Re: Gang Plate Dimensions
I'll measure mine in a few hours when I get home, if you haven't gotten any replies by then. Interesting, my Tormach brand riser is very short.. in that I needed to use ALL the shims and it still wan't high enough to center tools w/ the spindle. I was also going to make a proper one rather than screw with the shims every time I moved it.
Re: Gang Plate Dimensions
Yes, very easy to do, install a new steel block on the plate, put the drill in the chuck and drill, you'll be sure about the height of the tool.
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Re: Gang Plate Dimensions
Measured the actuals and they match your diagram. In other words, yes, the center of the riser to the plate is .020 variance, but in practice I didn't notice any issue.
Attachment 432296
Re: Gang Plate Dimensions
Are you buying the gang tool holders and/or risers?
After seeing that you made your own QCTP mount and now your gang plate, I figure you'd make your own tools holders and riser too. If that is the case, you could make the t-slot spacing any dimension you like. If using the tool holders/risers, I'd probably get them first and make the plate fit them perfectly.
Re: Gang Plate Dimensions
Am I wrong to lean towards buying the blank tooling block and putting holes in on the lathe? Should be ordering a Slant soon.
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Re: Gang Plate Dimensions
Quote:
Originally Posted by
number40Fan
Are you buying the gang tool holders and/or risers?
Yep, I got a discount from Speedy Metals so for the gang plate & 2 risers the iron cost was only 135$ delivered.
https://www.cnczone.com/forums/attac...d=432362&stc=1
I needed a t-slot cutter which I found for 27$ from Little Machine Shop & I’m thinking of getting a 7/16” End Mill from Shars ($44) just for this job. Although I probably have a EM laying around that I could use I’m kind of interested to see how the EM from Shars will work.
So I have everything else I need and it’s a breeze to make these parts on my 10X50 manual mill.
These parts from Tormach add up to: gang plate $345 + riser $165 + riser $165 = $675. My cost making them will about $205 so I’m saving $470 and will have a custom fit to my saddle.
Since I’m retired I’m count my time as free.
If the Tormach tool holders have an accurate 1/2” center-line I’ll probably just buy those. Otherwise I might make some of those too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
maker of things
Am I wrong to lean towards buying the blank tooling block and putting holes in on the lathe?
I'm not putting any holes into the lathe - not sure what you mean here?
Thanks for the info ...
Re: Gang Plate Dimensions
Put holes into the tool holder. At least in my mind, if everything is mounted and the tool holder is drilled and reamed using the spindle, shimming should be unnecessary.
Re: Gang Plate Dimensions
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Warren_3Deee
Measured the actuals and they match your diagram. In other words, yes, the center of the riser to the plate is .020 variance, but in practice I didn't notice any issue.
Attachment 432296
Possibly to pull the riser against the plate in Z also?
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Re: Gang Plate Dimensions
I ordered a Tormach 33906 tool holder to check it's accuracy to decide if I would make my own or buy them. After checking it out I'm not happy with the findings. The fit & finish were OK but the bore hole is not parallel with the reference surface by what I think is a fair amount. I used a bushing to reduce the bore from 3/4" to 1/2" so I could use my reference 1/2" dowel.
So these are the measurements that I got:
.........Bore: 0.75080"
...Bushing OD: 0.75000"
...Bushing ID: 0.50075"
Center Height: 0.5000" Nominal
.........Left: 0.7520"
........Right: 0.7460"
The Tormach supplied bushing fit very well and is concentric. However, when measuring the reference dowel on either side of the holder there exists a 0.006" variance.
I was under the assumption that once the risers were set at the correct height the tool holders would be interchangeable. It looks more like you would need to shim each tool holder and depending on the tool type you would have shim both height and parallelism.
At $100+ for tool holders it seem like Tormach should be able to get the center height within a thou and the bore parallel to the spindle axis.
Looks like I'll be ordering some 4142 HT from Speedy Metals to make my own.
https://www.cnczone.com/forums/attac...d=432988&stc=1
Re: Gang Plate Dimensions
I may make my own as well based on this info. I do wonder if the tormach tooling is imported? I tracked this place down Engineered Concepts based on some of Grimsmo's old slant pro videos. the designs are nearly identical so I don't know if tormach is buying from ECI or knocked off import?
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Re: Gang Plate Dimensions
Well I decided to make my plate the way I wanted it. This is how I did it:
https://www.cnczone.com/forums/attac...d=433088&stc=1
So I finished cutting the slots last night. I just need to reface the top & bottom to set the height correcting for my saddle parallelism to the center-line.
https://www.cnczone.com/forums/attac...d=433090&stc=1