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Showing posts from May, 2022

ProverXL 4030 in the Garage!

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 I am planning to use the CNC to carve a lot of MDF.  The dust in the basement shop was too hard to control, so I built a workbench and put it on a machine cart to move it where I want in the garage. Here is an overview video:

Setting up the Sainsmart ProverXL 4030 bed

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 The bed of the 4030 is done with a sheet of MDF.  I have added a 1/4 in spoil board to the top so that any mistakes save the bed.  I followed the ideas from James Dean Designs and used his files to mill the spoil board flat.  Here are the pictures and some instructions. Completed setup The first step was to mill out two spoil boards.  I forgot to take pictures of that step.  Look at the videos for his process. The spoil board is attached with blue masking tape and CA glue: I  used the door stops to hold things in place while the glue setup. Using a surface bit and the g-code file from James Dean Designs faced the board nicely.  I then cleaned things up and put on two coats of Polycrylic sealer

Engraving Slate using the xTool D1 10w Laser

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 I used one slate to run two different power tests on a test tile.  One on each side.   From a tile burn Grid This one really helped me understand the range of marks we can make on a slate.  The following is the grid out of LightBurn and it was not as much help: There is quite a range of marking you can do.  I feel that it will allow some interesting effects.  I only needed one "tone for the project I am doing."   I did one test slate at 2000mm/min and 40% power for my 10W laser.  The design did not look right, so I changed the design slightly, and here is the finished project. Finished Slate Coaster Added Logo on the bottom I changed the speed to 1800mm/min and 40% power for the final project.  It slightly deepened the engrave.  The slate's top took about 16 minutes, and the bottom logo took 2 minutes. The setup is straightforward.  In Lightburn, I created two concentric square boxes on one layer that I do not burn.  These are for reference and alignment.  One is at 100m