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I made a couple of items from PLA+ and of course got warping on the bottom of them. That caused me to dig out my poor old neglected Unimat. After finding enough parts to be able to use the mill, and fiddling with setup, I have successfully machined the plastic. These parts are solid, 8 walls, 6 top and bottom layers and 100% infill.? There are lines on the surface, small and insignificant for this project. The mill head is good side to side but slightly off from front to back. The only way I know to fix that is by using a tiny shim under the mill base. This is the column mounted mill that is independent from the lathe bed.? I used a solid carbide end mill. The ¡®chips¡¯ are fuzz and ¡®worms¡¯. No melting, just sticking together made the worms. Easy cleanup.?  And with the fuzz wiped off the part: 
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Woo hoo, the Unimat comes through!
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On Mar 23, 2024, at 4:51?PM, Nevadablue <nevadablue@...> wrote: ?I made a couple of items from PLA+ and of course got warping on the bottom of them. That caused me to dig out my poor old neglected Unimat. After finding enough parts to be able to use the mill, and fiddling with setup, I have successfully machined the plastic. These parts are solid, 8 walls, 6 top and bottom layers and 100% infill.? There are lines on the surface, small and insignificant for this project. The mill head is good side to side but slightly off from front to back. The only way I know to fix that is by using a tiny shim under the mill base. This is the column mounted mill that is independent from the lathe bed.? I used a solid carbide end mill. The ¡®chips¡¯ are fuzz and ¡®worms¡¯. No melting, just sticking together made the worms. Easy cleanup.? <IMG_5462.jpeg> And with the fuzz wiped off the part: <IMG_5463.jpeg>
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Sorry but i cant help but think we sometimes try to reinvent the wheel ! Block of wood. Drill some holes. Not sure but might have done the same job ! Also would have prevented the release of more microplastics into the environment, wormy or not ! :/
Just Sayin :/
On Saturday, 23 March 2024 at 21:02:03 GMT, John Entwistle via groups.io <jentwistle3@...> wrote:
Woo hoo, the Unimat comes through!
On Mar 23, 2024, at 4:51?PM, Nevadablue <nevadablue@...> wrote: ?I made a couple of items from PLA+ and of course got warping on the bottom of them. That caused me to dig out my poor old neglected Unimat. After finding enough parts to be able to use the mill, and fiddling with setup, I have successfully machined the plastic. These parts are solid, 8 walls, 6 top and bottom layers and 100% infill.? There are lines on the surface, small and insignificant for this project. The mill head is good side to side but slightly off from front to back. The only way I know to fix that is by using a tiny shim under the mill base. This is the column mounted mill that is independent from the lathe bed.? I used a solid carbide end mill. The ¡®chips¡¯ are fuzz and ¡®worms¡¯. No melting, just sticking together made the worms. Easy cleanup.? <IMG_5462.jpeg> And with the fuzz wiped off the part: <IMG_5463.jpeg>
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@clankennedy2004?
I¡¯m not sure what you are talking about. I don¡¯t want a wooden compound rest for anything, but I do think that PLA+ will make a good one for this application. And, I¡¯m not worried about microplastics. Too much worry about nonsense. I guess you comment was just a space filler.
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Good work? PLA+ machines nicely. Threads OK if you dont need strength.
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I have inserts planned for some places and a test of a long through hole, threaded M8x1 left handed for the lead screw. We will see. The proper tap is due here Monday. I hope it works¡ this is what I¡¯m making.? It was intended to be a compound rest for the Unimat, but I think it is too tall. I will finish it, maybe it will be useful for something else. Also, I am working on a built in QCTP version.?  I need to finish this one to prove it works, then print this top piece.? 
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Not that all jobs have multiple solutions, I thought that the benifit of addative machining was to achieve usable parts right off the machine, minimal finishing required, so why not print the final shape?? Second thought is there are better machinable plastics than pla if you are starting with a solid block of material.? Having said that using what ya got is always a good idea.
Happy making chips!!!
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Thanks Bruce. Yes, the intent with these parts was to use them as printed, with addition of inserted threads. But, this is the first time I¡¯ve tried such thick and dense prints and both had serious warping on the bottom. PLA+ seems to be more likely to do this on my printers. I¡¯m learning, I hope and the next attempts may be better. Learning is something I love to do, so I decided to try to machine the parts into something useful. I think it will work.?
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Learning is the best part I may one day know as much as I thought I did¡? Not that I have made a lot of structural prints but On those I have, 6 to 8 perimeters and 50% gyroid? fill has been workable for me.? Early reading I did on the
subject, indicated not much gain in strength over that.?? The warpage is lessened by time on task and raising bed temp some to minimize temp differential of first layer and last.
I¡¯m looking forward to see the finished product.
?
I¡¯ve been proto typing it seems like a lot lately, playing with fusion 360 modeled threads.? I can put proto types together with real bolts.? I am surprised at the strength.? I haven¡¯t put one to use yet, but I am tempted by what I see
and feel.
?
Happy Making
?
BAR
?
Sent from for Windows
?
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From: Nevadablue <nevadablue@...>
Sent: Sunday, March 24, 2024 9:52:12 AM
To: Bruce Rohde <barohde@...>; [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [Unimat] Machining 3d prints
?
Thanks Bruce. Yes, the intent with these parts was to use them as printed, with addition of inserted threads. But, this is the first time I¡¯ve tried such thick and dense prints and both had serious warping on the bottom. PLA+ seems to be more likely to
do this on my printers. I¡¯m learning, I hope and the next attempts may be better. Learning is something I love to do, so I decided to try to machine the parts into something useful. I think it will work.?
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Thanks again. I will probably drop the infill on some projects but I wanted to try this to see how it works. This was printed on a Kobra and I¡¯ve had good results with regular PLA on that machine, but no testing of the density I printed this one at. I will try raising the bed temp a couple of degrees for the PLA+.?
I¡¯m jealous of folks who can drive a real CAD program. My old brain struggles with Tinkercad, but I have loaded a few CAD programs on my laptop and am slowly attempting to learn. It probably isn¡¯t necessary, but fun to try.?
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Hello
Nevadablue:
Try OnShape:
It is similar
to SolidWorks, I like the dimension driven models. You can
either print 3D or paper.
Carl.
On 3/24/2024 2:54 PM, Nevadablue wrote:
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I¡¯m jealous of
folks who can drive a real CAD program. My old brain struggles
with Tinkercad, but I have loaded a few CAD programs on my laptop
and am slowly attempting to learn. It probably isn¡¯t necessary,
but fun to try.?
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Try freecad using the part workbench. It's like a smart tinker cad.
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I had several cad packages also and finally had to pick one to learn. Trying many at once kept me confused the small nuances are murder.
Again the learning is the fun part.
I have a Prusa filament printer I love, and a new anyqubic resin one I am still learning to use. The Unimat is also one of my learning needs. ?
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On Mar 24, 2024, at 12:54?PM, Nevadablue <nevadablue@...> wrote:
?Thanks again. I will probably drop the infill on some projects but I wanted to try this to see how it works. This was printed on a Kobra and I¡¯ve had good results with regular PLA on that machine, but no testing of the density I printed this one at. I will try raising the bed temp a couple of degrees for the PLA+.
I¡¯m jealous of folks who can drive a real CAD program. My old brain struggles with Tinkercad, but I have loaded a few CAD programs on my laptop and am slowly attempting to learn. It probably isn¡¯t necessary, but fun to try.
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On Sat, Mar 23, 2024 at 09:43 PM, Nevadablue wrote:
And, I¡¯m not worried about microplastics. Too much worry about nonsense. I guess you comment was just a space filler.
What happens to plastics after they have been used is a major issue.
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But that has nothing to do with this discussion.?
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These treads often wander waaaay off-topic¡ it¡¯s not the first, and it certainly won¡¯t be the last :-)
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That¡¯s because people are on the wrong forum. Activists of all sorts have available spots to be ¡®active¡¯.? Please stop the off topic nonsense. I am trying hard not to be nasty about this.? So, the left hand tap came today and I made more plastic fuzz by finishing the bottom of the main part. I think this thing can be useful, but I¡¯m not sure what for.?  
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I kinda like the idea of machining 3d prints to true them up.? That vice looks great!
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No idea why I called that a vice.? smh
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Looks great! Almost seems like Delrin with the machining marks in it. I have used PLA but never PLA+ I'll have to look into the differences.
Looks like a good start.
That¡¯s because people are on the wrong forum. Activists of all sorts have available spots to be ¡®active¡¯.?
Please stop the off topic nonsense. I am trying hard not to be nasty about this.?
So, the left hand tap came today and I made more plastic fuzz by finishing the bottom of the main part. I think this thing can be useful, but I¡¯m not sure what for.?
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John Entwistle
Carl