[draketh]

Hi everyone, I wanted to have a thread to catalog my trials and tribulations as a "New" CNC hobbyist. My background consists of roughly 10 years in the IT industry so I am confident I will be able to pick up on the Software side of the CNC world. I have already been playing with many different applications for the process of CAD > CAM > GCode Interpreter (Mach3 for me).

In my personal life, I also have a very strong vehicular hobby that covers welding, fabrication, basic machining knowledge, etc. This is my main hobby and project, built with blood sweat and tears:



I am planning to pull the trigger on the X6-1500GT USB CNC machine from Carving-CNC shortly, which can be seen here:

CNC X6-1500GT-USB (3-Axes-Version) router engraver drilling and milling machine - carving-cnc.com

On another hobbyist level, I have been building "Box Mods" for Electronic Cigarettes for some time, and would like to ease the time and pain it takes me modify the premade Die-Cast Aluminum project boxes I use. These come as a bare box, and I have a need to cut holes, windows, ports, etc for the screen, buttons, USB charging ports, top connection, etc. Here is a finished one, and recreating this via my CNC machine with less time and effort is the goal:








One my skills improve, I hope to be able to add additional "features" and finishing touches to these boxes, such as windows with beveled lips for a screen insert, milling pieces to hold down the electrical components internally, recessed buttons etc.

[draketh]

I did it. Everything is ordered. Here goes nothing. I am excited and nervous all at the same time. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

If anyone would be willing to work with me, or at least provide help and advice as I start getting into CNC it would be extremely helpful and I would be forever grateful.