Making Watch Parts & A huge thank you to everyone involved in this project

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wilderbeest
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Making Watch Parts & A huge thank you to everyone involved in this project

Post by wilderbeest »

I just wanted to thank everyone who has contributed to this fantastic piece of software.

Three weeks ago, I started my journey of producing my own watch parts on a CNC mill. I'm a UK watchmaker, and as parts for vintage watches are getting harder and harder to get, this was the logical next step.

FreeCad is easy to use, and does everything I need from start to finish, including producing the GCode for my mill. On top of that, I got help here when I needed it, and I'm very grateful for that as well.

A little post about what I'm doing with FreeCad is here: http://watchguy.co.uk/a-new-era/

Great project!
Last edited by wilderbeest on Tue Oct 16, 2018 6:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
chrisb
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Re: A huge thank you to everyone involved in this project

Post by chrisb »

Thanks for reporting back. I had a look at your website, great stuff too. You could put some of the pictures here as well.

Edit: I see that you have done so in the Call for screenshots topic.
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Kunda1
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Re: A huge thank you to everyone involved in this project

Post by Kunda1 »

Well done. Along with what @chrisb said, could you also change the topic of this thread to reflect what you're showcasing (so it's easy to understand when someone opens the subforum and reads through the topics?) The way you change the topic is going to the first post and editing the summary. Thanks
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wilderbeest
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Re: A huge thank you to everyone involved in this project

Post by wilderbeest »

Kunda1 wrote: Tue Oct 16, 2018 5:29 pm Well done. Along with what @chrisb said, could you also change the topic of this thread to reflect what you're showcasing (so it's easy to understand when someone opens the subforum and reads through the topics?) The way you change the topic is going to the first post and editing the summary. Thanks
Thanks for pointing that out - I have changed the subject.
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sgrogan
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Re: Making Watch Parts & A huge thank you to everyone involved in this project

Post by sgrogan »

wilderbeest wrote: Tue Oct 16, 2018 2:56 pm I just wanted to thank everyone who has contributed to this fantastic piece of software.
Hey wilderbees, thanks for the thanks ;)
We hear plenty of FreeCAD's short comings, but not enough about the successes. Posts like this help keep the fever alive. Great to see FreeCAD being used for productive, practical, real projects.

I add my thanks to ilderbeest's. This is what we are striving for!
"fight the good fight"
mlampert
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Re: Making Watch Parts & A huge thank you to everyone involved in this project

Post by mlampert »

Question -how do you secure the stock?
It looks like you glued steel to an MDF board. I've tried that and had too much lateral play to mill accurately.
Mark Szlazak
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Re: Making Watch Parts & A huge thank you to everyone involved in this project

Post by Mark Szlazak »

wilderbeest wrote: Tue Oct 16, 2018 2:56 pm I just wanted to thank everyone who has contributed to this fantastic piece of software.

Three weeks ago, I started my journey of producing my own watch parts on a CNC mill. I'm a UK watchmaker, and as parts for vintage watches are getting harder and harder to get, this was the logical next step.

FreeCad is easy to use, and does everything I need from start to finish, including producing the GCode for my mill. On top of that, I got help here when I needed it, and I'm very grateful for that as well.

A little post about what I'm doing with FreeCad is here: http://watchguy.co.uk/a-new-era/

Great project!
Do you have the legends book?
https://books.google.com/books/about/Wa ... q8c0xvGxsC
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abdullah
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Re: Making Watch Parts & A huge thank you to everyone involved in this project

Post by abdullah »

wilderbeest wrote: Tue Oct 16, 2018 2:56 pm FreeCad is easy to use, and does everything I need from start to finish, including producing the GCode for my mill. On top of that, I got help here when I needed it, and I'm very grateful for that as well.
You must be the most lenient end user ever ;)

I went to your website and I look at the Youtube video.

If I may I would advice you to get a more modern FreeCAD. Half of the suffering that can be seen in the Sketcher would be gone.

About the designing itself, for parts that are symmetric, it generally pays off a lot to just do a sketch of "half" of it, pad that half, and then mirror the feature. The sketches are simpler which means simpler sketches taking much less design time and easier to edit and modify.

One day I will get myself one those CNCs. They look great!
wilderbeest
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Re: Making Watch Parts & A huge thank you to everyone involved in this project

Post by wilderbeest »

mlampert wrote: Wed Oct 17, 2018 4:08 pm Question -how do you secure the stock?
It looks like you glued steel to an MDF board. I've tried that and had too much lateral play to mill accurately.
I now glue to an acrylic board - works a treat, and is nice and stable. On top of that, you can use coolant.
wilderbeest
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Re: Making Watch Parts & A huge thank you to everyone involved in this project

Post by wilderbeest »

Mark Szlazak wrote: Fri Oct 19, 2018 3:22 pm
Do you have the legends book?
https://books.google.com/books/about/Wa ... q8c0xvGxsC
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Of course I do!
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