(Topic ID: 132905)

CNC milling of playfield plastics

By jimmytransistor

8 years ago


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    #1 8 years ago

    I've been doing some experimenting with milling clear replacement plastics out of 1/16" polycarbonate on my Carbide3d desktop CNC mill.

    First, I modeled the part in Sketchup:

    sketchup.pngsketchup.png

    Then, I cut it on the mill out of a sheet of 1/16" polycarbonate -- youtube video

    Here's the end result:

    cnc_plastics.jpgcnc_plastics.jpg

    #2 8 years ago

    I've been designing/cnc machining pinball plastics for years.

    I design in MasterCam though.

    #3 8 years ago
    Quoted from indypinhead:

    I've been designing/cnc machining pinball plastics for years.
    I design in MasterCam though.

    Nice! What sort of mill do you use? On the CAD side, I've been playing around with Fusion 360, and it seems pretty solid. I haven't explored the CAM features of it yet. I've been generating gcode from the models in MeshCam and simulating in OpenSCAM before cutting.

    #4 8 years ago

    I have 3 Hurco machining centers.

    #5 8 years ago
    Quoted from indypinhead:

    I have 3 Hurco machining centers.

    Those things have enough torque to cut through plastic?

    #6 8 years ago

    LOL....yep

    #7 8 years ago

    I've done this too. No need for 3D, any 2D vector file will work.

    #8 8 years ago

    Very cool. I'm looking forward to getting my x-carve and playing around with it. Amazing the tools that are available to hobbyists nowadays.

    #9 8 years ago

    I have a Shopbot CNC router at work and I have cut several playfield plastics, dmd plastics, and trophy plaques for our pinball league.

    #10 8 years ago

    Have a Panel Pro 5925 at work for cutting aluminum airplane panels I've used to cut a couple of protectors using EasyCad/Avcam

    #11 8 years ago

    Why do you have to touch the endmill off on that dowel pin?

    #12 8 years ago

    I have a sharpie and a band saw.

    #13 8 years ago
    Quoted from jimmytransistor:

    Then, I cut it on the mill out of a sheet of 1/16" polycarbonate -- youtube video

    So, how do you hold it down? Do you cut into the base at all? Cool video, BTW.

    #14 8 years ago
    Quoted from wnorwich89:

    Why do you have to touch the endmill off on that dowel pin?

    Calibrate the depth I think.

    #15 8 years ago

    Yep, that pin is for sensing the tool length.

    It's held down with some double sided carpet tape, super sticky.

    The job cut 1/16" down through 1/16" polycarbonate, and there was just a sliver left. I could have cut down another 1/32" or so into the spoil board, but I just trimmed it with an xacto.

    #16 8 years ago

    Ugh I want one of these. Or maybe I want a WH2O. So hard to choose toys.

    #17 8 years ago
    Quoted from radium:

    Ugh I want one of these. Or maybe I want a WH2O. So hard to choose toys.

    Looks like these CNC mills are around $2600. Not sure how competitive that is, I don't know the market. But I can tell you I spent a heck of a lot more than that to buy my WH2O recently!

    This particular CNC looks more like an alternate to a 3D printer. Small footprint, and can carve 3D shapes. That's pretty slick, but I think I'd personally get more use out of something larger that was more 2D oriented. Maybe some kind of home-user-oriented laser cutter, I dunno. Big enough to cut things like speaker panels.

    #18 8 years ago

    The larger x-carve is around $1,200, and gives you 31" by 31".

    #19 8 years ago

    Yeah, I am currently looking at a small CNC router that can cut aluminum. Looks like my 2 best choices are the Nomad 883 and the X-Carve. Both of those can handle cutting plastics and the X-Carve seems to be the one with the biggest working area of these small routers.

    --Scott

    #20 8 years ago

    Sounds like I should do some research! Or just let Scott do it all for me.

    #21 8 years ago
    Quoted from TheNoTrashCougar:

    Yeah, I am currently looking at a small CNC router that can cut aluminum. Looks like my 2 best choices are the Nomad 883 and the X-Carve

    Spend under $5k and you could get a 5-axis cnc, perfect for making.. ANYTHING!
    http://makezine.com/2015/06/23/5-axis-cnc-less-thank-5k

    #22 8 years ago

    That cheap 5 axis is not a true 5 axis machine.Well in the video anyway.
    It never moves on all axis at once .
    I also run a mill in work.
    a hurco VM1 .make all types of prototypes/mould .
    I use soidworks/solidcam for my gcode .
    draftsight is a free CAD program that's good for .dxf stuff

    #23 8 years ago
    Quoted from toyotaboy:

    Spend under $5k and you could get a 5-axis cnc, perfect for making.. ANYTHING!
    http://makezine.com/2015/06/23/5-axis-cnc-less-thank-5k

    Yeah Joe, that one sure looks cool, but it is one of those Kickstarter campaigns and as UrabanLegend stated above, it does not look to use more than 1 axis at a time.

    A simple 3 axis CNC mill that has the potential to run GCode from the SolidCAM plugin is what I would be looking for. Nothing crazy.

    #24 8 years ago
    Quoted from urbanledge:

    a hurco VM1 .make all types of prototypes/mould .
    I use soidworks/solidcam for my gcode .

    I have a VM2... sweet machine.

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