Karl,
First post here, and I would like to start by thanking you for sharing your fantastic project and videos! You've created something amazing already and I'm sure it will get you a lot of attention in the very near future!
After watching your videos, I have to try to emulate at least a tiny portion of your project - I'm hoping to start by building the MCP and the gear panel, and we'll see from there!
I'm very well experienced with 3d printing, DIY electronics, etc, but until seeing your projects, I really had no use for a CNC router. I have to say that's changed and I've just finished building my own MPCNC router :-D
While I figure out how to work this thing, I'd love to see some more information from you on how yo get your CNC'd panels looking so great. I'm talking the cuts, feed rates, depth of cut, the endmills you use, how you engrave text (I'm assuming small V-bits and multiple passes with different mills to cut the panel and then to engrave text?), the CAM software/settings you use, etc...All that information would be useful for many people, but especially for a newbie like me...a video on some of these things would be amazing!
Again, thanks for sharing your projects with the flight sim community - as a fellow Youtuber and fan of open source projects, I'm excited to see your project & channel grow and evolve!
-BK Hobby
Hello BK,
Thank you for the kind words. I will get around to making a video on that one day, but im a little too busy trying to get the sim up and running. So in the mean time a few tips on how i got best results.
I used a v tip CNC bit. 3.17mm shaft diameter tapering down to 0.1mm.
I also slowed the CNC spindle speed right down to stop any melting perpsex.
Mentioning the cutting material, i found different perspex's from different suppliers required changing all my settings. So then i settled on one supplier and stuck with them.
I also did multiple depth cuts or repeat cuts to clear any swarf/debris from around the edges of the lettering.
Rather than waste time creating and cutting one panel, i took an A4 perpsex opaque white 5mm sheet. Sprayed it dark grey plastic spray. Waited 24hrs despite the can saying 2 hrs!
Then repeated the same word over and over "TEST"
setting different speeds and depths and recorded which came out best.
Having a super flat and level bed to rest the panel on is probably the most important part. 0.1mm difference makes a huge difference when your engraving text. However, if i have smaller panels to engrave. I kind of cheat and zero the machine on each part of the text and dont cut them all in one go.
I hope that helps,
kind Regards Karl
Thank you Karl! That is already tons of great information to use! I actually tried this on my own a couple days ago (and ended up pretty much following your process) - sprayed a PVC panel with gray paint, cut out the panel with a regular single-flute bit, then used a 0.1mm V-bit. But, as you point out, I definitely need to level the bed on my router, and take multiple passes. All in all, better than I expected for my first run :)
Looking forward to more great videos on your channel!
Hi BK, wow that brings back memories. Great Job, Your nearly there already. I have to make some map panels soon for my sidewalls. Im going to have to through all this over again.
Then I'm looking forward to seeing a video about it! :)