Machining Aluminum Isogrid Drink Coasters

[@WindRidgeWoodCrafts]

Great project, Winston, as always. I've been out of the aerospace field for 20 years now, but it's still my favorite line of work. My first exposure to CNCs was watching MK-46 torpedo and ASROC (anti-sub rockets) casings and components being milled on Cincinnati Milacron machines at a defense contractor facility. No surprise that 35 years later I started doing a little CNC work of my own.

[@BPSspace]

These are gorgeous! Great work Winston!

[@ryandick7264]

Joe always out there with great taste!

[@BrokenBuildings]

Everybody asks what full-flow stage combustion is, but nobody asks how full-flow stage combustion is 😞😞

[@smartereveryday]

Thanks for sending me a couple!

[@Dallasjcutler]

I will ALWAYS thumbs up the use of isogrids

[@RoseKindred]

Glad to see a new video! I was still never able to get a CNC after so long, but I love your content. These coasters look so nice. F360 still is beyond my grasp but it is interesting picking up tidbits here and there. The machining marks in the pockets add to the finished look in the light reflection.

[@triggerwizard]

Good to hear from you Winston!

[@JohnColgan.]

Nice work as always. I definitely miss seeing your videos, your encyclopedic engineering knowledge is unmatched. I enjoy hearing your thought processes as to what can be done, what works best & how you set about the whole process. Looking forward to more

[@OddsandEndsMachining]

It’s been a while. . . Well worth it for the informative and well presented video.

[@thanemakes5377]

Glad to have you back Winston! Like the project… love the pooch!

[@BikiniDuckCreations]

My dude! I have to give you credit. I had not though of, nor have seen anywhere else; making 3D printed guides for aligning just the op1 stock. Lots of people talk about making 3d printed soft jaws, fixtures, and other stock holders. Great idea of using "disposable" 3d printed guides to line up stock. On this simple plate project, I would have just gone with drilled holes and pins. But the idea of using 3d printed guides that are made using in stock generation in fusion360 sounds like an awesome solution to a bunch of hard to make parts.

[@bikefarmtaiwan1800]

Super work- we have all missed your videos !!

[@vchernesky]

Great to see the process of making these! Thank you again for the early prototype, it gets used daily with fond memories!

[@MikesTropicalTech]

Welcome back! Great project and I'm sure Destin and Tory will appreciate the coasters.

[@imqqmi]

Nice workholding and aligning! As for improved surface finish, I agree other finishing endmills will help. But you can get better finish even with a single flute end mills, use a higher rpm and slower velocity feedrate. More flutes will allow you to up the feedrate, but also requires a stiffer machine as the side load increases as well and small and long end mills deflect more. More flutes also gum up quicker so cutting fluid becomes more necessary. Also, if you haven't already, invest in some AAA quality precision collets, it really helps and reduces noise and chattering as well. And replace collets as they can wear out. Use shorter fluted end mills and don't let them stick out so far out of the collet. These shallow cuts don't need long flutes.

[@JbotMischief]

Enjoyable as always Winston 🙂. I'm always happy when I see that you have posted something new.

[@forloop7713]

Cool video. The part where they tour the giant CNC machine stuck with me as well

[@MatthewSimm]

It's good to see you back Winston! I've become a fan of the channel in your absence haha 😄

[@Hawk013]

This is a great application for a vacuum fixture. By machining the bottom pockets first, you can use them to line up with bosses on the fixture to positively lock the part in position in X and Y. Then the vacuum only needs to resist the lifting force of the cutter. Having a large flat part and a small cutter is rather ideal. Made thousands of thin flat parts that way.

[@WinstonMakes]

It actually requires a sort of a hybrid approach, since the outer wall profile needs to be machined. At some point (either op 1, or 2) you'll need to let the part sit on it's own with no lateral support.

[@Hawk013]

@@WinstonMakes That's the whole reason you have bosses for the bottom pockets to lock into. It leaves the entire perimiter exposed for machining. You face the bottom, machine the pockets, then use those pockets as locating features. THen you can machine the entire top and perimiter in one setup. If you really want you can even get the bottom side deburring by using a bottom chamfer cutter.

[@colemanerik]

Happy to see a new video! Love how you explain things and even point out your mistakes. Now if only work would let me get a true cnc instead of the Amazon $100 one I got to show that we could use one. They just expect everything to be dirt cheap for some reason.

[@TotallyGlitch]

Anyway we can backorder a couple of these coasters, want to support the work you do.

[@WinstonMakes]

Appreciate it, I should have more available next week once I get more cork cut out.

[@nicklebeezy]

Another extremely well crafted, informative, entertaining video. Thank you!

[@jakobhalskov]

Great inspiration and very pleasant to watch! I will soon cut the first metal chips on my newly acquired stepcraft CNC, and you got so many good tricks for me :) Best wishes from Denmark

[@ewildgoose]

Try using a very large radius for the filets as well. At about 8mm the whole design kind of inverts... The aesthetic look changes substantially and it's more like a flower than isogrid! Quite pleasing to the eye! (But might fail the conduction specification...) 👍

[@grumpywoodchucker]

Those things are awesome. So fun to watch. Keep up the great work and videos!

[@makeorbreakshop]

Oh man, thin extrude is awesome!

[@zoppp621]

nice work! love your design approach and humor

[@MakeSomething]

stunning!

[@brandonb6164]

Please make more!

[@berendmichielsen9110]

Looks awesome! Could you share the feeds and speeds you used for those 2D adaptives on the Nomad 3?

[@YCM30cnc]

Great stuff Winston! Exceptional content, entertainment & videography. Didn’t know about the thin extrude feature, will try that in the am 😎😎👍👍….Goethe that satellite guy and datron guy on another DFX podcast 😂😂👍👍.

[@roccovalotta9490]

Any chance of making the fusion file availble? More curious about the toolpaths strategies than anything else (Yes I know I would have to adjust for my cnc)

[@legionjames1822]

They need an aerospace grade finish. I would like to suggest anodizing. Light shiny gun metal or perhaps a dark shiny blue. Otherwise very cool.

[@makingtolearn]

Wonderful video -gave me lots of great ideas!

[@Double0Civic]

Great video! What bit and recipe did you use for the chamfers?

[@Lion_McLionhead]

The lion kingdom went crazy for isogrids. The problem is cleaning them. Commercial products are smooth for cleaning.

[@kylewarren69]

At this point I'm not sure what you like more, machining or coasters? Whens the datron content coming...I need it.

[@LevelUpYourFandom]

woah! what is that chip clearing fan and where can i get one??

[@RichardCournoyer]

I'm really impressed; lots of thought and research went into these fantastic space coasters. A big thumbs up. Now let's talk about how the water will affect the aluminum long range.... Have you tried putting them in a dishwasher? I'd like to see an IG follow-up after a good wash.

[@WinstonMakes]

I actually tucked these in with a batch of parts at work going to anodizing, so I think they'd hold up really well. But the cork on the bottom isn't going to hold up as well. Best way to clean these I've found is to just rinse it in the sink, and use a tooth brush to scrub the nooks and crannies.

[@stuartgray5877]

They look like the Beryllium mirrors for JWST that my company made for NASA.

[@evileyemcgaming]

I wonder if you could take aluminum can to crush them up into powder and make your own filament and then like extrude it like a 3D printer

[@B-Rex]

Holy crap can you teach me? Haha you are very well versed in the whole process. Where would on even start with with learning the do’s and don’ts of cnc machining. Also will you be making any more of these coasters? I’d love to grab some. Or if you can make the stl/cad files available I’d love to 3D print and machine some myself!

[@brandonjacobs6307]

Made similar coasters just a month ago out of wood. 👍

[@tornadokat]

I thought for sure the cork would be a Carbide 3D pattern! Maybe in v2?

[@zakariakhamees]

Love your content bro

[@Batendor]

Nice work Would you say that a Nomad 3 is still more accurate than the latest Shapeoko models? For small projects like these or detailed coins?

[@WinstonMakes]

The Shapeoko 4 and pro are both rigid enough that I'd happily cut aluminum with them, but they don't have the same absolute positional accuracy as they use belts. The Shapeoko HDM would be comparable though as it uses ball screws.

[@michaelmalolepszy9476]

Hey, cool video as allways. What is this toolfan? Can you gice me a link to it?

[@henrymach]

Do you have an STL for this tooltip fan?

[@toddmolloy311]

Hey Winston in the new shapeoko 5 that im giveing a good long stare at lately I noticed a feature. You mentioned ATC in your video here and want to know if that indeed is the direction of the shapeoko 5? 👀

[@WinstonMakes]

We aren't ruling it out, and would in fact love to, but that is not in the cards anytime soon.

[@jmdowdy]

Another great video. Are you still at Carbide 3D? Haven’t seen you in one of their videos in a while. Your videos were much more genuine and interesting than Kevin’s.

[@subuktageenfarooqi5712]

chip fan? do elaborate.

[@danielrego3376]

Hey Winston! Just wondering where the "chip fan" (mentioned at 13:16) was purchased from?

[@WinstonMakes]

It's included with the Nomad, I'm not sure of a place that sells them off the shelf though.

[@CaptLinuxfan]

Are the coasters themselves for sale anywhere? Those things are sick

[@WinstonMakes]

First batch sold out, hoping to have a few more next week once I get more cork cut.

[@markissboi3583]

i use moon crater coasters made out of clay

[@ersdds1]

Would you be able to increase your feed rate and minimize chatter if you decreased your tool stick out? I think you were milling less than 5mm pockets and the stick out appeared to be 4 or 5 times that?..thanks

[@sjc1412]

What end mill do you use for the chamfer?

[@tugyjones6690]

I was wondering, if you didn’t have a 3d printer could you have put 2 holes on the plate for each coaster to put dowels into so you can set the part them pull them out?

[@WinstonMakes]

Yes but you'd need at least 3 dowel pins per coaster to fully constrain it.

[@petervillano3484]

Can I have your blessing to publish a free 3d printable model? I don't think it would compete with the beauty of raw machined aluminum

[@WinstonMakes]

Go for it! Isogrids are for everyone to enjoy.

[@scorninpc]

Where can i find? i'd love to print that

[@MacLeodGolf]

Do you think they make a chip fan that would work on the Makita router for the Shapeoko?

[@WinstonMakes]

I've never seen one for the Makita style collet, only on ER-11. But some people have 3D printed them, and if you use a tough filament don't crank it up to 30k RPM it should last for awhile.

[@No1sonuk]

I machined a fan for 1/8" shank bit out of an HDPE kitchen cutting board. It only has the bottom of the "blades" angled as I machined it single-sided, bottom-up, but it still works well. It may even be stronger because of that method.

[@MacLeodGolf]

@@WinstonMakes Well I know what my next 3D print will be :). I have my Shapeoko3 enclosed, so even if the fan shatters it will be safe.

[@ReplicateReality]

I wanna know what the chainsaw of cnc is

[@DanielH]

Months?

[@TheBlueOne1231]

shout out to sessa mfg for the laser cutting snippet lol

[@MrTapanes]

Great vid, as always. Do you have any more info on that tool caddy/cart thing? Also, I'm sorry to tell you this, but I think your dog might be on recreational marijuana.

[@WinstonMakes]

Haha, the huskies only get calming treats before a bath. I was recording that part pretty late so Lani was pretty sleepy already. The tool cart in my garage was sort of born out of necessity when I first moved to LA, I didn't have much room on the walls, but I wanted to keep common tools and clamps readily available. It's structurally similar to some smaller lumber/material carts, but on one side I bolted on two Wall Control panels, and tacked on a bunch of cheap amazon hooks and baskets.

[@jobin8818]

You remember you had a KZbin channel now???

[@WinstonMakes]

The dog ate my password.

[@No1sonuk]

@@WinstonMakes 🤣Gorgeous animal, though.

[@milostomic5692]

Nice joke 5:31

[@rbdesignsnh]

sendcutsend is awesome!

[@nathansmith7153]

This is the problem with subtractive - aluminum on the floor.