wanna see a $9,000 CNC inlay machine for cue??

[cuemaker]

cant tell if your joking Mark,

But the cue isnt even close to finished.

(not in order) Wrap area need to be cut in. Butt cap needs to be finished. Weight bolt installed. Once inlays done, finished turned. Wrap installed.

And then the cue gets finished and rubbed out. repeat often.

The reason the wood may looked finished is he may have put some mineral spirits or something to help pull the dust out of the wood and then maybe a sanding sealer.

Or am I being overly nerdy?

[cuemaker]

Thanks Evan. I hear quite a few people use a Gantry for the 4ht axis cnc stuff for cues

[Evan]

Hey, check out the video on the Haas site. Very cool.

http://www.haascnc.com/news/new_files/vmc/GR-408.wmv

[Lee Paul]

I think that it is that little "thing-a-mabob" on the wall with the green button that adds all the value to it. It;s a flux capacitor used to alter the space time continuum so that the engraving tool can get out of the way of the wood chips.

[And "you guys" thought that it was "JUST" an air pump from an aquarium for blowing the dust away from the cutting area......ALOT YOU KNOW....LOL]

Or maybe the yellow "do-hicky" along the side that some think is a simple suction head for a vaccum. In reality....it's a black hole diode to suck the dust (blown around by the flux capacitor) away from equipment.

LOL.........Lee Paul

[Dawai]

Feeling puny.. Done two things in two days. Hung a jib crane over my lathe,cnc press to lift the 200lb fender dies I have been working on for two years, the 4jaw chuck instead of letting it bang the lathe ways, and the big indexer onto the mill table.

Today, I made a rack to hold the 35 gallon barrel for the flood coolant system. After sketching it to fit in the hole alloted for it, I then went on to add wrench holders, a shelf, a swivel collet holder and another leg to support the extra shelf weight. OF COURSE it didn't any longer fit into the space.

Then as I was sitting kicking my Rube Goldberg self in the ass I noticed the winch is hanging backwards with the drum away from the cnc press. OF course I had to reverse it, meaning lift it over my head three more times.

The jib I made yesterday, it hits two conduits, two air lines, and the vacuum pump inch and a half, meaning a rework of all the plumbing in the ceiling. It cleared before Rube added in a neato triangulated brace across the top to reinforce it. I'll tackle that later.

Then I took a bandsaw and cut most the extras off the coolant rack so it will fit between the mill and lathe.......

YES sir, I can build that toy, I'd suggest just buying a Maxcnc, or Sherline and redoing it with a longer bed, since if RUBE built it, it will seriously run into cost overrun and have several engineering re-designs. That is a light duty machine, just need some reach and hold tolerance over the travel. As a matter of fact, you could market them for half the 9k and make money.

I'm sitting here having a coke Wondering where in the world Rube Goldberg went?

[This message has been edited by David E Cofer (edited 01-30-2006).]

[Dawai]

www.sherline.com
they include emc as a OS, cnc program. Evan, this sherline linux emc actually loads, installs, works on my machines. Worth a look. They have one stepper drive subroutine that is a frequency drive, really smoothe.

Use the mill, add a cnc'ed sherline indexer for $450 extra...

I think the cnc sherline mills are going on ebay for about 3k.. new.. Anyone with a real mill can make a longer bed, purchase the screw.

[DR]

Hold on a second guys.....

Let's hear more details of the machine. Accuracy, spindle rpm, rapid speed. What comes with it? I see some software on the computer, is that included, CAD/CAM?

Is this a production model or a custom setup?

I've built some stuff along these lines for cue makers, $9000 may not be out of the ball park. Figure maybe $500 minimum for material/electronics/motors/etc, not counting software. $8500/$60 per hour = 3-1/2 weeks labor.

If we're not talking about some cobbled together thing that doesn't work out of the box it might be high. But if a novice can take it and make cue inlays with slight training on the software it may not be so bad. Coupla' cues and it's paid for....

BTW, when you're estimating pricing on products like this don't assume you'll always have an available source of cheapo surplus parts. Price the components at list, if you get cheaper great, more bucks in your pocket.

[Dawai]

That is a positioned spindle, ie: a indexer, not a lathe.

Most times people take a indexer and replace the Y axis motor, no extra drives, The sherline comes with full software. The Y'travel is Around and Around.

[DR]

We really need more details about the machine and what the total price including software came to. Software alone could account for the better portion of the $9000.

There may also be more to the setup than we saw in that single picture. Some method of holding/cutting the actual inlays has to be provided also.

[PTSideshow]

I'm with david on this one. I have a sherline with dro Lathe and the knee mill 8 axis with dro. I also have the cnc 4" rotary table paid for its self the first 6 weeks I owned the table. Making parrot toy parts that I used to eyeball. you can put the lathe under the mill head. go to the web site you would probally only need the lahte and milling head and some of the off the shelf acces. call them they are very help full and they sell direct now. has pissed some of thier dealers off.
Or if you are clodse to Toledo Ohio come on to the N.A.M.E.S. Show and lay it out for them in person. they always have some of thier eggheads at the show.

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Glen
Been there, probally broke it doing that