CNC Machines
The use of numeric control driven machines or CNC has opened a complete new world. An interest that took hold of me in 2010 and I applied in many of my projects. Camera mounts for drones, frames, timber construction kits for model aircraft, parts for engines, parts for sub assemblies and so on. The possibilities are endless. I built my own milling machine in 2014 and to this day it is still wording cheerful producing parts. The machine is based on a portal, containing a cutter that can move along the x y z axes to be able to mill workpieces 2 dimensionally. Of course there are many machines that operate on the same basis, think of a 3d printer, but also a plasma cutter, water jet etc. Of course the number of axes can be extended, think of a robot arm. Because I am now well acquainted with this technique, I have converted several existing machines. An example of this is shown here on the right:
The purpose of this machine is to remove pieces of foam from the body. 2000 foam bodies had already been produced, after which it appeared that a number of pockets had to be removed from the foam. Modifying the mold in china was a possibility, but this would entail considerable costs, let alone the 2000 bodies that had to be thrown away. I was asked if I could help them with a solution and that is how the foam cutting machine was created. The molds on the bed are designed to hold the bodies in place. The cutting wires are located on both sides so that cutting can be done on both sides. The cutting wires are located under a tube which is provided with extraction, so that the harmful vapors are immediately extracted. The machine is adjusted in such a way that the machine cuts foam just as quickly as the operator can take away the bodies. See the video below for an impression:
CNC hot wire cutter
CNC Press
Earlier this year, Chain-logistics asked me to come up with a solution to a problem they had been dealing with for some time. Pressing a ring over a bottle. 2 workers were needed on a conveyor belt to force the rings onto a collar with great force. Workers were alternated every hour. The question was whether within a short period of time I could make a machine that could do the pressing. The result is the machine you can find below. The worker fills the tray with collars, after which the pumps are placed upside down in the tray.
The full tray is then placed under the machine after which the pressing of the caps starts. 28 caps are pressed within 40 seconds. The tray can be removed, after which the machine can be provided with a new filled tray. For different caps I have made different trays with accompanying pressure forks. The machine has now pressed many thousands of caps. A second machine has also been added which is now also pressing.
The base of the machine comes in all shapes and sizes but is just an example of the possibilities. This way the machine can be expanded with sensors, motors, pneumatics etc. Below you will find a number of examples of some options by clicking on the gallery:
The above machine does the printing of the caps fully automatically in a controlled manner. However, many ways of pressing are possible. For example, we were recently asked whether we could make a press with a tray of caps; about 50 pieces, with an interval pressing the caps on. This had to be because an air pocket was trapped between the caps and the nozzle. Tapping instead of pressing was the trick. I have opted for a pneumatic press with 2 cylinders where a microcontroller controls the interval. For example, the press can easily stomp with a rate of up to 15Hz, but it is now around 4Hz. The design is simple but effective.
Pneumatic press
