Eh up!

Hi everyone, I’m the new guy.

Recently retired and ramping up the modelling a bit, wife permitting.

I’ve got a very wide range of interests from wooden ships of the line to sci-fi and most things in between.

Starting to specialise in large scale cars and engines lately. Either kit bashing or ‘scratch building’ in 1/8th and 1/12th.

When I say scratch building, probably not what you think. My version is CAD drawing everything from scratch and then making it with a range of 3D printers and CNC machines, now I’m retired (or more accurately, modelling full time) I’m pushing the envelope a bit of what can be done at home. For example I’ve just been CNC cutting aluminium and brass sheet and 3D printing dies to form it into tricky shapes, I’m currently waiting for a kickstarter desktop injection moulding machine for rubber which will hopefully overcome the last hurdle to fully building full cars - the dreaded flexible tyre!

Anyway, here’s a few recent bits and pieces to get an idea of what I’m into.













Thanks for adding me and looking at my first post anyway!

Nick

You have some very nice builds there Nick! I am curious about what CNC machine you have as I have a Makura Z1 Pro heading my way soon with all the bells and whistles. Also what kickstarter is the rubber molding machine as I would like to take a look see.
Also what CAD software are you using?

Heavens Eagle said:

You have some very nice builds there Nick! I am curious about what CNC machine you have as I have a Makura Z1 Pro heading my way soon with all the bells and whistles. Also what kickstarter is the rubber molding machine as I would like to take a look see.
Also what CAD software are you using?

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Thanks.

Hi, I’ve got the original Makera 4 axis machine, it’s possibly the best thing I ever bought, but a steep learning curve too.



You can make stuff like this with a 4th axis



ALTHOUGH you can’t do the CAM with fusion 360 unless you have a rich uncle *

The rubber moulding machine is called Saltgator, Google is your friend. I don’t know how good or otherwise this is as I don’t have mine yet in true kickstarter tradition, it was due November last year.

As for CAD fusion 360 is my weapon of choice as I mostly draw technical, engineering stuff like engines, gearboxes which it’s great at, as it’s a solid object modeller.



If you need more organic (or at least less mechanical) stuff such as car bodies, seats, people, etc then you need something like Blender. I’ve also put a toe in the water with dedicated game producing stuff like Daz which is a whole different world and is targeted at characters specifically for use in gaming, but offers extreme control over posing, down to armature-based smart finger positioning etc. I got into this because I have a plan to EXACTLY model photographs, the machines are easy enough, the people are a real challenge though. Here’s an example.

Original photo



Model - so far so good!



Figures - not quite there yet






So in summary, my very complicated answer to the seemingly simple question of what CAD do I use is horses for courses. It depends what you’re trying to make.

* fusion consider 4 axis machining as ‘advanced manufacturing’ which means you need to license this feature which last time I looked was about an additional £3,000 a year, this is on top of the standard license. I’ve been arguing with them for nearly 2 years about this. Their logic is hobbyists don’t have 4 axis machines which used to be true, but isn’t anymore, so I’ve been arguing they should unlock 4 axis CAM for specific, small hobby machines like ours, which they could do if they wanted too.

Anyway, in the meantime, draw your part in fusion 360 then export it to Makeras own CAM program which does support 4th axis albeit in a very limited manner.

Have fun!

Excellent! Thanks Nick! Yeah I got the 4th axis coming with my machine. I have had a small desktop mill for about 20 years and have used it a lot. The first thing I did to it was add digital quills to the 3 axis which made a huge difference in usability. I have been a watchmaker for the last 24 years. Before that I did Cad drafting mostly PCB layouts and sheet metal design and then prototyping all the sheet metal and PCBs. I don't do any of the electronics stuff these days though I still have the ability to deal with it. I also have a well equipped watchmaker lathe that gets a fair amount of use both with hobby and watch repair.
If you don't mind I will probably want to ask a number of questions about some of the machining processes on your Carvera.
We also have a couple of guys that do 3D resin printing and one guy that has used Blender quite a bit and could probably assist you with your figure creations.

That is one of the best things about this group is how we help and critique each other to catch minor (or sometimes major) fubars and to share experience, tips and techniques.

Now that's an intro! Welcome aboard Nick
I suspect you have a back ground in machining or drawing with cad stuff. Amazing models you go there. Those motors look like they would crank up.

Holy crap Batman!! You have some fantastic stuff there. You and Paddy should get along nicely. Welcome! Gary S.

moon puppy said:

Now that's an intro! Welcome aboard Nick
I suspect you have a back ground in machining or drawing with cad stuff

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Thanks although no.

I’ve had a few jobs in my time but no CAD or machining in there. I learnt fusion in about 6 weeks with a linked-in learning course which I would recommend (rather than random YouTube people doing their best) machining I’m making up as I go along and know next to nothing (as bourne out by a big box full of snapped tools)

I do have a technical background in fairness, just not this stuff.

Nickedw said:

I learnt fusion in about 6 weeks with a linked-in learning course

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Wow! Nice, I've been down the youtube rabbit hole, maybe I'm in the wrong hole.

Heavens Eagle said:

Excellent! Thanks Nick! Yeah I got the 4th axis coming with my machine. I have had a small desktop mill for about 20 years and have used it a lot. The first thing I did to it was add digital quills to the 3 axis which made a huge difference in usability. I have been a watchmaker for the last 24 years. Before that I did Cad drafting mostly PCB layouts and sheet metal design and then prototyping all the sheet metal and PCBs. I don't do any of the electronics stuff these days though I still have the ability to deal with it. I also have a well equipped watchmaker lathe that gets a fair amount of use both with hobby and watch repair.
If you don't mind I will probably want to ask a number of questions about some of the machining processes on your Carvera.
We also have a couple of guys that do 3D resin printing and one guy that has used Blender quite a bit and could probably assist you with your figure creations.

That is one of the best things about this group is how we help and critique each other to catch minor (or sometimes major) fubars and to share experience, tips and techniques.

Click to expand...

That sounds great. I always fancied a jewellers lathe they’re beautiful little things. I signed up for this halfway house contraption on Kickstarter


But fear this is the kickstarter project I lose my money on. It’s long overdue and the creators are not responding so looks bleak. Ideal for what I need though. I am thinking about adding DROs to my mini lathe now, but they’re all bulky and I can’t find a good way of aggregating both the saddle and the jib which I feel is necessary.

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone.

Welcome aboard and WOW you do some nice stuff. Very cool tools too. If you do 3D you could make the tires out of TPU which is like rubber. Looking forward to seeing more
James

jknaus said:

Welcome aboard and WOW you do some nice stuff. Very cool tools too. If you do 3D you could make the tires out of TPU which is like rubber. Looking forward to seeing more
James

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Hi James, abandoned extrusion printing some years ago, it’s just too rough for my needs! I do have flexible printer resins but they’re really expensive and massively hard to work with. I’ve got high hopes for my Saltgator machine. It just delivers a slug of molten resin at enough pressure to mould in forms of your own making.

You seem to be settling in well Nick, I can see you could cost a few of us a lot of money..........

(note to self....you dont need a 4 axis...repeat every 10 minutes )

paddy said:

You seem to be settling in well Nick, I can see you could cost a few of us a lot of money..........

(note to self....you dont need a 4 axis...repeat every 10 minutes )

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Yeees, that can happen. Sorry about that.