{"id":39888,"date":"2022-04-28T11:14:37","date_gmt":"2022-04-28T18:14:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=39888"},"modified":"2022-04-28T11:15:32","modified_gmt":"2022-04-28T18:15:32","slug":"how-to-cut-eva-foam-on-a-cnc-router","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/how-to-cut-eva-foam-on-a-cnc-router\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Cut EVA Foam on a CNC Router"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you entered a tip on this\u00a0Maker Update<\/a>\u00a0video for a chance to win one of 5 copies of\u00a0Tips and Tales from the Workshop, Vol 2<\/a>\u00a0or a grand prize of\u00a0Vol. 1<\/a>, Vol. 2, and a\u00a0Maker\u2019s Notebook gift box<\/a>? I\u2019ll be announcing the winners in next week\u2019s newsletter.<\/p>\n

How to Cut EVA Foam on a CNC Router<\/strong>
\n\"cnc-router\"
\nCan you successful cut\u00a0EVA foam<\/a>\u00a0on a CNC machine? That\u2019s the question\u00a0they wanted to answer<\/a>\u00a0at\u00a0Carbide 3D<\/em>. The answer is, yes, yes you can. There are a few issues to consider, like how to clamp your workpiece to the table (use not-too-aggressive double-sided tape) and what end mill to use (you can get away with a standard mill, but one specialized for use on plastic and foam works best). It\u2019s also recommended that you use a shop vac during cutting as strings of the foam tend to wrap around the mill. And, use conventional cutting, not climb cutting. With these few considerations, you can achieve a reasonable fit and finish to EVA foam cut on a router.<\/p>\n

Add “Mouse Ears” to Your 3D Print to Avoid Warping and popping off the build plate<\/strong>
\n\"mouse-ears\"
\nOn\u00a0Make:<\/em>,\u00a0Caleb Kraft<\/strong>\u00a0shares a\u00a0simple and fast trick<\/a>\u00a0for when you have adhesion problems with some areas of a 3D print. You can add little \u201cmouse ears\u201d to the print which increase the surface area for better bed adhesion. These thin little disks of plastic can then be snapped off when you\u2019re done.<\/p>\n

Testing Circular Saws<\/strong>
\n\"circularsaws\"
\nOn the\u00a0latest\u00a0Project Farm<\/em>\u00a0video<\/a>,\u00a0Todd<\/strong>\u00a0tests out battery-powered circular saws. The brands tested were FLEX, Milwaukee, Bosch, Makita, DeWalt, Kobalt, WORX, Ryobi One+ HP, Craftsman, and Ridgid. The saws were tested for cutting speed, max torque, blade speed, saw vibration, the responsiveness of the electronics, blade brake (blade stopping speed), RPM, weight, and more. So, which ones performed best? Well, maybe not surprising, the\u00a0Flex<\/a>\u00a0($300 at Lowe\u2019s) and the\u00a0Milwaukee<\/a>\u00a0(at $275). But, the\u00a0Craftsman<\/a>\u00a0(at only $70) also performed surprisingly well.<\/p>\n

Tuning Up a Cheap Lathe Chuck<\/strong>
\n\"lathechuck\"
\nA good, precision-made lathe chuck can be very expensive. You can save some real money by buying an import chuck, but as with most things, you get what you pay for. In this\u00a0BlondiHacks video<\/a>,\u00a0Quinn<\/strong>\u00a0runs through what you can do to clean and optimize a new, cheap chuck (or an old used one that might need some loving care). This mainly involves taking the chuck apart, cleaning out the machining dust, de-burring it (something they skip in cheap chuck manufacture), and giving it a good oiling. Someone in the video comments had a great tip. After you reassemble a freshly-oiled chuck, it is going to spatter oil the first time you spin it up. This person recommends affixing a paper bag over the chuck and running it at high speed to catch the excess oil.<\/p>\n

A Web App for Creating Project Boxes<\/strong>
\n\"project-boxes\"<\/p>\n

Via\u00a0Bob Clagett\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0I Like to Make Stuff<\/em><\/a>\u00a0comes this handy resource.\u00a0MakerCase<\/a>\u00a0is a free web app that allows you to design boxes and project cases that can then be laser or CNC cut. You enter your desired box dimensions and material thickness, and MakerCase automatically generates a three-dimensional model of the box that can be freely rotated. Once you\u2019re satisfied with your design, MakerCase turns the model into an SVG or DXF file that can be sent to a laser cutter or CNC router.<\/div>\n

Palate-Cleanser Projects<\/strong>
\n\"palate-cleanser\"
\nOn a\u00a0recent Black Magic Craft<\/a>, game crafter\u00a0Jeremy Pillipow<\/strong>\u00a0shared an idea that\u2019s worth repeating. Jeremy is in the middle of a huge effort to create his own roleplaying game. This project is consuming most of his time and energy. To help break some of the surface tension of that daunting task, he decided to take a break and create something whimsical and fun, just for the hell of it. Personally, I think of these as palate-cleanser projects. Something to remind yourself of the pure joy of making and to take your mind off of the more daunting task. I often use my hobby as a miniature painter as a palate cleanser. When I\u2019m working on a really intense writing project (like trying to\u00a0get a book to bed<\/a>), I\u2019ll periodically wheel my chair over to my painting desk and take 20-30 minutes to lose myself in a miniature. Works wonders.<\/p>\n

Shop Talk<\/strong>
\n\"shoptalk\"
\nNew subscriber\u00a0<\/em>Jim Ashley<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0sent me this tip:<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMy shop, like many others I\u2019m sure, changes often, and I found it a bit tedious to remount power strips using the existing mounting holes. Having to remeasure, set screw depth, etc. What I\u2019ve done for the last few years is to\u00a0ziptie the power strip to a piece of plywood<\/a>, with a couple of dados cut on the underneath sides to allow the plywood to be flush-mount somewhere in the shop, e.g. beam, paneled wall, etc. Then, I drill some countersink holes in the plywood and mount where desired. It allows for quick mounting and relocation of the power strip when reconfiguring a space.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Adam Farrow-Palmer\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>wrote me to share this:<\/em><\/p>\n

“Here\u2019s a simple one I learned when I was laboring\u2026when your carpenter\u2019s pencil gets too short to hold comfortably, slip a bit of hose\/tubing over the end. I love your newsletter!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gareth’s Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales – Issue #118<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13684,"featured_media":39889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[2371],"tags":[2372],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39888"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13684"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39888"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39896,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39888\/revisions\/39896"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}