After the start of my cnc adventure it’s now time for the first sequel.

Controller
Because we ordered te machine without a controller I had to build in one myself.

I’ve chosen an EdingCNC CPU5B controller with ethernet module which I won in a design contest for a new logo for EdingCNC.

The way I connected it is temporary because on short term there will be an adapter kit available for the CPU5B with srew terminals.

The first steps
To be able to adjust, get to know and test the machine I started with some rough work in a rest piece of insulation foam. (sorry for the crappy phone pic!)

After which I started in a piece of oak I had lying around:

I created this design with the intention to eventually route it in aluminium for my motor bike’s sissy bar but it was a nice project to try out the machine.
The above version is ca. 25cm wide.

Dust collection
One of my first more serious projects is a dust shoe for the machine, somewhat based on this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69K7gyU9WR0

But I chose to route a slot in the top in which I can place different exchangeable rings with different center hole diameters. This way I can swap the rings according to the router bit I’m using at that moment. A larger hole for a larger bit, a smaller hole for a smaller bit.

Next to that I can place a piece of plexiglas tube in it, which has a slightly bigger inner diameter than the diameter of the spindle motor. This way I can also use the dust collector when routing deeper slots.

The design:

The seperate parts:

The base mounted together:

Mounting brackets:

And fully assembled:

I’ll be using the dust shoe in combination with a Dust Deputy kit from Oneida air and a Shop Vac Super 30 vacuum cleaner.

I’ll post some more pictures of this later on.

Engraving
After routing the dust shoed I started experimenting with engraving.

First of all with a 0.2mm 30º engraving bit in a leftover piece of plexiglas:

The logo is only 35mm wide, for a version this small I would actually need to use a smaller engraving tip (0.1mm) to get more detail into it.

This went pretty well so I started on a design for a keyring for the company of a friend of mine/ex. collegue:

I wanted to engrave it on both sides, the logo on one side, text on the other. Because I didn’t know what woul look best I made 2 versions, one with the logo mirrored which turned out to look best:

I’m slowly starting to get to know the machine so I hope to be creating some more serious projects soon.