[widgitmaster]

A little more progress today!
For starters, I cut the screws for all three axis and turned the ends.

Then I cut the stock for the 12 standoffs for the motors, and ran off a few setups on the lathe to finish them!

[posix]

great progress there wm! but since you said v-groove is no-good, can you elaborate on that a bit? wobble? soft rails perhaps? not smooth?

[widgitmaster]

great progress there wm! but since you said v-groove is no-good, can you elaborate on that a bit? wobble? soft rails perhaps? not smooth?

The v-groove bearings from Bishop Wisecarver are super quality, but it was my design choice that was no good! The W0 bearings & cams were too delicate for the massive weight of my machined parts! Therefore, if I increased the bearings to W1 then it might of worked. I was too aggravated at that point in the project to think clearly!

Widgit

[posix]

ok, that's what I thought!

[widgitmaster]

This morning I worked on the top & bottom bearing plates for the x-axis slide. Didn't have enough time to take photos, but I do have the final assembly pictures!

[widgitmaster]

More progress today!
First I milled a flat on the motor ends of all three lead screws, so the coupling's setscrews will not chew up the shaft diameter.

Then I inked up one end of each z-axis linear rail, and scribed a line at the cut off point. With an abrasive cutoff wheel in my surface grinder, I placed both rails in a vise and cut the bulk off both at once! Then I used a 3/4" carbide 4-flute end mill to machine the case hardened rails to length, the freshly milled surface exposed the 1/16" deep case hardened surface! Now I used my lathe to chamfer the sharp milled end, and stoned the burr off while it spun at 2000 RPM.

Next I place the rail in the mill vise, and milled a .015" deep flat, 1/4" wide on both ends. The flats have to be in line with each other, as there are setscrews on either side of the top & bottom plates to hold the rails in place. Again, I stoned the burrs off and polished the rail with a rubber abrasive stick. Now I have to haul it all in the house for assembly!

Lastly, another big chunk of aluminum has arrived, it will be band sawed into a few smaller blocks. Two of them will become the Z-Axis slide blocks!

The Z-Axis slide will be made of two parts, simply because its too difficult to make accurate bores with internal snap ring grooves on long angular parts!

[widgitmaster]

This morning I started working on the big aluminum block, as I plan to machine all 6 sides as parallel and perpendicular as possible.

To do this I removed the hard jaws from the vise, and placed the block wide-side down on the floor of the vise. Then I propped each end up with matched 1-2-3 blocks, and used my Starrett Hold-Downs to pull the block down tightly on the 1-2-3 blocks. Then I used my large fly cutter to skim cut the top surface.

Next I flipped the block over, and repeated the process until the block had two parallel surfaces. In order to mill the 3rd & 4th surfaces perpendicular, I installed a tall pair of vise jaws, and put the block back in the vise with narrow side up. By wiggling the block as I closed the vise, I ensured the block was sitting squarely in the vise.

Again I used the fly-cutter to skim off the top surface, and flipped the block and repeated the process until two more surfaces were parallel and perpendicular.

Now I need to remove the vise, and setup my tall angle plate. First I clamped it loosely to the table, then I used a dial-indicator mounted in the mill's spindle to adjust the angle plate until it was parallel to the mills axis.

With a plate bolted to the side of my angle plate, I now have a 90 deg. corner for the block to nest into. With a large pair of clamps, I'm now ready to skim the top off the block with the fly-cutter. Then I flipped the block and repeated the process. Now the block is parallel & perpendicular on all surfaces.

This block will make two different parts, and I needed to have some precision surfaces to work from as I layout my lines for cutting. The best part, is all the leftover parts will have nicely machines surfaces

Before I start the layout, I need to band saw a long chunk off the block, and machine it parallel again! This will give me the 4" width of both parts.

[rustamd]

everything is looking cool!


just out of curiosity, what coolant you use on your mill?

[shawnperkins]

I think it's Arizona Iced Tea

everything is looking cool!


just out of curiosity, what coolant you use on your mill?

[CarveOne]

everything is looking cool!


just out of curiosity, what coolant you use on your mill?

Looks like Eric is not using any lubricant since this is aluminum and he's fly cutting the block. Many of us just use an occasional spray of WD-40 to get a really smooth final pass finish with a face mill.

CarveOne

[widgitmaster]

Good question, and I hate the smell of WD-40
On one piece or short runs I rarely use coolant, unless the tool starts to load up. When fly-cutting, the tram of the head has as much to do with finish as the cutting edge! After a few passes, I can see which direction is double cutting, and choose NOT to use that one for my final pass! Also, I have a new diamond wheel tool grinder, and it allows me to put a super keen radius edge on the carbide. So on my final pass, I take the little brush out of the coolant cup, and use a blast of air to spray a fine amount of coolant all over the final surface. This works great when the spindle is running too! Then I slow my feed down and get the best final finish!

The new tool grinder was from Enco, and it was poorly made (Chinese) The aluminum hubs which the wheels bolted to were not well made, so I bought some 6" dia. stock and made my own! Then the diamond wheel ran dead true and had no vibrations! This is very important on a diamond wheel, as they will quickly develop bald spots which were actually high spots! The Diamond face wheel cost me around $75, the grinder motor cost me another $260 The pedestal is from eBay!

[CarveOne]

Kerosene is supposed to work also, but I hate the smell of that even worse than WD-40.

CarveOne

[widgitmaster]

This morning I split the block with the band saw, and machined the saw cut surface to dimension using the fly-cutter and some soft jaws in a vise.

Then I milled a step in the end to bring the part to length, and setup for the three slots & t-slots. Using a .1000" gage block (used), I set the z-axis to zero on the top of the block. Then I milled three shallow cuts on location, just to prove my numbers were correct. Then I milled the slots to depth & width using the 1/4" 2-flute end mill. Next I loaded up the T-Slot cutter, and again set the z to zero. The last operation was to mill a shallow slot with a 1/4" ball end mill, as this will become a fillet radius after a few milling operations are complete.

Finally, I used a blue marker and my height gage to layout the profile of the back of the part. This will be pushed through the band saw after lunch!

I'm hungry

[widgitmaster]

The block went through the saw quickly, so I moved on to the next opp! Putting the block back in the vise, I milled the flat near the end of the block, and milled another fillet radius. Then I set the DRO to zero in the middle of the block and the middle of the protruding end. Then I used a 1/8" 2-flute end mill to mill four slots in both x & Y axis, the slots are .1250" deep. Now with a 1/4" end mill. I removed all the material from each remaining square, leaving .005" on the floor. Then I removed the remaining material, leaving all surfaces the same depth.

Next I drilled four .316" dia. holes, about 1" deep, the hole will be exposed when the web is milled on the reverse side.

[widgitmaster]

Now for the big opp!

The vise needs to be removed, cleaned and setup in the long direction. Then the head on the mill needs to be trammed to 6.90 Deg., this is done with a 6x6 sine plate. By multiplying the sine of 6.9 by 5, which is the distance between the two round pins under the sine plate. With a .601" stack of space blocks, I set the sine plate in the vise. Now I put my dial indicator in the spindle and rotated it freely and adjusted the mill until I had Zero on four points across the top of the sine plate. Now the head is trammed, and locked up tight.

The sine plate has been removed and the part is now in the vise, propped up on parallels. With the fly-cutter, I visually aligned the radius of the cutting tool with the center of the fillet radius on the part. Then I set the DRO to y-zero. After a few .015" deep passes, I made one clean pass and set the z-axis (the knee) to zero. Then I used a depth mic, a 1/4" dowel, and a steel block. By measuring the distance from the top of the block to the top of the pin, I can now place the pin in the root of the fillet radius. Again I measured from the top of the block to the top of the pin, and found I had .026" left to remove.

Now I made a few more rouging passes, and one final .002" deep finish pass with oil, and reduced feed & speed. The finish is excellent, and the angular surface blended in perfectly with the fillet radius! The back of the block is now finished!

I'm tired and hungry again!

[widgitmaster]

This morning I started by tramming the head on the mill, then I placed the part on its side and dialed it in so both mounting surfaces were parallel to the table. Then I picked up part-zero and set the DRO to x,y zero. Next I used a small center drill to put a spot on location which indicates the center of the next fillet radius. The coordinates will not be easily obtained when the part is rotated at 6.9 deg. So all I need to do is dial in the center hole!

Next I clamped one of the 2-4-6 blocks to the center of the table and dialed it in, now I have a parallel surface to clamp the part to for the next four operations! So using a few straps and a big clamp, I now can dial in that center hole and set x,y zero on the DRO. With a long 3/4" dia. 4-flute end mill, I set the end to z-zero on top of the part. Then I raised the knee so it would be .260 from centerline. Then I made several .050" deep passes back and forth at 650 RPM, until all the bulk material was removed!

Then I changed tool to a long .500 dia 2-flute end mill, and set z-zero again. Now I should have left .010" of material on all surfaces, so I'll take a few slow, light cuts to clean up and bring the part to print dimension.

Now the corner fillet near the t-slot end is 90 deg. off the t-slot face, but this last opp. left it at 6.9 deg. So I clamped the part back on the steel block, and carefully blended in the little fillet radius. Next I need to flip the part and repeat the last two ops., then I can start on the line of holes!

[widgitmaster]

After lunch, I drilled & bored all the holes! The part is much lighter now!

Enough for one day!

[Hdale85]

That's a beautiful piece What is it?

[widgitmaster]

That's a beautiful piece What is it?

Thanks,
This part will attach to the primary Z-axis slide block, which will contain the linear ball bushings and rails. This part is designed to travel a full 9" up and down, and provide a mounting surface for the spindle motor of choice!
Eric

[Hdale85]

9" of travel is pretty awesome.