Milling small parts
Tips & Tricks
It is sometimes hard to manufacture small parts in low quantities, especially when their dimensional tolerances have to be low. In this case, die casting wouldn’t be economical. Hobbyist 3D-printing machines wouldn’t deliver the low tolerances I need and affordable lasers wouldn’t be able to cut parts that are 2.5D (i.e. that don’t have an even surface). Plus, I’m not a fan of ordering parts from sweat shops half a globe away.
But still, milling these parts is perfectly possible. This video shows how:
All you need is:
The part I’m fabricating in the video belongs to one of my soap butlers. The current version can be mounted to any shower rail with diameter 18-25mm
, and needs this small part for clamping securely to the rail. It is in contact with the rail from the rear and both locks the soap butler in place, limiting its possible “wobble” movement in Z-direction.
This way, not only soap bar shampoos can be placed here, but also much heavier shampoo bottles.
The part has to fit in snugly as it shall be able to slide without noticeable play, but still has to move effortlessly to adjust to different shower rail diameters.
0.3mm
, for wood 0.7mm
.20-30µm
(where I calculate with it), so I’d assume the plastic wrap I use is less than 10µm
which is in the magnitude of machine accuracy.Tips & Tricks
Touching off easily
Strategy and how to
improving quality
engrave and cut
the struggle to successful builds
Faster Engrave Algo
for CNC: Decision aid
Decision aid, Pros & Cons
3D signs - tutorial
Job preparation and quick demo
of an audio amplifier
From investigation to problem solution
From Pixel to Vector graphics
Symptoms of insufficient spindle power
Beginner CNC issue: Speeds/Feeds
Automatic Z-referencing, Tool length, Tool changes
EdingCNC Settings & Variables
Software/Hardware setup & kinematics
Assembling Sorotec’s Basicline 0607
Switch box setup
Entry-point and questions
Circuit & Application examples
USB-PD power supply explained
Can I use a Metabo/CAS battery for my system?
How to set protective voltage & current limits
Current inrush limiters explained
Electronics knowledge: TVS diodes
Or how to kill your circuits
How to properly talk to VideoLan’s VLC player
Prototype build, issues, improvement ideas for Revision2
How To: First steps with FreeCAD
Professionalizing circuits for AnywhereAmps
AnywhereAmp Alpha’s simple single-supply preamp
Design, folding, stability, amplifiers
Evolving the mobile, foldable instrument combo
Fix ‘ERROR: favicon not found’
Export the instructions from Markdown to PDF! but how?
Why some images display OK locally but won’t on Github
How to make ToC sticky
-incremental
option
How to solve issues with disappearing posts
Configure: landing page’s header image, Navigation