Computer controlled machining

There are some important safety rules for when using the CNC machine:

• Do not touch any part of the machine while it’s on or moving
• Wear safety glasses
• Headphones arent necessar but the machine is very loud while cutting
• Keep the work area clean. Wipe of wood dust and pieces from the board with a broom before cutting anything
• Make sure screws you place on the wood board wont get in the way of the head when its cutting
• Turn the vacuum on.

Here is the button that turns the vacuum on:

Here is the cnc machine. The computer that operates with it is on its right.

This switch turns the machine on:

Here is the blade we used for our group assignment. Its 6mm:

We placed the blade in its placeholder:

Each blade with a different mm length has a different placeholder. Here are all the blades with their corresponding placeholders:

We need these tools to insert the blade, now in the placeholder, into the head:

Here is the process of twisting it:

This is placed on the bottom drawer under the computer. The buton turns the computer on and this is also where we plug the usb in to access out designs from the CNC software:

Fusion 360

We started our by making a design in Fsuion 360

We created 6mm (depends on blade) circle holes and extruded the object by 18mm (length of the wood)

Toolpath Generation

This step is to define the cutting paths the CNC machine will follow.

The 6mm holes we sketched earlier are to put screws in before the cutting process begins. Without the screws the pieces would move after being cut so we need screws.

Here is the process of both creating the path for drilling those holes and the outlines for our final piece:

Manifecture > Setup

After arrangement is done we go to:

• Manifecture > Set Up
• Select the models
• Stock > Stock Top Offset = 0
• Stock Point: Choose the corner

Drilling > Coolant = Disabled Drilling > Tool > Select > choose the following blade:

Drill for the holes

Geometry (3rd in Drill) > Selection Mode = Selected faces (select the 6mm holes), Minimum Diameter = 1

Click OK > Creates Setup called [T2] Drill1 [Rapid cutout]

2D Countour - Outline

• 2D > 2D contour > Counter selection > Select the bottom outline of the objects
• Spindle Speed = 1800 rpm
• Cutting Feedrate = 800 mm/min

Click OK > Creates [T1] 2D Contour 1

Simulate and Create

To see the simulation of the cutting process: Right Click setup folder > Simulate

Right Click setup folder > Create NC program > Click Post

CNC

Here is the cnc machine:

We put the .tap file into a USB and then connected it to the computer for the CNC.

Here is what the software for the CNC looks like:

Steps for using it:

• Click Reset and press the physical emergency button The arrows on the keyboard move the head in x y directions and a,s moves z direction
• Move the head and click zero x and y
• We need to slow down the movement while setting the z direction so the blade doesnt go down too fast. We changed the setting of the mode on the right bottom corner to around 5%
• Turn on spindle. This starts spinning the blade. We lowered it untill it was touching the wood just a little like the image below:

• Click zero z
• Drag the head back up so that it doesnt cut throught the wood when it starts moving to drill and cut
• Import File
• Start

The first thing that happens is drilling so you can put the screws in before cutting begins.

After we put the screws in we clicked start again and the cutting process began.

Here is our final product: