Welding Course
Despite being laid low with flu since New Year I’ve attended two of the evening welding classes much to the contrary advice from my wife. With hindsight she was right – I should not have gone the first night such was my state of health.
The focus so far has been on MIG welding and I am slowly getting the feel of things. Too many variables to start with what with power, angle of attack, closeness to the job and of course wire feed rate.
How anyone did welding without the modern auto dimming helmets astonishes me. They are amazing.
Not much else to report given the state of health but clearly I have now started to creep back into the workshop so health and state of mind must be improving. Made a note in the diary to get a Flu Jab next year.
FlatCAM
Anyway more interesting stuff – my friend has asked if I can mill a prototype printed circuit board on the Tormach for him. My initial thoughts were to bring the design into Fusion and do the CAM there. However a conversation with a friend in Namibia lead me to FlatCAM which is a wonderful little program. It takes the Gerber files from the PCB design package and converts them to GCode. It is simple to use and produces nice code listings. It gives you options to add your own GCode initialisation strings. There are a few YouTube videos out there if you are interested.
More results to report when we have milled some copper.
Similar or related subjects : –
- Parting Off on the Lathe
- Workshop storage update using Spacemaster 5L boxes
- Plastic heat sealer – a useful workshop asset
- How to square up a scrap piece of stock ready for machining
- Deburring techniques in the home workshop
- 3D printed Dremel based TIG Tungsten Grinder
- First screw threads cut using Clough42 electronic leadscrew
- 3D Printed ESAB Warrior Tech Helmet Hinge Latch Plate
- Machining a job that is outside a milling machine’s table travel using Fusion 360
- Stevenson Collet Block and the Angle of Dangle
