Member postings for Wal Werbel

Hi Mike,

I run both together - the full size one sits over with the PC and the small one sits on the router bed.

Yep - at that aliexpress link you'll find a number of different keyboards - the one I've described above is the 24 key version.

It really is that easy. I was thinking that it was going to be a flaky and unreliable process and was really chuffed when it worked! I wouldn't concern yourself with trying to get LEDs to flash etc. - that part seemed a little quirky - solid colours work just fine, though.

Feel free to drop us a line if you need a pointer.

Wal.

Hi John,

Yep, I've seen this done and thought it looked fun. The wireless aspect is very appealing! I think you could perhaps add a small bluetooth transmitter to the keyboard and a receiver at the PC, but it's rare that I use the full bed of my machine, so I just keep it wired and sat on top.

How easy is it to switch between incremental and continuous jog? The nice thing about the keyboard is that 'i' and 'c' toggle between the two modes and subsequent presses of 'i' lower the increment (ie. 5mm / 1mm / 0.5mm / 0.1mm / 0.05mm etc) and FN 'i' acts as a SHIFT 'i' and raises the increment. I take it you can press one of the keys to get that functionality?

This small keyboard also allows for typing basic commands into the MDI (or selecting previous moves from the history), so adds a bit of extra versatility.

Wal.

Hi Mike,

It's an incredibly straightforward process.

1. Plug the keyboard in to the USB port at the computer.
2. Visit the sayodevice.com website where the software discovers the keyboard and updates the firmware.
3. You'll then get an image of the small keyboard layout where you literally click on the button that you want to assign a value to, which then brings up an image of a full size keyboard to choose the button you want to assign!
4. Repeat for the other keys and once happy click Save to Device and that's it.

You can also set the colours of the LEDs individually - I have mine set up so that the keyboard is backlit white when in basic mode, but lights up blue when the function key is pressed and the second layer is enabled. That's neither here nor there, but demonstrates the level of control.

I was going down the road of building my own arduino based mechanical keyboard (and had bought all the bits and pieces) - I'll probably still have a play with doing that, just as a learning exercise, but this 24 key off the shelf works so well I can't see how I could make an improvement!

Wal.

Hello all,

Just thought I'd share this. Many of my CNC router based projects require a fair bit of manual set-up where I need to position the spindle relative to the work-piece with a certain degree of control/precision.

For a while I've simply hauled my standard keyboard over to the router bed and used the keyboard shortcuts - but the size of the keyboard makes this a rather unwieldy affair. Pendants have never really appealed to me and the keyboard shortcuts that LinuxCNC employs are already pretty comprehensive when it comes to moving the spindle (both continuously and incrementally) and touching off to the work-piece.

Anyway. I found a relatively cheap 24 key USB keyboard that's very easily programmable via a web browser and it now acts as a control console that I can keep on or near to my router-bed at all times. I'm getting a set of matte vinyl stickers printed up to stick onto the blank keys.

I'll post a jpeg that gives you an idea of how I've got mine set up. It's improved my work-flow no end!

Wal.

Edited By Wal Werbel on 07/09/2023 17:12:00

Thanks for the link, Jason. Very helpful - I'll give 'em a call.

Well, I couldn't help myself - I found a larger piece of 0.4mm 304 shim-stock and morbid curiosity got the better of me.

Not entirely bad, but as predicted - didn't form quite as well: a bit more spring-back and evidence of some tension across the bottom of the bowl, but no tearing. In terms of give and shape retention 304 has what I'm after - even at 0.4mm there appears to be enough stiffness to hold a stop-watch but with enough give for easy removal - it's a very light-duty application.

But yep, next I'll go with Jason's original suggestion of annealed CS70. It's been an adventure. 😄

Understood and agreed, Andrew. Jason's original CS70 suggestion is pretty much THE way to go for this sort of thing (I've since discovered from a spring clip manufacturer). I'm just struggling to find it in a thickness of 0.5-0.7mm in quantities that don't involve buying entire rolls. This is all freebie work, so I'm splashing about a bit here with very little latitude for buying in the most appropriate material at personal expense. The 304 shim stock 'felt' like it would work, but I'll bow to your better judgement/expertise.

In the interests of keeping things complete, some further findings:

I got chatting to a sheet metal worker local to me the other day and he suggested I look at gauge plate/shim-stock and save myself the hassle of heat treatment. I have a bit of old 0.5mm shim-stock in my drawer and it certainly 'feels' like it'll do the job. I traced the purchase back and it turns out it's 304 stainless. So, provided I can buy it in small quantities, cut it and form it, this may be the way to go.

Thanks Jason.

Yeah, the EN8 in sheet seems a little hard to come by. My usual supplier (Smiths) does have it listed in sheet form, so I'll ask 'em what's the thinnest they'll go.

Thanks Andrew,

Just had a dig around and EN8 with a carbon content around 0.4% looks like it could do the job...

Hello all,

I've been having a mess with pressing some sheet steel into shape. It's one of those jobs that might turn into a few-off batch, but for now remains a series of tests to satisfy my curiosity.

The steel I've been using isn't known - rescued from a skip, quite ductile - I've been cutting it on my router and pressing it between a couple of formers made from 6082.

So, if this were to turn into a 'job', would CR4 form as readily as what I have here and would it respond well to heat treatment to harden and temper it to a springy condition?

Many thanks Clive,

Yep - I wasn't being lazy, I did peruse the google and found a few bits and pieces of interest, just thought I'd interrogate the ME hive-mind to enlighten me further. 👍

Wal.

Thanks for that Ady,

Very interesting - a likely candidate, I reckon. Thickness in the ball-park and it's heavy patina and non-ductile nature could be commensurate with the reference to SCC... Time frames would match, too. Great info, thanks again.

Wal.

Hello all,

Bit of a vague one, this. I picked up a few sizeable aluminium plates out of my dad's shed a while back (and stripped another he had been using as the bed on a home-made table saw. Trust me - that thing is better off dismantled). 12mm thick, heavily patinated, had probably sat there since the late 70's/early 80's. My dad passed a few years back and probably couldn't have told me the grade with any certainty - but there was a story behind the metal: surplus material from a tank armour plate project that was cancelled.

The stuff cuts beautifully - I mean, like 120 brass. Barely gets warm, chips well etc. Just love working with it. It's strong too - not as hard as 7075, but very non-ductile.

I'm familiar with cutting other regular grades (6082, 2014, 7075) and none of 'em cut like this - so I'm curious. I've seen the term 'free machining' aluminium used somewhere before. I assumed this just meant 6082, but seeing the difference between the two materials has got me scratching my head.

I know that 6061 is a grade often seen as the US equivalent of 6082 (of course, it's not - it's a grade all of its own) and I think it might be that, but I've never managed to buy 6061 off my usual supplier (Smiths) - they don't stock it, and I've not found any UK suppliers that do.

Any other suggestions as to what this mystery metal might be? One day (still a long way off) I'll need more...

Wal.

Kiwi, this technique is achieved using the 'texture' tool-path in VCarve. It's pretty cool but it takes an age to machine - less detail and bigger tools speed it up a bit, but there's a lot of up down, move a bit, up down, move a bit etc. Fine for one-offs, but certainly not a production technique, for example - the texture on the Church Villa sign took around 6-7 hours..! On my other post (the badge) the texture is modelled and machined with a 0.7mm ball-nose end-mill.

Wal.

Incralac it is, then.

Many thanks for your advice!

Wal.

Yeah, one day (probably not that far off) that'll be the way to go. Shame, though - making these from scratch is a lot more fun than FILE>PRINT..!

Wal.

Rod, I modelled it in 3D. There was scope to use a procedural texture, but it proved a bit of a nightmare to control - I automated a lot of the shape creation, but ended up doing a fair bit of the placement manually, which is quite laughable - but needs must (when you're an idiot and don't know the 'proper' way...)

Hello all,

Having recently made a couple of brass signs (pics below) I'm wondering about how to seal - or even whether or not to bother.

My options so far are

• Spray on clear-coat
• Brush on shellac based lacquer
• Wax

I'm already using shellac to seal in the patina and I'm gravitating towards wax for the bare metal bits - my reasoning being that it's non-permanent and will allow for easier maintenance - ie. not having to remove lacquer once it crazes and the brass below starts to blacken.

Any opinions and further tips?

Many thanks.

Wal.

Hello all,

I recently made a new set of badges for a customer who had had his MGA converted from a 1600 to a 1950. The brief was to adhere to the existing style, and to keep the dimensions similar (especially for the mounting spigots). I made the badges in a decent (ie. non-bendy) grade of aluminium, CAD/CAM in F360 and then hand finished.

Just posting here in case it's of interest or useful to anyone looking for something similar (if that's permissible).

Wal.

Edited By Wal Werbel on 11/05/2022 14:32:55