New Shop, New Equipment

Posted: 09/02/2012 in General News
Tags: , , , , , ,

Well, it’s official! I’m venturing into the world of CNC milling and CAD. I suppose this isn’t much of a stretch considering where I am now in my modding career, but it’s still a pretty big step for me.

On Thursday, August 30th I bit the proverbial bullet and pushed the “Buy It Now” button and got my first CNC Router enroute from California. This is a very small, very basic unit which runs via PC software (Mach3). I’d been on the fence with it for quite awhile as starting out is always a very penny-pinching practice, but there is no question that if I were to move forward with this endeavor, I was going to need one and get good at using it quickly.

I spent close to 4 hours with MBB forum user Electro Modder from the UK  via video chat on Thursday and he gave me the basic run down on the design and conversion software. For being so young he certainly knows his stuff to a more advanced level than would be expected, but I suppose that’s what happens when you’re not chasing women yet. haha. Technically I’m in the same boat now too really, being married and all, so I think I’ll catch up pretty quick!

Anyway, back on topic.

After getting home on Saturday afternoon, I spent the evening (2:30 to 11:30) tearing apart my workshop as I needed to make a bench sturdy enough to hold the machine as well as house the XP computer I had hiding in my closet.  This made some very nice improvements to the shop as well as adding an entirely new workstation where the paint cabinet used to be.  I’ll post some new pics of the shop once the CNC Mill gets here (hopefully Thursday) next week.

But anyway, I’ve still got quite a bit of work to do to get ready for it’s arrival. Posts may be a bit further in between than normal because of this, but fear not, it’s just building for the next post which will have a lot of cool advances to read about!

With that said though, I’m actively taking commissions for work now, weather it be a portable, a case, a controller or something electronically related! Hit me up if you’ve got an idea you want to throw my way!

Comments
  1. Jerry Whidby says:

    Congratulations and I am a little jealous! OK OK very jealous. I hope you make lots of detailed videos on setting up and using your new CNC machine, and Mach3 software. At least that way we will all be able to learn with you. Can’t wait to see what you will make. On a side note the font for ”
    Notify me of follow-up comments via email.” is the same color as the background when you leave a comment.

    • Downing says:

      Haha, well there’s not too much to be jealous about as the machine is quite tiny and more of a learning system for me but I’ll do what I can to document the process as well as possible. About the font, yeah I really don’t have much control over that. It’s a wordpress theme glitch unfortunately.

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