I put the Jag aside for a while because I was waiting for a big order of Colin’s detail parts and they were jammed up in tariff hell. In the mean time, I bought some new toys in an effort to build big scale kits more accurately and reproduceably. Stop me if you already heard this but I got the following:
Vevor 7x16” 800W metal mini lathe. I’ve wanted a lathe since metalwork class in high school and the importers were pumping them out as fast as they could before the tariffs went into effect, so I bought one. It’s kinda cute and mostly works fine, but the speed control is a bit sketchy so I will probably replace that. I have added a quick change tool post and a pile of tools. I was a bit leery because of internet horror stories about Chinese mini lathes, but other than the speed control it has been fine.
The obvious use case is for any cylindrical kit part like axles, coil-overs etc. in brass or aluminum. It will cheerfully cut mild steel as well.
Genmitsu 4040-Pro Max CNC with 710W router. This was another itch I needed to scratch. When used in conjunction with 3D modeling software and 3D scanning (I have both) I can design and reproduce 3-dimensional parts with far more accuracy than I could ever achieve doing things by hand as I have. It tuned out to be a bit of a pain in the ass to get working because I am a Mac user and despite that being the preferred platform for designers, it is an afterthought for CNC. I tried using the recommended driver software and a USB-B printed cable but it crashed my machine, I tried their offline controller and that worked, but was inconvenient. Finally I got their WiFi module and after a lot of back and forth with support I got that working just fine. I can control it and run jobs from my iPhone and my iPad which is pretty cool.
Elegoo Saturn 4 16K Ultra 3D resin printer and automated wash station. This just worked right out of the box. No fuss. Plugged it in, turned it on and the software found it immediately. This (along with the 3D scanner) is the big force multiplier for modeling. I was worried about the tail of my jag getting a bit sketchy because it has been handled so much. I realized I can scan it with my Revopoint Metro X scanner (when it arrives next Saturday) and just print another whenever I want. I can combine those tools with Fusion 3D Cad/Cam modeling to build it the way I was struggling to do by hand. Can’t wait!
In the mean time I’ve been working on a couple of club builds with my 2 local IPMS chapters. Colin has my stuff ready to ship… it’s going to be a fun Xmas.
Cheers,
Chris
