Found Dreaming

The local teacher that is helping me is at his limits. This is just about over his head. I'm pretty sure this is a simple fix, but my pieces are .03" off. I'm thinking it is just the positioning of the tool when cutting, but I could be wrong. Right now the program has the bit on the outside of the cut for both cuts. I programmed the first cut, then mirrored it to create the second cut, moving the tool to the other side of the cut. Is there a way to increase the radius of one of the cuts by.03"?

Any advice would appreciated...

Not sure exactly what you have going on but the first thing I would check from the sounds of things is the diameter of the bit you are using. Not all 0.25" bits really are. That said I have lied to the machine to do things like this simply by telling it the bit is another size than what is is. For instance if you wanted to leave 0.01" for cleanup and your software doesnt allow for machining offsets the tell it the bit is 0.27" (if it is 0.25") and this will hold the bit off a hundredth from the profile lines. Note that flat surfaces will still mill out as set in the programming.

Hehe.. See what happens when you're gone? I ended up working with a guy who sold the software. It is a long story and came right down to the glue up, only to find an error in his model for one of the pieces. I ended up making something else. However, I am going to attempt this again and am seriously considering making a desktop cnc for myself....

I still love the idea am going to do something eventually. Just going to take the right timing for me to get my head into it and make myself do it.

Harry, I think I figured out how to avoid the mistakes of the first one. As I mentioned, I will do this again, I just need time on a cnc. I was able to use the local high schools' machine for the first one. I'll have to post some pics of the process. I used some of the techniques we talked about. I was literally .002" of getting this to work.

Anyway, as mentioned, we raised $20,000 for his family, so not bad for a bunch of unknown builders...

Great to hear on the fundraiser. Nothing can heal such a loss other than time but the outpouring of something like that by a group of people who care goes a long ways.