Check out this little beauty

 

Sadly, I did not make that. Lol. It's from Chris @ Blue Ox
I'm waiting for countersink bit and flathead bolts for the cast plate mounting. Then I'll be adding the t-track and HDPE spoilboard sections.

 

Thanks for the heads up. That's a bummer, I already purchased a couple pieces of this marine grade HDPE that has a textured finish. I planned to surface both sides to remove the texture, then add countersunk mounting points. So are you saying HDPE reacts poorly to moisture?

 

Well aside from the warping, can I ask what works best for you as far as end mills go? I read online that most tooling that works for aluminum with work with HDPE. Are you using an openbuilds machine?

 

Nice work by the way

 

I just checked out your Sphinx. I had my eye on your machine when I made my decision to build a Sphinx. Nice looking machine. I think the closest thing I have to what you recommend is an 1/8" Kyocera single flute square nose bit. I used it on a small piece of delrin. At this point I still have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to feeds and speeds but the delrin cut like butter.

 

Awesome Kevon! This is really good information as our machines are very similar. I bought the delrin pieces on eBay to make a different type of antibacklash nut. It never really worked because I couldn't get the diy acme tap shaped right to really bite the material so I decided to just practice with it. The only problem as you mentioned was work holding. I can see that is tricky with these low friction plastics.

 

I'm a little bummed out. I bought some 90 degree countersink bits and Flathead bolts to drill / mount the cast plate and t-track but it was a disaster. The bits were from Amazon and incredibly dull. The countersinks ended up non symmetrical and oversized. The t-track came pre drilled but none of the holes were centered. It was an extremely frustrating weekend. I have these pictures in my head of how I want things to be and it's a real downer when it doesn't work out.

 

If you click on his name you'll see "builds". I think there's a link for the plates in the discussion page of the Sphinx build. You could also search "Blue Ox Solutions" on eBay and send Chris a PM.

 

The set I bought has a couple different upgrades. You should definitely speak to Chris and explain what you want. He's really great to work with and offers a few different options.

 

[email protected] for the plates

 

Milled a spindle wrench today using the cheap 2 flute 1/8" end mills from Amazon. The surface finish is super smooth. I'm using Fusion 360 combined with Bcnc. I setup the CAM with 2 different operations but when I reach the point where there should be a tool change, Bcnc just continues past it with the same tool. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but I think it has something to do with the Post Processor I'm using.

 

2nd try with the Open Source logo. I'm pretty much using this as a test or benchmark.

 

Hey patdee
Yeah the plate set is all .25" thick. The only thing that is .5" thick is the router mount.

 

Oh and I have no problem answering any questions you have even if it's been asked before.

 

I'm sure Chris (Blue Ox) would use whatever thickness you require if you think you may need something like 3/8" - 1/2" but I think you'll see deflection in the cbeam before you have issues with the plates.

 

More benchys

 

Yeah it does, now I just need materials to cut!

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01K...9_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=KDM8XAMQZCDDD1QG7Y2C

That's the exact seller / spindle I bought. It's a lot more compact than many of the other water cooled spindles. The seller is pretty easy to work with. I like this one as it has a total of 4 support bearings and is only 65mm in diameter. I swapped out the cooling pump for a PC closed loop setup.