A Little Help! Membership and a project

[prodi...@gmail.com]

Hey Friends,

First let me say I'm not a member, but I think what you guys are doing is awesome! I'd definitely love to consider joining, but I couldn't find a email or phone of someone to talk about membership. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

I'm currently working on a project that needs some CNC and/or laser cutting work done. There's tons of places online, but I'd love to support someone local. I was thinking maybe one of your members might want to help me out? I'd pay for the time of course.

Here's a link to the build on the RPF

http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=259601

Let me know if you think you can help (or know someone who can) with the project, and again if anyone can point me in the direction of how to become a member, that would be great!

Thanks,
Kevin

[Nathan Schrenk]

Hi Kevin,

Welcome to Arch Reactor!

The first step to becoming a member involves showing up at the space when members are there (see the calendar: https://archreactor.org/calendar). Tuesday evenings and Sunday evenings are good bets to meet some folks and get a tour of the space. Then become a supporting member for a couple months, and apply for full membership at one of the monthly business meetings (first Tuesday each month).

FYI: the laser cutter at Arch Reactor is currently broken. I think it was damaged last week. Last I heard parts for repair were being ordered. There's a Shapeoko CNC machine at the space that might work for your needs, depending on the size of your piece. The Shapeoko isn't large.

Nathan

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[Morganism]

Hi Kevin,

My name is Morgan. I am currently the Public Relations Director, and a good person to talk to about membership.

First off, we can help you get that project done. As a community workshop we help you do the projects you want. It should not be hard to find a member willing to help you.

Like Nathan said, I would recommend coming by and meeting the people at the Space. Tuesday and Sunday nights are best to start with. If want to take the step of becoming a supporting member, that can be done on our website through the About->Membership->https://archreactor.org/about/membership link on our website. (linking goodness not working for me) I would be happy to answer any questions or give you more details if you like.

[Andrew Ricke]

What part of a Storm Trooper outfit needs laser cut or CNC crafted!?!  Do you have CAD files for that?  If yes, please send them to me!

However, that looks like really more like hand crafting than anything.  I'll have to look at it in more detail later.  No clue how people actually make those suits.  I bet we have a couple people who do.

And as Nathan has said, you are now 90% on the way to membership.  The rest of the way to actually show up to the space!  Welcome aboard!

https://archreactor.org/about/membership

Andy

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[prodi...@gmail.com]

So I have the stormtrooper armor already, what im working on is the base. I'm trying to get it done in acrylic. I'm working on the cector files now, should have them ready to go in the next few days. Unfortunately it's kind of big. The side panels are about 10"x40".

Thanks for the info! I'll definitely drop by as soon as I can! If anyone else has pointers for this project, would love to hear them!

[Andrew Ricke]

Well, my CNC shapeoko (see my post about the gear wall) has that cutting area (or very close).  I see what you're doing now that I read instead of looked at the pictures,,, not the trooper (still cool) but the styling of the base.  A cutout layer of black and then a red layer backing behind it?

On Tue, Apr 19, 2016 at 2:11 PM, <prodi...@gmail.com> wrote:

So I have the stormtrooper armor already, what im working on is the base. I'm trying to get it done in acrylic. I'm working on the cector files now, should have them ready to go in the next few days. Unfortunately it's kind of big. The side panels are about 10"x40".

Thanks for the info! I'll definitely drop by as soon as I can! If anyone else has pointers for this project, would love to hear them!

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[Frank Kallal]

yeah Unfortunately the Laser won't handle that Size.   but the CNC will fit it. :)

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[Jim S]

Should be pretty straight forward to cut those out for the base.  What program are you using for the vector files?  There may be a short cut (I haven't used the CNC at the space but another one for some aluminum cutting) but here's how I did it.  Had the vector files in Inkscape.  Imported them into Fusion 360 (CAD/CAM package that is free for hobby and small business use).  Then did a bit more work in the CAD area.  Then moved to CAM and set up tool paths. 

One thing you need to think about is the minimum radius of the inside corners.  If you were to laser these you could get tight corners but on a CNC mill/router you are limited by the size of the cutter and the smaller cutters are slower and more prone to breakage.  Not a real issue until you get to diameters of less than around 1/8 or 1/16, especially in plastic I would think.  You can go smaller, it just takes more time.

I was told that the space router has a dremel for a spindle.  Some people have mounted their own trim router on it for more power which seems like a good thing.  You may also have to get your own cutters but they aren't that expensive and it sounds like you would only need perhaps two sizes - a larger one for rough cuts to remove material faster and a smaller one for finish cuts. 

Others can probably advise on cutter RPM and travel speeds for acrylic.  I would think you would want a lower speed so you get cutting without much heating and melting.  I recommend doing a small test piece first to get things adjusted. 

Not sure if you are interested in knowing and learning to do this or having someone else do it for you...  The space is more oriented toward the former but I think there are members that could do that latter also.

[prodi...@gmail.com]

Thanks for all the advice guys! I've been doing some more thinking about my project. To answer your question Jim, I am interested in learning for sure! But I think I'm going to need a little help.

I've been considering just making the base out of wood and just laser cutting the top. I'm certain that my wood skills are enough to make it, but I'm not convinced that I'm a good enough painter to get the high gloss look I'm going for.

Do you guys have a paint booth set up? Anyone up there really good with high quality paint finishes?

-Kevin

[Andrew Ricke]

No dedicated booth, but we have a ton of canvas that could be used to make a temporary booth and/or some place outside to spray paint. 

If your doing the acrylic in the correct color you'll not need to paint. If you want to have a shiny gloss, you can add poly, and for the glossiest I would recommend the spray can version. 

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