Make "Something Big..." is our assignment this week:
I decided to make a plane wing, I always loved model making, as soon I saw the ShopBot I had a mind to build flying machine.
Here's the list of softwares I used :
I began to draw the outline with Inkscape, as they always say: What is beautiful flies well!
Then I added the ribs
Not so bad, I liked the design, I drew a profile inspired by my favorite: the clark Y 15, however I increased a bit the thickness.
Finally I had this result: I didn't like it.
As the assigments of week 5, I have to use parametric design, but drawing this kind of profile is not easy with Antimony...
I tried SolidwWorks with our instructor but after a few hours we had change of mind.
I downloaded a specific software named Tracfoil.
Very easy to approach, TracFoil allows parametric values and includes foils library.
Much better ...
I thought cutting pieces with the ShopBot but the Lab doesn't own small drills ...
I'll cutt the foils with the the laser, so I choose medium 3 mm.
TracFoil only export DXF files so I used SolidWorks to create vector 2D files readable by Inkscape.
And the wing outline with the ShopBot:
Shopbot is a very impressive machine, here's the different steps of the process:
First the warm up: the spindle must run 10 min for free before cutting.
During this time I set the correct settings in Vcarve, I had to redraw some lines.
Then I screwed the 5mm plywood on the sacrificial board.
I installed the right mill and set up the speed, I choose a 1/4" down-cut, 11000 r/min spindle speed and 10 mm/s translation speed.
Plywood is 4.82 mm, I set the cutting depht to 5.2 MM.
I set the X-Y origin on the left corner and the Z with the sensor.
I also added tenons.
I ran a 3D offset and finally cut the board.
I forgot to take pictures, I was so excited to begin the assembly. By chance, Lorenzo took some.
Shopbot is a really impressive machine, I love it even if bugs exists :
At start up, if US keyboard is not selected the machine become crazy
Spindle speed often indicates 12007 RPM, (Why ?) this data should be corrected
Shopbot lost the good data values twice during the fabacademy, this is dangerous, I created a folder with the good values on Desktop.