F1 In School and Indexer

[Savoy]

I'm a teacher (Project Lead the Way - Intro to Engineering) using F1 in Schools - CO2 cars - projects in my course.

I have the Shobot Desktop use use for TONS of different projects but I haven't used the Indexer other than a few projects needing symmetric round parts - so I know the basics for using our 3" indexer.

I'm HOPING we can use the Destop/indexer to meet the CNC requirement of the competition so I don't have to get a different machine - I really love my SP :)

We are required to use a pre-cut (official) block which was Balsa previously, but is a type of plastic starting next year. The dimensions are here:

27907

As you can see, this is a square block! :)
About 2.5" x 3" x 8" long

The model I'm trying to chunch out looks like this:

27908

Is this even possible?

Thanks for any tips and suggestions you might have for me!

- Les

[Savoy]

... Humm, its been a few days, not looking too good for us to use the indexer.
I'm still researching though - any tips are appreciated!

- Savoy/Les

[waynelocke]

You could do most of it on the indexer. What software do you have? You might be better off doing a 2or 4 sided machining strategy. The rear airfoil would probably be a problem.

[Kyle Stapleton]

I have been plan running some CO2 cars on ours and I plan on using 2/4 sided machining.

[Savoy]

You could do most of it on the indexer. What software do you have? You might be better off doing a 2or 4 sided machining strategy. The rear airfoil would probably be a problem.

That is what I'm hoping (having the indexer do most of the work) - I'm using Aspire 8.

[Gary Campbell]

Savoy...
Do you have a 3D model for the car body? That would be the first step. That design can be cut, but with some difficulty. It appears that it may be best cut affixed to the rotary via an arbor. Which creates a new set of problems for the front of the car as it will be below the axial center and Aspire will not like that.

Your project can be cut, but it not going to be an easy one, especially if its a first 3D on rotary project.

[Savoy]

Savoy...
Do you have a 3D model for the car body? That would be the first step. That design can be cut, but with some difficulty. ...

Yep... have the body modeled in AutoDesk Inventor which I can bring into Aspire as a model. I'll see if I can fine a way to upload the files here so you can see it the actual model. Here is a screen shot of it though.

27938

Looks like I'll encourage them to go with the 2-sided cut. We have to do some of this on the CNC machine to meet the competition requirements for F1 in Schools (http://f1inschools.sae.org/).

[Gary Campbell]

Savoy...
Do you have any CAM abilities from Autodesk? The reason that I ask, is that you could use Aspire or VCPro to Cut the model, but it would involve some trickery to keep the portions you need to cut above the zero plane, which would be the axial center in most cases. You might also look at Cut3D as it supports 4 sided machining, albeit without the rotation of the indexer, which you could do easily from the keyboard.

[Savoy]

Thanks for the tips Gary.

I'm going to have to use 2-sided through Aspire. I have what comes with the shopbot and a full copy of Aspire 8 so I'm going to try and pull it off with that.

An example of the model we are going to try and tool is attached here. I think 2-side cuts will work.. I'll just need to be careful when pulling it in (I'll have to align it center and to the back of the block where my CO2 hole is pre-cut).

I'm working through the videos on 2-sided cuts now - and I'll try a few cuts with pine blocks over the weekend and see how it goes :)

[Savoy]

Thanks for all the tips... I've learned a lot about the indexer and have thought of a lot of cool future projects to use with it, but I'm going to go with two-sided milling for this project. I've already made the jig that will hold the pieces (it's an official blank for this competition).
Thanks and for the encouragement and support! - Savoy/Les

[EngineeringTeach2016]

Hey Savoy,

I am also a PLTW IED Teacher and my district is ordering me a CNC router to cut the cars for the competition, I have a quote on the Shopbot Desktop waiting to go through do you think its a good CNC router to use for F1 in Schools?

I did not order the indexer, I was planning on doing a 2 sided cut as well. (can the indexer be bought later? Might be good for wheels)

I use Autodesk Inventor to model and then I use their CAM software to get the toolpaths.

What do you think about the Shopbot Desktop for the competition is what I am getting at.

[Savoy]

Hey Savoy,

I am also a PLTW IED Teacher and my district is ordering me a CNC router to cut the cars for the competition, I have a quote on the Shopbot Desktop waiting to go through do you think its a good CNC router to use for F1 in Schools?

I did not order the indexer, I was planning on doing a 2 sided cut as well. (can the indexer be bought later? Might be good for wheels)

I use Autodesk Inventor to model and then I use their CAM software to get the toolpaths.

What do you think about the Shopbot Desktop for the competition is what I am getting at.

That is exactly what we are doing this week and next! We are running our school-level races the second week of May - so we are doing most of the milling now.

I've in MAD love with my Shopbot desktop. I've looked at (and visited) quite a few out there... I highly recommend the machine and the company. There have been SO great to work with when I had questions. I wish there were more schools on these forums - but with the 3D printing madness going on, I think us CNC people are few and far between.

If you have room, you might want to run with the Desktop XL having the little extra room would be nice for other projects... but the Basic Desktop very has been great for us. I'll be ordering a second machine next year.

I have a few video's of us getting started and using the SP for robotics.
http://physicsgonewild.wikispaces.com/Parkview+Computer+Numeric+Control+and+Making+Thing s+Work

I'm going to make a F1 in Schools specific video next (working on it now) with a page like this for schools that will be participating in F1 in Schools next year along with us. We'll be hosting the state-level event next year.

Turns out, that quiet a few of our F1 models only needed one sided milling... and two sided milling was easy as it can be. This CNC machine runs circles around the Denforn 1000 (F1 in School's featured CNC machine). You just have to turn the model over yourself (rather than to have the machine do it). In all other aspects, the Shopbot Desktop is a MUCH MUCH better machine -and its a US company.

I hope that helps!

- Les/Savoy

[EngineeringTeach2016]

Awesome Information!

Thanks!

Watching the videos and they are great!

Thanks for doing all this it is really helpful.

[Savoy]

...
I did not order the indexer, I was planning on doing a 2 sided cut as well. (can the indexer be bought later? Might be good for wheels)
.

Missed this part - sorry.

We are using the Flashforge Creator Pro 3D printer (http://www.flashforge-usa.com/creator-pro/) for the airfoil (wings) and the wheels. To get the best performance you'll want to use some form of plastic - either the PITSCO blanks (http://www.pitsco.com/Clubs_and_Competitions/F1/Competition_Do-It-Yourself_Wheel_Kit) or their stock wheels (http://www.pitsco.com/Clubs_and_Competitions/F1/Px_Wheels), and use the wheel lathe to cut them down to spec. size. (that is what we do for most of the models.)

[EngineeringTeach2016]

Missed this part - sorry.

We are using the Flashforge Creator Pro 3D printer (http://www.flashforge-usa.com/creator-pro/) for the airfoil (wings) and the wheels. To get the best performance you'll want to use some form of plastic - either the PITSCO blanks (http://www.pitsco.com/Clubs_and_Competitions/F1/Competition_Do-It-Yourself_Wheel_Kit) or their stock wheels (http://www.pitsco.com/Clubs_and_Competitions/F1/Px_Wheels), and use the wheel lathe to cut them down to spec. size. (that is what we do for most of the models.)

Cool I have an Afinia H480 3D printer that we will do our air foils and wheels on next year, another teacher in the competition told me the indexer would be good for truing up the wheels that you print so might want to look into that.

[EngineeringTeach2016]

Just to share a little bit about my experience with the competition so far, had no idea how to use a CNC router or CAM when we began, had to self learn everything with my brother;

http://i66.tinypic.com/x5wj0n.png

As you can see by our Jig lol, duct tape and a paint brush handle.

http://i66.tinypic.com/20f28sl.jpg

Due to the limitations of our Jig we had to cut both sides out of separate blocks and glue them together.

http://i66.tinypic.com/zy8pe9.jpg

http://i63.tinypic.com/29x9qmb.jpg

The final product didnt come out to shabby though and we beat our rival high school(they beat us in everything else basically) in the races, didn't advance but the students had alot of fun!

View My Video (http://tinypic.com/r/29urbs0/9)

[Brett Dickinson]

Kyle,

It from your web page it looks like you are doing some great things.

I currently am working on training teacher in Texas with their ShopBots.
I taught Const. Tech for 27 years and the last 10 I had ShopBots as well
as purchasing my own Desktop 3 years ago. I developed a portable cart
for my Desktop that you might be interested in duplicating (I have the files
and some instructions).

Currently helping a teacher with his CO2 car, we both have Desktops with Indexers.
Think of using Cut3D to do 4 sided machining. Any thoughts would be of help.

Was just up in Wisconsin last year. My brother lives near Mountain and we used to
go to my uncle's cabin near Ladysmith.
28707
Brett Dickinson
956-455-6153
brettjdn@gmail.com

[Kyle Stapleton]

I have been thinking of making cars the same way but have never got to do it.
Keep me posted.
Nice cart, I have almost given up on moving mine.