My CNC Machine Is Making Real Parts!

  Over the past couple of days I finally got up the courage to try and make some real parts on my CNC machine.  I am already amazed at what I've been able to create in such a short time. The first parts are a simple little display box for a very small bottle of ketchup.  The parts for the box I modeled in Pro Engineering (ProE) software so I thought it would be a good little project to get my feet wet using the CNC machine. I ran the first parts at only a cutting speed of ten inches a minute. I thought this was safe enough for a first go around until I realized that this machine has much, much more capability.  See the explanation and photos below.  

This is the parts that I made for the display case for the little bottle of ketchup. They all turned out better than I had hoped but each piece took me over 20 minutes to make.  This being as I was only running the CNC machine at a very slow speed.

This gives you a good idea how small this bottle of  ketchup really is. It stands only three inches tall and holds 2.25 oz of ketchup.  Should be a nice little display for my kitchen with a small sign on the display case that reads "IN CASE OF EMERGENCY BREAK GLASS". I'll post more photos once I get the project all together.

Now for something really interesting.  The rectangular part in the lower portion of this photo is one of the sides for the little ketchup bottle display box.  It took over 24 minutes to cut on the CNC machine. The larger part in the upper right of the photo is about 1 1/2 times large with much more machining and only took 16 minutes to create.  This being because the CNC machine was cutting at somewhere between 30 and 40 inches a minute.  It was flying!  The other two parts took only six minutes each to create.  I'm still in awe over how fast and beautifully these parts were cut.  The special parts are pieces that I will need to mount a vacuum hose to the CNC machine.  This will keep the cutting table a lot cleaner while parts are being cut.  I'll post photos of that assembly once I get it set up on the machine.