Milling About

For this project, I started off by learning about milling and CNC machines. I learned about all of the different types of milling machines: CNC (computer numerical control), CAD (computer aided design/drawing), CAM (computer aided manufacturing), DNC (distributed numeric control), MDC (manufacturing data collection), and OEE (overall equipment effectiveness). I also learned about the five different types of CNC machines: lathes, milling, routers, plasma cutters, and the 3D printer. I then made a design and used a milling machine to engrave a design onto a metal dog tag. I then made a chocolate mold design and used the Bantam Desktop Milling machine to actually make my chocolate mold, out of wax. I used the Bantam software to mill my dog tag and my wax block. I then made a box for my chocolates.

Milling a Dog Tag

The first part of this project was to make our own design and engrave it onto a metal dog tag. I started off by sketching out an idea of what I wanted my dog tag to look like. I then found a few designs and imported them into Corel Draw. I was given a dog tag template by my teacher, and I changed the page size to be the same size as this template. I made a bitmap of these designs so that able to make a design with these images. I placed these bitmaps where I wanted them to be on my dog tag. I ungrouped the objects and then I deleted the template only. I saved this design as an SVG. I then imported my design into the Bantam software next to the CNC milling machine I used to make my dog tag. below is the workflow I used to engrave my design:

• Turn on the machine 

• Get an 80° drill bit

• Open the Bantam software

• Import design 

• Change the drill bit (take of the sides, loosen in opposing motions, insert, tighten)

• Change the drill bit settings on the computer

• Measure dimensions with the double sided Nitto tape on (Width is X, height is Y, and thickness is Z)

• Peel off back of Nitto tape and measure thickness

• Enter dimensions on Bantam software

• Load with sticky side down onto the bed (bottom left corner of the bed)

• Change placement of the design to where you want 

• Select locate tool

• Change the drill bit when prompted

• Hit “Mill All Visible” 

Chocolate Mold

For this part of the project I was tasked with making a chocolate wax mold. I started off by sketching my design in Notability. I made a 3D design of my chocolate mold in Fusion360. I needed this design to look like what I wanted my mold to be. I chose to make a heart shaped mold to make little chocolate hearts. I think a heart is so elegant and chocolate  makes it even better. I made a rectangular block and then made a sketch on top of that. I made one side of the heart with a circle and a line and then mirrored that onto the other side. I negatively extruded that to get the heart mold look. I then switched to the manufacture workspace in Fusion360 and made a "New Setup". In the dialogue box I selected the machine as "Autodesk Generic 3-axis". I switched to the "stock" tab and selected a fixed-sized box. I changed the position to "Offset from top" and then I made the stock size the dimensions of my mold. The stock is what will help the milling machine recognize my wax block. I then chose "Pocket Clearing" under the 3D tab. I downloaded the Othermill tool library and then imported that after selecting the "select tool" button. I chose the "1/8' R1/16" (1/8" Ball End Mill)" tool from the library. I selected simulate to see how long the mill would take and to see the path of the milling machine. I then selected "post processing". I had to set the post to "Othermill (OtherPlan)". This would change my file to end in .gcode instead of .nc which is needed to send the design to the milling machine. I saved this and then sent my file to EngProj. I downloaded my file onto the computer next to the milling machine. I changed the position of my file to where I wanted it and changed the bit on the settings. I added Nitto tape to the back of my wax block and placed it in the front of the bed. I selected "mill all visible" and my design was milled into my wax block. 

Chocolate Box

I then made a box for my chocolates. I used Corel Draw to make my design. We started off by making our central rectangle which would be the bottom of the box. Then we added a rectangles of equal width to each side of the rectangle to get the sides of the box. I added another rectangle the same as the bottom connected to the top of the drawing. On top of that I added a little tab to be the tab that would fold to close the box. I changed the lines that I wanted to vector, or cut, to red and then the lines I wanted to raster, or engrave, to blue. I sent this file to EngProj and then opened it on the computer next to the laser cutter. On the settings I changed the material settings so that the computer would know what color means what action. I autofocused the laser and then laser cut my box. I did a test run on cardboard first but then I actually cut it on cardstock. After this box was assembled, I realized that I wanted my chocolate box to be Valentine's Day themed. I went back to my design and added text that said "Life is like a box of chocolates". I changed the color to blue so that the text would raster onto my box. I laser cut the box again using the same process. 

Problems I Faced

One major problem I faced was while making my chocolate mold. I had finished everything and even saved my design file to EngProj. I downloaded it onto the computer next to the milling machine but when I tried to open it in the Bantam software, it would not upload. I could not figure out why the file would not show up on the software. I tried to re-download it but it still would not show up. It turns out that my file's name ended in .nc instead of .gcode. This means that the file was not G-Code which is needed to mill. I figured out that this problem occurred during the "Post Processing" step. I had not switched the post to "Othermill (OtherPlan)". After simply switching the post, I re-sent it to EngProj and re-downloaded it on the computer and this time it showed up.