I’d been putting it off for ages, but I thought it was about time I upgraded my CNC skills to use multiple tool changes. Since I added a home sensor to my DIY “BlackToe” gantry there was no excuse not to figure it out.

This relief cut uses 1/4″, 1/8″ and 1/16″ bits to perform successively ‘refined’ cuts to the finished work.

After each change I re-homed the gantry in X and Y, and reset the Z axis on the length of the bit.

I’m going to have to look into the G-Code commands to “re-home” the gantry automatically after a certain number of cuts. It might help to eliminate any cumulative errors due to lost steps in the motors.

The particle board gave slightly rough results, and the lettering was a bit too small for the 1/16″ bit, but the results are encouraging, and the tool changes went without a hitch.

So I added the clock face to the EM pendulum clock assembly, along with some modified stands.

I have to say it’s really gratifying to be able to dream something up, design it on computer, and do the bulk of the experimentation virtually, before cutting anything out…

(Saves on sawdust too)