Cast Cement CNC Chassis

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By Sean Michael Ragan
Posted 2012/04/04 @ 1:00 pm
Category 3D Printing, Workshop

Those of you who click through to read more about this very cool project from grad student Kenny Cheung of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms may be a bit disappointed: The page is not really complete yet and a bunch of the resources, including the physibles, are still “coming soon!” But it’s such a cool idea, I didn’t want to wait. Looks like the molds are laser cut and, I would expect, reusable. [Thanks, thatcherc!]

Machines That Make | Cast Cement CNC Chassis

More:
Pat Delany’s Designs for Low-Cost DIY Machine Tools

BY Sean Michael Ragan

I am descended from 5,000 generations of tool-using primates. Also, I went to college and stuff. I write for MAKE, serve as Technical Editor for MAKE magazine, and develop original DIY content for Make: Projects.

In the Maker Shed

8 Responses to Cast Cement CNC Chassis

tonyv on April 4th, 2012 at 1:16 pm said:

Wow! What an awesome idea!

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Jeremy on April 4th, 2012 at 1:32 pm said:

At least it won’t have to worry about temperature and humidity changing it’s shape at all.

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rallen on April 4th, 2012 at 4:10 pm said:

There are some REALLY high precision (and expensive) machines built using a derivative of this method called epoxy granite. There is a huge discussion thread about the best aggregate mix/resin and designs at cnczone.com They’ve even developed equations to calculate the sizes and quantities of aggregate for close packing the granules for optimum aggregate/resin ratios. Some of the stuff going on in there is rocket science compared to many cnc sites.

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ftkalcevic on April 5th, 2012 at 4:42 pm said:

There a few articles around describing how this process was used during World War I…

https://www.engineeringforchange.org/news/2011/07/31/the_concrete_lathe_world_war_i_technology_meets_21st_century_design.html

There’s also an opensource project…

http://concretelathe.wikispaces.com/

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rigmatch on April 11th, 2012 at 12:06 pm said:

Check out “The-Multimachine-150-12-Inch-Swing-Metal-Lathe-Mill-Drill” in projects. A re-discovered World War One concrete tool technique that could be great for full size machine tools

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rigmatch on April 11th, 2012 at 12:18 pm said:

The Make site http://makeprojects.com/Project/The-Multimachine-150-12-Inch-Swing-Metal-Lathe-Mill-Drill/1751/1 is the only one that is updated daily. It also has great .pdf output.

Pat Delany

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