Pencil Holder

WorkFlow for ShopBot Machine for This Project:

1. prepare gcode using fusion 360, need to have gcode with toolpaths ready and saved to engineering google drive

2. Make sure you have the right type of bit, if not, change it using the two wrenches

3. zero the z axis by placing the alligator clip, green side of clip facing outward, and placing the blue pad right above the bit and pressing c2, which zeros the z-axis

4. remove alligator clip when you are done zeroing the z axis

5. then move z axis to around 4, just to be able to have a safe distance above the wood

6. go to c3 to home the proximity switch 7. go to j2 and enter x and y location of the origin, or where your cut will start (which is 6,6 for this project’s origin)

8. use Z2 to zero the x and y axises 9. go to Jx, 20 to get the bit away from the place where you are starting

10. Hammer in piece of wood to secure it, so it won’t move during cut

11. Type jh to jog to home, which is the origin

12. download .gcode file

13. Make sure filter is open 14. Set Frequency to 300 which is (1800 rpm) 15. Do air cut- set offset to 3d (*Red switch or red button used to stop if an emergency occurs*) 16. Then change 3d offset to no offset to cut, if everything went as planned in the air cut

17. Turn on the big vacuum using the green button

18. Click okay to start rounder and spindle to run file 18. Run cut- look at tool path if problem with the face cut which is first cut, then 2nd cut is bore, 3rd is pocket, 4th is contour (Little skirt can go around for cut to suck up saw dust) (*If in doubt of anything press stop*) 19. Make sure you put z back at around 4 then move it by jx 20 to move it out of the way, when getting your project off of the Shopbot

20. Vacuum off Shopbot when you are done with cut

*if ever in doubt of instructions or what order to do them in, type c and it will tell you the operations, commands, and the order of what to do them in

Making the Pencil Holder:

In order to make my pencil holder, I had to make a box 5 in by 5 in by 1.5 in. We originally had to change the units from mm to in. Then, under the create tab, I created a circle that was .75 in in diameter. Then, under create, I was able to press rectangular pattern and press the circle I created and make the quantity 1 across and 3 down, and I used the arrow to drag the two other circles down, so three circles were along the side of my square, evenly spaced. I then created another circle that was .5 in in diameter and created a rectangular pattern for this circle with quantity two across and 3 down, so there was six of these circles total, evenly spaced on the box. I then used the spline tool, to create a squiggle shape, just connecting lines in the left over space on the right side of my box. Then we used the extrude tool on the pocket we created with the spline tool to .5 in. Then, we had to extrude the circles 1 inch.

Make sure sketch is off, and then we went to cam mode. We then went to setup and changed the origin to model origin. Then under stock, we changed the stock offset to .25 in and the stock top offset to .125 in. Then we went to the 2d tab and pressed face, for the face cut. We changed the tool in this case to ¼ end flat mill in tool bit, under samples. We changed the spindle speed to 18,000 and feedrate speeds to 300. Now, we created the bore toolpath, under 2d. We went under the geometry tab and clicked on all the circles, and checked optimize order. Then we went under passes and set pitch to .375 and unchecked stock to leave. Then we went under 2d again and pressed 2d pocket to create our pocket cut. Under geometry, we selected the bottom of our pocket. Under passes, we selected multiple depths and the max roughing stepdown was changed to .25 in. Under linking, we selected ramp and made ramp type plunge. Then, we went under 2d again and created 2d contour, for our contour cut. Under geometry, we had to click on the bottom and made sure the red arrow was on the side of the box. Under heights, we changed the bottom height to .25 in. Under passes, we changed passes to multiple depths and set max roughing stepdown to .25 in again. Then, we right clicked on setup and pressed generate toolpath, to put all of the cuts we made together. We also simulated the toolpaths to make sure they would do what we wanted them to do. For simulations, we had to change the tool to shaft and checked stock, then we could press play. Then to make this project the right file, we right clicked on setups and pressed post process. For post processor, we had to make sure that it was Shopbot OpenSBP because if it wasn’t, we would not be allowed to run it on the shopbot, or it would not work. We made sure to rename the file, with our name in it, without spaces and with .gcode at the end. Then we put it in our Google Drive to be able to cut it.

Cutting the Pencil Holder:

For cutting the pencil holder, I followed the workflow for this project. The first cut that the Shopbot does is the face, then bore, then pocket, then contour cut. One problem that my cut had was that the contour cut made the “walls” of the pencil holder taller, rather than just making the bottom of the pencil holder longer and wider than the rest of the pencil holder. This is probably due to the fact that I could have pressed the wrong side of the pencil holder on contour when we were choosing the geometric part of that cut. This was not a major problem though, because we used a table saw to make the edges fine and close to make the pencil holder just a square, nothing around the edges. I used the table saw on all four sides. The table saw turns with a yellow small piece that acts like a key, for safety, so it doesn’t just turn on when no one is ready. It made the my pencil holder look like a square, with straight edges with nothing extra on the sides.

Summary:

This project has taught me how to use the Shopbot with more confidence, and reassurance, as a refresher from last year. This project, also, taught me how to give “commands” or control the Shopbot with just the keyboard, never using the mouse, unless I prefered to do that or needed to. This project helped me advance my skills on how to use the Shopbot, and helped me know how to connect the Shopbot with designs from Fusion. I’m interested to see how I can use it for my future projects throughout the semester and in other courses.