Milling and Polishing acrylic glass - Marble Machine X Conveyor Belt Marble Carrier

Today I will show you how I make some acrylic parts for Martin from Wintergatan and his Marble Machine X project. That was also a new experience for me because I didn't made something out of acrylic glass before. I'm really happy how this turned out.
I hope you will like this video and you will visit my channel again!
Speed and feeds I used:
Roughing 1 flute 6mm straight endmill
-Spindle speed: 15000 rpm
-Feedrate: 1650 mm/min (65 in/min)
-Feed per tooth: 0,11mm (0,00433 in)
Finishing 1 flute 6mm straight endmill
-Spindle speed: 15000 rpm
-Feedrate: 900 mm/min (35 in/min)
-Feed per tooth: 0,06mm (0,00236 in)
2 flute 8mm ballnose endmill
-Spindle speed: 15000 rpm
-Feedrate: 3000 mm/min (118 in/min)
-Feed per tooth: 0,1mm (0,00393 in)
--Here Martin gets these parts:
• Marble Conveyor Belt 2...
--Here is the link to Martin's awesome channel!
/ wintergatan2000
--Music credits:
Wintergatan - Sandviken Stradivarius

[@Wintergatan]

Really nice to learn about work holding, and These parts are SO Awesome!! Thanks Alex, totally amazing finish of these.

[@kevinmorrice]

its a pleasure to see such artistry at work, the marble machine x is less of an instrument now and more of a labor of love and is such an amazing project to watch unfold week by week, you and all the men and women you are working with are true artists

[@user-zh6ec7fk1w]

Amazing finish? so why you ruined it? 😋

[@NeoMorphUK]

You really should look into the superglue and masking tape method of fixing. Still use the pins to edge find but it then lets you do the entire outline of the part without having to turn it. Just needs some masking tape, superglue and accelerator spray and it’s incredibly strong.

[@captainbob2727]

@@user-zh6ec7fk1w Tolerances :)

[@firefirst5453]

Hi

[@PreHeatedToast]

I think it's pretty cool that he makes videos in German AND English. It allows a lot more people to watch and lets him practice English. What a legend.

[@MARKE911]

I’m excited to see all the talented and amazing people making the Marble Machine X come to life. Thanks for showing your process.

[@MarionMakarewicz]

Wonderful. Another German maker KZbin channel to go along with GreatScott, Marco Reps, and all the others. Nice work. Great documentation.

[@donmeles7711]

Look up Uri Tuchmann. He is a German maker too and I absolutely love his videos. I wonder, what he could add to the marble machine if he was a part of the team^^

[@MarionMakarewicz]

@@donmeles7711 Yes, that mechanical pencil of his is insane.

[@masaratech]

You should watch homofaciens

[@MarionMakarewicz]

@@masaratech He's good too. I like his method. He can make a CNC mill out of paperclips and a pencil sharpener and a smart watch, I think. He hasn't posted in a while though.

[@alienseyes8546]

Thnx Alex for Helping martin.great Job. Following...

[@davidbrown8365]

Amazing flame polish. Nice tip from Tony.

[@groundcontrolgainesville4841]

Which video did This Old Tony give that tip? I feel like such an ignorant TOT fan boy.

[@peirob]

Thanks to Martin from Wintergatan to let us discover Alex's channel

[@znxster]

You will be finding bits of acrylic for years now :D

[@toxiccan175]

7:27 IT’S A WINTER WONDERLAND!

[@EuNaQuinta]

saw the marble divider at 11:46 nice. some spoilers :)

[@Ralph2]

That was a lot of work, I know the MMX/Wintergatan supporters are very grateful for your contribution. Thank you! And thanks for the English commentary too.

[@adhem9751]

You rock, Thanks for helping Martin !!! YOU ROCK!!

[@Frack_Black]

Wintergatan sent me. 👍

[@chamikanadeeshan7251]

😜

[@mikecabral1579]

Great fun to follow the links to all of the MMX build participants. Very interesting stuff. Thanks. Nice Job! Martin was so happy which in turn made me happy.

[@RGCbaseace]

Looks like a very wintergatan festive merry Christmas

[@janedoe6181]

Very nice work! I can’t imagine trying to make something like this before the age of computers.

[@buddyclem7328]

It would have involved a lot of jigs. I would have used a plywood jig on a drill press for the marble holder part. It would have been much harder to do.

[@Brodaty]

I'm not surprised. Quality first class. German engineering, I would say: P

[@JopieUTube]

Haha, my first thoughts! Proper German engineering!

[@lulle2007200]

@@JopieUTube are Germans really that good engineers? :thonkang:

[@Andi-ex1js]

yeah...but our accent is just the worst 😁

[@JopieUTube]

@@lulle2007200 Haha yea it's one of those true preconceptions. Audi, VW, bmw, Mercedes, Porsche, Bosch, Continental, etc.

[@Andi-ex1js]

where i work that's just standard...

[@JopieUTube]

The toolpath with the ballnose is so satisfying to watch. Absolutely beautiful.

[@StephenRansom47]

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas... (acrylic flurry) Beautiful.

[@MrSasha3050]

Love the way U do

[@ahealthybigmac]

You are THE most German dude I have ever seen. Very efficient.

[@mikefromwa]

Nice work!

[@manfredschmalbach9023]

Martin sent me, subbed after Your introducing words for the accent already. 🍻

[@AndrewMalkin]

These videos are really relaxing.

[@TomokosEnterprize]

Hi Alex. I just watched Martin put this all together. A tweek or two and they work better than perfect. Well done fella !

[@mdhebert]

It wasn't too long at all. Thanks for this.

[@lucien7904]

your work is awesome!

[@chriswertz1661]

Very nice. Thanks!

[@sbooth6171]

Just watched the marble conveyor in action again. The marble carriers look amazing! Well done Alex!

[@chrisbloodworth72]

That's a hell of a deep voice you got there, I'm jealous. Thanks for the awesome info also.

[@pierreb4122]

hey did you know that you could use a heatgun to do the polishing? it works better than the torch because you can manage the heat correctly and don't risk to burn your freshly cut peace. However, you did a great job! And your polishing is super but you could have save time on the 280 marbles cavity ^^

[@MGMakes]

Fantastic problem solving pal, a great addition to the MMX. 👊👊👊

[@TomHaroldArt]

Very nice work! Not only do the parts do their job perfectly, they look excellent!

[@vizionthing]

Excellent work, including awesome camera position and quality.

[@4IN14094]

These parts are beautiful.😍

[@danljohnston]

Great job....amazing project!

[@monksif]

Really cool seeing your process. Thanks, Alex

[@TS_Mind_Swept]

Well, you’re not the most exciting story teller, but your workmanship is grade a 👌 Well done

[@AlexCNCen]

I will try to improve that!

[@SuperFredAZ]

Nice tools, excellent guidance!

[@calvinthedestroyer]

Those parts came out really good!

[@momagraf]

I just watched the video Marble Conveyor Belt Complete! - Marble Machine X # 78. Wonderful

[@CenterpointConnect]

Alex, Thanks for helping out, we are eager to see your work in action on the MMX!

[@TheKrololo]

Very satisfying to watch

[@DanieleGiorgino]

That flame polish is so nice.

[@jeanlebel5979]

thank you for your awsome work

[@kaibroeking9968]

How to decorate your workshop for Christmas: 1. Snow on the milling machine: ... check!

[@NoDoo_TV]

Cool to see the work being done! And I have to say, well done Alex!

[@Electromasit]

Very nice - and what a great look in the MMX ;-)

[@timothyhall7606]

Bosch blue?.... a true professional!

[@valuepurposemission7517]

great job on the parts ... we dont often get to see a drill thru on materials so thank you for that :) index 10:02

[@two_tier_gary_rumain]

Hi Alex, after the accident with the loose screw on the marble conveyor belt (Martin's video #130), I was wondering why he used the chain links from Tsubaki in Japan. People were telling Martin that the Loctite he was using to reset all the screws would cause a problem by eating away at the acrylic. It occurred to me that you could make these parts with ends that would form the chain links for the conveyor belt. It would then eliminate the need for the screws and the metal part. All he had to use then were the Tsubaki parts that would join the links together. The ends would just need to be milled to work with the sprockets that This Old Tony made.

[@wastedwizard5112]

Bruder muss los mein Maschinenbaustudium schaffen, in der Hoffnung, ich werde mal vergleichbar fähig. Saubere Arbeit.

[@captainkiddoregon]

This is great! I know most of us want to see the Marble Machine X finished but also like me I am sure there are a lot of people who are going to miss this whole journey of Martin designing and building this machine. It is so neat that there are so many people around the globe (go away flat earthers) that are willing and able to help Martin out with this project. I think having some of the critical parts machined/built to a bit higher tolerance than what Martin is able to do himself will help greatly with the success with the Marble Machine X. It will work much more accurately and more importantly will cause less issues and headaches for Martin over the long haul. He can concentrate more on performing rather than worrying if the Machine will last until the next performance. I guess we will have to push Martin to come up with some other big project after this one is done so we have a whole new adventure we can follow. :-). Maybe Marble Machine XX?

[@molitovv]

Excellent work!

[@arnljotseem8794]

Nice job. I watched Wintergatan yesterday, and saw your nicely made parts. Very nice Röhm vice!!

[@sbirdranch]

Flame polishing with MAPP gas works even better. It is hotter and melts the tiny ridges faster leaving less opportunity for the body to bubbly. Thanks for the inspiration on doing more complicated tool path parts. Now I need to learn to model curves.

[@sonichaven]

Apparently it's been over a year since I checked i on the marble machine X project, wow it's gotten far without me noticing. Cool to see the pieces get made and I'm glad for the reminder to catch up with the machine.

[@Andrew_Sparrow]

Snow! :)❄️

[@melolulu6080]

Really good job on your work part of the marble machine. I like your work a lot and the disign of these bloks is completly smooth with his MMX. Congrats!! :)

[@willierants5880]

Watching this was very satisfying, especially when you drilled and tapped the screw holes. Well done sir, I think I'll sub now before they're all gone!

[@fredflintstone8003]

Awesome guys, keep it up

[@HERYZANKO]

Very very nice work, I'm jealous of your cnc...these parts are awesome BUT, you should never polish Pmma with gas flame !!! It will cause what is called "crazing", like micro cracks on surface...I used to work on plastics, all by hand, and the only way to polish pmma, is waterpaper abrasives, you start about 320 grit to finish with 1000 grit with a lot of water to avoid any warm due to friction. For a cristal clear finish, you have to polish it with a lot of caution, it's also the same for threads, tap, milling, turning or cutting, pmma is highly "stressable". At last , if you have no choice, and want a quick effect, you can avoid the polishing by doing it with oxy-acetylen flam..with the littlest blue flam you can have( 3 to 5 millimeters maximum), do quick little passes at about 1 inch above the surface...voilà Please excuse my english, I hope It's clear enough.. Very nice work btw. Cheers from France ;)

[@kniefi]

Oh cool to know! Although I am not the Video-creator, maybe you can explain if this would work. Could one simply put the whole piece in an oven and heat it up altogether? Or would the required heat for the polishing be too high and it would get deformed? On another note, could this also have been manufactured out of polycarbonate, like Makrolon? I have used Makrolon in the past for transparent Housing for a CNC since it is so resistant to damage and has really high impact capabilities. I think it is also used in riot shields for police et cetera

[@HERYZANKO]

@@kniefi Usually, polycarbonate is used for all machine housing, custod glass for racing-cars because it's supposed to be unbreakable...I also offen used PETG for machines housing especially in my valley of "decolletage"it's more oil-resistant, polycarbonate is more for protecting against impact risks ( like riot shield as you said..especially against yellow jackets hahaha...) To be true, I've never ask myself if an oven can be good for finishing the polishing process...I think it won't work, as you said, heat will deform the piece... the heat must be very precise and very quick with oxy-acetylene torch...usually, like you should do for metal, we used to re-heat a thermoformed piece to destress the pmma...of course, it have to stay in a mold not deform. This pieces could be made with other plastics like polycarbonate or PETG.. you can "finish" or glue the edges with methyl-chloride or acetone... its not very good because it just melt the plastic...it's just good for thin edges and not transparent... For beautiful pieces like this, only PMMA will be the good material...when finished, it's more transparent than glass !

[@billkeithchannel]

Would a diamond polished injection mold have too much sink and shrinkage for a part like this?

[@buddyclem7328]

Acrylic screwdriver handles are dipped in acetone to make them shiny, then allowed to drip dry. Wouldn't that be the best technique?

[@xenonram]

"Never polish with a gas flame"... 2 sentences later... "Polish with an oxy-acetylene (aka gas) flam[e]" LOL

[@Gooberpatrol66]

7:41 forbidden parmesan cheese

[@egallegoskrause]

lol

[@TS_Mind_Swept]

And since there’s no place to go

[@dozer1642]

Parmesan is never forbidden

[@TS_Mind_Swept]

Dozer1642 - alright, you let us know how that turns out for you. Gl;hf

[@ygy4301]

I thought those are made with 3D printing before :) But I have to say this is PERFECT.

[@bpark10001]

Acrylic that is flame polished will crack later because of the stresses built up by the thermal shock, unless the parts are promptly annealed afterword! Even if not flame polished, the parts should be annealed to relieve stresses due to machining. It would be better to use polycarbonate rather then acrylic plastic for these parts. It is less prone to cracking.

[@TheRainHarvester]

Brian Park how do you anneal?

[@bpark10001]

@@TheRainHarvester You place parts in oven and heat to at least 180F. You soak parts for a time that is a function of thickness, then cool at slow rate (also function of thickness). There is data on web by manufacturers concerning details, such as in link below on page 22. Tapped holes in acrylic are WAY BAD NEWS. I would drill through and use nylon lock nuts on backside, with washers/pads on both sides of the plastic. The reason for the locknuts is so they need not be tightened firmly to not loosen. Tightening hardware into acrylic is invitation to cracking! plexiglas-shop.com/pdfs/en/311-1%20Machining%20PLEXIGLAS®_en.pdf Long straight parts are best LIGHTLY clamped during the anneal to prevent warping (do test pieces first), but you must allow free airflow over part for the heating/cooling. Polycarbonate is much less picky about processing, and is less prone to crack. It is more flexible and may deform (although loads imposed in Marble Machine are low unless something jams.)

[@REDACT3D]

Good form bud ^.^ keep up the good work!

[@StrangerCoug]

All those acrylic glass fibers remind me of snow after awhile xD

[@AlexCNCen]

It felt just like powder snow. Only it wasn't cold ;)

[@thainarv]

Amazing work as always!! :)

[@williamgreene4834]

Very nice work. Greetings from the U.S.A . All those fixtures and mdf look so familiar to me. I have been CNC Programming and machining prototype parts for more than 30 years now. If your machine had a little more rigidity the finish would be smoother. Try doing a very light finish pass at the end. I program using Mastercam and my machine of choice is a Haas VF-3 although I have a smaller CNC that I sometimes use. I machine a lot of pinball ramp tooling and patterns for the foundry industry. I also make molds for making the impact pads for the steel industry, vacuum form tools for medical packaging and some things for Lockheed Martin that I can't tell you about and many many more things through the years. Keep at it you're doing great. You will never stop learning and it never gets old. Good luck. :)

[@harrytsang1501]

Takes a long time to perfect the finish Martin: (holds drill)

[@DanChampionJr]

Well done!

[@5oclockshadowbanned154]

Tonight on shprokets we shall dance ! Pretty nice programming though with the spherical interpolation.

[@BIGBOYKDOG]

Subbed !!!!!!!!!! I will spread the word .

[@Louisiana1975]

The Marble Conveyor, brought me here.

[@DanBowkley]

The easy way to keep plexi swarf and sawdust from going everywhere: get a bristle brush vacuum cleaner attachment, put a hole through the middle, and mount it so the tool bit sticks out the middle so it's pretty much flush with the bristles. Attach to your Shop Vac or dust collector.

[@JWAM]

Doesn't work on acrylic/plexi. You need to blow air hard so that the plastic won't melt.

[@martijnvv8031]

@@JWAM If the 'plastic' (PMMA) start to melt , then the feed rate/speed is too low (or your tool isn't sharp enough anymore) . With pmma you need to create 'chips' instead of making powder. When the residue looks like powder your feed rate is also too low and your tool is losing sharpness unnecessarily fast.

[@ClaytonwFirth]

Nice work Alex. Could you please do a video about your CNC machine, especially that neat tool changer!

[@buddyclem7328]

He did a video on it, but I don't remember what it was called.

[@AlexCNCen]

I have done that on my German channel. But I will repeat that in English soon!

[@ClaytonwFirth]

Thanks Alex. I wish my German was better, but I’ll try watching that version.

[@vaalrus]

Does this polishing require an actual flame, or can a sufficiently hot heat gun achieve this finish?

[@mti7948]

Ive found the absolute best way to get that "water clear" finish with zero touch-up is a hydrogen and oxygen mix flame. Any gas that will leave a soot, no matter how clean the flame looks, simply will never achieve the perfect quality of hydrogen/oxygen. Yes, a 3 to 5 step sand-paper and final buffing will get it nice but very labor intensive on machined contours like these parts are shaped. Literally one quick pass (it does take a little practice) and the parts would be perfect. Id say with a correct flame setting - those parts would take less than 20 seconds each to complete. Im very impressed with Alex's capabilities and attention to detail - a true craftsman and expert videographer as well.

[@vaalrus]

@@mti7948 Weirdly, I have a couple of small hydrogen canisters on my welding bench… I can’t remember why, but I have them. That soot issue is why I’ve always been weirded out by hand-held torches being used in the kitchen… I can’t not think of it spoiling the flavour.

[@MakerTim]

tip for recording ya screen OBS - free software, not heavy for your pc and if your camera supports webcam mode, you could record the mixin screens at record stage so it doesnt need editing nice vid anyways :)

[@perfectsoulmates2023]

Hallo ! Is there a way to reuse all the acrylic shavings? Like maybe heat them all together? Also, do you use Novus polishing for scratches and renewal on your acrylic pieces? Or something more effective? Thank you 🇩🇪

[@ErvinKrauss]

Chemical solvent vapor polishing might be another option to consider.

[@KwongKan]

duuuuuuude, you've got a new sub

[@Toonces311]

i wonder if with more and more use and contact with the metal marbles if they will continue to polish up.

[@maxamillionschnell]

I think flame polishing will increase the chance of crazing or cracking in the future? I wonder if it has any effect on long term durability of the part. Nice video.

[@lolligelore2350]

Hi Alex Small Tipp, use your cnc machine for threads

[@telelaci2]

Very nice technics and video quality is good too. Thanks. I wish I knew what was that machine at the end. It looks like an expensive 8 bit binary random number generator, but you forgot to read the bits with some kind of camera.

[@AlexCNCen]

Look here ;) kzbin.info/www/bejne/kGjKZo2lmalqpMk

[@whiteweazel21]

Really cool and interesting cnc machine, guessing that's custom. Wouldn't it be a lot easier to clean if you had a dust shoe on it? Also, why does the machined acrylic have some many ribs/ridges on it? Is that due to backlash/rigidity or something like that? Thanks!

[@AlexCNCen]

A dust shoe would have been a great thing here. But normally I'm only machining aluminium and steel. There I can't really use a dust shoe. The cutting edge of the endmill was a little bit damaged. That's where the ribs come from. Best Alex

[@pipetman4645]

Ouf I subscribed keep on goin 😎👊👊🤟

[@jameswyatt1304]

Would doing an initial pass with flame and then finishing-up with the Dremel work, perhaps?

[@TheGranty7]

I am a machinist myself and your set up looks well..I like the look of the spindle..quick release..the bed looks great too..May I ask what type of machine that is..I am looking to transform my garage into something you have there and I can't choose a machine ..my budget is around £5000.Yours seems like a solid wee thing and the parts are A1..cheers anyway

[@AlexCNCen]

The milling machine is self build. I have planned a video where I show it in detail here on the English channel. There is already a German version available on my other channel (Alex CNC)

[@berendlucasvanderweide]

Nicely done, Nice work!. For cam-perfection; the spheres; the machine would have had a smoother motion when you made a fully round sphere, (third opp in the vice) and worked your way from there (it would require less Z-movement, which would have resulted in a smoother motion, and perhaps a better finish on the sphere). When working in Fusion, you could make 1 full sphere in model, go back to cam, create the cam for that 1 sphere and use lineair pattern to duplicate to the number of required spheres. With moulded acrylic sheet you can go rather aggressive with feeds and speeds, as well with tapping, the extruded plate has a tendency to stick and melt. (not really suited for CNC machining) The stuff you're using seems to the proper type.

[@jonwatte4293]

That vise looks really nice! Almost overkill for a router frame/spindle :-)

[@AlexCNCen]

Got that extremely cheap. Its really a pleasure to work with!

[@lucasmoers]

Really beatifull work! I work with a router machine too, but not even close stable as your machine. But a good machine. I'm not sure if you have done this but when I work with acrylic I add at the end of the work a clearing pass. The tool must be in the end of the cutting hight. A side cut around 0,1 mm from the part. You need to use all the body of the tool. And as fast as good. You made the machine or you bought it? What software you used to make the CNC code? It looks very optmized and impressive.

[@AlexCNCen]

I did a finishing pass (6:57). But it was "hidden" a little bit with the fast forward. The machine is self designed and build. Controller is an Ethernet smoothstepper and Mach3.

[@RSOTOACEBAL98]

Really nice! What polish paste are you using?

[@FinneyDale]

Nice video. What brand of torch are you using?

[@rvaldesr1]

Looks great! What machine, brand bits and size are you using?

[@menow.]

@1:45 The reason your upper MDF plate is lifting when you screw it down, is the lack of pre-drilling the upper plate. This also will leave a bump of material between the two plates which keeps them from being truly flat against each other.

[@buddyclem7328]

Acrylic screwdriver handles are dipped in acetone to make them shiny, then allowed to drip dry. Would that technique work on parts of this complexity? Of course, then what do you do with the used acetone?

[@AlexCNCen]

Only heard about polishing with acetone fumes. I think dipping it in acetone will round over all edges quite a lot.

[@buddyclem7328]

@@AlexCNCen Good point. I saw that on a video from the TV show How It's Made. If I can find it, I will post a link. Thanks for teaching me about flame polishing. Great video as always Alex!

[@buddyclem7328]

@@AlexCNCen Here it is! The handle dipping happens after a short explanation at 1:11. kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3mQm52sZ9SVrqc

[@ulysses895]

Can you recomend a cnc that can cut aluminum for around $1000?

[@movarounnahr]

Tell me please what was made by using milling machine? I see useless device in the end of video. So many resources and materials were spent for what? May be I don't understand what is it?

[@roberto137]

Cool..you're using Evonik's material...they are really high quality.