5Axis Machine Cutting HELMET / DAISHIN SEIKI CORPORATION

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Cites Animats · 2015-01 · on “Computational Geometry in Python”

It's hardest for CSG systems that can't say no. If you use Autodesk Inventor, there are some geometries where the fillet generator just gives up and says the geometry is too complex to fillet. Because it's a user-driven program, it has that option. But a machining simulator does not. Those are programs which simulate what happens as a tool cuts through a part, starting with the geometry of the blank and subtracting every cut. For 2.5D machining (tool always approaches material from straight down), the simulator can use a height field, and that works fine. But the general 3D case, where the tool can come in from any direction, seems to be beyond the state of the art in CSG to get perfectly. I

Cites Animats · 2015-04 · on “The Stanford 3D Scanning Repository”

What "original" means in the art world is amusing. It's all about monetization.[1] Cranking out a copy of Michaelangelo's David as a bronze would be a nice project. Hypermill/Daishin should take that on. Each year they do some insanely elaborate piece of art in metal as a CNC machining demo.[2] [1] [LINK] [2] [this video]

Cites Animats · 2015-04 · on “What doomed MakerBot? The Osborne effect”

Carbide3D is still at "preorder". PocketNC has a very nice 5 axis machine for about $3K, but they were demoing two years ago and still aren't shipping. Roland has some nice machines starting around $5000, and those are real, shipping products. I'd really like to see PocketNC deliver. Milling software remains a problem. For 3-axis machines and simple work, there's the Cut2D/Vcarve/Aspire line, which is easy to use. Most work at TechShop uses that program. At the high end, there's Hypermill - $22,000 a seat, but you get your money's worth.[1] Look at the videos of it controlling a 5-axis machine, with long thin tools working deep through narrow openings, without screwing up. In the middle, the

Cites LeifCarrotson · 2017-10 · on “Printers Meant to Make Rockets”

It's definitely possible to use a CNC machine to mill the shape of a rocket engine. You can do some pretty crazy internal milling with a 5-axis machine: [this video] But the problem isn't the shape of the bell at all. It's that the wall of the bell is not solid, but hollow, filled with plumbing. [LINK] The fuel actually flows through the pipes and voids in the red-hot engine, where it absorbs the heat that would otherwise melt the engine. It then flows back up to be burned. You'd need an endoscope, not a robot arm, to mill that out! And neither an endoscope (obviously) nor a robot arm would likely be rigid enough to mill in these materials. Robot arms are typically only used when milling wood, pl

Cites wlesieutre · 2021-08 · on “Where are the robotic bricklayers?”

There's also machining a piece of metal in an incredibly complex way, but with the right automation can be turned into a comparatively simple process. If you showed someone 100 years ago what we could do with a block of metal and a 5-axis CNC machine it would blow their mind. That's the type of area where automation can do great things. Look for places where "simple for a machine" and "simple for a human" diverge. I could do the job of every logic gate in my computer, but I wouldn't want to try and boot a copy of Windows with a pad of paper and a pencil. As an example, not something you'd want to make on a hand operated milling machine: [this video] But to look at something that's easy to do for

Cites pen2l · 2022-10 · on “Charges and arrests involving export violation schemes to aid Russian military”

[LINK] specifically mentions a high-resolution jig. I wouldn't be surprised if in some cases just the tooling bits are around $5000, leaving aside the whole machine. For high-resolution machining, e.g. for lens fabrication, there's a whole science to drill bits, where special processes allow for achieving up to sub-nanometer surface roughness in parts. If they're making holes in hard metals they might be using titanium, diamond, or carbide drill bits that have crazy physical properties and cost a pretty penny. In some sense CNC machining is also a WWII era technology, but CNC machines from that era couldn't touch what modern-day machines can do and the repeatable precision with which they ca