Producing the first part for my hydroponic setup

So, today i decided to produce the first part for my hydroponic setup. The part in question was the Left mounting bracket for the tubes, here marked in red.

Since this part will need to handle both twisting and downwards pressure, i did FEA analysis of the part, and changed the design until i was happy with the result:

immediately after machining the part, i had to play with it to see if it was rigid enough. Needless to say, the part snapped. The problem was that i had not taken in acount the direction of which the grain in the wood is orientated.

Disapointed with todays result, i gave up any further work, and instead pimped my office-cactus with some ultrabrigth LED's and ate chocolate.

Progressing with the screwdriver case

Here is the latest progression on the screwdriver set. Now that i had made one functional prototype of the drawer, the time had come to produce five of the new improved versions.

After generating toolpaths, the parts where milled from plywood and aluminium. The plywood parts where to be milled from both sides, so three wooden dowels where used to ensure that the material lined up from both sides.

Then, once i had five aluminium frames, and five wooden trays, i had to begin drilling the holes for the small brass screws that hold the frame in place. As much as i enjoy operating the CNC machines, there are something special about forming material by hand. Therefore, grabbed my toolbox, and began the process of marking, drilling and countersinking the holes.

After ensuring that the screws did infact fit in the aluminium frames, i mounted the frames to the wood. Using one of my favourite tools, a brass hammer i made my self some time ago, i hammered the frames onto the wooden trays.

Then using another of my selfmade tools, the small parallel clamp, i secured the two pieces together while i predrilled the hole for the screws. Then, i mounted the piece on a small board with a welding clamp, and inserted the threee screws.

As i had not used Bitrafs lasercutter for quite a while, i decided to produce a temporary rack to store the drawers in when i am not working on them. After some thinking, i came up with a quick design in Fusion 360. I took roughly half an hour to cut.

Thats it for now, the next thing i will have to do to finish this project, is to lasercut the wooden inserts for the aluminium frames. Then i will need to cut the final wood cabinet in wich the drawers will sit.

Wooden case for wrench

As i have been working hard the last week, i needed to take some time off, and relax my own projects. So, today i made a wooden case for one of my most used tools, the wrench to change the tools in oour CNC machine.

First, i began scetching an concept, in Autodesk Fusion 360.

Then, the cutting commenced:

After Some sanding and oiling, i assembled the case, glued on the velvet, and suddently, i had this sitting on my desk:

This was a fun quick project, all together, it took less than three hours.

Wooden screwdriver set

Even tho i am a big fan of mass production, the tray that my screw drivers came in was poorly moulded from crappy plastic. I decided to remake the tray in oak plywood and aluminium.

This was a good exercise in Autodesk Fusion 360 toolpath generation.

The brass screws where made from 8mm rod, and the slits where cut with a jewelers hacksaw. Then they where turned in the lathe so that they sit flush with the aluminium frame.

This is the toolpaths for the aluminium frame. it has roughing offsets, to make space for evacuating the chips from the cut.

This is where things gets complicated. The wooden tray is 3D milled. That means that the CNC machine is moving with all axises at the same time, to produce smooth edges with a round cutter.

creating a bar stool using a CNC jig

Tig welding is a precise way of welding. Execelent quality welds can be performed, but, as in most trades, the key to good welding, is good workholding. By using a CNC cut jig, the job gets done quicker, more precise, and the repeatability is good.

In this case, the angle of the stool egs were critical. Jens Dyvik scetched out a rhino model, and cut the parts on the shopbot. Then the jig were assembled, and the Steel tubes put into position before welding.

Here, the stool is welded, and as soon as it cools down, the client will be able to bring it home!