by Bob Warfield | 3D Printing, Blog, Feeds and Speeds, Software, Tools and Techniques
I wrote the original G-Wizard Calculator in order to save myself time and get better results machining. I noticed I was hauling handbooks and tooling catalogs around, punching numbers into calculators, and eventually spending way too much time working through...
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by Bob Warfield | 3D Printing, Blog, CNC Projects
In my youth I spent hours building precision scale models of various military fighting vehicles from kits made by Tamiya. They were intricately detailed and I would do everything I could to make them look realistic–right down to weathering them with fancy...
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by Bob Warfield | 3D Printing, Blog, CNC Manufacturing & Job Shops, Quoting and Estimating
ProtoLabs bills itself as the “Fastest Provider of CNC Machined and Injection Molded Parts.” They were founded in 1999 by Larry Lukis, a successful computer entrepreneur who was dissatisfied with how hard it was to get injection molded parts made...
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by Bob Warfield | 3D Printing, Blog
3D Printing? Yeah, so what. I’ve seen lots of 3D printers. They’re inaccurate as heck, they only produce plastic, and it takes more sanding and bondo than my mother-in-law’s crashed Vista Cruiser station wagon to get a part to look...
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by Bob Warfield | 3D Printing, Blog, CADCAM, CNC Basics, Software, Tools and Techniques
CAD File Formats can be a confusing mess when you’re just starting out. There are so many questions that come up: – What’s the best format to use for exchanging information between two different CAD programs? – Why does...
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by Bob Warfield | 3D Printing, Blog, CNC Projects
I was an avid model builder in my youth, and carried it forward into adulthood when I was much younger by building RC (Radio Controlled) Planes. My biggest problem was that the planes took a long time to build relative to the length of time I could fly one before...
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by Bob Warfield | 3D Printing, Blog, CADCAM, CNC Basics, CNC Projects, CNC Router, Software, Tools and Techniques
A great deal of CNC involves precisely dimensioned drawings and 3D models from CAD software. But sometimes you want to create something where precision isn’t the point. Sometimes you want to make something more artistic and crafty. When that...
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by Bob Warfield | 3D Printing, Blog, CADCAM, CNC Basics, GCode, Software, Tools and Techniques
When you’re starting out with CNC or 3D Printing, the first thing you’ll want to get your arms around is creating some sort of model, drawing, or representation of your part. Most of the time this is a function of a CAD program, but not always. You may...
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by Bob Warfield | 3D Printing, Blog, CNC Basics, Software
I need another CAD program like a hole in the head. Currently I use Rhino3D and SolidWorks, and I’m very happy with them. Rhino3D is my goto program for quick and dirty one-offs and weird shapes like rifle stocks. SolidWorks is the lingua franca of the CNC...
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by Bob Warfield | 3D Printing, Blog, CNC Projects
It’s Halloween this week, so what better time to write about this crazy hobby known as “Cosplay?” Wikipedia says, “Cosplay is short for costume play, and is a performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion...
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by Bob Warfield | 3D Printing, Blog, Workshop and Storage
This is part 5 of our Ultimate Tony Stark Inspired Workshop Series. In this installment, we’ll be taking a look at what sort of 3D Printers a workshop like this might include. There are a number of different 3D Printing technologies available, and no one...
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by Bob Warfield | 3D Printing, Blog, CNC Manufacturing & Job Shops, Tools and Techniques
If there’s one thing we can probably all agree on, it’s that there’s been a lot of hype surrounding 3D printing. It seems like every day brings yet another new consumer 3D printer on Kickstarter of someplace else and it’s not clear what the...
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