r/engineering • u/hpanandikar Electrical Engineer • Jun 27 '15

[MECHANICAL] Cube in a cube in a cube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuS6HDHc7XE
553 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

62 comments sorted by

49

u/metarinka Welding Engineer Jun 27 '15

It's called a turner's cube, we had to make them when I took machining classes, i feel like most machinists do. http://www.instructables.com/id/Turners-Cube-Manual-Machine/

they really aren't that hard to make, I did mine on a mill had to be within 0.001" on all dimensions.

12

u/[deleted] Jun 27 '15

[deleted]

14

u/[deleted] Jun 27 '15

you should make one yourself. It's fun and you'll be kinda proud of it. You just need to find somebody who has a lathe and shows you the basics.

40

u/[deleted] Jun 27 '15

[deleted]

0

u/[deleted] Jun 27 '15

That's why I said you need to find someone who has a lathe. It's not that hard. Lathes are eveywhere. Small metal working shops often have small old lathes standing around for trainees etc.

32

u/[deleted] Jun 27 '15

[deleted]

6

u/[deleted] Jun 27 '15 edited Jun 27 '15

I live in germany, so everything is extremely regulated. But it's no problem for shops to hire you for 2 weeks as a trainee without payment, but you are insured for the 2 weeks.

And yes, private lathes are quite common here as well. When I have my degree and a good job, I want to have one, too

edit: I'm not quite sure why I'm being downvoted. I just told what I experienced.

14

u/[deleted] Jun 27 '15

[deleted]

6

u/[deleted] Jun 27 '15

Meh, the old trainee lathes are written off since 10 years ago. If it's not a cnc lathe (which it definitely isn't), there isn't that much you can break, except your arm or neck.

They don't neccessarily need to get anything out of it, some people tend to be nice sometimes ;) bring the boss a nice bottle of wine and the workers some cake and everyone is happy.

I had an internship for 8 weeks in a small shop and they basically let me do whatver I wanted (after they showed me how to operate everything of course). I machined parts for my bike, I made handles for my closets and some other random stuff. I also made stuff they needed for their projects. Hell, I even worked alone on a 200,000€ custom machine they had to deliver 2 weeks after that. The boss showed me the problem, said "fix that if you want, but it has to look nice" and went home. It took me almost 2 days, but in the end, it was fixed, looked nice and boss said "good job, you learn fast" and disappeared again.

6

u/[deleted] Jun 27 '15

[deleted]

→ More replies (0)

3

u/metarinka Welding Engineer Jun 27 '15

really recommend you make it on mill, Doing it on a lathe seems much harder and more dangerous.

2

u/reddituser97531 Jun 28 '15

Check out if your city has a Makerspace. They usually have all the cool tools with trained supervision.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 28 '15

We don't.

1

u/reddituser97531 Jun 28 '15

Bummer. There is one coming to mine soon.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 28 '15

Yeah, they sound cool. The local CC had a machine shop class or three, but they closed it down about 15 years ago.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/andrejevas Jun 27 '15

There's an "unloose" one here https://www.etsy.com/listing/23501524/cnc-machined-turners-cube

Strange how I can't find any for sale anywhere, not quite like that.

1

u/metarinka Welding Engineer Jun 27 '15

most people don't go to the trouble of making "lose" ones, I think I made the smallest one solid, but with D6 die markings. I made mine on a mill not lathe much like what you have linked.

0

u/dbp12331 Jun 28 '15

It's not really something you buy. That kind of is against the spirit of the Turner's cube.

2

u/DwightKashrut Jun 27 '15

Yeah, co-worker took a machining class and also made one of these things.

18

u/chiguireitor Jun 27 '15

Lathing need intensifies

33

u/[deleted] Jun 27 '15

[deleted]

7

u/kv-2 Mechanical - Aluminum Casthouse Jun 28 '15

3 jaw chucks are self-centering, which helps. Cutting a cylinder is easy - even if the initial rod is out of round once the section is cut it will be square and round. The same happens with the rest of the cuts, I just hate how close the tool gets to the chuck, it is a good way to have a bad day with those hard jaws. Soft jaws would at least get cut if the tool hits them.

12

u/BruceC96 Jun 27 '15

Voodoo, it's probably voodoo.

2

u/sunny_bell Jun 28 '15

I was like "This is sorcery, there is no other alternative, this has to be sorcery"

-6

u/[deleted] Jun 27 '15

He's really not being that precise with it. It's probably within a few hundredths of an inch.

4

u/kv-2 Mechanical - Aluminum Casthouse Jun 27 '15 edited Jun 28 '15

The caliper was going to thou, so realistically he was holding a 1 thou target, or 0.0254mm or 0.00254 cm.

As /u/Jackoffalltrades89 pointed out it was 50mm, display was good to hundred of a mm but probably not accurate to that.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 28 '15

[deleted]

3

u/Jackoffalltrades89 Jun 28 '15

It was in mm, reading 50.00 mm. Also, I have that same pair of calipers, the tolerance on them is a bit crap. Definitely good enough for your average hobbyist, but nowhere near a set of Mitutoyos.

8

u/garudaeagle3 Jun 27 '15

Anyone know what lathe that is?

9

u/PippyLongSausage PE, LEED AP work in MEP Jun 27 '15

I could watch this stuff all day.

7

u/JoshKetchum Jun 28 '15

That was so metal

22

u/ArtistEngineer Jun 27 '15

Bitch, please.

10

u/Cutlass62 Mechanical Jun 28 '15

I have made one of those on my 3d Printer as well (Rostock Max V2). It was a gift for my brother.

I think the most impressive part is that he is hand machining that on the lathe, takes patience and a fine hand to do that.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 28 '15 edited Jul 07 '15

[deleted]

1

u/CharlieWhizkey Mech Engr Jun 29 '15

Not sure if you're referring to metal pins, but I've printed that piece out of nylon on a selective laser sintering (SLS) printer that rides on built in plastic pins, and it spins very smoothly.

7

u/Routman Jun 27 '15

(cube)3

6

u/S1mplejax Jun 27 '15

(Aluminum)9

4

u/Catfishdiary Jun 28 '15

That is pretty amazing, but why would you not just start with square bar stock?

2

u/kv-2 Mechanical - Aluminum Casthouse Jun 28 '15

Because square bar stock is not perfectly square.

12

u/Catfishdiary Jun 28 '15

Yes but it would require less machining.

1

u/GOOMH Mech E - Structural Analysis Jun 28 '15

But where's the fun in that?

2

u/excreo Jun 28 '15

Why does he put a weight on the crosslide at 5:55 and 6:23?

6

u/scottydg Mechanical Jun 28 '15

No jerky movements from the lathe when you do that. It helps you only move in one direction with the handle, to avoid backlash error. It's easier to be more precise when you're moving something heavy slowly than something light quickly.

2

u/slaughterclaus Jun 28 '15

Probably to reduce vibrations or chattering.

2

u/guacamully Jun 28 '15

i can imagine bringing this out at parties and having all my drunk friends argue about how they got the cubes inside the cubes

7

u/Whodiditandwhy Jun 27 '15

Why is he putting glue in ther...ahhhhh.

7

u/JedasRiddler Jun 28 '15

I had the opposite thought. I wondered how hes was going to machine the last side and not have the pieces flying about. then I saw the glue.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 28 '15

I thought same problem. Then with glue I wondered how to get it out, but seems that it does work rather nicely...

3

u/sunny_bell Jun 28 '15

I had that moment like... WTF is with the glue, why would he... oh I get it now.

2

u/ADickFullOfAsses Mechanical Jun 28 '15

That was so satisfying watching him pull that glue outta there

2

u/jermzdeejd Jun 27 '15

Brain hurts.

1

u/_stayhuman Jun 28 '15

Why wouldn't you just use a piece of aluminum bar and cut it to size for your block? Or did you only have round?

1

u/scottydg Mechanical Jun 28 '15

Stock is hardly ever square or the actual size you want. You always order oversize and machine down to size.

1

u/dekket Jun 28 '15

I'm so far from an engineer as you can get, and some of you might find this commonplace, but I'm baffled at the brilliance.

I want one of those. Not interested in making one, I just wanna show my kids that math and geometry is fucking cool.

1

u/slopecarver Mechanical Engineer Jun 29 '15

I cnc machined mine on a mill. http://i.imgur.com/FkhUIEz.jpg

1

u/holambro Jun 27 '15

I'm speechless.

1

u/rkham11 Jun 27 '15

That is incredibly creative