Jonnie
Registered:1391377476 Posts: 1
Posted 1391379696
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#1
Hello from a newbie My name is Jon, I am currently building my own CNC mill ( 2 metres by 1 metre - 6 foot by 3 foot ) in preparation for a new business I am starting later this year which will supply bespoke articles to independent shops, bars, restaurants and so on so most customers will be businesses but I hope to attract the odd private buyer as well. My recent history includes owning and running a hotel and a campground, previous to that I worked for twenty years in computing, most of it writing software in the CADCAM industry (Parasolid which is the engine inside Solidworks and Unigraphics). I am currently based in Denmark but returning with my family to the Cambridge UK area. Currently I am working flat out on my new website and designs for products, I am using rendering software a lot of the time to get realistic impressions of proposed products. I have three major projects on at the moment. 1. CNC mill - all parts purchased but there is a limit to how much construction I can do before we relocate - it should be a high end machine as long as I do credit to the parts in my construction, I paid out for the best quality parts I could so no excuses if it doesnt pan out well. 2. Bandmill - these are the bandsaw on rails used to slice whole trees to process lumber. I plan to mill my own lumber for use in projects. The mill is almost complete, I just need to balance the wheels, add safety guard and finalise the pulley clutch mechanism then go for sandblast and powder paint - its powered at the moment by a fifteen horse power petrol engine but planning to migrate to electric at some point. I plan to buy in hard wood trees from tree surgeons so I will be using wood that was going to be felled anyway - probably sounds strange if you are sitting in Canada surounded by thousands of acres of managed forests but of course hardwoods in some areas are depleted and I prefer to use what would otherwise end up as firewood. 3. Kiln for enameling - commercial kilns are expensive ( when you want a capacity ) and tend to feature low insulation ( not a design flaw often kilns are required to dump heat fast ), my needs dictate high insulation and a large internal volume hence the self build. I am also interested in glass slumping so the kiln may see a wider range of use later on. All of the above are required for my planned services, I wish to combine existing skills and knowledge working in metal glass and wood and bring them all together so that I can make a variety of products using combinations of materials and techniques, its the idea of combining these things and traveling on a variety of creative paths that interests me. I joined this forum because I could see a number of creative people making a variety of different things using a combination of skills which is what interests me most so I thought it would be interesting to chat now and then. Best Jon. Software: Aspire Sculptris Solidworks Kerkythea MeshMixer Meshlab, general interest in photogrammetry ( 3D shape capture from photos ).
Dan Sawatzky
Registered:1373645087 Posts: 96
Posted 1391495142
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#2
Welcome Jon! -grampa dan
__________________ Dan Sawatzky
Sawatzky's Imagination Corporation
http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
dan@imaginationcorporation.com
Doug Haffner
Registered:1373900231 Posts: 45
Posted 1391527336
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#3
Hey! Welcome to the forum. Sounds like you have a variety of interests and skills and I look forward to seeing your builds reach completion! Great plan for the wood!