Thursday 16 February 2012

CNC Fact Sheet

Hello!!

This post is due in part to the wonderful work of Luke Cook, a level 5 student in modelmaking. He had to create a fact sheet as part of his recent project that highlights a process he undertook, and fortunately for us, he chose the CNC Milling Center.

A link to the PDF can be found here!

Friday 10 February 2012

Warwick University trip

On Wednesday 25th Jan I went on a jolly all the way up to Warwick, which was one heck of a drive but it all turned out lovely!

Materialise was holding a 'get the most out of our software' event, whilst giving users the chance to leiase and get an idea of whats going on in the world 3D printing.



Rocking up to the International Digital Lab (IDL), it was one of several new, purpose built and massive buildings located on this massive campus.


Inside the IDL, the mezanine floor holds open plan offices and desks for brief meetings, and overlooks labs that houses technologies, hardware and case studies.

After the days activities, I had arranged or a tour around the workshop on campus.

It turns out there were 4 workshops and they were in the process of building their 5th!


The engineering workshop I had the chance to look around. along each edge were offices and workrooms for staff and students. The center strip (left of the above image) is the machine room - quite a lot of floor space indeed!


This image shows only one quadrant of the available workspace and kit on offer there. 



This beast of a machine is only two weeks old - and cost a whopping £250,000! As you can probibly see, there is a nice space there with a football table and coffee machine - I think we got one installed in our workshop!


An Industrial robot - this one was used primarily for welding of aluminium

 

One of five CNC Milling Centers


 Still a range of manual machines, tucked away in a side room.


This technician demonstrates a six kilowat laser, that was retrofited onto another robot arm. The laser is  specifically for 3D printing in tianium.


Another view of the multi axis CNC Mill.

  

Another shot of their workshop, this time the back - purly to illustrate the scale of the place!




Lovely little Flow charts

As some forget the process, have some flow charts.

Cutting
Engraving

Friday 3 February 2012

NO MESS!

Dammit! No mess in the laser room!

Ill delete you off the calendar if you don't comply! Zero Tolerance!!!!!!!!!! The laser room is not a dumping ground for your rubbish! Use Bins! God dammit!!! And don't use the work benches as cutting mats! And dont leave tape ALL OVER THE MACHINES!! Feels like I'm taking crazy pills here!!!!

Inkling is Rubbish

:o Whats that you say?! Yes I said it, along with everyone else that has had a go with it, we all think its rubbish.

That is all

Thursday 2 February 2012

Induction Mondays!

Want to use  the laser cutters for your project?

Not sure about what halftone means?

Then head to the laser induction every Monday morning from 9AM!

Late comers will be beaten with sticks* so make sure your there!!

*not actually true

Speedy 300 Power settings

Hello!

If you head over to www.aucbcam.com/resources you will now find the power settings for the speedy 300 machines for you to download!

Calendar Shake-up!

Hello you lovely technology users!

I'm always striving for feedback - if i'm rubbish I need to be told so things can change....And that is exactly what happened at the Interior Architecture course board!

That said, however, I would have liked to have had a discussion before it went 'official' and admittedly it took me by surprise, but then hey ho - things have to be done. And I'm pleased to announce the new method of self booking of the laser cutting facilities! (insert applause here!)

You can watch the very unprofessional video here. The video talks about using the Google calendar to access the laser cutters. 

You will need to create an account with Google in order to do so! Click here for a tutorial on that!

If your a newbie and want to use the cutter, then email me and i'll book you on as usual. Perhaps I'll introduce Newbie Mondays where I have an induction a week, and then its up to you to use the machines after that....In fact that's what i'll do next!

So there you go, initial reactions are good. It allows you to just use the laser cutter, easy peasy.