Chatting with Inventables’ Zach Kaplan About Shapeoko
This Monday, Chicago-based DIY resource Inventables announced the release of Shapeoko 2, hailed as one of the most inexpensive CNC mills in the world — $300 without electronics.
CNC & Machining
The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for the manufacture of metal, wood, plastic, ceramic and composites. We talk about machining, using a lathe to machine metals like steel, brass, and aluminium. We make chips fly!
Tutorial: Laser Cutting Techniques and Projects
Ideas for designing projects that exploit the strengths (and avoid the weaknesses) of laser cutters.
Here are three projects, each of which demonstrates techniques and systems I’ve developed specifically for this form of digital fabrication.
Shapeoko 2 Milling Machine Launches Today
Shapeoko promised a $300 desktop CNC mill, and the first version delivered. The Shapeoko 2 goes on pre-sale today.
Ben Katz’ Electric Tricycle
One of the scooters at World Maker Faire that caught my eye was Ben Katz’ sweet scooter whose design is inspired by the Radio Flyer trike. Ben designed the tricycle around a brushless Turnigy motor, visualized the trike in Sketchup, welded, and machined the frame, and added a 40v LiFePO4 battery, motor controller, and gearbox. It can theoretically reach a top speed of over 45 MPH!
Building a Tribe With Kinetic Steam Works
At this past year’s Maker Faire Bay Area, I had the privilege of riding atop a steam-powered Case 40 horsepower steam traction engine from 1940 with Stephen Rademaker.
13 Steps to Make a Cylindrical Wooden Enclosure
Want to make a wooden enclosure in the shape of a tube? This project uses scrap pine, cut into ring shapes and then glued. You can then smooth the outside in a lathe, then cut it open to add the guts of the project.
Why Your CNC Needs a TinyG
The TinyG is an embedded, multi-axis motion control system from Synthetos designed for CNC applications that require highly precise motion control for small to medium sized motors. The TinyG has been used with the Shapeoko and a previous version of the board was used as the basis for the Othermill electronics.
