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First CNC Project
The amount of work that went into this was beyond the scope of a "beginner," ME! After many hours (about 7+) and 3 tries I finally finished my fan. If I were to remake this fan there are plenty of things I would do differently to make the process more efficient as described below. I cherish my first cnc part- and it is my logo on forums.
After I made the fan in aluminum I tried styrene plastic. Who easy this was to cut... And fun. Honestly I should have tried this project in this material first to learn some of the ins and outs of machining.
Here are all of the 3 trials! The first one was too thin and cracked. The second
one, the cutter went off the path and cut right through the fins.
The third one was
the charm :)
Here are some of the first cuts! Beautiful! I mounted the aluminum on the mill by gluing a "Jenga" piece and having the vise hold it.
More cutting and more chips! Trying to keep them out was a huge task. I flooded the area with WD-40 for coolant and it smelled great :):)
Here you can see the machine cutting "CNC" into the center of the fan using a different endmill.
The finished fan after
7 hours of trying :)