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Laser cutting line modification to Femi NG120ABS bandsaw

Quick and Easy Cutting Set Up

I recently acquired a Femi NG120ABS bandsaw which you might think seems a bit strange given how much I talk on this site about my Burgess BK3 bandsaw.   I regard them as two different animals.  

The Femi has replaced my Kennedy for cutting stock ready for milling.  The Femi auto feed facility means it can be left unattended while I get on with other things.  

The BK3 upgraded with my modified guide assemblies is a more precise ‘cutting to a line’ device with the benefit of a wide throat for cutting sheet stock. 

I am impressed by the Femi and by its performance.   Speed of cut is excellent and build quality is very good.   The vice action clamps well and is very rigid.

The one frustration with the Femi has been when loading material ready for cutting. You have to iteratively and repeatedly move the stock in the vice to match where you want the blade to be cut.  This is easier with long pieces of stock but when you have a heavy short chuck of metal block with not much left between the jaws it becomes a juggling act.  Likewise when cutting off line such as mitres.  These situations mean constantly raising and lowering the cutting arm to check you have it in the right place.

I have created a battery powered laser line module that mounts on the Femi blade guide and which will show where the blade will cut.   It clearly isn’t for everyone’s taste but it makes life just a bit more simple !  As Jimmy Diresta says … ‘I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it’.

femi bandsaw laser alignment guide
Image showing the laser alignment guide mounted on the Femi NG120ABS bandsaw

Here is a pdf file containing the write up giving details.

Femi Laser Module Mk 2

Due to demand here are the Gerber and STEP files for the project

Femi_files and notes

Because of the interest shown, if there is sufficient demand I could arrange for some PCBs to be manufactured offshore.  Let me know via the email in the footer.

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Update notes on modifications to the Devon Sea Clock

Finally Documented my Devon Sea Clock modifications

Following on from a number of enquiries I have updated my notes on the modifications I made to my Devon Sea Clock.   This includes creation of a new set of pallets and also set up notes.  A link is provided to download the details.

devon sea clock notes on modifications
My Devon Sea Clock as featured in these notes

I hope you find this useful and it allows a few more clocks to begin ticking reliably. 

The link will download a ZIP file with the written notes and 2D drawings of the components.

Sea Clock Notes May 2021

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Milling vice stop for non grooved vice jaws

Another Job Ticked Off

There are a number of lower cost CNC milling vices (vises) available on the market that do not have jaw geometry with grooves for tooling fixtures and vice stops.   Admittedly their jaws could be machined to add this facility but many of these vices have hardened jaws which presents more of a problem.

My CNC vice came from the UK supplier ARCeurotrade and is from their ARC Versatile SG Iron Milling Vices range.   I have the 100mm wide jaw version and the jaws are  just over 11mm (7/16″) thick.

I have a simple plate that acts as a stop  that is flush with the end of the jaws.  This makes use of existing holes in the vice body but often I need to have a stop internal to the jaw footprint.  Juggling then results with all manner of Heath Robinson solutions.

My design is simple and clamps onto the thickness of the jaws.   

There are two M3 clamping screws and there is enough adjustment on these to allow a parallel to also be gripped should it be needed.

CNC vice stop showing clamping onto the vice jaw and also when used with a parallel
CNC vice stop showing clamping onto the vice jaw and also when used with a parallel

I allowed for two positions for the stop rod and the rod is held with a grub screw in each.   There is a central burr clearance neck on the rod so the grub screw does not damage the surface of the rod and make removal difficult.  Clearly the rod could be simplified to have just a single fixed position.

The rod can have rounded ends or it can have ball bearings glued into a cavity on each end of the rod.   The ball bearings would give a higher resilience to damage.

So nothing really complicated or rocket science with just an hour or so of workshop pleasure.   The size can be adjusted to suit your vice jaws and the material can be whatever is in the junk box.

Here is a link to the 2D drawings that were created in Fusion 360.

CNC vice stop Drawing v3

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Kant Clamp and Engineering Drawings in Fusion 360

Bondie Hacks is a YouTube site that I have on my YouTube listing and a recent video featured Quinn building a Kant clamp from a kit.   Needing some lockdown distraction I decided that I would attempt to build a clamp from scratch.   Searching on Google revealed a plethora of drawings and from these I distilled a plan of action.

I created a Fusion 360 assembly for my hybrid version. The clamp was made with 3mm steel side plates and the other fittings from various diameters of silver steel.   From the Fusion drawings I created two CAM programs to profile the side plates and the other fittings were all straightforward lathe work with the exception of the gripping blocks.  I made these in aluminium which I ran freehand on my manual mill.   If the clamp is to be used for welding then it is traditional to make the clamps and the screw from copper.

I opted to fasten the side plates with screws and washers but the pillars could have been peened in place.   This would have made replacement of the gripping jaws difficult however so screws seemed like a better option. 

The result turned out very well and I was pleased that I had made the effort.

Stylised Fusion 360 model of my Kant clamp
Stylised Fusion 360 model of my Kant clamp

I have produced engineering drawings on Fusion previously but all were a bit ad hoc.   Fusion is capable of automating the process of creating drawings for each component but I had never got to grips with it.   Having created the clamp I decided it was a good excuse to dig deeper into the drawing process.

There are various YouTube videos on creating Fusion engineering drawings but the one that helped the most was by Bryce at Autodesk.   The key to the automation process is creating Templates.   This is really worth watching if you are debating moving up a level with the quality of your engineering drawings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av7rFL-opVo&ab_channel=AutodeskFusion360

The video goes into detail on how to create a customised set of drawing sheet blanks with customised title blocks.   Having watched this a couple of times the mists began to clear. 

The result of my labours is the complete drawing set for my Kant clamp in the following pdf file.   Feel free to download and build your own.

Kant Clamp Structure Drawing v9

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Converting a vernier to a height gauge using 3D printed parts.

Maybe not the full shilling but functional

This concept was passed to me from a friend and is based on a design published by Ralph Patterson in 2007.   The idea was to make a mounting block and extension arm in metal to allow a vernier to ‘stand up’ and be used vertically.   My contact sent me the drawings.  I don’t seem able to find any link to this or other files by Mr Patterson.

Entering the design into Fusion 360 did not take very long which indicates how well it was drawn originally by Mr Patterson.   There was one major modification however.   The original design was made from metal but our spin on it was to use 3D printed parts.   The base would therefore not have any really mass to keep it stable.   My friend suggested we added ballast in the form of lead shot into a cavity in the base.   I reduced the height of the base print by 3mm to allow an aluminium plate to be fitted to the bottom and added a honeycomb of holes into the base.   Once printed the honeycomb is filled with lead and the base screwed in place.   Conveniently and by fluke rather than design, the honeycomb holes will hold two slightly squashed 0.22″ air gun pellets.  This makes the base feel somewhat more solid on a surface plate.

The slot in the top of the base that takes the vernier is a tight fit on two of my verniers and the third one won’t fit so care is needed in choosing the right vernier for the job.   That aside it works very well for a quick and dirty measurements.

If anyone would like the STL files then let me know on the blog email or post a comment.

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