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I do some small amount of woodworking on the side of my main job, and as a result I have a large envelope CNC router in my garage. I occasionally post ads for c

I do some small amount of woodworking on the side of my main job, and as a result I have a large envelope CNC router in my garage. I occasionally post ads for craigslist looking for odd jobs. About a year ago, I was approached via craigslist by a contractor working on this campus to help make some plywood parts for concrete forms that they couldn't figure out how to mark and measure on site with a jigsaw. They were to be used to make the main curved staircases in the entryway to that campus. I ended up cutting about a hundred different stair forms, and a bunch of templates for the various treads. I love that I ended up contributing in some small way to this building.

snug 9y ago
That is really cool! Do you have any pics or design mockups of what you sent to apple? If you can share
- abakker 9y ago
  It was a 3rd party contractor working on the campus, and since it was subcontracted to me, I'd rather not share who I worked for. I'm not sure they'd want it advertised that they were sourcing from CL. :) http://imgur.com/a/222IM http://imgur.com/a/222IM there some some basic photos I have from my phone, though. All of these were made out of fire retardant plywood.
gist 9y ago
What did you charge for the work? How long did it take for you to do this? Was the price higher or lower because it was for Apple?
- abakker 9y ago
  I charge around $70/hour for that kind of work, which tends to be a mix of CAD, CAM, Setup, Lifting/moving crap, packaging, and cleanup. Usually 1 hour minimum. I charge more for work in MDF because of the mess and because the dust is harder to clean up/get rid of and it is heavier. More again for aluminum. If I need to make whole assemblies with glue, finishing, etc, I tend to just go fixed bid. It's not super scientific, and I have to turn down certain types of work due to garage constraints, etc. Most of the work I end up getting that follows through are from contractors wanting one-off cuts, jigs, or templates. I get 2x inquiries from people, but they usually don't want to follow through with actually paying money for things.
  - abakker 9y ago
    I didn't answer your full question - I didn't charge more based on the client. Just standard, and it took me ~8 hours of work. Turned out to be a great learning experience. (making those puzzle joints caused a revelation: .25" diameter bits are frequently, and irregularly, not .25". Most of mine end up being around .242" Once you compensate for that in CAD, things fit together nicely. )
    - vidanay 9y ago
      Try switching from woodworking bits to metal working bits. An end mill will be 0.2500 with probably a minus tolerance of a tenth or two. The wood bits might be undersized to accommodate tearing of the grain and sanding.
      - abakker 9y ago
        Thanks! The issue with metal working bits is # of flutes/flute geometry - the chips need to be too small to get a good finish, or the feed rate needs to be too high. The "woodworking" bits I use are already pure carbide, high quality bits. my method these days has been to bore a small test hole into a piece of delrin with each new bit, and test that hole with a set of .001" increment pin gauges. Using that number has proven to be good enough for my purposes. Note that this problem is only present where the cutting diameter is nominally the same as the shank diameter. If I buy .5" shank bits with a .25" cutting diameter, they are perfect, but 2x the cost.
        DannyBee 9y ago
        FWIW: I've ordered 0.25 and 0.5 inch wood bits from onsrud, harvey, vortex, etc,and the bits are right to my ability to measure them. (IE i can measure them to be within 0.0005 of correct size easily, and better than that better tools on the uncoated bits i have). I'm not sure who you are ordering from. (as for feed rate too high to use other geometries not sure what IPM you can drive that thing at. I would expect you could easily do 300-400ipm, which seems more than enough. I can get a very smooth finish from metalworking bits with no problem)
detritus 9y ago
Oh now that's a lovely-looking machine! I love the way your width/x axis stepper is handled. Did you build her yourself?
- abakker 9y ago
  Shout out entirely to Cory at CNC router parts. They designed it, I assembled it. Their electronics are REALLY nicely done, too.
  - detritus 9y ago
    heh, thanks - I've been on their site in the past and not quite appreciated what it is they can offer.

snug 9y ago

That is really cool! Do you have any pics or design mockups of what you sent to apple? If you can share

abakker 9y ago
It was a 3rd party contractor working on the campus, and since it was subcontracted to me, I'd rather not share who I worked for. I'm not sure they'd want it advertised that they were sourcing from CL. :) http://imgur.com/a/222IM http://imgur.com/a/222IM there some some basic photos I have from my phone, though. All of these were made out of fire retardant plywood.

gist 9y ago

What did you charge for the work? How long did it take for you to do this? Was the price higher or lower because it was for Apple?

abakker 9y ago
I charge around $70/hour for that kind of work, which tends to be a mix of CAD, CAM, Setup, Lifting/moving crap, packaging, and cleanup. Usually 1 hour minimum. I charge more for work in MDF because of the mess and because the dust is harder to clean up/get rid of and it is heavier. More again for aluminum. If I need to make whole assemblies with glue, finishing, etc, I tend to just go fixed bid. It's not super scientific, and I have to turn down certain types of work due to garage constraints, etc. Most of the work I end up getting that follows through are from contractors wanting one-off cuts, jigs, or templates. I get 2x inquiries from people, but they usually don't want to follow through with actually paying money for things.
- abakker 9y ago
  I didn't answer your full question - I didn't charge more based on the client. Just standard, and it took me ~8 hours of work. Turned out to be a great learning experience. (making those puzzle joints caused a revelation: .25" diameter bits are frequently, and irregularly, not .25". Most of mine end up being around .242" Once you compensate for that in CAD, things fit together nicely. )
  - vidanay 9y ago
    Try switching from woodworking bits to metal working bits. An end mill will be 0.2500 with probably a minus tolerance of a tenth or two. The wood bits might be undersized to accommodate tearing of the grain and sanding.
    - abakker 9y ago
      Thanks! The issue with metal working bits is # of flutes/flute geometry - the chips need to be too small to get a good finish, or the feed rate needs to be too high. The "woodworking" bits I use are already pure carbide, high quality bits. my method these days has been to bore a small test hole into a piece of delrin with each new bit, and test that hole with a set of .001" increment pin gauges. Using that number has proven to be good enough for my purposes. Note that this problem is only present where the cutting diameter is nominally the same as the shank diameter. If I buy .5" shank bits with a .25" cutting diameter, they are perfect, but 2x the cost.
      - DannyBee 9y ago
        FWIW: I've ordered 0.25 and 0.5 inch wood bits from onsrud, harvey, vortex, etc,and the bits are right to my ability to measure them. (IE i can measure them to be within 0.0005 of correct size easily, and better than that better tools on the uncoated bits i have). I'm not sure who you are ordering from. (as for feed rate too high to use other geometries not sure what IPM you can drive that thing at. I would expect you could easily do 300-400ipm, which seems more than enough. I can get a very smooth finish from metalworking bits with no problem)

detritus 9y ago

Oh now that's a lovely-looking machine! I love the way your width/x axis stepper is handled. Did you build her yourself?

abakker 9y ago
Shout out entirely to Cory at CNC router parts. They designed it, I assembled it. Their electronics are REALLY nicely done, too.
- detritus 9y ago
  heh, thanks - I've been on their site in the past and not quite appreciated what it is they can offer.