[Guldberg]

More progress. Today I spend some time sealing the cabinet with silicone. When its hardend, the mill is fully functional again.

Other than the cabinet ive been working on the power drawbar

From KX3

I mounted it and did a test, the toolholder pops out just fine. Concept works, only needs a little tweeking:-)

From KX3

No, its not supposed to bend like this. I designed one which should be stronger, this will be my first test run with flood coolant. If it still bends, I will make it out of steel instead.

From KX3

[digits]

That enclosure is just fantastic!

[youngjim]

Well done!

Jim

[ViperTX]

I know this is a repeat....but that is one nice looking enclosure! Great job!

Paul

[Guldberg]

Thank you guys. If I had to do it again i would change a lot of things. Mainly I would have the sheetmetal lasercut and bend and just bolt it together instead of the tube structure ive made now.

Anyway, now the machine is at the point where i can use it again. After some milling today with flood coolant it became very clear why you need an enclosure:-)

From KX3

From KX3

From KX3

What I was cutting was the new "bars" for the power drawbar. It now works perfectly. Now if i only had some money to buy some er collet chucks...

From KX3

From KX3

[digits]

That looks really great Guildberg!

How many disc-springs do you have on that power-drawbar, and where did you find them? I know they're readliy available in the US, but I haven't seen anyone selling them online in the UK...

Also, you said you adjusted the limit switches to get a bit more travel - what do you get now?

Cheers.

[Starleper1]

What gage sheet metal did you use?

[Guldberg]

10 or 12 discsprings as far as I remember. The more you can fit there, the better. They are stacked to just increase travel, not to get more travel but to only work in top of the force curve,

I have to get back to you regarding the travel, but it wasnt really anything great. More like I got the travel the brochure promised:-)

I used 1mm sheets, mainly because thats the maximum our metal shear can handle. Also I was limited to 1m of cutting and bending. I really could have needed some larger equipment for this job, but then again couldn you always.

I think 2mm would be appropriate to use, then you could avoid the tube structure

[digits]

Thanks Guildberg!

I imagine your tubular frame probably does a good job preventing your sheet metal from acting like a giant musical instrument! Flappy sheet metal can make chatter audible from the next timezone

[Guldberg]

Good point. But if you look at the real VMCs, the enclosure is just sheetmetal bolted together, so somehow it must be possible to make a structure stiff enough

[Guldberg]

Hurray. I got a not only one, but two jobs. Now comes the fine art of choosing the right job. Im leaning forward to take the job as engineer in maintenance on a garbage incineration plant. Only downside compared to the other job is that it pays 1000$ less a month before taxes. But what the heck, money isnt anything:-)

Anyway, soon there will be money to do some serious purchase of tools etc. Hurray again

[Teyber12]

congrats dude!

[Willyb]

Very nice Stand. You have built a good looking CNC mill. Keep up the good work.

Willy

[Guldberg]

Made a fixture for some parts im making for the lathe projects. Had to hand tap it, but drilling the holes was almost too easy. Bought a whole range of NC drills, so chamfering and pilot drilling is done in one operation

From KX3

From KX3

[ROV CNC]

WOW looks great.
I dont understad what the power drawbar is for ? yup im a newbie.
Thanks for linking me here, i will be watching intensly
you say you got the unit direct ? from?
Keep up the nice work

ROV

[Starleper1]

It is to make tool changes faster.

[Guldberg]

Paint job now finished. Still need to install the sliding door, the door beneath and the window. Anybody can guess my inspiration for the color scheme? :-)

From KX3

Also installed some lighting

From KX3

Finished the toothed rims for the lathe turret. They came out quite nice.

From CNC

[digits]

Wow - that enclosure looks better every time I see it!

Those toothed parts for your lathe have come out brilliantly too - are they exact mirror images, or did you have to allow some tollerance to allow correct mating?

[Guldberg]

They are opposit each other. In the picture posted the bolt holes are in the "upper" slimmer part, in the other they are in the lower wider part. They go great together, but there are a bit of rocking still. I dont have any engineering blue, but a quick test mating test with some blue and some lapping would probably do it good. I suspect not all 16 sides mates at this point, but with enough holding force, that probably doesnt matter anyway

[BobWarfield]

First there was "Mini-Me" from Austin Powers...

Now I see from the color scheme we have "Mini-Haas"!

Brilliant!

BW

PS I daresay a "KX3" logo painted in red with a Haas-like typeface on the left side of the enclosure would complete the picture as well as matching the red colors on your mill.