@Sherpa You don’t need to get a separate fisheye lens. There are tons of cameras that come with a fisheye lens. The one I just returned back to Amazon had a fisheye lens. The fisheye lens is good for the width of the eyesight but it has nothing to do with the focal distance. I and Julien are looking for a camera with a good short focal distance.
@LiamN No Raspberry Pi camera has specs or features that are more than standard USB cameras. Actually, it’s the other way around. USB camera’s out specs what’s available for Rasperi Pi.
I keep circling around those ELP cameras, bulkier than I would like but not impossible to mount either
that should get me 640x480 at 120fps for slowmo, and full HD at 30fps for regular shots.
If the specs are not lying, that is.
That specific reference showed up in a video where the guy focuses an inch away in front of the camera, so that lens should be fine.
Then they’ve got a nice small sensor and an effective short focal length lens which should give a decent depth of field once focussed close up for the dust shoe deployment.
The smaller the sensor the better for getting DoF and not getting only the cutter tip in focus and the rest blurry.
@Julien If you don’t find a camera with a suitable focus range, maybe you can find one that you can modify in a certain way. If you have a chance to move the lens further away from the sensor, the focus range will move closer to the sensor. I don’t know about the math here but that is what those Extension Tubes do. You will end up with capturing less light and a lower depth of field.
Agreed, this is what they (used to?) use for macro phtography I think ?
I’m afraid this is not really doable for the small form factor I’m looking for. It’s only a matter of trying a few models, I’m sure one of these modules will turn out to work just fine for close-up!
When you guys use such high feedrates, do you have your Shapeoko standing on those stock tips or did you fix it some way?
My machine starts shaking frightingly when I go like above 3000mm/m.
I got rid of the machine’s feet a long time ago, never regretted it.
I did it this way, MDF sheet under the machine, with small pockets where the protruding stell plate nuts are, and some dampening sheet of material in-between:
(I cheated, reused the original MDF baseboard which conveniently already had holes in the right places)
That said, I have no idea whether it changes anything to the ability to move fast, I did it to be able to push on the baseboard like a madman (tape & glue…) while not inducing any flex.
Did you try @gmack 's spreadsheet to see what feed rate and DOC you should be able to run in the acrylic for a reasonable machine load? Don’t know if there’s a k factor for Acrylic in there.
I suspect the workholding and fracture behaviour of the Acrylic might become the constraint before the strength of the machine in this case though.
Their max recommended chipload of 0.012" for a 1/4" tool translates to 216ipm, and even then the machine load is not a problem at 1mm DOC (no surprise there)
The “let’s push this to the limits” case would be 0.012" chipload and pushing the DOC to the value where we reach the machine’s theoretical limit, it seems to be around DOC=0.2", for a 10 in3/min MRR:
The following shows what Amana and some other manufacturers use “chipload” when referring to cutter inches per tooth (IPT). So, I added the option of using that “Specified IPT” to calculate an appropriate feed rate (IPM) to the latest workbook. The workbook still provides the option of using chip thickness to calculate feed rate if desired (like you did). Since some manufacturer’s specify cutting speed (SFM) rather than spindle speed in their speeds and feeds charts, the latest version workbook also provides that option. IMO those recommendations are a good starting point. The formulas in the workbook are now also protected to prevent them from inadvertently getting overwritten. I’d like to minimize the distribution of the protection password, but anyone can PM me for it. Your spindle supports 1/2" shanks and has plenty of power, so you should be able to double your MRR without increasing cutting force by using one of them.
Amana seems to always use 18000 RPM for their charts. I asked about that last year:
" Andy Almonte (Toolstoday)
Mar 19, 10:14 ADT
I agree with the 46102 reference you made.
The max RPM on these tools 28,000
gmackelburg
Mar 19, 02:44 ADT
Andy,
I’m thinking that the coated 46102-K, since it has 1/3 the recommended Chip Load of the uncoated 46102, would be the better choice for me with wood because it would allow me to reduce my cutting power and force by a factor of 3. Do you agree? Can I operate either/both of those products safely at 30,000 RPM – assuming that I maintain the same recommended Chip Loads? How low can I safely go with Chip Loads on these products?
Gerald"
OOPs I just noticed that your 51404? endmill data sheet says:" Maximum RPM: 35,000" - maybe they’re finally fixing that!
Is Amana’s Fusion360 Tool Database more complete than their Vectric database?
@Julien In my recent tests with acrylic, I basically found I could go as fast as I could. I was also able to take a higher DOC, but it always helped to have the first cut 1mm or less. I cut 3mm in one pass, but I had some chipping.
One thing that seems common with virtually all manufacturers’ speeds and feeds recommendations is to use a depth of cut equal to endmill diameters for slotting/cutting. Wouldn’t using 1/4" DOC with maximum cutting/spindle speed with the (good old/reliable?) 0.001" IPT (and chip thickness) work well in this case with these “razor sharp” endmills? (That’s 1/11th @Julien’s chipload and more than 1 lbf less cutting force.)
I cut some acrylic for the first time this weekend to make a fishing pole rack. I don’t have an O’flute, so I loaded up a 2 flute aluminum cutter. This was out of some unknown acrylic given to me at work. I went 120IPM, full DOC at the #2 setting on the Carbide router. I really had no idea if it was going to work that well, I was completely shooting from the hip.
It came out pretty perfect. but man do I have rice everywhere now.
Andy Almonte (Toolstoday)
gmackelburg
but man do I have rice everywhere now. 
