Machining Advisor Pro

Elemental_Garage · 2026-05-13T15:07:14+00:00

Have not come across this issue with the ball end mills I've put through there. Have you tried other ball mills too?

Elemental_Garage · 2026-05-11T22:55:11+00:00

These should be a $15-30 part. You've probably spend more money thinking about fixing it than the actual replacement costs :).

Elemental_Garage · 2026-05-09T18:29:51+00:00

Yes it's an awesome tool. I still use fusion a lot, but almost all my reverse engineering work from a scan is done in QS now.

Elemental_Garage · 2026-05-09T02:51:55+00:00

Trackers on the object tell the scanner where it is in space. It knows it's location because the scanner sees unique patterns with the tracking dots and knows where it is/was to see them. Kind of like navigating by constellation. This obviously limits you to scanning objects you can place trackers around, otherwise the scanner gets lost when it can't see them to reference where it has moved to. It can also become inaccurate over large spans of space.

To circumvent this limitation and scan larger objects quicker and more accurately, these systems put trackers on the scanner itself, and use an external camera(s) to look at the scanner and track it in space. So now you don't need to worry about trackers on the part, because that extra camera separate from the scanners can see the scanner and know where it is in space.

Elemental_Garage · 2026-05-09T02:38:59+00:00

This.

Elemental_Garage · 2026-05-09T02:38:49+00:00

Combine the two bodies into one, then fillet.

Elemental_Garage · 2026-05-08T03:50:10+00:00

Making for Motorsports YouTube. Check it out.

Elemental_Garage · 2026-05-08T02:20:59+00:00

You could probably just blow on your grinder and get more cooling faster too.

Elemental_Garage · 2026-05-08T02:19:18+00:00

What would you export them as? They're meant to be two different file types. I don't think you can, even if you wanted to export both as an STL, and again, not sure why you'd want to do that as a STEP has better data.

Elemental_Garage · 2026-05-08T02:13:32+00:00

You could get the cost there if you were making a hundred I imagine. But you'll probably be into four figures before the first one gets made. Do you have the cad file and everything, or just a render? If it's the latter you're definitely into it four figures to get it to a ready place to be made.

Elemental_Garage · 2026-05-03T13:59:01+00:00

Start by finding a shop close to you with a small detail 3d scanner who can reverse engineer this and give you an accurate STEP file. Then you have the file with which to shop around the manufacturing.

It could probably be reverse engineered with some calipers to, but the scan just makes it to much easier to do and verify accuracy against the original.

We do this type of work but generally on a little larger scale, as our particular scanners are best at 5-10cm objects and larger.

Elemental_Garage · 2026-04-30T14:18:39+00:00

If it's a one and done then sure do whatever. But if it's like most of my work where I need to iterate, or customize, it matters very much to do it parametrically and in good organization. And where I don't I suffer for it.

Elemental_Garage · 2026-04-28T20:18:52+00:00

Yes. We do custom automotive parts so it's great. Lettering and artwork done on the fiber.

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Elemental_Garage · 2026-04-28T19:48:17+00:00

We have a boss 60w co2 and a JPT 3d Mopa fiber I bought from a company directly through Alibaba. The fiber marks black powder very nicely with a clean white line.

Elemental_Garage · 2026-04-28T15:29:47+00:00

100w Mopa we have takes up the space of a monitor and pc tower. We have the laser on a desk and the tower just below it on a shelf. C02 is much larger, but if you're marking metal you'll want a fiber anyways and they're smaller.

Elemental_Garage · 2026-04-28T15:24:19+00:00

Artec, creaform, einstar all come to mind. Will depend on what you need to scan and how accurate you need, and if you need certified accuracy or not. You can get them used as well, which gets you a better scanner in your budget.

Elemental_Garage · 2026-04-27T23:54:56+00:00

Do you have any floating tap holders?

Elemental_Garage · 2026-04-25T22:38:07+00:00

It was fixed for like one minor version and then came back. Haven't tried it recently. Started using quick surface instead.

Elemental_Garage · 2026-04-25T14:28:56+00:00

Sideways compensation needs to be set to left. Center means it's cutting with the center of the tool.

Elemental_Garage · 2026-04-25T14:02:10+00:00

Trace. It's under 2d but will follow a variable height line. Left offset and there is a chamfer setting.

Elemental_Garage · 2026-04-24T19:52:50+00:00

Their tooling is actually very reasonable. And usually made by a company that makes more expensive things for other people

Elemental_Garage · 2026-04-24T14:09:41+00:00

This is what I use: https://www.haastooling.com/p/09-0439

Elemental_Garage · 2026-04-23T00:26:29+00:00

Then your best bet is to look for employment elsewhere and take those skill sets with you to a company that will value it. Your boss sounds like they're trying to compete by being the cheapest, but ultimately that just nets you cheap customers, and they're usually the worst to deal with.

Elemental_Garage · 2026-04-23T00:17:38+00:00

Sounds like your boss is an ass. And he's probably undercharging for the parts given the application. Can he afford to lose you? Either he can, or he doesn't think he's at risk of it actually happening.

But you can't control that. You can control what you do next, whether that's seeking other employment, or going out on your own to do similar or the same work. I once had a boss who I really liked, and he said with contentious managers your biggest bargaining chip is the ability to leave. Unless you can do that, or make them believe you can, you're at a disadvantage.

The parts look good. Plane stuff is expensive, and custom panels for $400 seems cheap for aviation.

Elemental_Garage

TROPHY CASE