Shapeoko Mill

ShapeOko CNC Mill Project Running Total Cost

Posted on by Timothy Foreman

I’m building a ShapeOko CNC mill and this post will document my expenses.

Purchased from Inventables.com:

Date Item Cost
 2/10/13 Shapeoko Kit $225.00
 2/10/13 (2) 1000mm MakerSlide Rails (to increase Y axis length) $43.68
 2/10/13 8 ft Neoprene belting $15.92
 2/10/13 Plastic Toothed Pulley (for dual-Y drive) $5.50
 2/10/13 (4) NEMA 17 Stepper Motors $67.76
 2/10/13 (2) Idler Pulley (for dual-Y drive) $11.50
 2/10/13 1/4″ Nylon Spacers $2.00
Total (including shipping) $393.51

Purchased from DigiKey:

Date Item Cost
 2/10/13 24V 4.5A Power Supply $30.50
 2/10/13 (6) Optical Limit Switches $8.64
Total (including tax & shipping) $55.82

Purchased from Synthetos:

Date Item Cost
2/10/13  GRBL Shield/Arduino combo (including shipping) $95.79

Purchased from Amazon:

Date Item Cost
2/15/13 Emergency Stop Switch $6.69

Hardware Store:

Date Item Cost
2/21/13 4 feet of 1/8″ x 1/2″ mild steel bar $5.00
3/1/13 2′ x 4′ sheet 3/4″ MDF $11.00
3/1/13 75 1/4-20 tee-nuts $15.00

Purchased from McMaster-Carr:

Date Item Cost
2/21/13 (8) Threaded Standoffs (for moving the motors to the outside) $10.30
2/21/13 (3) Push buttons (assorted colors) $43.02
2/21/13 Toggle switch $20.03
2/21/13 (25) 5mm x 70mm SHCS $3.83
2/21/13 (2) 25mm long spacer (for double X axis mod) $2.48
2/21/13 (2) 51mm long spacer (for double X axis mod) $3.38

Upgrades:

Date Item Cost
 3/29/13 Z-Axis Upgrade Kit $65.00
 9/15/13 Shielded wire for re-wiring $40.00
12/06/13 40mm spacers $10.26
12/06/13 13mm spacers $8.58
12/20/13 Upgraded motor mount plates (4) $37.00

Current total expenditure: $820.00

All ShapeOko CNC Mill posts.

Shapeoko Mill

ShapeOko CNC Mill Project Started!

Posted on by Timothy Foreman

I just placed orders for all the parts (I think) that I need to build and run my ShapeOko CNC mill!

I’m pretty excited about this project. I’ve wanted to have a small CNC mill for a long time and this is a (somewhat) affordable and fun way to make one.

I’ll be posting build notes and photos on my blog here, along with a running total of expenses. I had guesstimated a cost of about $500, but have made some upgrade decisions already (mainly a longer travel in the Y axis) that have blown through that budget a bit. I expect I’ll be spending the $75 to upgrade the Z axis in the future.

The one item you might notice is missing from the cost list is a spindle of some sort. I already have a spare Dremel tool that I’ll use to start, but I also have a Rigid trim router that I think will make a better choice. We’ll see on that one.

Running total costs.

All ShapeOko CNC Mill Posts.

Shooting

Caliber Comparison

Posted on by Timothy Foreman

Just for fun I took a kinda crappy photo of the various caliber ammunition I happen to have around. I don’t have guns for all of these, just most.

I numbered them and will describe their details below. Mainly I want to point out that while the .223 Remington/5.56 NATO round used in the “assault weapons” everyone is trying to ban is a “military” round, it’s also pretty lightweight and low powered compared to other rounds that used to be “military” rounds and are  now very common.

Click to embiggen.
Click to embiggen.

1. .45 ACP. This is a pistol round. So you get a sense of scale, it’s about 1.25″ long. Developed around 1900, it’s was the primary pistol round used by the military for 100+ years. It is also the round the iconic 1911 pistol is chambered for. The bullet diameter is .452″, it’s weight is approximately 12-16 grams and it’s velocity is 800-1200 feet per second (fps).

2. .45 Colt. This is one of the original “cowboy” rounds. When the cowboy in a western movie has a revolver, this is usually what it shoots. The 1873 Single Action Army, and the Colt Peacemaker were chambered in this round. It was orginally a black powder round, but it can be loaded with modern smokeless powders also. The bullet diameter is .454″, it’s weight is approximately 16-18 grams and it’s velocity is 960-1300 fps.

3. .223 Remington/5.56 NATO. This is the round the majority of the modern rifles (so called assault weapons) are chambered in. Developed in 1963 to replace the 7.62×51mm NATO round. The bullet diameter is .224″, it’s weight is around 4 grams and it’s velocity is around 3000 fps.

4. .270 Winchester. This cartridge was developed in 1923 and was never a military round. It’s basically a .30-06 Springfield round that is necked down to hold a .277″ bullet. It’s a great hunting round and is used by many hunters. The bullet weight ranges from 6-10 grams and it’s velocity is around 3000 fps.

5. .30-06 Springfield. Developed in 1906 as a military round it was used by the army into the 1960s. It’s a very popular hunting round still and many rifles are still being manufactured chambered in this round. The bullet diameter is .308″, the weight is 10-14 grams and velocity is 2500-2900 fps.

6. .40-82 Winchester Center Fire. This one is kind of a mongrel. Introduced around 1886 for use in Winchester lever action rifles it was not as popular a caliber as the .45-70. I don’t have any real data about this cartridge, I just tossed it in there because I have one.

7. .50 Browning Machine Gun. Developed in the 1910s for machine guns it entered military service in 1921. This round is still used in machine guns and by snipers. It’s also used by enthusiasts for long range (sometimes more than a mile) target shooting. Bullet diameter is .510″, weight is 42-52 grams and velocity is around 3000 fps. Again for comparisons sake, this round is almost 5.50″ long.

So there you go. The .223 round is a pretty light bullet, traveling around the same speed as many hunting rounds. It is less powerful than the .270 Winchester and .30-06 Springfield rounds.

Woodworking

Table Saw Ripping Jig

Posted on by Timothy Foreman

I’m making a two sets of custom grips for someone and they want the diamond pattern that I made before.

Diamond pattern grips.
Diamond pattern grips.

So I need to make some more glued up material.

In order to do that, I have to rip a bunch of 1/4″ and 1/2″ strips of walnut and maple.

The last time I just set the fence at 1/4″ and went for it.

This time I built a jig and a new table saw insert with a splitter.

Ripping Jig
Ripping Jig

Continue reading →

Family

Replacing the LuvBus Head Gasket – Part 2

Posted on by Timothy Foreman

Today I went out to Bil’s again and we yanked the head off the motor. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so all I have are a few kind of crappy cell phone photos.

The upper row of bolts was not very tight, which may have been part of the reason the head gasket started leaking.

The block with the head gasket still in place.
The block with the head gasket still in place.

After we got the head off, we inspected the head gasket. There were no obvious places where it had blown out into a cylinder which was a little discouraging. But Bil discovered that the upper right section was delaminating and I inspected all the cylinders and discovered that there was some rust on the wall of number two – which is the upper right one. So we seem to have discovered the issue.

Crappy cell phone photo of some rust.
Crappy cell phone photo of some rust.

Bil is going to send the head out to have it inspected and maybe flattened and then he has to order some parts. Then we will get to put it all back together again (after cleaning…)

The head.
The head.

 

The bottom of the head.
The bottom of the head.
Politics/Shooting

I Contacted my Senators and Congressman

Posted on by Timothy Foreman

I just sent a very short note about my thoughts on gun control to my two senators and my congressman.

As a firearm owning Democrat I would like to let you know that I am opposed to any sort of Assault Weapon Ban, especially the bill that Diane Feinstein is pushing.

What is needed is better background checks and a broadening of the prohibitions for high-risk persons as outlined in the John Hopkins Center for Gun Policy white paper.

I do not believe that punishing the millions of law-abiding firearms owners for the actions of a few is the correct path to take.

Thank you.

Short and sweet is the way to go with emails to your congresscritters.

Here is the website where you can find your Senators, and here is where you can find your Congressman.

Woodworking

Dust Collection is a Good Thing

Posted on by Timothy Foreman

I’ve had a dust collector in my shop for a long time. It’s one of the best investments I’ve ever made. I could stand to have one with a little more suck, but this one gets most of the dust from the tools.

A couple of years ago I added a dust separator to the system and I’ll tell you what; that was the second best investment I have made in the shop. It separates out the large chips and shavings and is easier to empty than the dust collector. It’s great, especially when running the planer.

What I have not had was any sort of piping to the tools. I had a long hose attached to the dust collector that I  moved from tool to tool as I used them.

Continue reading →

Family

Macy’s vs. JC Penney

Posted on by Timothy Foreman

We took the girls down to Skateville in Burnsville last night and then had a few hours to kill.

We started by going to dinner at Saigon Palace on West Burnsville Parkway. It’s a small place in a strip mall, but the Pho was good as was the noodle salad. I would return.

After that we headed over to Rockler Woodworking, but they closed at 7:00 and it was 7:15 when we pulled up!  So no love there.

We thought it might be fun to go look at shoes, so we headed back to Burnsville Center Mall and went into Schuler Shoes. Liz didn’t find anything there, so we went into the mall. We started out at Macy’s.

Macy’s used to be a kind of up-scale place. But this place looked like a dump. The carpets were filthy and the colors were drab. All the display fixtures were dirty and chipped. The wall paper was peeling. The shoe shelves were dusty and there was even a flickering florescent light on one shelf. To top it off, the shoe department is located in the nexus of three different departments and all three were playing different music. It was a cacophony. It felt almost post-apocalyptic. There were three pairs of shoes that we wanted to look at, and they only had one pair in Liz’s size. The sales clerk was pleasant at least.

We wandered the mall and discovered there was a JC Penney there, so we went in. Even though it was a JC Penney, it was much nicer than the Macy’s store. It was clean, brightly light and the fixtures looked relatively new. There also was no discordant music playing. The shoe selection was better too, but we didn’t find anything that we thought was worth buying.

The experience in Macy’s saddened me a little. I used to love to go to Dayton’s and it was always a pleasant place to shop. Then Marshall Field’s bought them out and they started to go down hill. After they were converted to Macy’s I pretty much stopped going there.

I understand that retail is a tough business, but making your stores pleasant to shop in is a kind of important piece of the puzzle.

Life

Why I Love the Internet So

Posted on by Timothy Foreman

A while ago we were gifted an old kitchen clock (ours is yellow). It’s got that cool 50’s vibe and was apparently a wedding present for Liz’s parents when they got married.

It’s been running really slow for the past few months, and a couple of days ago I came home to see it unplugged and on the kitchen table.

“It was making a grinding noise” said Liz.

So I took it apart.

The motor is a cool AC motor and it’s marked Telechron.

Apparently the Telechron rotor was invented in 1917 and was used to power electric clocks until 1992.

Typing “telechron” into Google returned the Telecron.net site full of pictures of almost all the Telechron clocks ever made.

It also returned the TelechronClock.com site were the owner repairs the rotor assemblies and sells them!

So now we need to decide if this clock is worth $30 to repair. $30 isn’t a bad price for a clock, and it’s certainly a unique one…

I love the Internet.