Long story short, it turns out finding a shop to cut your cool new frame idea is not as easy as it sounds.  So much so, I decided to just take a stab at CNC milling myself.  I always just referred to this as CNC.  Or if I'm feeling sophisticated, CAD/CAM lol.  Cool fact ... CNC stands for "computer numerical control.  So technically you've CNC'ed if you've 3D printed.  CAD means computer aided design.  So you've done that too lol.  It's the *milling* word that differentiates this subtractive (that a word?) manufacturing process as opposed to 3d printing's additive approach.  Did I say long story short?

I got this guy ...





I ordered from Amazon for like $10 more than from Foxalien directly but that meant much faster shipping and effortless return should anything go sideways early on.

The short of it is (there I go again lol), there's $300-ish machines and then you go all the way to $1,000+ machines.  Not much of an in between.  And all of these lower end machines are pretty much based off the "3018" (engraving area of 300mm x 180mm) China DIY kit.  They are branded Genmitsu, Sainsmart, and some weird ones I forget.  But for the most part it's the same machine with varying degrees of quality in terms of motors, electronics, and addons.

Reasons Why

What I sought out to get was the most "refined" knockoff of this popular 3018 line.  There's not many.  So I landed on this "Foxalien" brand and their 3018-SE V2 ... that's sports edition!!  Lol jk I have no idea what SE is.  I also got the 300W spindle upgrade and the external controller.  I opted for this setup primarily because of online reviews saying this was a much more refined version of the 3018 in terms of construction and performance.  Although you can purchase enclosures separately, I liked how this was taylor made for this build keeping in mind that I'll be working with a lot of carbon fiber and perhaps aluminum.  The 300W spindle should, as far as I've read, allow me to cut CF without issue and likely also aluminum (but maybe slowly).  The all-in price was about $600 which landed me pretty much in the middle of the raw $300 kits with 40-60W spindles and the lower end of pro grade like what Drone Mesh uses.

CF Dust mitigation

This is no joke.  And while I can put this thing in the garage, it is a separated garage and I don't know that I'll want to chill out there during cuts.  But the upside would be that we can stick to some sort of vacuum dust boot attached to the router and cut CF dry which pros seem to agree is the optimal method.  But to start, I plan to try and cut in a water bath instead.  Drone Mesh does it this way.  Although he admits that cheaper CF tends to produce these random white marks when cut in water.  But it would appear to be extremely effective at keeping practically all dust contained.  And the bonus would be that I can keep this inside.

So the next step was how to make or what to use or what to jury rig as this water bath??  It needs to be deep enough to hold sacrificial material (which the router will cut into past the main material) and the main material but shallow enough so the router can pass over it.  It needs to be waterproof ... duh lol.  And somehow needs to be secured to the CNC working area and also be able to secure the materials.  I'd come up with all these ideas of using the CNC to cut acrylic plates which I'd bolt together and waterproof with silicone etc etc ... but then this lol:



Freeging Container Store dude lol.  Seven bucks lol.  Done and done.  And at least on paper, the fitment is practically perfect ...



I just hope that 18mm of play on both sides is enough to use bolts to secure the tray in place.  I have to think it is.

So now how do I secure the materials to the tray?  For now I just plan to use carpet tape based on a video I saw.  It seemed to hold the CF down well enough ...



Now I'm going to look for some good but affordable sources for CF as well as some recommendations for mill ends for CF.

I stocked up on some initial sheets of CF.  I figured I'd be butchering these sheets as I learn on them so quality was not my primary concern.  And honestly, at the prevailing prices, I don't know that quality will be the determining factor.  At least as far as sourcing in the U.S. at small quantities is concerned.  For retail frames, I'll undoubtedly need to source high quality CF from China as domestic prices is just not sustainable.  On the upside, I may have found a dude on eBay that can cut me the small sizes I am limited to worth with at the lowest prices I've found.  And for those looking, maybe this spread of current pricing will be helpful ...



It is not a clean comparison as the thicknesses and sheet sizes vary.  But it gives a good idea of what prevailing market pricing for small quantity CF sheets are in the U.S.

[edit] I should clarify that the reason I did not go with the cheaper (on a common-sized basis) ones was that they were only sold in sizes bigger than what my machine can handle. I did not want to be cutting sheets by hand. I also just opted for the same vendor on Amazon purely for convenience.

Oh I also got some mill ends.  I used to call them cnc bits but it's clear to me now that the cool kids call them "mill ends."  And we are cool.  lol.  From what I've read, "diamond cut carbide" bits ... MILL ENDS ... are ideal for carbon fiber.  But a little more digging down this rabbit hole and it would seem the "chip breaker" mill end would in theory do a better job.  For now, I opted for some cheapie Amazon titanium coat carbide mill ends for general stuff and learning on with wood or something.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073RJ...UTF8&psc=1



For the CF, I got some legit (but still not too expensive) 1mm and 3mm sets of diamond cut carbide mill ends from this dude on eBay that came recommended from a CNC forum:

https://www.ebay.com/str/CARBIDE-PLUS?_t...7675.l2563





Lol at first I thought they actually had diamonds in them.  No, the flute patterns are just interwoven to form diamond shapes.


[edit]  You notice how my signature below is getting shorter and shorter as I spend more on this project??  

Very cool

One of the key things I've learned about modeling for CNC is the fact that the bit is round. So you cannot model sharp enclosed corners. More specifically, the slope of any corner must not be smaller than the radius of the mill end ... which really makes sense. But then how do you model slots? I had a cnc guy tell me my slots needed dog bones or t bones ... whaatttt?? Lol. This is actually pretty straightforward too ...



The circles are the diameter of the mill end. You can see how mechanically, a CNC machine would be able to cut these patterns just fine. There are many other methods but even among these three there are trade-offs. The Dog bone is toughest to route and could result in less than polished cuts but it preserves the most material thereby the most integrity. The T-bone is easier for the router to cut and offers more contact area to the tab inserted through this hole. But it takes out more material than the T-bone. The Sniglet is easiest for the machine to route therefore increasing the likelihood of a clean cut but also takes out more material than the other methods.

Anyway just some cool stuff I am learning while I wait for this machine.

(16-Mar-2021, 05:15 AM)the.ronin Wrote: One of the key things I've learned about modeling for CNC is the fact that the bit is round.  So you cannot model sharp enclosed corners.  More specifically, the slope of any corner must not be smaller than the radius of the mill end ... which really makes sense.  But then how do you model slots?  I had a cnc guy tell me my slots needed dog bones or t bones ... whaatttt??  Lol.  This is actually pretty straightforward too ...

A cam program won't take your cutting tool "outside the lines" of the design.  if you are wanting to put a 20mm tab in a slot, just make the slot a little longer and forget trying to design in the fancy cuts. the dog bones etc.  (Just IMO)

So if you are using a 1mm diameter bit, make your "rectangular" slot 21mm long - done. (Actually, you're probably going to want a bit of tolerance built in as well.)

Hmmm ... so the rectangles I drew are meant to be the slots not the tabs ...



I'm struggling though in getting my arms around what you're saying. I'm just not sure how that approach preserves the dimensions of the slot. I think I'm just confused Scotty sorry man. Here is what I've got specifically for these cuts on the cam plate and the frame ...



I can't get past the idea that without these divets, the router would end up cutting slopes where right angles would have been minimizing the contact area in the join.

In the image below, I designed a slot for a 20mm long, 2mm thick tab.  The picture on the left shows my design, which is 21mm long.  The picture in the middle shows what my machine cuts using a 1mm diameter tool (the red circle).  The third picture shows my tab fitting in the slot.  It doesn't hit the curved portion of the cut at all, but there is a 0.5mm "gap" at the top and the bottom.

PS: You might consider giving QCad a try: https://intofpv.com/t-getting-started-with-qcad

The above is how I do it to avoid "dog-bones". If you like tighter tolerences end-to-end, I found an article with some other methods/ideas.
https://makeitfrommetal.com/machining-sq...nightmare/

I am a bit lazy, so I have settled on methods that work for me.

Thanks guys.  I think I just need to dive into this thing.  Good thing it arrived a day early.  



Packaging was well thought out with tons of foam inserts.



Each level holding a part of the ganrty CNC in place.  Definitely a step up from the ziplocked baggies of cut plywood that my Printrbot Simple came as lol.



Instructions were also well laid out.



Everything you need for a certain step packaged in its own baggies.



Most everything comes pre-assembled in particular the base working area ...



...  as well as the gantry with the stock spindle already installed.



You simply had to bolt the two assemblies together.



The controller board just needed to be bolted onto the back.



All the wiring is labeled *and* color coded lol.



Then it's just wire by color lol.



At first when I saw the bent tab on the kill-switch I was like, ah haaa!! A China defect!! Nah, that tab is supposed to be bent down as confirmed in the image in the manual.



Again I was like, ah haaa!!! A China defect!!! But turns out this back panel is bending at the lower corners like that because I put the top panel on backwards.



The same screw up also ensured that the magnet on the door panel would never quite latch to the metal elbow on the side panel to close properly.



And here's what the stock machine looks like (with the messed up top and back panel installation) ...



But I opted for the upgraded 300W spindle which actually gets shipped separately. I'm not sure the power rating of the stock spindle but I'm guessing the 300W one is noticeable more powerful lol ...



With a beefy PSU to boot ...



When I re-installed the rear and top panels which need to be removed for the spindle swap, I realized the top was reversed. So now the door closes clean ...



... and at least one of the rear bottom corners are aligned.



While the other is still misaligned a bit. I'm not going to burn calories on this one though.



For now, I plan to have this inside the house and see how bad the dust problem gets. I was going to get a cheapie $10 wooden table from Ikea with the right dimensions but saw this one with some beefy metal legs that had some weight to it for $30 at Marshall's and opted for it instead.



I got this doggie mat For like $13 that was really good dimensions to catch debris since the enclosure does not come with a bottom plate ...



And lastly, the drone frame maker machine itself in all its glory lol ...



Forgot to mention I also got the external controller in case this thing needs to go to the garage where I prefer not to leave my laptop running (for whatever reason, they sent me two controllers which is like $45 lol)



There as one measurement I overlooked though lol ...



I can't really move the CNC over since the PSU cable starts to get taught. I can't move the PSU to the other side since the cable between the CNC and the PSU is too short lol. So I just plan to add 10mm height to the 3d printer feet I designed and that should be all good. Or just move the thing over whenever I want to print lol.

I have yet to power this guy up ... there's this new Pirates Netflix series and that's been super distracting lol. But I did get some CF layers, gloves and the respirator and filters are arriving tomorrow. Super exciting.

Alright guys.  Little by little lol.  For anyone else going down this rabbithole with this FoxAlien setup and 300W spindle upgrade specifically, a couple things to note that were not mentioned in the manual or in tutorial videos by the company ...

1)  You need to flip the switch circled in red below to get the spindle working properly.

2)  Double check that the dip switches are up, up, down on all three of them.  I don't know how this one circled in blue below ended up being up, up, up but in being so, cuts were freeging wild with the spindle seemingly moving on its own free will.  Not cool.



Second thing that applies to Sketchup users like myself, G-Code generating programs like Easel will only take SVG files.  Sketchup natively does not export SVG.  And trying to export to DXF then converting to SVG is nothing short of an error-prone nightmare.  And then I found this gem ...

https://simonbeard.github.io/sketchup-sv...ne-plugin/

Fire up that plugin and you will be able to export to SVG in later versions of Sketchup like v15 which I'm using.  But the option to export to SVG is neither in the File menu nor the Extensions menu.  That would be too easy, son!!  LOL.  You need to select a face (no edges) and right click to find the "Export to SVG" buried in that submenu ...



Yea ... this is gonna be a slog.  

This me right about now.  



Forgot to mention lol.  I did my first cuts in 1mm of carbon fiber plate using a 1mm diamond cut bit.  The GREAT news is the water completely contains the dust!!  The bad news is that I went with the carpet tape route.  Which while the stuff is truly industrial strength (and yet can come off when you're done), bits do not like them lol.  There was absolutely zero splashes during the first few passes (... yes I know it's only 1mm but I am being SUPER careful right now lol).  But then I noticed it started splashing a bit.  I realized then it was collecting guck from the carpet tape and bringing along the toolpath.  Bad bad bad.  I'll tell ya what though the piece it did cut out was very clean!!  Like legit, this was done by a pro clean!!  Gonna give it another shot using tabs in a bit.  Gonna take a celebratory smoke break lol.

Bit death count:  7 9 

I use the double side tape for my woodworking project. Maybe it can work for you.

https://taytools.com/products/double-sided-tape

For that tape, voodoo, do you cut through it?  And if you do, does it guck up your bit or blade?  

I am using this one:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DX1VDG2/  It is really quite amazing at keeping its hold submerged in water for extended periods of time and still be relatively easy to take off cleanly.  But as mentioned earlier, at least for the 1mm diamond cut bits I've been using, it collects on the flutes and starts dragging a glob of adhesive along the toolpath.  

And another thing with the use of tape - I believe the material particularly thin carbon fiber will lift if the tape is not close to the working area.  So unless you allotting plenty of clearance cut past the main material, you may end up with a cut that doesn't go all the way through.  

I am going to look for other options of securing down the working material that would still be effective submerged and water and with enough clearance for my acrylic water bath tray.  (Lol that sounds so official ... jewelry box from Container Store.  There.  lol)

Bit death count:  11