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Milling a Dog Tag
Milling a Dog Tag
Summary of Milling About
This unit is designed to make us learn how to use Othemill Milling Machine and how to mill 3D object using Fusion 360 design. We first designed a dog tag and milled it. Then we worked in groups and designed a chocolate mold in Fusion 360. We also made a box that can contain 4 chocolates in it using laser cutter.
Photo of my rough sketch of dog tag in Notability
Final Dog Tag Design in CorelDraw
I first imported the outline of the dog tag as a reference of the size. Next I use the Text feature to type out my dog name. After changed the font size and the font, I move the text box to the center and converted it into curve. Then I found the picture of flowers and traced it using the tool B-Spline. which can let you trace arcs. Next, I found a picture of the paw pattern and traced the bitmap of it. Lastly, I typed the text "xoxo" and changed it into curve. My final design of my dog tag was completed.
Milling the dog tag using Othermill and Bantam Software
1. Turn on the Othermill milling machine. If the machine doesn’t beep or invite you to home, make sure the read e-stop button is popped out.
2. Open Bantam Tools Desktop Milling Machine Software.
3. Load your material onto the Othermill machine bed. Put tape onto the back of the material. Make sure the tapes are not crossing each other. Use alcohol to clean the platform and wait until the alcohol evaporates. Use the ditto tape to secure the dog tag. Put the taped side of the material stick to the platform. Ensure the material is secured.
4. In the Bantam software, import the .SVG file from CorelDraw in the Initial Setup.
5. In the Material Setup, put in the size of the material. Use a caliper to measure the dimensions of the material. Be sure to include the tape thickness in the dimensions of the material.
6. Define your milling tool and set the required parameters like feed rate, plunge rate, etc. based on the material you're using and the intricacies of your design.
7. Choose the milling tools you need. Choose the correct bit size which is 80 degree bit.
8. Use a wrench to change the milling tools on the machine. Make sure to tighten the bits. If there’s a spindle fan, you can install it so that it will clear chips away.
9. Preview the milling paths in the software. Ensure there are no issues or overlaps.
10. Go to Jog and click Install tool and follow the prompts. Its purpose is to determine the z-height yourself.
11. Begin milling. The software will guide the Othermill machine to carve out your dog tag design.
12. Once complete, remove the PCB from the milling bed and carefully clean up any debris.
Post-milling:
1. Inspect the PCB to ensure all traces and holes are milled correctly.Clean up the mess in the machine.
2. You can now solder the through-hole components onto your freshly milled PCB.
3. Test the board to ensure functional
Video of dog tag being engraved in the Othermill Milling Machine
IMG_0882.MOVMy final product of my dog tag
Final Dog Tag
Problem Encountered
Problem Encountered
When milling the dog tag, I was not sure where the position my pattern should be because there was a hole on the dog tag. I didn't want to cut the pattern on the hole. So I measured the distance from hole to the edge using the calliper which was 8.3 mm. Then I adjusted the position of my pattern on the setup panel. I changed the x-position on the set up panel to 9mm to avoiding cutting on the hole. The dog tag turned out perfect in the end.
“Life is like a box of chocolates.”
“Life is like a box of chocolates.”
Rough Sketch for my chocolate mold
Fusion 360 design of your chocolate mold
The reason I chose the Heart Shape
The reason I chose the Heart Shape
The reason why I chose a heart shape is that it was close to Valentine's Day and a heart shape is the best fit for this festival. I first found a picture of the heart shape online. Then I used Fit-Point Spline feature to trace the half of the heart shape. After finishing tracing, I deleted the heart shape picture and used Mirror feature to create the other half of the heart. Then I used Extrude feature to extrude the shape and the sketch was finished.
Video of the Tool Path simulation in Fusion 360
IMG_0963.MOVTool Path Simulation
Tool Path Simulation
To import the design into the Bantam software. the first step is to set up the stock. First, we need to change the Design into Manufacture. Under Manufacturing, go to Setup > New Setup. Then we changed the direction of x-axis and z-axis. The z-axis needs to point up and the x-axis needs to point right. The origin selected is at the bottom-left corner. We also need to selected the right machine to make the file work. Next, we went to 3D > Pocket Clearing and selected the 1/8" Ball End Mill in Tool Tab. Then we switched to the Passes Tab and selected the Manual Stepover and changed both the Maximum Stepover and the Minimum Stepover to 0.0625mm. To export the .gcode file, we went to Actions > Post Process. To see the simulation, I clicked Actions > Simulate.
Video of the Bantam Desktop Milling Machine milling your wax
IMG_0930.MOVThe difference between the bigger machine and smaller one is that you have to use the hard drive to upload file. Besides, the size of the object needs to be changed to the real size of the mold. The tool also needs to be selected right. The file uploaded on the bigger machine is .GCODE while the file uploaded on the smaller machine is .SVG.
Image of your final wax mold
Laser cutting a box
Laser cutting a box
Image of chocolate box design from Corel Draw
To make the box design, we first measure the size of our chocolate mold and decided that the length and the width of the box would be double the length and the width of the chocolate mold. The height will be 1.5 times as high as the chocolate mold. We first created a rectangle with the length and width we determined. Then we coped it for the top of the box. Next, we created a rectangle with the length and the height and made 2 copies of it. One for the connection between the bottom and the top. Another for the opposite side. The last one for the tab of the box. After it, we made two rectangles with the width and the height as the right and left side of the box. We changed the color of the inner lines to distinguish between engraving and cutting lines. For the logo, we combined my partner's and my names into one which is "sejangel" and form it into a circle. As our shape of the chocolates would be heart, so we made a heart in the center of our name circle. Then we converted the logo into curves. The boc was ready to be cut.
Test box on Cardboard
IMG_0938.MOVVideo of laser cutting test box.
The final product of the test box.
Video of your box being laser cut
IMG_0943.MOVImage of your final box glued together
Problem Encountered
Problem Encountered
Cutting on the wrong machine
IMG_0941.MOVFor the first time of cutting our box, we used the wrong laser cutter. The wrong one doesn't have score and only have engraving which means the box cannot be folded since the inner lines were very shallow. Then we switched to the bigger laser cutter which have the scoring . The second version of our box turned out pretty good.
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