CNC help for the untrained?

I work for my church, and we’re building a giant Lite Brite for a conference :slightly_smiling:
I need to cut… well, a lot of masonite. As CNC training is one of the more sought after trainings on here :grin:, is there anyone who would be willing to help me out?
Thanks!

I believe you can purchase Masonite with evenly spaced holes. Will that work?

What problem does a CNC router solve?

I agree with Brian. If your plan is just to have the CNC cut 1/4" holes 1" apart. They already make that http://www.homedepot.com/p/Pegboard-White-Panel-Common-3-16-in-x-4-ft-x-8-ft-Actual-0-155-in-x-47-7-in-x-95-7-in-486140/202189722 , but if your plan is for something different, I would like to know what I am getting into before committing. Do you have plans? How big are we talking?

@AlexRhodes and @Brian, great questions, and I’ll try to be clearer.
When I say giant lite brite, I mean empty water bottles as the pegs. Two layers of masonite separated by a 2x4 frame. So, holes in the first layer are about 2.5" and holes in the back layer are going to be about 1". The bottles would rest with the necks in the rear layer. Here’s a link to my sketchup template for the front panel: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9vjlFR6UxR0YUNZdnAyMFZNd2s/view?usp=sharing

I’m going to be making about 25 panels :slightly_smiling: I’m also in the process of building a CNC at my house, but I have no idea where I am on that project.

I want to see photos when it is up and running.

Ugh. The SketchUp Viewer has no inspection tools that I can find.

Vertically there are 10 holes. They appear to be one hole diameter apart with about 1/2 hole diameter from the edge. Which makes the vertical (0.5 + 10 + 9 + 0.5) * 2.5 inches = 50 inches. Is that correct?

Horizontally there are 20 holes. The spacing appears to be the same. Which makes the horizontal (0.5 + 20 + 19 + 0.5) * 2.5 = 100 inches. Is that correct?

That means you’ll need a 5x10… I might suggest getting to fit on a 4x8 (48x96).

@Brian Not quite. As with most things, this would be better with an insane number of LEDs, so I’m hoping to light each of these with a WS2812 led controlled by pixlite controllers being fed Artnet or SACN. This makes my spacing from the supplier 12cm center to center on the LEDs (and thus, the “pegs”). Metric + English dimensions made this… fun to figure out :slightly_smiling:
2.5" diameter holes spaced 12cm apart (on the center) yields 10x20 pegs on a 4’x8’ sheet (not accounting for masonite being slightly larger than 4’x8’ by fractions of an inch).

@MathewBusby that’s the goal. The less unnecessary construction the better :slight_smile:

@kbraby me too! Still waiting on final approval, but I’ll definitely be documenting this thing as we go.

Presuming your 2812s are typical Chinese construction and potted in epoxy, make sure you are accounting for sufficient variation in spacing. I would probably aim for at least a spare 5mm of wire length between pixels.

Or, at least figure out how to make a jig that can hold a row of your LED modules at the desired spacing, and make sure that they consistently reach. You might be able to do something in laser cut acrylic or Masonite to prove the spacing.

And if you find you need professional consulting at any stage of the electronic side, I can point you to a local company who has pixels, fixtures, and LED curtains manufactured to spec and has worked a very broad range of pixel projects. Including things like a 500 node string of G20 size pixels powered only at the ends. (With some extra magic along the strand)

Where will the LEDs be mounted?

I’ve played with 2812’s before, and I was planning on using a jig and hot gluing pixels at 12cm intervals. I just got my test batch (10cm spacing), and they seem to have added about 2-3mm margin to the 10mm spacing :slightly_smiling:

I have solutions for the control, but a local supplier of LEDs would be a great resource!

I’ll likely have to mount them on strips of wood about 1" off the back of the rear panel to account for the bottle tops sticking out past the rear panel.

4’x4’ demo panel coming this week hopefully :slight_smile:

Ok, I made a 12x12 pixel demo on a 4’x4’ panel (used 10cm spacing per samples I bought). Only had 100 LEDs, so I just lit a 10x10 grid… and I’ll just let you see it :slightly_smiling:

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I got approval! They preferred smaller size with higher density, so it’ll be 10mm spacing and only 25 4x8 panels. Ordered 7000 LEDs and plenty of 5v 20a power supplies from Aliexpress plus 2 more pixlite controllers from Advatek yesterday; they should be here in about a week :slightly_smiling:

My wife is out of town this coming weekend, so I’m classing it up at DMS :smile: . Already signed up for both welding classes Sat, may fly standby on the laser class Friday, and as I’m off work Fri and Sat, I may just be up there all weekend.

If anyone wants to throw together an impromptu CNC class, I’m sure it’d fill up in about 2 min, and I’d throw in a quality 6 pack to the kind soul.

They’ve arrived…

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