Hello everyone. Just wondering if there is a comprehensive list of materials that have been successfully used on the Longmill or AltMill.
Specifically I am thinking of doing something different for the surrounds on my gas fireplaces and well the material needs to be non combustible. So looking for suggestions of what material I could use.
I have a bunch of ideas such as making my own different shaped tiles and using large tapered head screws or bolts to attach the cnc’d tiles to the surround
Welcome to the playground. You are going for the real deal ey?
I know of a few vids on tha tube that shows a mill, being it long or alt, cutting sheet metal and aluminum. There are some material lists avaiable for the longmill and that there is the problem with lists. Every machine has it’s own specs so every machine needs its own list. I see them more as a guide line, eventhough I do have the machine for these lists.
There’s some great info on that and some guideline list here:
Here’s the sheet metal on a longmill.
Aluminum on a mill one
And if you feel like doing some more concrete you can always carve casting molds. You don’t need much of a cnc for that. If you bump your head into a peace of styrofoam you might be good to go.
And if you like to go all in crazy, here’s a plasma cutter on a longmill.
Like @Spamming_Eddie suggests, making molds to cast concrete, cement, plaster of Paris, clay, or other non-combustable materials is what I would do. I dont know how well soft stones like soapstone or sandstone would carve but I’m sure the dust it creates will be bad for you and your machine.
I wonder if you could just take a slab of non-fired clay that is reasonably stiff and then use the Altmill to engrave a pattern. So not cutting per se but rather making grooves with some kind of ball point.
Aluminium cuts well with the right bit. Other non-ferrous material like copper and brass should too.
I was hoping to find some magic material that was light weight and easy to work with that was non combustible. I may give some cement board a try and will review the Youtube links.
Lightweight would be..in the extreme.. aerogel, just over two times as dence as air at sea level room temperature. It is also almost twice as expencive as a one way..ish trip to her majesty’s ship Titanic. It seems to be the best insulator we currently can produce and looks darn well amazing, almost ghost like in it’s rawest form.
Glass is not to heavy, pretty fire resistant and somewhat machineable if you have the right tool to fit a cnc. Glass sounds dull, but comes in so many colors mixtures and opaque shades, its prolly one of the more unique materials to be used.
Here’s a vid on creating a cnc glass cutting tool and using it. The tube is shot in a lovely phase with some hypnotizing shots of tool making and glass cutting.
There are some clay cncing vids, @Chucky_ott inspired to have a look into out there, but my tablet is acting up and makes it impossible to browse youtube. So I leave it with the glass one, I’m pretty impressed with.
The nice thing about these quirys is that I always get sucked into this rabhit hole and come out the other side with more questions I never knew I would want to look deeper into.
So thanks for this new perspective. It’s a fun out of the box river to meander on.
