torsdag 8 augusti 2013

Doh!

Just noticed a big drawing error in the design below... Can you spot it? ;)

Food for thoughts...

I'm thinking about making the machine slightly modular in nature.
Mostly because I don't have room to have it standing permanently in one place, and I'd also like it to be expandable in size. Having it modular solves these problems.

Designing it is a whole other beast thou!

Preliminary sketches


So this is the current state of the CNC-machine:

1) Front view. I won't go into a lot of details yet, but it will be chain driven X/Y-wise and a lead screw for the Z-axis. I hope to reduce the carriage width by around 5-10 cm in the final version.

2) Side view. Hopefully I've gotten most of the weight centered to avoid wobbling. The expected cut length is around 117.5 cm, which is slightly larger than a regular pinball playfield. Larger pieces can be cut with a little manual repositioning of the carriage and resetting of the zero-position in software, but I do believe this should be sufficient to start with. 
Not too impressive, but I'd rather have it as good as possible before actually making it.
Note that the rails for this design is based on 30mm width/height, but hopefully I'll find L-profiles of a smaller size so the overall design will be slimmer and the cut area slightly larger.

Thoughts?

fredag 2 augusti 2013

Well, here I go again...

Hi there,

As the pinball build is starting to become finished, I'm starting this blog to keep inspiration up for my CNC machine that is currently being planned. I will build it by hand first, then use the machine to manufacture more precise pieces to improve itself.

At the moment, I've got more or less all parts so it should just be a matter of cutting some MDF, getting a few nuts and bolts and piece it together.

But as usual, I have a tendency to underestimate my project's building times...


By the way - 
In case you want to check out my BioShock custom pinball machine, go to Poor Man's Pinball to find out more about it!