Category Archive: Posts by Project

Jan 31 2016

X-Carve: On Router Bits

One of the many mistakes I found that I made when I ordered my X-Carve was not taking advantage of Inventables pricing on a 1/4″ shaft, 2-flute HSS spiral upcut bit for $10. This s a pretty good price on this bit and ordering it separately from Inventables will incur a shipping fee of $7.50. …

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Jan 26 2016

X-Carve: Organizing Before Assembling

For the last few big projects I’ve built, I’ve started using the Harbor Freight Parts Storage Cases to keep all the small components and tools organized. Rather than try to locate small bags of hardware packed in bigger bags like most kits come with, I find that having them all in a bin …

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Permanent link to this article: http://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/x-carve-organizing-before-assembling/

Dec 20 2015

X-Carve: Programming The Arduino Uno

Rather than checking the X-Carve Arduino/gShield Motion Controller Kit option when I bought the X-Carve, I supplied my own Arduino (which I had lying around) and I purchased the gShield with $50 gift card I got for ordering the X-Carve over Black Friday weekend. This saved me $120, minus the shipping cost …

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Permanent link to this article: http://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/x-carve-programming-the-arduino-uno/

Dec 16 2015

X-Carve: Finding Your Own Wiring And Terminal Blocks

  Like I mentioned in the ordering post, I though I had some 18/4 shielded wire lying around, and even if I didn’t how expensive could it be to purchase some? Well, I scavenged through all of my stuff and only found a whole bunch of unshielded …

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Permanent link to this article: http://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/x-carve-finding-your-own-wiring-and-terminal-blocks/

Dec 16 2015

X-Carve: Choosing To Make Your Own Wasteboard

For the 1000mm X-Carve, the wasteboard costs $128. I figured I could save most of that money by making my own. From what I figured I’d need a 4×4′ sheet of 3/4″ MDF, which would be less than $20. Instead of using threaded inserts and special hold downs, I’d cut …

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Dec 15 2015

X-Carve: My Configuration As Ordered

One cool thing about Inventables is they let you customize the machine you are buying. For instance, if you have a bunch of NEMA 23 stepper motors lying around, you can remove them from your order and save yourself some money. So I started out by choosing the basic …

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Permanent link to this article: http://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/x-carve-my-configuration-as-ordered/

Dec 14 2015

X-Carve Series Preview

The weekend of Black Friday I took the plunge and purchased an X-Carve. They were having a promotion where you got $100 off the X-Carve and when you completed the purchase you got a $50 gift card to Inventables.com. It seems like Inventables has been giving away X-Carves to …

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Permanent link to this article: http://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/x-carve-series-preview/

Jul 27 2015

Making Tool Drawer Organizers out of Expanding Foam

I was browsing Pinterest a few days ago and I came across an article showing how to use expanding foam to create a custom drawer insert for your tools. I immediately thought that I needed to try this. So the next day I started working on it. The first problem I ran into …

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Permanent link to this article: http://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/making-tool-drawer-organizers-out-of-expanding-foam/

Jul 07 2015

Organizing Nut Drivers with a Length of Wire

I have a set of 14 Imperial and Metric nut drivers sitting in my tool chest that defy organization. After I line them up and put them in order, a few weeks of opening and closing the drawer results in a disorganized pile again. So, I was browsing the Garage Journal forums and I found …

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Permanent link to this article: http://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/organizing-nut-drivers-with-a-length-of-wire/

Jun 28 2015

Color Coded Shop Outlets

  A few years ago I remembered reading on the Penultimate Workshop that Dyami Plotke color coded his outlets to avoid putting to many machines on the same circuit. I always thought this was a great idea, but never got around to implementing it. While I don’t blow a lot of breakers anymore because …

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Permanent link to this article: http://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/color-coded-shop-outlets/