nvrtd.design Blog

 I've been researching for CNC routers for a couple of years now.  I think the addition of one of these tools to my workshop would be very beneficial.  After much prodding, my wife conceded on the condition that I could use it to make Christmas presents for folks this year.  I had narrowed my focus to the Carbid3D Shapeoko XXL line.  Fairly quickly I found a gentleman selling the current Shapeoko 4 model in Houston.  I loaded up the van, rented a trailer and drove to Houston this past Saturday to pick it up. I have to say, this thing is impressive!  With a cutting area of 31" x 31" it should be capable of some great projects.  I loaded up Carbide Motion and created some test cuts with gcode created by Carbide Create.  My next mission is to learn how to use Fusion 360 to generate the toolpaths and to start using multiple tools.  Here's to more future projects!

It's been a busy end of 2021, and as we start 2022 I'm getting closer to building version 3 of the Osprey wing.  The single biggest problem I've faced is the amount of backlash in the direct spur gear drive of the tilt mechanism.  It introduces some nasty instability that, left unchecked, would likely destroy the model in flight. I've investigated other tilt mechanisms, but the one I keep coming back to is the rack and pinion design that Tom Mast uses in his model at Rotormast.  His design uses a high-torque digital servo with a small pinion gear driving a rack attached to the rotor nacelle.  The servo has been modified with an external potentiometer that's driven by a gear on the translation tube to give positional feedback to the servo.  I like this design a lot because 1) It works, and his model is proof, and 2) it requires less torque from the servo and has less backlash. I ordered the pair of modified servos, potentiometer, and rack from Tom's site and star...