Hackaday: What we want is a Star Trek-style replicator. What we have are a bunch of different machines that can spew out various 2D and 3D shapes. For the foreseeable future, you’ll still need to post-process most of what you build in some way. [Stuff Made Here] had a challenge. He often uses his plasma cutter to create complex sheet metal items. But the cutter is two dimensional so the piece doesn’t look right until you bend it at just the right places.
2 comments:
The productive things people do in their spare time is astounding. His solution, while so simple is so well executed it's incredible. To take the thought of "hey, it'd be helpful if I could just attach a sharpie to mark the bend lines" to creating a mechanism and 3D printing (or however he made the white plastic-y sections) is something most people don't actually go through with. He makes it look so easy. It's very see a problem fix a problem and I have to admit if I had that problem I'd probably be too lazy to fix it. Before this video I hadn't actually heard of a plasma cutter. I always assumed you used a laser cutter for metal as well. I looked it up and apparently, a plasma cutter is used solely for metals and can go through thicker pieces than is capable with a laser cutter. Good to know.
This is a great video and right in line with some of my other favorite machining/manufacturing channels. Not only is it a well thought out and informative clip, it goes to show you how much we can actually make for ourselves if we take the time to learn about it and get some of the tools (easier said than done I know). In the words of Ron Swanson, "People who buy things are idiots". The solution to attaching a sharpie to a CNC is certainly not new, in fact we have a collet specifically designed for sharpies and our CNC router. However, the level that this guy takes it is awesome. He could have come up with a relatively cheap solution, but he went all out incorporating it into the machine itself. Finally, when it comes to function, I can see how this is incredibly useful for bending and general marking. We use the CNC to engrave (probably more than we should), and because of that we often don't need to use a sharpie in our CNC as ridiculous as it may sound. But who knows, if it was permanently mounted to the gantry of the router it might take our unhealthy relationship with the CNC to a whole new level.
Post a Comment