A CNC Mill in Your Future

Having a CNC Mill in your shop is like having a voltmeter or SWR Bridge in line at the home station. Once a luxury, a CNC Mill is a commodity as the prices even with tariffs now places it on the affordable list. More on that later.

Many would think a CNC Mill is synonymous with circuit board fab, well, while true, initially I want to talk about uses other than homebrewing 7 transistor SSB transceiver circuit boards. 

You have just purchased a Xiegu 6200 QRP Transceiver for POTA operation and now realize some accessories would be nice at the picnic table when you are in the US park. (About $800 just for the radio.)

Area Above the Tuning Knob = Internal Speaker

Self-Explanatory! You need a bigger Speaker.

Let us start with an external speaker for the radio. Yes, the internal speaker works well at the home shack but kind of "tinny sounding" in a large open space such as a park. You have a bargain 3" speaker found for $1 at a garage sale, but it is without an enclosure. 

Speaker Box Sketch

Now what? Simple answer --- design a metal plate with a circular opening with dimensions to accommodate the speaker, fab a small wooden box from plywood and mount the speaker on the plate and then mount the plate to the wooden box. If you do things right the box can also be used to stash accessories you will need when doing the POTA dance. [YL's think: Lip gloss, SPF50 Sunscreen, pepper spray, cell phone battery charging pack, a couple of band-aids and possibly some other forms of protection. A 38 snub nose is not on the approved list.]

Wow, your brain hurts because I went too fast. I keep forgetting that I have been CNC Milling projects for over 15 years, and I do some of this without thinking. So, let's start a square one.

Before you purchase anything (put the plastic away) you need to think about the CNC design system and that is a jungle out there. When I started out, I used a free design system called G Simple and it is very easy to use. But the output is a dxf file which then requires a 2nd conversion to G Code which is the standard directions format used by the cutting software like Mach III.

A different CNC design system is called Carbide Create which has the functionality to create the G-Code directly without the 2nd Conversion. I asked copilot about Carbide Create. It is free.

Can Carbide Create CNC Software be downloaded for free?

Yes — Carbide Create can be downloaded for free.

Carbide 3D offers Carbide Create as a free 2D CAD/CAM program designed for their CNC machines. Their official download page lists current and older versions available at no cost.

🧩 What “free” includes

• Full access to the core 2D design tools

• Toolpath creation and G‑code export

• Simulation mode for previewing cuts

• Windows and macOS versions available

• Older versions (like V7) also remain free to download

💡 Additional context

Carbide Create is positioned as an easy‑to‑use CAD/CAM tool for CNC beginners and hobbyists. It’s lightweight, intuitive, and works well for woodworking, sign‑making, and general 2D machining.

Carbide 3D also offers a paid upgrade called Carbide Create Pro, which adds 3D modeling and advanced toolpaths — but the standard version remains free.

Once I create a program in Carbide Create, I set the cutting depth so that it will take several passes to completely cut through a chunk of metal. But there are some tricks to doing that, so each cut is precise and you end up with a clean hole.

Circular Hole Cutting. Multiple Pass!

When you call up the design page on Carbide Create it looks like a sheet of graph paper and that is a bonus as I layout my circuit boards using an actual piece of graph paper. So, what I sketch out on the real graph paper is simply transferred to the onscreen graph paper. It is the process.

Another approach with Carbide Create is to NOT create a whole PC Board design but rather "modules" like Band Pass and Low Pass Filters or ADE-1 SMD layouts. Thus, to put a BPF here on a PC Board--- just call up the BPF file, locate the 0,0 location and punch the start button. 

Large Circular cutouts can be approached in 2 ways with the 2nd way the likely better choice. Suppose I wanted a 3 inch in diameter circular cutout and using method one on the Carbide Create, I would set the center point at position 1.5 inches on the X Axis and 1.5 inches on the Y Axis. The location at the lower left-hand corner is the 0,0 point. You ask Carbide Create to simulate the cut and a perfect circle is displayed that is tangent to the X axis at 1.5, 0 and tangent to the Y axis at 0, 1.5. Here is the problem on multiple cuts as you must always come back to the corner spot and set a depth so on repeated cuts you will have a deeper hole at 0,0.

Method 2 fixes that problem. You set the center at 0,0 on the X and Y axis and then repeat the simulation and you will see a circle which appears in 4 quadrants. Now the only problem is to initially locate the 0,0 point on the material to be cut. Lots of ways to find center. Draw lines from opposing corners and where they cross is the center. Now as you go deeper with the progressive cuts the hole appears in the piece that will be removed. Number 2 is better.

See the photo with the Aluminum plate on the CNC Machine and you see the 0,0 hole

Yeah, you would have to actually diddle with Carbide Create to generate the G Code OR using copilot it will generate the actual G Code program for you

Using the Carbide Create free 2D software program provide a G Code listing to cut a circular area using inches, in aluminum, centered at 0,0 and 3 inches in diameter to a depth of 0.03125 inches.

Here is a clean, ready‑to‑run inch‑mode G‑code program that will pocket a 3.000" diameter circle, centered at X0 Y0, to a depth of 0.03125" in aluminum using a simple spiral pocket. It is compatible with Carbide Motion / Carbide Create–style GRBL controllers.

G‑Code for 3" Diameter Pocket (Depth 0.03125")

gcode

(3.0" DIAMETER POCKET, CENTER 0,0, DEPTH 0.03125")
(ASSUMES Z0 IS TOP OF STOCK)

G20            (Inches)
G17            (XY plane)
G90            (Absolute positioning)
G0 Z0.200      (Safe height)

(--- Move to start point on circle ---)
G0 X1.500 Y0.000

(--- Plunge to cutting depth ---)
G1 Z-0.03125 F5.0

(--- Spiral pocket: 3 passes inward ---)
G3 X1.500 Y0.000 I-1.500 J0.000 F20.0   (Outer circle, 3.000" dia)
G3 X1.000 Y0.000 I-1.000 J0.000         (2.000" dia)
G3 X0.500 Y0.000 I-0.500 J0.000         (1.000" dia)

(--- Final cleanup circle ---)
G3 X1.500 Y0.000 I-1.500 J0.000

(--- Retract ---)
G0 Z0.200
G0 X0 Y0
M30

How this program works

🌀 Toolpath structure

• G20 sets inch mode.

• G3 arcs cut counter‑clockwise circles centered at 0,0 using I/J offsets.

• The tool starts at radius 1.5" (diameter 3"), then spirals inward to clean the pocket.

📏 Dimensions

• Pocket diameter: 3.000"

• Center: X0 Y0

• Depth: 0.03125" (1/32")

• Safe Z: +0.200"

⚙️ Feeds

• Plunge feed: F5.0

• Cutting feed: F20.0 (Adjust for your tool, machine rigidity, and coolant.)

What you actually do now is to copy the G Code and place it in a NOTEPAD blank template and save it as a text file with the name SpkrCOut (shorthand for speaker cut out). This saved text file is then placed into the G Code file of the cutting software (I use Mach III) and you are good to go.

The Aluminum plate is 1/16 inch thick and for a tabletop machine that can be a bit of a struggle. So, I set the cut depth for 1/32 inch and with the center cut point at 0,0 (the circle center) you make the clean cut in 2 passes.

In summary the use of the AI software can generate the G Code for you and a definition of what is happening. Noteworthy is that Carbide Create does not give you the detailed "what's happening" explanation such as shown with copilot.

Check this link for more info on CNC Machining (pre-AI) from N6QW.

We now have to address that awful fact that you want the performance of the Xiegu 6200 but want it at a CW Pixie price ($23). Friend there ain't no free lunches so get a good CNC Machine and here is one that can be had for around $500 but will actually cut metal.

Now the skills you learn with a CNC puts you right in line with those needed for a 3D printer. This is a steppingstone!

[BTW in looking closer at the AI Generated code it appears that it is a "pocket removal" which means it starts as a large circle and then keeps making the radius smaller to remove the metal. That will work but you will grow a beard in the process. What you can do is after the 1st complete cut is to stop the machine and recenter the cutter to 0,0 and make a deeper cut in the metal and restart the program. This will cut out the complete circle without the need for a complete pocket removal. Tribal Knowledge guys. JIF, (Just For Fun) I put a pencil lead in the CNC versus the cutter, and you can see the tool path.]

Cutter Path Pocket Removal

In a subsequent posting I will lead any who are still reading the blog through a process of taking a schematic and converting it to G Code for cutting a PC Board

When I lived in WA State, I had a 1995 Jeep Wrangler that as such did not have a rear bumper. I wanted to go mobile and using the CNC fabricated a custom Clamping mechanism that was made from aluminum blocks (purchased at Boeing Surplus in Renton) I had a mount. It was about $5 in material with my Boeing discount and 20 minutes on the CNC. It was one hell of a rugged mount!

There are them that know and those who wished they knew. Many in this latter group voted for old what is his name!

73's

Pete N6QW

Mea Culpa. I was wrong!

I had an email exchange with one of the small numbers of blog readers yesterday. That exchange was like eating a dish of spicy Mid-Eastern food (peppered roasted goat) ... It sits in your gut and there is subsequently a tug of war with the stomach about it staying there.

Peppered Roasted Goat

I was awakened by my brain at 3:00 AM with a message to me that I WAS WRONG!

For that I am truly sorry. Yes, I am admitting that my recent views about 45 Minute Extra's and the lack of interest in this blog, my you tube videos and no interest in what I describe as CRAP... Cool Radios And Projects was all misdirected. 

Our hobby is rich with historical perspective, and the current state is merely another point on that continuum. Think of the changes from Spark Gap to CW generated by real RF, the shift from CW to Phone, the change from AM to SSB, the switch from tubes to solid state and now from Hardware Defined Radios to Software Defined Radios. In that mix we must add the change in licensing requirements and the impact of AI to direct our future efforts.

This all happened over a span of some 130 years, a relatively short period in time and for me personally I have been continuously licensed for more than half that period of time. My experience was a front row ringside seat in the "agita" at the few die hard AM'ers as they tried AM operation on 14.205 MHz which was at one time a SSB DX hangout. 

I have chided the 99% of the hams who know nothing about scratch building a complete SSB transceiver using only 7 transistors or that few hams know anything about personally CNC milling circuit boards. Or what happens inside a 2N3904 transistor when used as an oscillator.

You know what... Today that is not important as under our very eyes the hobby has taken another dramatic shift in direction. I have a bit of personal consternation with the 45 Minute Extra and have focused some unkind comments about those individuals. That angst should not be directed at them personally as all they are doing is using the current system to get a license. The anger should be is how the system was changed and we let it happen. Today is not the day to be vocal about what if but instead focus on those who made it happen.

There may also be a lot in the pure fact that the latest technology like AI has left many of us way behind the leading edge. Sure, we can boast about knowing how to design a 2N3904 analog variable frequency oscillator, but can we program a FPGA to decode or generate digital signals. 

We now have a new dimension to our hobby (and more angst). We don't have to know how to design a 2N3904 Analog VFO or program a FPGA. Our new skill set must now focus on AI and how to describe what we want. A ham friend and blog reader is beyond being just a boat anchor aficionado and his day job is software development.

This friend purchased a B&W Model 6100 HF SSB/CW transmitter that had in the 1960's a built-in frequency synthesizer using vacuum tubes. Only 200 of these were ever made. He bought one and was having an issue with low output on 10M. 

His first step was to get a manual and next using Apple software created a one-page schematic. He uploads this info on to an AI platform and describes the problem. The AI spits out a whole action plan step by step to isolate the 10M issue. It was like having the original designer sitting in your shack. The real skill for today's ham operators is the critical ability to describe a problem and what is required or wanted.

My low blog readership and low you tube view count has but one person to blame and that is me. I am hawking stuff that does not appeal to today's ham demographic. What is posted must not reflect on the "techie wow" stuff. I had an experience yesterday when I was reading the mail on the 40M noon time net. You have the usual check-in crap and then the question of the day. Yesterday, the question was when you are buying a new radio which is most important: Brand, Features, Price.

My answer was features but overwhelmingly the answer was Brand. Light bulb time. My brand is irrelevant, out of step and behind the times. Today's hams because they lack the techie chops can only follow a brand and screw the costs. The features aspect requires a technical evaluation. How can you go wrong buying a Yaesu?

Now I must also address the political situation in the US. Democracy as such is dead and who we have running the show and who supports him were elected by the majority. Twice now he has been elected and don't be surprised if he is back a third time. It is what it is and for most of us things will not get better as the current situation is in fact that the system is the problem and we are beyond the point of any return to the past. 

Try to put a spark gap transmitter on the air today... impossible! There will be no magic event with the mid-terms (wrong again, Pete). For the ultra-wealthy ruling class things will only continue to get better for them and they control the levers of power. So, we're screwed. I can remember when integrity and honesty existed, but the wind has shifted to a few who truly control the levers of power and they are not about to let go. 

Wake up! The times have changed.

73's

Pete N6QW

The OM and YL

I share a common bond with two notable figures in history, those being E. Howard Armstrong and Brad Pitt. Yes, that bond, the same birthday, December the 18th.

Armstong impacted our hobby with two major inventions: The Super Regen and The Super Heterodyne. For the 45 Minute Wonders, the Superhet was not an invention by a K Pop Group and featured on a Tik Tok video.

Of course, Armstrong is a SK (long ago) but Pitt is still with us and might I add purring right along on all 16 cylinders. Pitt is 62 and his Girl Friend is 33 so that might explain the "pep in his step".

PNP --- Pitt N' Pal

Bravo, Brad, and have a great movie shoot in Greece. This truly is an OM and a very nice YL! Are the really baggy pants a part of a disguise or something else? Style is likely not the message.

Based on the Novice Special, QST 1956

The above circuit came from the February 1959, RCA Ham Tips (N4TRB website) and is a part of a project called "The Weekend Special". This is part of a 40M Valved CW transceiver that fits in a typewriter case. OK BTE's typewriters were before computers or the internet. I have my suspicions that the W7ZOI "Ugly Weekender" may be a solid-state update to W2QEX's (Lee Aurick) 1959 project. OK conspiracy theorists do you find it strange that the suffix of the call became the title of the ARRL techie publication QEX.

Them that know can make things go and those who don't know wished they did.

73's

Pete N6QW

What to Build?

The Soldersmoke Podcast 263 opens that session on February 23, 2026, with that very same question.

Soldersmoke Podcast #263

There were divergent answers amongst the three of us and that clearly reflects the state of our hobby. But one opinion was not stated that actually overwhelmingly characterizes today's answer from the supermajority of hams. That answer "NOTHING". One other piece of evidence is that as of February 25, 2026, at 5:00 AM PST there are not thousands of views on you tube. But in all fairness, there are more views of SS #263 than my paperclip unboxing video. 

As a datapoint a You Tube Video by a newly minted YL Extra who went to the top license literally overnight (the subject of the video) had 27K views in 2 days. Her stated objective was POTA.

But the Nothing answer requires an examination as the very founding of our beloved hobby had its start because you had to scratch build your rig to get on the air. Marconi's 1st effort was totally homebrewed.

So, the why of Nothing. I suggest the following may cover some of the answer and in reality, has parallels in other hobbies. 

Let us use a non-radio example. Take the iconic movie My Cousin Vinny with Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei. Pesci's character Gambini is a newly minted sort of lawyer, and his girlfriend (Tomei) Mona Lisa Vito are in the deep south trying to defend Gambini's relative on a murder charge. A key piece of evidence is provided by Tomei who was an automotive expert as she worked as a mechanic in her family's garage. The evidence involved tire tracks made by a getaway car and a Posi-traction rear end. The writer of the movie as a teenager knew the innards of every American car and this piece of the movie was an accurate fact based on his experience with homebrewed cars. The writer didn't have money to buy a Z-80, but scrounged junk yards and homebrewed a jalopy.

Two factors are presented in the above story, the first being that young people wanted to learn things, and they did that by doing. There was no Google or AI... you actually had to learn things and much of that was hands on. The second piece was disposable income. It was near zero and young people actually earned money with paper routes (pre-digital) or mowing lawns. I personally earned the $20 to build my 1st station (ARC-5 Receiver and 6V6 transmitter) by mowing lots of lawns.

A huge responsibility falls on the shoulders of the ARRL who chose to shift away from the techie side of the hobby and focus on contests, operating and reviews of expensive equipment. QST is no longer the technical journal it once was. 

Education is another factor where the emphasis on science and technology takes a back seat to Football, Lacrosse and lest we forget Basketball. I personally witnessed something extra-ordinary at my little high school back in Pennsylvania. The Russians launched Sputnik and 6 weeks later we had two new teachers on the staff and if you were in the college preparatory classes you suddenly had a curriculum change. New classes were added covering advanced mathematics and advanced physics both taught by teachers who had engineering backgrounds.  

Friends N2CQR and KK4DAS tried to introduce a STEM project at an upscale High School in VA. This project was their now famous DCR receiver. It did not finish well, as the problem was not the students but lack of support from the school administration.

The other ARRL piece is the 45 Minute Extra where the licensing requirements have essentially been bypassed so that nothing of substance is needed to hold the top license.

These factors have led to a hobby dominated by individuals who have money or headroom on the credit cards and an ability to remember answers to a set of canned questions. It has nothing to do with real knowledge, learned skills and an inquisitive mind to know things like how an oscillator oscillates or what is involved with a frequency conversion or the why of inverted sidebands.

The sad part of Nothing is that Nothing will change except that the number of hams will become less and less as there is no incentive to look under the hood.

There may be pockets of one or two individuals that are challenged by the basic first principles, but AI will be the dominant factor for new designs and technology breakthroughs.

I witnessed perhaps one individual who may be one of those who will lead us forward. About a month ago on my morning walk in the neighborhood, I spotted a young teenager on the side of the road with an older mini motorcycle that was sort of rough running. I said hello and asked about his "rig". He mentioned that he had just acquired it and that it was not working when he got it and now was trying to fix it. Bravo... no doubt he will get it running and just think of what he was learning. I also smiled at him as I saw sticking out of his pocket were a large screwdriver and two wrenches. 

My response of what to build was a test oscillator and N2CQR's was a crystal set and KK4DAS suggested a Regen receiver. The crystal set here in SoCal literally demands you know Spanish or have a strong stomach for right wing talk shows. The dynamics of AM radio have like "no homebrewing by hams" have changed. 

Them that know will always know but for many they just wished they knew.

73's

Pete N6QW

State of the Union (SOTU)

How does one reconcile what will be said today at the SOTU when compared to the reality of our check books. 

I am now paying significantly more for groceries, gas, utilities, insurances and all the added tariffs on the few things I do buy. Despite all the smoke blown up our butts, things are not good.

Who is responsible? You cannot be living here and not ask that question. But one must wonder who will be fingered as the designated scapegoat.

Something Electronic?

73's

Pete N6QW

200 Meters and Down... why we have the ham bands we have.

There is a publication from the ARRL called 200 Meters and Down which explains why we have the hams bands that we have. Actually, it was a form of punishment at the hand of the US Navy.

In the early days of wireless operation, the focus was contacting ships at sea and thus the US Navy staked a claim of controlling all things radio. The transmitters of those days were not SDR (Answer to question #19 on the 45 Minute Extra License exam) but spark gap transmitters. Given the technology at the time most radio transmissions were in the Long Wave bands. (Below the AM broadcast band, see question #27.) 

Well hams being hams often they would drift into the Naval Frequencies and that "pissed off" the Navy. So, the Navy came up with a punishment... Hams could have radio transmitters but could only operate 200 Meters and Down. For those who don't know you divide 300 by 200 and get 1.5 MHz which is the low end and say it was 160M then that is 1.875 MHz. The US Navy in essence said... there work with that. It was a gift. You ask why the 300, that is a constant of the speed of light in meters that lets you convert meters to frequency.

In 1923 Fred Schnell, 1MO/John Reinartz, 1XAL and Leon DeLoy, 8AB ran the famous trans-Atlantic tests where they made contact between the US and Europe on 80M CW. In essence the hams of old paved the way for HF communications. It was the hams that taught the US Navy how to make long distant contacts using frequencies 200M and down. What a payback.

Along the way let us not forget Chiquita Banana and the United Fruit Company. This company did a great deal of radio development in connection with their radio network used to contact banana boats plodding the path between South America and New Orleans. 

Thus, the why of the ham bands as originally established below 200 Meters. BTW it was the US Navy who still controlled all things radio that in 1919 caused the formation of RCA to build shipboard radio equipment. The Navy saw us as vulnerable because until that time that sort of gear was built by the Eyetalians (Marconi) and the Germans (Telefunken). The US Navy engaged the following companies to form RCA: Westinghouse, General Electric and United Fruit. General Electric was for a long time the major stockholder of RCA. And as they say the rest is history.

Big Transmitter. That will cause a lot of QRM.

Them that know, now don't care if you know.

73's

Pete N6QW

Rotten Through and Through. There it is staring us in the face!

It starts with a good process and good intentions, then it is purposefully infected with a malicious transgressor. In time it is fully maggot infested.  Yet, a cult like faithful awaits to "Drink the Kool Aid" all the while Oohing and Aweing how good the result will be. In many places it is outlawed but the faithful clandestinely partake and regrettably have a high risk of consequences.

We definitely are not talking about Trump 2.0 and the daily antics; but instead Casu Marzu.

One has to wonder how this process was started or invented. It may be like many things of old... it happened spontaneously, was refined and then adopted. I also see a parallel with our 45 Minute Extra Class licensee.

Heard on 20M, a DX Station was running a string of contacts and this Extra Calls him (we know he is an extra with the 2X1 call sign). He then asks the DX station to repeat his call sign, which he does. But the Extra keeps asking for a repeat (5 times). The DX station then say phonetically Xray Quebec ***. The Extra keeps bumbling the call. Finally, the DX station says you are not listening... QRZ from XQ***. The Extra must have had a dose of Casu Marzu. BTW XQ*** is in Chile and this particular XQ has 363K lookups in QRZ. 

The Extra could have listened for a bit longer to get the call correct but instead he bumbled along and took time away from others who were trying to get a report. How inconsiderate and showing his ignorance of operating procedure.  The DX station was articulating it properly and gave it with phonetics... The stateside ham truly was not listening and if your focus is contests and operating you best learn how. Pure and Simple a ROOKIE 45 Minute Extra!

Them that know would not eat Casu Marzu.***

73's

Pete, N6QW

***

Traditional Sardinian cheese

Casu Marzu is a traditional Sardinian cheese made from sheep's milk, known for its soft, spreadable texture and strong, tangy flavor. The cheese is produced by introducing live maggots of the cheese fly Piophila casei into aged pecorino cheese, which causes a fermentation process that breaks down the cheese's fats, resulting in a creamy consistency. This cheese is often compared to Gorgonzola and is typically enjoyed with Sardinian bread and red wine. Due to health concerns, Casu Marzu is banned in many countries, including the United States, and is considered one of the most dangerous cheeses in the world because the maggots can survive stomach acid and potentially cause serious health issues if consumed. 

Wikipedia+2