My first build: "Mimic"

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wp34:
Well done laythe. This is a great cabinet and I enjoyed the build pics.

:applaud:

wp34:
Sorry for the dumb woodworking question but does this work similar to a CNC?

--- Quote from: Laythe on January 14, 2016, 05:54:01 pm ---So, I know the normal go-to tool for inletting a control panel is a router, but, I like my milling machine, and thought I'd give it a try. Turned the speed up, and used a big end mill to rough it out, a small one to touch up the corners.

--- End quote ---

Brouhaha:
I'm really, really digging your cab :cheers:

Laythe:

--- Quote from: wp34 on January 22, 2016, 05:19:41 pm ---Sorry for the dumb woodworking question but does this work similar to a CNC?

--- End quote ---

It's actually more a metalworking question, which may be why the tool is unfamiliar. I just happen to be using it on a piece of wood here.

Yes.

Many CNC machines are computer controlled milling machines. The difference is somewhat like an Etch-A-Sketch, versus an old pen plotter or vinyl sign cutting machine. At its heart, CNC is basically a system by which you can get a computer to accurately and rapidly spin the handles for you along a predefined path - but the types of machines driven by CNC programming generally existed before the computers did. So, all the mechanical principles of the machine are similar, but I turn the knobs by hand.

--- Quote from: Betafini on January 22, 2016, 01:44:39 pm ---If I may ask, how long did it take to build? Frontend AND cabinet...

--- End quote ---

Cabinet, it was about two months between first sawdust flying, and it being finished and installed.

Front end, most of the programming happened over a span of about two weeks... but, there's a lot of extenuating circumstances to that. I did -not- write a user maintainable, extensible, configurable front end that is versatile, simple to administer, sure to work on any combination of hardware and software, and well documented - because I had no use for any of those things. I wrote a front end to do exactly one thing, on one set of hardware. If I want to reconfigure it, I do that by hacking on the source code directly and then recompiling it. Easy, for me, but not really viable for another user. By analogy, what I needed was not a very fancy 1/4" drill - what I needed was one 1/4" hole. So it's not like I whipped out Mala in two weeks or anything like that. It's purpose built, and that simplifies the task greatly.

Collecting and fixing up marquee and bezel art for it has taken by far the most time.

CheffoJeffo:
I don't often make it into PA to check things out, but am glad I did tonight.

Beautifully clean build with nice lines, elegant control illumination and the visuals are possibly the best I have ever seen.

:applaud:

:notworthy:

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