The grip is approximately 3" tall and half an inch thick at the middle. I’m just learning about CNC and looking to see if buying a Nomad is for me.
I would want the project cut out of walnut or rosewood. I would provide the .stl file.
Thanks,
JoBuck
The Nomad would not have a problem with this, but the wood you are looking to use has too loose of a grain for the detail. You need something denser.
Please forgive my total ignorance, but what is a good species to use for the Nomad? Could you roughly estimate the time the machine would take to process an object like this?
The wood would not be Nomad specific, but specific to the level of detail in the piece you are trying to accomplish. The snake, eagle, and mountains all have lots of little details that cannot be smaller than the grain of the wood you are using if you expect good results.
Machining time also depends on how much material you are removing from the original stock, and how good of a detail pass you are going to have with your final end/ball mill (how small is it).
10-4.
If the stock was cut to minimize waste are we talking 2 hours, 8, all day? Sorry I’m just looking for some general metrics to consider before purchasing.
I cut these on my SO 3. Not as much detail as you but each grip took about 15-20 minutes as I recall. Just did a few for practice. I’m sure I’ll cut more eventually. Not enough time for all my hobbies 
Griff, Very cool man. Thanks. Am I right to assume you have to monitor the jobs for tool changes? Also, on those Punisher grips did you create the bushing and screw holes with the SO3 or use a press for that?
Thanks. The SO3 did it all. Most was cut with a carbide 1/8” ballnose. Hole and inset plus final profile cut was 1/8” flat endmill
Again, this was a learning exercise for me, I wasn’t aiming for a 100% finished, 100% accurate part. But, that said, it came out pretty well for practice. I’ll eventually try cutting some aluminum grips with, maybe, colored resin fills.
The Nomad will take significantly longer to do this. It’s nowhere near as fast or as powerful as an SO3. A lot will also depend on how you generate the toolpaths. At a guess, I think if you fed your STL to MeshCAM and used what it made, you’d be looking at about 1.5 - 2 hours, maybe more depending on how hard the wood is, and how fine a surface finish you were going for. If you used Fusion 360, and understand how to use adaptive toolpaths etc (which I do not), you could probably do it in much less time.
As for wood, I think Lignum Vitae is supposed to be the strongest and most durable out there, but it’s extremely hard and will add even more time to your cutting job.
The Nomad is not a fast machine, but it is a great one. With some practice, it will allow you to go from zero CNC to being able to make very precise, lovely things. If you have the space, and the experience, though, you may find the SO3 a better investment, depending on what else you’d like to make.
Thanks for the feedback. I was told the tolerance of the Nomad was better than the S03. Also, I want to get up and going as quickly as possible without much tinkering with the tool itself. It sounds like CNC work requires much more learning and experimentation than 3d printing. I thought I could just feed the Nomad my stl through MeshCAM, change the bits per the software when prompted and then vacuum up my mess after my pretty part was finished. That apparently is wishful thinking on my part.
I’m not even sure what bits to buy or how to get started using a tool like this in order to get the results I’m after.
Thats why I was hoping someone with experience would try the .stl on their machine. At least then I could see if its worth investing 3K.
The only steps you left out were:
which are more-or-less equivalent to:
I’d be glad to try cutting it in Walnut — just send me a PM.
Oh, I sort of missed that you were looking for someone to try it out. I’d be happy to take a whack at it, but I can’t do anything until the weekend, very likely. I also don’t have any wood that would be suitable. Would it work as a kind of “proof of concept” if I make it out of plastic or tooling foam or something?
I’m in Brooklyn, NY, by the way. So I assume some shipping might be required once it’s finished.
As for the learning curve, yeah, it’s not quite as “point and click” as a 3d printer, but the Nomad provides what I think is the easiest way in to CNC. You don’t have to mess with the machine very much to get it working, and you don’t have to know very much to start making things. Until I got mine, I had never attempted anything to do with CNC, and now, while I’m nowhere near an expert, I can generally make what I want to make, and have it come out the way I want it to come out.
As I’ve gotten more experienced, like with anything, I find I can do things faster, and get better results. But from the start I was able to muddle through very well, albeit with a great deal of help from this forum.
Oh, and the machine is incredibly accurate. Just make sure to level your wasteboard right away.
I would love to try and cut these, please send me the STL file
Same here! Please post the STL or DM me if you prefer.
Katalox or Chakte Viga are two woods that I have worked with that are very fine grained. They are both dense, so if weight is an issue, maybe look elsewhere, but I really am partial to the Katalox. It can be either yellow-white to brown-black or brown-maroon or a nice mix.
Also, regarding the rosewood - I bought some Bolivian Rosewood (actually I just googled it and found out is is more commonly known as Pau Ferro) and it is also a fine grained dense wood that polishes up nice with just 400 grit sanding and mineral oil finish. I don’t see why it would not work as well. I guess maybe there are quite a few species that are called “Rosewood”.
Thanks to all who replied. To anyone who wants to try the .stl (on your own) you can download the L side of the grip here. If it works and you want the other side just message me and I’ll give it to you. It was created to fit a Ruger Single Six.
I’m now having another part being tested out on the Nomad by another user, so I’m just putting this out there. Please post pics if you try it.
FYI, I’m new to the community and it looked like my zipped up .stl upload was hanging up when I tried attaching it here. Hence the dropbox link.
