TOPIC:

Well, I did not thought about CNC for supports... I rarely put cars on supports, and if I do, it's generally a motor or ESC box which serves that purpose.
The applications I'm thinking are mainly part of the cars, actually...

I ordered a Carvera Air few hours after my last post in this thread, It was still at pre-order price (it is still the case until tomorrow), and I ordered it with a 4th axis, and a laser engraver module. This is quite a bit of money, but it will definitely open quite a lot of possibilities.
As per the FAQ, the leadtime for pre-order is about one to two months plus one month and a half for the shipment (by boat), so I was ready to wait about 4 months.
Today I received a message indicating it will be shipped on March 19th, which means I have now about two months to get the home fablab reorganized.

I also had a second CNC training session at the fablab, and the topic was Makera Cam, the software of the Carvera and Carvera Air (there is a Carvera at the fablab) : I should be able to work by myself once the Carvera Air arrives at home.

The only question which remains in my mind currently is about another 3D printer, which I'd like to be bigger than the X1C, able to work with higher end materials (heated chamber) and able to work with dual materials and less wastes at the same time. 
I read some rumors on one of the french forums about the next Bambu Lab H2D flagship
- Print volume 350 x 350 x 420
- Heated chamber
- Double extruder with pivot
- 2x2 filaments system
- availability very soon
Another rumor speaks about a presentation next week during an event in Shanghai...
Time will tell. I'm curious about the price of this printer, as it would mark all my criterias. I may need to prepare my wife to the idea of a second big investment this year (on the side note, I've not bought any RC car kit since a while, so...)
 

Marc you don’t need to buy any kits you just seem to make your own.
Most of your posts go slightly over my head, but it’s very impressive and the dedication to restoring cars is amazing !!!!

yeah, more and more home made stuff...
Zerda project was the first where I did not use any original part from Hirobo: It's definitely a great achievement
There is still a lot to tackle, somehow, hence the need to think substraction rather than only addition...
Next stage of this thread will be fun. Shipment of the machine is announced for March 19th, and it will be long wait until it arrives (they say about 2 months)... Can't wait!

Following the last training at the Fablab, I explored a bit more Makera CAM.
Currently, the 4th axis can only be used to work in relief in Makera Cam. That's not the most usefull for my targeted applications requiring a 4th axis. The things will certainly evolve (that's what they are promising), and it should be possible to do more within the future. In the meantime, this will mean for me working with jigs to place the parts precisely and to fix them while working with 3 axis paths only.

Somehow, that is quite similar to what I did for the Zerda shafts, at the only exception that I will be able do some aluminium jigs, with precise positionning, and which won't be destroyed when I do work the shaft at the end... Basically, I have now another subroutine working in my brain, and it is all about substractive rather than additive work. 

And it should be quite easy to work with in Fusion360:
- take a derive of the part you want to work with
- create the jig you need to work the part out (you create it in volume)
- substract the part (keep the tool) is just a boolean operation
- create the fixation for the part in the jig
- then make sure you have the right holes, pockets and so on in place
- the way to make the jig in Makera Cam is basically creating the tool paths to get the jig without the part to be created in.
- the way to make the part is then creating the paths corresponding to the addition of the jig and the part and checking those path do not collide with the fixation
- repeat and enjoy

This looks like a simple plan in my head, future will tell if I'm right to think it is easy. 

But before doing this, I'll probably start by cutting simple parts such as a G10 chassis for another ST-1 pancar, and why not additional parts for the same chassis. 

This promise to be fun, and I can't wait to have the machine in hands. In the meantime, I do plan to spend some time on the Carvera of the fablab to simply learn : I noticed that doing some stuff with others kickstart the learning curve because I tend to think more on explaining what and how I want to proceed, and in turn, it helps into finding proper ways to do things : experience of others really helps in this... And I can't wait for the next Maker evening at the fablab...

Started to play a bit with Makera CAM...

I decided to prepare the file to cut another pancar 1/12 chassis... This is fairly easy, as I did this already in another CAM software (Galaad) to cut one using the CNC machine at the fablab. Makera CAM is fairly intuitive, and that is easy.


The software is still evolving, and there is still a few issues. One of them is that it is impossible to add tabs while in resolution other than 1080p (found the solution on the discord of Makera, which is quite well organized).


That said, I would like to add chamfer (and for that I need to do a mirror of this chassis first, and then recalculate everythingà. It worked at first, but apperently, when I saved the file, I partly lost some of the information. It seems there might be an issue here, as the 4th path is no longer there when I reopen the file later on... Anyway, not important right now as I'm just preparing and this is not going to be a loss of material as I do not run anything yet...

The Carvera Air is now on a boat, from what I can see in the tracking of my order (it's not moving yet, though). It will take time before it gets to its new home. In the meantime, I'm getting prepared.

I ordered a FoxAlien Vice to complement the Carvera and allow for easy positionning. This will require an adptator plate.


Beside this, one of my target is to be able to do things I'm not able to do nowadays. One example of this is threads on shafts. To do this, you need either being able to work on a 4 axis or on on 3 axis with a thread milling bit. There is some limitations to consider at this stage :

Makera Cam is currently limited to relief when using the 4 axis, that excludes threads, I think

Fusin 360 CAM is limited to 3 axis in the personnal/free version

To overcome this, I thought about using the auto centering chuck and fix it on an adaptator plate allowing to use 3-axis thread milling functionality. The idea is again an adaptator plate. The local fablab has a Carvera and a 4 axis, and I spent last Open Maker event there to design the plate with Herve, the engineer of the fablab. It really helps as we share views and I probably have something which is going to be easier to work with at the end. The adapator plate is intended to work for both the vice and the chuck.

We took the anchor 1 position as reference, which should help to work with positionning the stock to start projects.


The most difficult piece is the screw FHC M14x20 with a thread step of 1 mm, which is not standard. Seems many chuck are with this type of threads, but We could not find any screws corresponding to the requirements.
At the end we may rely on a Nylon powder printed screw, if I can't find a better solution...

It's that time of the year where my printers are used for something else than RC car parts...

It's prints that I do for my wife and the poney club hosting my wife's poneys


Each plate is 100 tick remover, and I printed already a few of them... IsanMate ASA prints perefctly once calibrated with generic profile for ASA. 



And my wife is then preparing some key rings from those : they will be used as gift to the participants of some of the events at the poney club.


I do few prints over the year like those, and they are also part of the elements that ease the things when I tell my wife I'd like a new printer... 
I ordered a H2D printer this week, in Laser 10W combo version. Expected arrival : mid May. It may even arrive before the Carvera Air (ship has moved and is expected to arrive to terminus around May 8th). The H2D hits all the marks of what I was expecting from a bigger X1C, including the two nozzle which will be very helpfull in quite a few of my use cases. The Laser is mainly for light use, and targeted mainly for my wife requirements.
At this stage, I don't know yet if the X1C Carbon stays or not. This is my main question.
That being said, I will need to reorganize my home lab space to cater for the new machines. Operation "Pushing walls" is about to start...

Another non rc related use of my printers. TPU is an amazing material


makerworld.com/...an-trimmer
I'm impressed how long the printed TPU blades worked :they last longer than the original blades in the same conditions, which means less time lost while working outside, and more time to spent on RC cars

The H2D arrived on tuesday... It is currently installed in the living room, as the final destination is not ready yet.

I did not print much yet with it...



Someheow it was just enough to see the dual nozzle in action : there is almost no waste, and there is not cross material pollution.

Today, it was an Open makers evenning at the fablab...
I started the cut of my first piece of Aluminium, today



Next step will be to do a chamfer