[Norm] Hey everybody!
Norm from Tested here at Bay Area Maker Faire 2019.
Now we are here with Ahren and Sami of formerly CNC Router Parts, we've seen your product
before.
Used them, love them!
But you have a new name now!
Ahren, what's up?
[Ahren] Well, that's right.
We've been CNC Router Parts for a long time, but about five or six years ago we started
selling more than just parts.
We started selling complete solutions and really we felt like a name that reflected
our excitement about CNC and the fact that we can get people into it was more apropriate
for our company so here we are as Avid CNC!
[Norm] I love your presence at Maker Faire because you always have a cool project to show off
the capabilities.
Sami, what is it you're holding here?
[Sami] This is our ping pong ball crossbow mechanism and it illustrates a lot of the different
types of machining that we do here.
We have the front bow which was plasma cut and a couple of aluminum inserts here that
were also routed.
The body shows off our new fourth axis rotary attachment.
[Norm] That's a new thing this year, there's a whole fourth axis.
Is it installed?
Yes!
Right there, tell me how this works Ahren.
[Ahren] Alright so, the fourth axis system is a ten to one planetary reducer coupled to a four
jaw self centering chuck and effectively what it lets you do is hold parts and machine them
from multiple different sides.
So you can do continuous rotation and cutting, you can also index and cut parts from different
sides which you can do without a rotary system but it's painful and clunky because you have
to keep flipping parts and refining them while the rotary can just hold them and let you
keep going.
[Norm] Is this something that works as an add on for existing customers and they can add it
on to their CNC?
[Ahren] Absolutely, it's intended to be compatible with both our benchtop line and our pro series
machines.
And how is that mounted on?
So we have a couple different configurations where we can mount the rotary system.
You can mount it lengthwise on the bed and just on top of it, so for customers who use
it occasionally and are making smaller workpieces that might make sense.
It's also designed so it can be recessed in the bed of the machine and that's nice because
you can get larger workpieces in there and underneath the gantry.
[Norm] One of the things that really impressed us as we put together the 3-axis, the big 3-axis,
one was how big it was scaled up to.
The big gantry, fits full 4x8' sheets.
But also, how rock solid the design of it was, how much engineering goes into developing
another axis and experimenting and iterating to get it working to your standards?
[Ahren] Yeah, there's been a significant amount of effort that's gone into making this the robust
system that we really wanted it to be.
Routing solid maple on this and taking quarter inch passes at about 400 inches per minute
so to be able to withstand those sort of cutting loads we needed a really robust mechanism.
So our engineering team has put in a lot of time to making it that way.
[Norm] Your customers are making all sorts of things and all sorts of different fabrication, what
are the things that you recommend for this class of system, what are the materials and
what type of things are your customers building?
[Ahren] This is really intended for objects that have a lot of sculptural aspects to them.
It's great for plastic, and wood and foam for people doing props and things like that.
So I'm sure the Tested crew is going to be interested in that.
If it can fit in the rotary system, it's probably a good application for it!
[Norm] Is it available now?
Or is it shipping soon?
[Ahren] We are taking pre-sales now, we have quite a list of people who have been asking for
this for a long time so we are servicing that group first but then yes, contact us if you
want one.
We'll be able to get one to you soon, probably in a month or two months at the latest.
[Norm] Very cool, it was great to see you both here at Maker Faire and we can't end this without
a demonstration of this launcher.
Can we get one Sami?
That is so cool, great to see you both!
Have a great Maker Faire!
Thank you!