[mattmark]

For those who have flood enclosures with your RF-45s (like Pete), how wide is your enclosure? i was thinking in the 68"-75" range, ie table+x travel+potential cnc=31.5+~18"+12=62"+clearance? Sound about right?

My vise is shipping from Discount Machine (they got their CNC Vise back in stock again) -
http://cgi.ebay.com/6-CNC-SUPER-VISE...#ht_2518wt_939

Also ordered a wack of basics (from bob's list:
http://www.cnccookbook.com/CCMillHome.html)

Square
DTI+Holder
T-slot Clamping set
small v-block
1-2-3 blocks
parallels

a couple of 3/8", 1/2" 2 and 4 flute end mills, end mill holders

center/countersink bit set.

a 5/8 ball end mill and 5/16" corner rounder for a specific project i'm working on

Plus Grease, degrease, synthetic coolant, loctite, orange cleaner

Any other things that I'll probably need?


Matt

[Flenser]

Any other things that I'll probably need?

Just looking around the assortment (pile) of things I've used with the mill recently (and not put away)...

Machine oil for the ways. Decent oil dispenser for the ports.

Shop vac and/or a brush for the chips. I also use a tooth brush to keep the slots clean. If you are going to flood coolant right away, I dunno how necessary this stuff is, though. I seem to use the shop vac more than I use my mill and lathe combined.

Measuring tools - micrometer, calipers, etc.

Drill bits. Flat file. Calculator.

Ear protection - depending on the room it's in...

Jeff

[Flenser]

not much progress yet because i rolled my ankle playing volleyball last night, but decided to post some pix of the doorframe (yet another hoss idea)+cable hoist, rope tow with ramp project over the weekend to get the base down the stairs. took a while to set up, but move was pretty effortless.

matt

I have new appreciation for the tiny but on-the-ground shed my stuff occupies

BTW, if you are thinking about how to remount the head, I made a cradle from 4 short 2x4s laid out in a tic-tac-toe grid. The two on the bottom laid flat and the two on the top on edge. The head sat on the cradle with the spindle suspended, and the cradle sat on the table. It took about 10 minutes to assemble, and then moving the head into place using the hand cranks was pretty easy.

[mattmark]

hey jeff,

thanks for the additional bits - any particular machine oil? and is the same oil used for the ports? i'm a complete noob in this regard =)

good idea on mounting the head - as you could see, i've just been stacking short 2x3s and 2x4s.

bought some 5/8" plywood and going to start making the flood/mill enclosure this weekend. found a fibreglass auto repair kit, but seemed pricy.. couldn't find anything at home depot.

what brands of epoxy paint is everyone buying? and is there a specific brand of fibreglass for the seams?

i'm excited cuz the electrical extension for my double throw 220v is being installed as we speak. can't wait to get the spindle going.

matt

[BobWarfield]

Hola Matt, and welcome to the RF45 fraternity!

These are great mills. Glad to see you got a 6" vise, and it looks really nice too for a great price.

I am in the process of making a set of "Vise Jaws of Doom" so that a single pair of jaws spans 2 ganged 6" vises on my table. I'm engraving some thin aluminum panels and want to support them along their entire length for a better surface finish.

Pete, I still haven't wired my home switches yet either. I got started, then decided I wanted a nice panel with connectors, started engraving one, hated the surface finish, started making Jaws of Doom, etc.

LOL, I love how one thing leads to another and pretty soon 1 project has turned into 3 or 4.

Hoss, thanks for posting the headstock link from LMS. A 4-th axis is also on my list (after building Pete's belt drive). Seems like a great price. I was originally going to put bronze sleeves in a chunk of Fortal to make one. May still do that, just 'cause it would be fun to make a "spindle" that way.

Cheers,

BW

[Flenser]

any particular machine oil? and is the same oil used for the ports? i'm a complete noob in this regard =)

I'm something of a noob myself. I was a laborer in a machine shop in my youth, but that's as close to experienced as I get... Anyway, I've used the way and machine oil Grizzly sells, and I've used hydraulic jack oil on both the ports and the ways. Of the two, I prefer the jack oil, mostly because it's cheaper.

Jeff

Jeff

[mattmark]

hey bob,

thanks - it's been an incredible learning curve and a lot of fun =) the vise jaws of doom sound awesome, can't wait to see it!

the electrical was installed succesfully and last night i put together the stand with hockey pucks, base, column & head. the stand setup with the pucks is great - will just have to get long nuts or spacers, because there is very little material under the base mounting hole (where it's usually bolted to a table/bench). an

i plugged in - and.. NOTHING. until i figured out the stop mechanism everything seems to be running fairly smoothly at all speeds.. will need to check the greasing of everything. the oil is at the right amount.

and just as i'm typing this at work, 3 ups packages come!!! - i pretty much ordered everything from www.kbctools.com - probably not the greatest pricing compared to the states (they have stores in the US too), but with my shipment, it was free shipping and they pretty much have everything (i forgot to check and they have all the locline coolant products too)

what is disappointing is i realized that this zay7045 came with no drawbar wrench. is there a spindle lock on this mill? i understand now why everyone makes at least the move to a powered Z-axis and drawbar cranking it to the top just to check clearance was a good workout!

[Flenser]

The very first real part I made with the mill was a drill chuck for the z-axis crank

No spindle lock that I know of. I put it in low gear to tighten or loosen the bar. I was using a spanner wrench on the spline until I noticed the marks the wrench left on the spline.

On a side note, I have the 1100oz Keling servos, G320X drivers, power supply and various bits in the house. I'm still waiting on a C11G break out board, though. I have zero time to play with this stuff, but I'll probably work on it anyway. I need to decide what sort of enclosure to use before I do much else, though. Connecting everything up in a pile on my desk would be entertaining, but probably not very useful...

Jeff

[mattmark]

hey jeff,

i agree, need to sort out the z-crank so to clarify: to take out the r8 collet, i need to turn the bolt on top of the spinele counter-clockwise in relation to the spindle? seems like all these powered drawbars are just turning the bolt as is? seems i'm missing something here.

bob, i'm completely experiencing multiple projects. i feel like if i don't build my enclosure with flood coolant, etc i don't feel productive (and i've never made chips with a mill, EVER) haha. i'm considering the lathe/4-axis as we speak.. it's project week as my wife is on a work trip (caribbean, i know, tough life) so i might as well get as much done as possible.

[ninefinger]

found a fibreglass auto repair kit, but seemed pricy.. couldn't find anything at home depot.
matt

Matt,

For fiberglass try princessauto if they are in your area. http://www.princessauto.com/tools/au...breglass-resin or Canadian Tire http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brows...52B1%252BL.jsp in the auto body section.

Also, for inexpensive tooling I've ordered from Shars.com http://www.shars.com. They will ship USPS so you don't get pick pocketed by UPS brokerage fee. Cheaper than KBC for sure.

BTW - I'm really jealous cause I ordered my MTW mill (the big one - IH clone MD-001) on November 5th and I'm still waiting to get it...should be here in 2 weeks:wee:

Mike

[mattmark]

Hey Mike,

thanks for the links - i think i'm going to CT to grab a bilge pump (for coolant) and i'll grab the resin there.. hmm princess has the fibreglass cloth for the seams too - i'm in the annex, so princess is a bit far, but i think i'm going to kbc to grab a coolant hose.. might as well check out princess tmr. great!

IH, eh? awesome - there's no way that would fit in my basement. i was lucky cuz MWT had about 6 or 7 rf-45s lying around.

i actually ordered my vise from Shars/Discount Machine (on ebay). it's apparently in Canadian customs right now.. gotta wait i think i was impatient, but i figure for items that are heavy (like clamping sets), kbc was fine (shipping is killer from the states for heavy stuff). too bad we don't have more local options..

matt

[Flenser]

hey jeff,

i agree, need to sort out the z-crank so to clarify: to take out the r8 collet, i need to turn the bolt on top of the spinele counter-clockwise in relation to the spindle? seems like all these powered drawbars are just turning the bolt as is? seems i'm missing something here.

bob, i'm completely experiencing multiple projects. i feel like if i don't build my enclosure with flood coolant, etc i don't feel productive (and i've never made chips with a mill, EVER) haha. i'm considering the lathe/4-axis as we speak.. it's project week as my wife is on a work trip (caribbean, i know, tough life) so i might as well get as much done as possible.

Right, back out the draw bar a few turns and tap on the top with the wrench to free the collet from the taper. Then unscrew it the rest of the way. If it's really tight, I have a rubber mallet handy. I dunno if that's how I'm supposed to do it, but it works.

I imagine the power draw bars hold the draw bar at a fixed height, so it pushes the collet out of the taper when as it unscrews. I haven't looked too closely at adding one, though. I haven't so far had the urge to improve my productivity. I think at this stage of the learning process, that would just let me make mistakes faster

Oh yea, there is a set screw in the side of your spindle the slot in the R8 taper lines up with. You can see it by extending the spindle and looking through the slots in the side. When I received my mill, that screw was not tightened and not extended into the taper, so there was nothing to keep a collet from turning inside the taper. Having only ever dealt with the (screw-less) taper on my lathe, I used it like that for about a month until the screw came loose inside the spindle. That was the day I disassembled the gear box looking for the source of that horrible racket...

Jeff

[Flenser]

BTW, Grizzly's manual for the same machine is here. The manual I got from Bolton with mine was worthless. Grizzly's is pretty nice. It covers the draw bar, lubrication and initial break in.

Jeff

[mattmark]

thanks jeff - that's a much better manual that i received everything ships super tight, so r8 stuff is all good now. sweet.

attached are some more pix of getting everything together.

here's a timelapse video of most of what was going on during the move.



time to make some chips!

[mattmark]

Checked the fluids and everything seemed to be good and the spindle was running smoothly on every gear with no load.

strangely enough the safety shield was acting up a bit in regards to the position of the "limit switch".. all good now.

here's the video of the first chips.. max rpm (1500), 4 flute 1/2" end mill, 0.200" DOC. i realized i was feeding way too slow and it was getting hot - not the prettiest cut by any means, but my first chips



now i understand first hand the RPM/feedrate stuff - faster belt/spindle anyone ?

anyhoo, enough fun - time to make the enclosure, add a long nut to the base to make it adjustable (also, the 6" bolt is currently blocking some y-axis movement) pick up a compressor, butterfly wrench and some hose/pipe stuff.

[Flenser]

Nice video. Hurt my ears, though. The spoons video was very cool...

On faster spindles I've been thinking of copying Pete's belt drive conversion. I ordered the spindle taper sleeve from Grizzly's G3358 mill. It fit's the ZX45 spindle just fine. It's just sitting there taunting me, though. If I'm lucky I'll have time to work on it in the Fall. If I'm really lucky, someone (Pete?) will have a conversion kit by then, and I could just buy it. I'm more interested in making things with the mill than for it And I could use the spare taper sleeve as a pencil holder or something...

Jeff

[ZipSnipe]

Good job Matt, I have always liked the zay 45's, never realized how big they are until I seen the base sitting in your hallway!!

[mattmark]

Thanks - yeah, i was a little thrown off by the sound when i was making the first cut. i knew right away things weren't quite right. the piece of 6061 got extremely hot. i subsequently fed a lot faster with some fluid with no issues.

yup, the zay is big - with my 2 ton engine hoist, i've lifted the whole machine to adjust the posts and it's a bit scary to work around/under because i don't have much room to maneuver it around

btw, the steel spacer idea supporting the bolt to adjust the base is a bad idea - it sways left to right way too easily. any other ideas out there to adjust the base (it doesn't have much material under the table bolting/mounting hole). it's hard to find a long nut that actually fits the bolt threads properly (hard to find fully threaded hex bolts too) at the local big box stores.

hey jeff,

what is the particular use of the taper sleeve for you? to stabilize the spindle for a belt conversion?

Matt

[BobWarfield]

i subsequently fed a lot faster with some fluid with no issues.

Matt, send me an email at (bob "AT" thewarfields.com) and I'll hook you up to the G-Wizard beta test. You'll be surprised what that big mill can do with the right feeds and speeds.

Best,

BW

[Flenser]

Matt,

I read that Pete used the spindle taper sleeve to mount the pulley assembly for his belt drive conversion. I bought one on impulse, but haven't decided if my meager machining skills are sufficient to do the conversion without a lot of costly mistakes. Buying a kit or the plans for one would be the safer bet for me...

Can't offer much help on the spacers. I used washers/shims between the machine and the mount to get it level, and just use the nuts and bolts as clamps.