowledgeable and helpful folks on-site. Hopefully they'll arrive soon unless theyve been abducted by aliens. @honesttjohn @4DThinker @difalkner @KevTN.

 

Also, I'm pretty ignorant about your part of the world. Do they have donuts up there in B.C.? Asking for some friends.

 

Thank you for all the welcome messages. I'll be sure to post up some pics of the things I have done over the years.

 

As for my cozy town, the valley I live in is very similar to central Utah (I've been through Richfield on the way to Craig, CO) with a lot of farming. Our population is under 6000 and I hope it stays that way!

 

As for Doughnuts (yeah, I spelled it that way) our main chain seems to be Tim Hortons however a lot of the small bakeries like to keep a good selection.

 

 

Thanks again, look forward to the learning and sharing. Happy Tuesday!

6 minutes ago, PSMWoodcrafts said:

As for Doughnuts (yeah, I spelled it that way) our main chain seems to be Tim Hortons however a lot of the small bakeries like to keep a good selection.

Would expect nothing less. @HARO50 John does it too.

 

BTW, Tim Hortons will do just fine. As a right of passage, new guy (& gal ) is expected to provide donuts, aka doughnuts for the gang; your day is tomorrow. Just leave them in the breakroom...I'll let everybody know they're ready for sampling.

If Dave is the first there, there will be none left for the rest of us.  Dave loves doughnuts. Welcome to the forums Sean ! Glad to have you aboard.

Waitin' for the questions.  Might get a lot of "I dunnos" but at least it's an answer.

2 hours ago, honesttjohn said:

Waitin' for the questions.  Might get a lot of "I dunnos" but at least it's an answer.

 

Here's a question....and keep in mind that I only have been able to do 2D so far. I use ETSLCam to generate the code.

 

I have found that when I move the "mast" over the piece I am doing, there will be a difference of 1-2mm or .04 - .08 in as I traverse the X and Y Axis. I have never "zeroed" the machine as I have no experience doing that, but it has what I need to do that. I also figure that you are unable to "zero" in multiple locations.

 

I put all my material through a thickness planer prior to using the CNC, to try and ensure consistent thickness.

 

@4DThinker @honesttjohn

1 hour ago, PSMWoodcrafts said:

I have found that when I move the "mast" over the piece I am doing, there will be a difference of 1-2mm or .04 - .08 in as I traverse the X and Y Axis. I have never "zeroed" the machine as I have no experience doing that, but it has what I need to do that. I also figure that you are unable to "zero" in multiple locations.

 

I put all my material through a thickness planer prior to using the CNC, to try and ensure consistent thickness.

By mast do you mean the spindle/router?  Yes, the machine needs to be calibrated such that if you issue a command to move 12" in the Y direction and 12" in the X direction that the machine actually moves those distances (or whatever distance you choose to calibrate your machine).

 

You generally set your XY home position in one spot on a job and leave it there for the duration of the job - whether or not you change bits, move from Z zero on the spoilboard to Z zero on the top of the workpiece, etc.

 

Your spoilboard needs to be leveled by the machine so that you know it's now coplanar with the machine's gantry.  Just thicknessing a piece before it goes on the spoilboard doesn't ensure the piece will be coplanar with the gantry.  If your spoilboard is not properly surfaced from time to time you'll end up being shallow or deep on some portion of the workpiece.

First dunno about ETSLCam - I use Vectric Aspire.  But you will find that material thickness may (probably) vary even with a slimmed spoilboard and a trammed spindle.  I keep a deck of playing cards nearby to raise a corner or end, especially when doing text.  Then run the file again if necessary.  Doesn't much matter if you're doing pocket cuts.  If you try to be too perfect, you'll make a lot of firepit fuel and not many finished items.  4d can give you much better advice on the fancy stuff and how to be more perfect.

 

Hi Dave - bout back to normal?  Just spent 3 days in the asylum myself.  This getting old ain't for the faint of heart.

Edited May 7, 20242 yr by honesttjohn

25 minutes ago, honesttjohn said:

Hi Dave - bout back to normal?  Just spent 3 days in the asylum myself.  This getting old ain't for the faint of heart.

Ain't that the truth!!  Post prostate surgery is progressing nicely but tomorrow we're going to the neurosurgeon to see if he can tell me how he plans to 'fix' my shattered/fractured/exploded L3 vertebrae.  

50 minutes ago, difalkner said:

how he plans to 'fix' my shattered/fractured/exploded L3 vertebrae.  

Prayers out to you and the medical team David. Back surgery isn't for the faint of heart; BTDT. Please keep us posted.

Welcome! Good folks around here. Quick question as I have not play with a Fox Allen…do you have homing/limit switches? If you do, do you home each time you turn on you machine?

14 hours ago, KevTN said:

Welcome! Good folks around here. Quick question as I have not play with a Fox Allen…do you have homing/limit switches? If you do, do you home each time you turn on you machine?

Good morning! There is a Home button on the front controls; I am not familiar with limits however I do not believe there are physical switches; I also use the offline controller however it just has the Zero XYZ and Z Probe, and movement, functionalities. Maybe it can be done through Candle, which is the operation software that comes with it. I got this description through Google (apologies if you are already familiar with it)

 

Candle is a CNC/Laser machine controller application with G-Code visualizer. Supported functions: Controlling GRBL-based cnc-machine laser-machine via console commands, buttons on form, numpad. Monitoring machine state.

 

As for the Home function, I am not really familiar with it but I suspect it is something I need to start doing with each project, similar to setting the Zero Point in the software that sets the G-Code. I have a feeling THIS would allow me to return to the exact starting point, providing I don't move the material, to rerun on the same piece or to switch out bits.

 

Have a great day and one day I hope to visit your State so I can rent a bike and do Tail of the Dragon.....before I'm too old!

Edited May 10, 20242 yr by PSMWoodcrafts
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