Talking about hold downs for CNC work... ?This company makes plastic staples and nails, and the guns to drive them. ?I saw them ?marketed specifically for CNC hold down applications. ?Until I researched them, I didn¡¯t know they were available for other applications as well. ?You still get the nail hole, but you don¡¯t have to be concerned with tooling hitting the plastic nail.
If the nail hole is not a deal breaker, these plastic nails will make holding down sheet goods pretty easy, and a lot cheaper than the vacuum system and associated electrical load issues.
Good luck,
Alex
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On May 24, 2021, at 2:51 PM, Michael Garrison Stuber <mtgstuber@...> wrote:
?
I don't have the neighbor problem (other than my lovely wife and
the mountain fauna) but being off-grid, power draw is a constant
concern.? I tap out at about 12kw total simultaneous consumption
which has to cover the CNC, the spindle, and the dust collection,
so I've basically stuck with mechanical holddowns, but if I could
get away with 2500 watts for doing sheet goods, I might actually
have enough power to do it.
On 5/24/2021 2:43 PM, Brian Lamb wrote:
I just got it hooked up the other day, and my son stole my clamp
on amp meter yesterday¡ so I¡¯ll have to wit until I get it back
from him. The paperwork I have from Black Box says the motors are
7.5amps, and there are four inside the Hurricane, so it¡¯s supposed
to draw 30amps. That would be all pipes wide open, which you won¡¯t
run that way, you¡¯ll zone down and probably be sucking thru the
spoil board and have parts stuck on top, so you will most likely
be drawing 20-25 amps most of the time in use, that¡¯s with 4
motors running and from what I hear, if I¡¯m cutting full 4x8
sheets, I can run two motors and get enough hold down. Then you¡¯d
be drawing 10-12 amps type of thing.
One bad thing¡ it¡¯s noisy¡ I won¡¯t be running it
without the shop doors all shut or the neighbors will get real
tired of it, real fast. The vane style pumps are quite a bit
less noise¡ but again, this is what I found (used) and could
afford, both monetarily and electrical draw.
On May 24, 2021, at 2:00 PM, Michael Garrison
Stuber < mtgstuber@...>
wrote:
Brian,
??? I really appreciate the tip to the
Hurricane unit.? I didn't know it existed.? Have you
ever measured how many amps the system draws in
practice?
On 5/24/2021 9:29 AM, Brian
Lamb wrote:
1. CNC is indeed repeatable, results vary somewhat
with size of end mills, depth of cut and feed rates.
Good methods and practices are still required though.
2. Software is ?great, just depends upon
what you want to pay. Mozaik is probably the best
out there, but it will cost you $125-$150 a month
subscription fee to do what you want. I found
another option as I don¡¯t need the fancy
visualization/rendering software for customer
presentations. Cabinet Parts Pro, I think it¡¯s
called, free to try (will do up to so many sheets of
material at once) or $250 for the full version. As
for how long it takes, not very much¡ I did a two
drawer box, blind dado construction and even made
the drawer boxes as a first test and had it done in
an hour on the computer, then took way less than 30
minutes to cut it out¡. and that was the very first
time using the software.
3. You don¡¯t need 50hp vacuum pumps. I
went with a Black Box Hurricane, runs on 220V single
phase less than 30 amps. It pulls 11¡± of vacuum and
is more than adequate for a 4x8 machine cutting
sheet goods. If you want to cut solid wood, buy pods
and get a decent sized vacuum pump like a Welch, or
even an air powered vacuum generator, although those
suck a lot of CFM of air.
I¡¯ve lusted after a CNC for 20
years for my hobby shop. I am an
engineer who has worked in high tech for
36 years so the CNC stuff is definitely
of interest.? As I¡¯ve dug in a few
things I¡¯ve concluded;
- CNC ideal for precision
- CNC of sheet goods is awesome
with the right software
- Holding down material is
critical.? Big sheet good CNCs use
huge vacuum pumps, like 50HP.?
Hardwood, I expect would be fiddly. If
you got a high end CNC with movable
vacuum pods maybe.
- With CNC you go from human
dexterity skills to CAD skills
?
In the end I keep thinking for
the kind of things I build, furniture
and cabinets, it would take a lot longer
to do with a CNC with a high percentage
of that time spent on the computer.?
That said, unless I am building a
cabinet to fit in specific place I don¡¯t
really do plans or cut lists.
?
?
Hi,
I am trying to find a replacement for my
sliding table saw that takes less space
but still allows to build hardwood
furnitures, builtins, closet systems,
kitchen cabinets.. I am not interested in
a standard table saw and I plan to keep my
jointer/planer, miter saw for some of the
hardwood task. I know that CNC routers
with flat bed are really good for cabinet
box/sheet good, but it seems that the new
machines with some pod tables are able to
manage hardwood too. I am not a production
shop, just looking to see if I can reduce
the footprint (2 times the sliding table
length, the rip capacity and the
outrigger).
If anyone has insight on using a CNC for
sheet good and hardwood and would like to
share, I will appreciate. In term of
machines, I am looking at middle to high
end version from Shopsabre, CAmaster,
Freedom Patriot as they all offer compact
design for a 4x8 table.
I know that there is a learning curve from
software and cutting technics (flow,
order, tooling, holding parts), but as
hobbyist I do not see any issue with that.
Thanks for all feedback,
Bill?
--
Michael Garrison Stuber
--
Michael Garrison Stuber
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