Hey there! Loving your content, especially since I'm a fellow enthusiast of FPV drones. Recently, I got my hands on a Genmitsu 4040 CNC machine and I'm excited to dive into making carbon frames for drones. Do you have any recommendations on which end mills and drills work best with carbon material, and what speeds and feeds I should aim for? Being new to this, any additional tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer!
i'm new to it my self so we both in similar boats although I have been given advice from friends, in regards to end mills I tend to use 2mm end mill mainly and don't go crazy and buy the most expensive just look at some Titanium Carbide 2mm end mills, also when cutting carbon your working with a very abrasive material so these bits are not going to last your probably going to use around 2-3 per sheet depending on size of sheet and you want to cut the most critical areas first to maintain better accuracy in regards to speeds and spindle speed, ideally you want to be running your spindle at its fastest speed this is usually manually set on machine controller. if your machine comes with a 12k spindle your cutting speeds will be slower like mine. best to start slower and test higher speeds as you get move involved in it, I'm not familiar with the machine you chose but if its belt driven not ball driven your speeds will need to be much slower to prevent belt slip so I cant give you accurate answer on this its all trial and error, buy your self some cheap carbon so that you can play with it see what results you get and test different settings to suit your machine sorry I cant give you a more definitive answer its not as simple as that
@@gazafpv Thank you so much for taking the time to provide such a detailed response, it's truly helpful for me to have a better understanding of how to get started. I've just ordered several packs of different end mills from the manufacturer's website and a more powerful Makita spindle. It would be great to see more videos about CNC and drones from you. Best wishes!
personally, I really love watching people's process in making drone frames and one of those is milling. As someone who mills frames too, easily one of the most satisfying things especially when stuff fit together. Great work my guy!
Really appreciate you consolidating the multiple days/weeks of the process into a succinct beginning to end of phase 1 of the build. First video that I've seen the CNC cut the frame. For me, even in the long run, it will be cheaper to buy a frame, but this video adds a new dimension to a build video. Thanks
Yeah I totally get that it's not really a cost saving thing for me. My problem was I wanted to be able to design and cut frames/parts as and when I wanted them without waiting a few weeks for.them.to come, If you was to sell them you would make it cost effective but it's not cheap to get a frame cut from these companies either
Not sure if you are aware, but normally they cut carbon fiber like this under water to reduce the dust. Breathing carbon fiber dust is pretty dangerous. Otherwise, nice work.
Yeah I'm well are of this as stated in the video... HEPA filter on vac does the job well and when it's cutting contours I leave the area and go do something else only time I was there was when it was drilling holes. I did consider water but it's hard work cleaning and being able to see what your cutting
What bits are you using on your CNC to cut your Carbon Fiber? I'm considering designing a frame - I really like your frame design, I'll have to consider taking some design ideas from yours.
Nice video. I have some of my frames on cncdrones under Quadwrex. So far, I use them for all my prototyping, but it would be nice to at least make replacement parts on my hobby grade cnc. I'm still learning cam, but it's pretty exciting to think of the possibilities.
if you have a cnc machine already you can certainly cut your own parts its so handy to have, the biggest thing for me was the wait time on cncdrones to get the parts to me which is why i went this route
@gazafpv definitely.. here in the States, it is about a week and a half on an order. It can be frustrating when making multiple revisions or breaking something the very next day. I currently have two frames in the works right now. It's mostly a waiting game. I just had someone cut one of my frames on the same cnc. The frame turned out great. It gave me a little more confidence to give it a go.
@@Quadwrex yeah that's the issue it's similar time frame for us in UK too depends how quick they cut them sometimes it's over a week waiting to be cut. Yeah most CNC will cut it with ease just keep changing the end mill regular as they don't last long before they start cutting rougher due to carbon being so abrasive material. I think the hardest part is learning the cam/cad side of it not much info out there for setting up fusion for CNC so it's a steep learning curve other than that your golden just takes your time and go slow to start
@gazafpv I went ahead and cut my first carbon fiber parts with the painters tape method. As soon as the bit comes in contact with the tap, it gums up the bit. I didn't know if it was a feed or speed issue or if you had any suggestions?
@@Quadwrex what do you mean in contact with the tap ? You mean the carbon right ? Ideally you want to be running your spindle at full rpm which is usually manually controlled after that you need.to look at depth of cut and cutting feed rate. Your depth should be no more than .5mm maybe less depending how strong your CNC is and your feed rate starts of slower maybe 450mm/min increase if you feel machine handling it fine
You good🎉
Hey there! Loving your content, especially since I'm a fellow enthusiast of FPV drones. Recently, I got my hands on a Genmitsu 4040 CNC machine and I'm excited to dive into making carbon frames for drones. Do you have any recommendations on which end mills and drills work best with carbon material, and what speeds and feeds I should aim for? Being new to this, any additional tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer!
i'm new to it my self so we both in similar boats although I have been given advice from friends,
in regards to end mills I tend to use 2mm end mill mainly and don't go crazy and buy the most expensive just look at some Titanium Carbide 2mm end mills, also when cutting carbon your working with a very abrasive material so these bits are not going to last your probably going to use around 2-3 per sheet depending on size of sheet and you want to cut the most critical areas first to maintain better accuracy
in regards to speeds and spindle speed, ideally you want to be running your spindle at its fastest speed this is usually manually set on machine controller. if your machine comes with a 12k spindle your cutting speeds will be slower like mine. best to start slower and test higher speeds as you get move involved in it, I'm not familiar with the machine you chose but if its belt driven not ball driven your speeds will need to be much slower to prevent belt slip so I cant give you accurate answer on this its all trial and error, buy your self some cheap carbon so that you can play with it see what results you get and test different settings to suit your machine
sorry I cant give you a more definitive answer its not as simple as that
@@gazafpv Thank you so much for taking the time to provide such a detailed response, it's truly helpful for me to have a better understanding of how to get started. I've just ordered several packs of different end mills from the manufacturer's website and a more powerful Makita spindle.
It would be great to see more videos about CNC and drones from you. Best wishes!
The drone looks nice. I like the vertically positioned arms. It would be nice with a video when you show how the frame is assembled😊
And info about the cost of the raw materials
personally, I really love watching people's process in making drone frames and one of those is milling. As someone who mills frames too, easily one of the most satisfying things especially when stuff fit together. Great work my guy!
Thanks man I couldn't agree.more I also love the process of it all coming together from nothing 🙏👌
Really appreciate you consolidating the multiple days/weeks of the process into a succinct beginning to end of phase 1 of the build.
First video that I've seen the CNC cut the frame.
For me, even in the long run, it will be cheaper to buy a frame, but this video adds a new dimension to a build video.
Thanks
Yeah I totally get that it's not really a cost saving thing for me. My problem was I wanted to be able to design and cut frames/parts as and when I wanted them without waiting a few weeks for.them.to come, If you was to sell them you would make it cost effective but it's not cheap to get a frame cut from these companies either
interesting, design like iflight afterburner 👍
Not sure if you are aware, but normally they cut carbon fiber like this under water to reduce the dust. Breathing carbon fiber dust is pretty dangerous. Otherwise, nice work.
Yeah I'm well are of this as stated in the video... HEPA filter on vac does the job well and when it's cutting contours I leave the area and go do something else only time I was there was when it was drilling holes. I did consider water but it's hard work cleaning and being able to see what your cutting
Bro you're doing great ❤️
Thank you 🙌
What bits are you using on your CNC to cut your Carbon Fiber? I'm considering designing a frame - I really like your frame design, I'll have to consider taking some design ideas from yours.
Love the drone! I'd love to build one!
Thanks man 👌
hi what software are you using for the cnc. super nice job on this project
Fusion 360 and open source for the cnc machine GRBL
Good afternoon, I liked your work, can you provide files for this detail? I'll be so excited for you!
Sorry files not available
Nice video. I have some of my frames on cncdrones under Quadwrex. So far, I use them for all my prototyping, but it would be nice to at least make replacement parts on my hobby grade cnc. I'm still learning cam, but it's pretty exciting to think of the possibilities.
if you have a cnc machine already you can certainly cut your own parts its so handy to have, the biggest thing for me was the wait time on cncdrones to get the parts to me which is why i went this route
@gazafpv definitely.. here in the States, it is about a week and a half on an order. It can be frustrating when making multiple revisions or breaking something the very next day. I currently have two frames in the works right now. It's mostly a waiting game. I just had someone cut one of my frames on the same cnc. The frame turned out great. It gave me a little more confidence to give it a go.
@@Quadwrex yeah that's the issue it's similar time frame for us in UK too depends how quick they cut them sometimes it's over a week waiting to be cut.
Yeah most CNC will cut it with ease just keep changing the end mill regular as they don't last long before they start cutting rougher due to carbon being so abrasive material. I think the hardest part is learning the cam/cad side of it not much info out there for setting up fusion for CNC so it's a steep learning curve other than that your golden just takes your time and go slow to start
@gazafpv I went ahead and cut my first carbon fiber parts with the painters tape method. As soon as the bit comes in contact with the tap, it gums up the bit. I didn't know if it was a feed or speed issue or if you had any suggestions?
@@Quadwrex what do you mean in contact with the tap ? You mean the carbon right ?
Ideally you want to be running your spindle at full rpm which is usually manually controlled after that you need.to look at depth of cut and cutting feed rate. Your depth should be no more than .5mm maybe less depending how strong your CNC is and your feed rate starts of slower maybe 450mm/min increase if you feel machine handling it fine
What kind of machine are you using to cut the carbon?
Fox alien 4040.xe-pro.
Man this makes me want a 7”
Great vid, but the music volume is quite a bit higher than your speaking volume. 😀
that Frame looks amazing! would you like to sell me one?
It might be nothing wrong with the code, but the bit got loose, and let itself down. It happened to me once or twice.
Nah man it was user error in the end I hadn't set top height so it.didnt know where this was