Wow, not bad at all. 
Next step is to try the same but with 3mm DOC instead 0.5mm. Just pretend the aluminum is actually wood. And stand back so the broken bit doesn’t catch you (if it breaks).
1 Like
You might even get more stiffness than a single-decker MPCNC. It is more constrained. I just really want to do this, but I don’t want it a meter tall.
1 Like
That is so cool. I’m sure a lot of people reading this thought it was silly (okay, I still do, look at how tall it is!) but it is hard to dispute those results! Good work.
1 Like
In my mind it is still ridiculous. I won’t say crazy ideas are my best ideas, but they are my favorite.
That is pretty nuts to see at 10".
That’s awesome.
Great thread and congratulations on this awesome success!
This machine looks sick and the results are impressive.
I really need to get myself a Dewalt router and try milling with a long Z axis, just to see if its possible without this dual decker setup.
Steel, why not?
Tonight I failed multiple times, broke/burned some tools, wasted some material. Had some serious fun, apart from being hit with tiny HOT chips.
I figured the rectangular shallow facing cut is really boring, so I would try for a pattern that’s a bit more interesting.
Two of my attempts were not totally awful. Here’s one:
8 Likes
Awesome result, I think the only issue you have is plunging.
Who is this mysterious Tom S. ?
1 Like
Heh, you should ship that to me or Ryan. We can put it on the table at mrrf next year.
1 Like
I hope this isn’t rain on your parade, but, Z limits are not the issue with Ryan’s design. Z limits are determined by the length of bit you can buy. 10 inches of Z travel with a 3 inch bit? I’ve melted a lot of plastic collets, and the nut on the chuck is burnt black from burning into the wood. That’s where I’ve found the limit to be.
Don’t worry, youre not raining on my parade. I agree, a super-deep relief carving for example needs to worry about tool collisions etc. and even if I had a 7" drill bit, I couldn’t drill a hole that deep because the tool would need to raise above the gantry to start the hole.
The motivation for tall Z is to fit the tool changer and a 4th axis without having to punch holes in the table. Or to mill relatively shallow cuts on the top of taller objects.
2 Likes
Hhahahahhahahahhahaha omg, too freaking funny
1 Like
I am catching up on lots of old posts. Saw this part with your double-decker, looks like some air assist chute ducted from the spindle exhaust.
I’ve been thinking about something like this for my Craftsman. It does blow some air. I have a vacuum but I in deeper pockets for v-bit carving it could use some chip evac. And also if I am doing aluminum.
1 Like
Lol yes, it’s ugly but it does blow air. The output ports on the dw660 really blow a lot, so this redirects it to try to clear chips.
The second worst place chips can be is blown all over everything in my shop. So it’s an improvement from the worst place which is staying in the cut gumming up the subsequent passes. But it’s still terrible compared to proper vacuum. I never mentioned it because I really wouldn’t recommend it… 
1 Like
I’m trying to figure out how to use this with a vacuum. I’m not thinking this through clearly, but I think that’s how things work. You want several things and you keep banging on it until the come together. I need chip evacuation but also like the vacuum setup I have. The vacuum does ok with wood. But I just acquired my first chunk of aluminum and it is sitting there laughing at me. I’m not quite ready for it yet. Baby steps though.
I think the best approach ive seen is a combination vacuum with a needle jet blower like this
I haven’t tried it but it’s the upgrade I would go for.
1 Like
I recently printed and installed one of those. Haven’t done any cuts with it yet though.
Totally forgot about the needle valve solution. That’s good.
New user trying to learn everything I can reading post. This concept and build is very impressive! Great work Jamie!