The CNC workshop 2016

[RonGinger]

Plans are  underway for the next CNC workshop, to again be at the TechShop in Allen Park Michigan, June 6-11. Everything about the  facility seemed to work well last year, and we now have our website under control. It is time to start planning the sessions. The website is up and some basic  see TheCNCworkshop.com

Last year when I dropped in on several session it seemed like things were just getting warmed up and the time was up. This year I want to try a slightly different format. On Wednesday and Thursday we will have a few, but very intense sessions. I hope to have up to 3 sessions each day, of a full day duration. We will encourage attendees to bring laptops so they can follow along with the instruction.

I need at least 5 or 6 full day sessions. I could do a couple half day session if that works for some speakers. I hope to have some of the following topics:

LinuxCNC
Mach4
PathPilot
Fusion 360 (CAD by Autodesk)
OnShape
CamBam
Vectric

I am open to any other related topics anyone is willing to present.

On Friday we will have more, shorter sessions, probably the schedule we followed last year. I hope to get several user experience talks.

The vendor program will be Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Saturday will also feature a swap meet, and will be open to the general public. I do not plan any seminars on Saturday.

We will be having build classes on Monday and Tuesday, a Lathe, a 3D printer and a router. Details are still being worked on the build classes, but I hope they can have all day sessions on learning to use the machines on Wednesday.

I cannot offer pay for the sessions, but speakers for all day sessions will be given complimentary admission to the entire event.

Let me  know if you are interested in leading any of these sessions.

thanks

ron ginger

[RonGinger]

Just two weeks to go until the CNC workshop. The lathe class was almost instantly filled, but there is still room in the Router and 3D printer build classes.

Tech Shop has decided to lower the registration cost to $100. People that already registered will be getting some money back, always a nice thing. The web site has the class schedule, although we still may shift some things around- there have been requests to reduce the number of session running at the same time.

The swap meet on Saturday is open to anyone- no registration required, although if you want to sell items and are not attending the workshop there is a table charge. The vendors will still be on hand Saturday.

[zeeprogrammer]

I wish I could attend Ron. I've been thinking more and and more about CNC.

[bruedney]

I wish I could attend Ron. I've been thinking more and and more about CNC.

What sort of mill do you have Carl? or are you thinking lathe?

Bruce

[zeeprogrammer]

Hi Bruce, I have a mini-lathe and a Harbor Freight mini-mill. Both manual.
I'm working on a plan to get some new machines this year.
But most of my cunning plans have a tendency to change. 
In the meantime I'm working on a simulator to learn more about g-code.
(Which is only a small portion of learning CNC.)

[RonGinger]

A big part of the CNC workshop has been the build classes. In the past we have converted the high torque mini mill from littlemachineshop.com, but this year we are doing a lathe. I just made the first good threads and posted this short video on you tube [youtube1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1_oHNXSczw[/youtube1]

The build class filled quickly, so in a couple weeks 14 guys are going to have one of these.

[bruedney]

My Mill is a Grizzy G0704 lookalike converted to CNC

I don't use much Gcode manually except for some manual x or y feeds at set feed speeds (G0 & G01)

I have used G85 in the last couple of evenings to bore the cylinders on the Monitor and will use it again to bore the brass sleeve

I use Aspire to generate most of my toolpaths

Bruce