07 Diarmud Kelly Fab Academy

Week 07. Computer Controlled Machining

were going big with the CNC machines this week....

March 5, 2025 Diarmuid Kelly

Group assignment

(link above) Do your lab's safety training
test runout, alignment, fixturing, speeds, feeds, materials, and toolpaths for your machine

Individual assignment

Make (design+mill+assemble) something big (~meter-scale)
extra credit: don't use fasteners or glue
extra credit: include curved surfaces

I decided to use equipment at South West College this week to produce something big as this would be more beneficial to me, my colleagues and students at the college. I had a few options: the Balstreni Idea 5-axis CNC at the Omagh Campus or the Biesse Rover at the Dungannon Campus. I specifically wanted to design the parts and produce the CAM tool paths using Autodesk Fusion. I chose to use the Biesse in Dungannon as there was an available post processor for Autodesk Fusion – I would also like to use the 5-axis machine in Omagh. However, it looks like a post processor would need to be produced for this.

First, I read the college training manual for the CNC and familiarised myself with it, the operation of the machine and, most importantly, its safety features.

This machine had two red safety stop buttons, one beside the monitor and the other on the handheld console. There is also a safety mat in front of the CNC. This also acts as a safety stop – if you step into the mat while the machine is in operation, it will stop whatever the machine is doing – errors will need to be cleared in the computer, and the process can then be resumed by pressing the green button.

Let’s get started by powering on the CNC.

Power on the wall switch isolator and flick switch

The switch at the back of the console cabinet will power on the CNC and computer.

Let the machine switch on and the computer boot up

After boot up, the “QUOTE” window/dialogue should open up

There will also be screens with errors on them – we can clear what we can by pressing the “clear errors” button – however, we also need to home the CNC to allow all the errors to clear

(1|)In the QUOTE dialogue, make sure global homing is selected, indicated with the blue square to the left. – (2) Press the lower power button to the left of the computer screen and wait for it to go solid green – (3) Press the green start button in the computer, bottom centre of the screen.

The Machine will now Home – while this is happening, do not step on the pressure mat - when this is complete, we should be able to start cutting -or get our test pieces uploaded to start cutting –

At this point, we can take our output tool paths from Autodesk Fusion and bring them into the CNC machine.

setting up parts to cut in BSolid

I opened a test part created in BSolid to check the CNC machiene was cutting as it should - I did find a 6mm bit was broken when I got to the CNC so I knew this cutter could not be used.

In the work list, add file – I opened a test part that had been run on the CNC before.

This then adds a file to the work list – we can inspect this using BSolid and change parameters if needed.

Press the arrow to the left to see details of the job, such as stock size and origin location. We will be using the default origin for most jobs.

To edit or preview the job in BSolid we can use the icons at the top of the screen circled in the previous image.

This will open the job in the CAD preview window where we can make changes to the tool path and cutters used - in muy case I had to select a 10mm cutter to replace the 6mm cutter that had recently been broken on the CNC.

I opened to tool library and identified the 10mm cutter profile and added it to the job in place of the 6mm cutter, saved to file and returned to the work list.

To send the job to the CNC we just need to press the green button at the top right of the screen –

The programme has ben sent to the CNC, and we can now load the material.

To load the material, press the green button on the floor console. This will lift the 4x large guide bars, we can then place the stock material onto the pods and up against the bars. Press the foot pedal to activate the pod vacuum.

The sock is now loaded, you must check to make sure it is securly held if not you might need to give it a tap with the side of a clenched fist.

We now need to clear the errors again as we were staning on the safety mat.

We can press the green button on the floor consol to start the CNC machining process.

The CNC will now move to start cutting - stay off the safty mat and at this point it’s a good idea to grab the hand console and get ready to hit the red button – also make sure the speed controller is at full speed – if it's low or all the way down it will cause the machine to run too slow and damage the tools and potentially cause a fire.

At the start im looking closly to make sure the cutting tool isnt going to plunge trough the materia into the pods. and that its cutting at a high enough feed rate.
once the part is cut we can check the dimensions to make sure it is within the tolerance of the design. So far so good. Lets get on with sending some parts from Autodesk Fusion