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-My First Parts!-

From Manual Lathe, to Manual Mill, Rotary Table to Full CNC. It's all here.

*** ORDER OF PAGE ***

- First Part Ever Made
- Reason I Broke Down and Bought the Machines
- First Rotary Table Projects
- First CNC Project

- First Part Ever Made (5-2-00)
Here is my first part!! 7 hours of mind boggling work :):)
Here is my FIRST part EVER made on ANY machinery! Its an aluminum pulley to replace the plastic one. I wanted to replace this for probably 2 years but never did knowing someday I would buy these machines and make my own. It took me about 7 hours, if not more, to figure out what I was doing, how to use the machine, and finish the pulley. While I easily could of bought it for $9 (purple and with bearing!) nothing can replace my FIRST handmade part!!

Here is the beginning of it all! I used 2011 aluminum as I bought some from a local scrap yard. It came in an octagon shape and figuring out how to make it round just to hold it in the 3 jaw chuck was a project in itself :)

I just could not figure out how to exactly make the flanges (raised sides)! After playing around with the angles of the lathe bit I got them pretty close to 90º.

Here is the finished pulley next to the plastic one! I used a lot of WD-40 and a hacksaw blade to cut it off. While the dimensions are a little off it still works!

Here is the pulley on the tail of the Hirobo GPH heli. If I ever sell this helicopter there will be a few parts that I will take off and keep forever!
5/2/00

The Reason I Broke Down and got the Machines!!
Parts for Collective LMH-110 Conversion ! (5-31-00)
Trying to make the Pitch Slider is WHAT BROKE ME down into finally getting my machines.
Now I can't imagine life without them :) 9 hours

This Piece Broke Me Down!
One of many very early attempts at making a smooth pitch slider for my LMH 110conversion, using brass, plastic and a Dremel.
4-1-00

Trying to make this pitch slider for the LMH collective project was what broke me down into FINALLY getting the lathe and mill! With the machines it was simple to make a beautiful slider like this one!

Here is my first attempt at a washout assembly for the LMH project. Made out of plastic with brass insert. All of this was made using CA and a Dremel.To the right, is the real version using the machines!
Around 4-00'

Here is the washout unit I made out of aluminum manually! It's a piece I am very proud. I don't even want to tell you how long it took me to figure out how to hold and machine this piece, not to mention the remakes! Ok, Ok, something like 15 hours...no joke! I learned a lot about machining...
it's tougher then it looks!

First Rotary Table Project (7-13-00 )
Aluminum Head Button for the GPH-346, 10+ Hours

I made this head button for my GPH 346. It is one of the FIRST parts I made using my rotary table incorporated with the lathe and mill.
It was made before CNC and to this day it is one of my most cherished parts! Making the countersunk hole for the bolt was the hardest
thing to do. They told me that machining was hard but finding out ways to hold the part is MUCH harder! I now believe it!
The button is about 1.5mm thick and took me 10 hours + !

First CNC Project (11-17-00)
7+ Hours
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.

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 :)	It was so fun, I started another in plastic! It was like butter!	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 :)

Changes for the "next fan"

° Definitely shorten the endmill for maximum rigidity.
° Fine tune the G-Code for optimal tool path. At every point my endmill would lift just to come back down right at the same spot..
Make sure your lines join in your CAD drawing when possible to reduce the number of "useless" steps.
° Using less oil, instead of flooding the area with WD-40 I would use 3in1 oil as it's thicker and use just a few drops at a time.
° Much more concentration on getting the chips away from the cutter then flooding the area with oil.

To RC Helicopters !
To Things I've Made !