■ FIGURE 22. Paul Atkinson
(left) and Len Shelton (right)
pose with the FireBall V90 at
Maker Faire Austin.
■ FIGURE 21. Containment/protection
display box created for Maker Faire.
clamping issue, but I had some
problems cutting plastic without
melting it and soon found out that
special cutters and lower cutting
speeds are required. Fortunately, Len
over at PROBOTIX was willing to do
some research on cutting bits and
even offered to fly down for the
show to provide on-site technical
(and moral) support!
■ FIGURE 23.
Recycled CDROMs
cut into Keychains.
As the router would be operated
in a public area, I thought it would
be a good idea to create a display
cabinet to keep noise and debris
inside and curious fingers out. I
enlisted Wolf Dilworth (yep, another
Robot Group member) and Bruce
Tabor to help craft a nice wood and
Plexiglas cabinet to showcase the
CNC machine. The display case was
transparent on three sides and
incorporated an internal lighting
system making it easy to see the
router strut its stuff (Figure 21).
The day of the show arrived and
Paul Atkinson stepped up to the plate
to operate the CNC router with Len
Shelton from PROBOTIX at his side
for two full days of exhausting,
exhilarating Maker Faire fun (Figure
22). Len spent a considerable
amount of time tuning the system
and sharing his experience with us.
He even solved the “cutting bit
melting the CD” problem we originally
encountered. Len had contacted the
IA( FRTLIIR ETU NTL DLYSE)HG ...EELTPBFYRW OMITHMY
Some of you may recall from
previous articles how I described
The Robot Group here in Austin as
my “pallet of talent.” The group is a
tremendous resource and I have
found I can always count on them
to step up to the plate in a time
of need.
Just after I started on this
article, I packed up my house and
moved out of Austin to Dripping
Springs, TX in preparation for
building a new house. The move
was more disruptive than I could
74 December 2008
ever have imagined. Paul Atkinson,
Vice President of the group and a
good friend, came to my rescue by
taking over the CNC mill and build
as the move left me with no shop of
any kind to work in nor any time in
which to work!
In addition to assembling the
machine, he took a bunch of great
photos (all the assembly photos
were courtesy of Paul) and even
wrote up extensive notes which
account for the bulk of the construction detail in this article. I owe Paul
a debt of gratitude and probably a
BBQ dinner (or two!) out here in the
“country!” Thanks Paul! Couldn’t
have done it without you buddy!
owner of Precise Bits to
discuss the results we were
getting while cutting CDs.
They told us we weren’t
using an optimal bit and
they overnighted the right
ones to Len. Turns out a
“spiral up-cut bit” was just
the thing for cutting CDs cleanly
(thanks Precise Bits!).
After spending some time cutting
CDs at the show (Figure 23), we
noticed my older model 385
exhibited some run-out (off center
rotation) it had developed over the
years. The very generous folks in the
Dremel booth at the show offered us
a free Dremel 300 to use in the
router! The new Dremel 300 worked
the whole day with hardly any
noticeable run-out.
On the second day, after getting
comfortable with the V90 using the
Dremels, we decided to upgrade to a
Porter-Cable trim router that Len had
brought with him so he could show
the versatility of the V90 with a more
powerful tool (Figure 24). Len and
John both recommend that you
get familiar with the V90 and its
capabilities using a Dremel tool
before you make this upgrade (and
for good reason). Using the Dremel,
you can learn a lot while not risking
■ FIGURE 24. Many of the finished
pieces created and distributed to
folks at Maker Faire Austin.
