All the liner rails have arrived, and I have no way of cutting them accurately! So I bought a used MILWAUKEE 6176-20 14" Abrasive Cut-Off saw!
Now those 25mm linear rails are no problem
All the liner rails have arrived, and I have no way of cutting them accurately! So I bought a used MILWAUKEE 6176-20 14" Abrasive Cut-Off saw!
Now those 25mm linear rails are no problem
www.widgitmaster.com
It's not what you take away, it's what you are left with that counts!
I didn't see what size pinion gear you are using. I tried a 1 inch dia gear and got cogging. Clunk clunk and a lot of backlash. I did some research and came up with needing atleast a 32 tooth pinion to prevent this. After changing to the 32 tooth it is smooth as glass and no more backlash.(my gear is spring loaded to the rack but still got backlash with the smaller gear). As for stepper or servo I guess its usually go with what you know. For me the servos offer a great advantage. Its not just constant torque and resolution. You also get acceleration and the ability to catch back up to position if there is any lag. There is a little more work to setting things up but it is in my opinion not any more difficult to apply. Also a few more days of work are more than made up for by the added security and performance. I won't argue that steppers won't work fine for you because I'm sure they will. I will say that you are making a beautiful industrial quality build. Great work!
Ben
This morning I started on the two weldments that will be the gantry ends, they need to be machined on all three datum surfaces to remove the warping from welding! The first thing I did was remove the vise, and tram the mill's head really good! Then I placed one of the weldments on the table, and propped one end up on 1-2-3 blocks. Then I placed a screw jack under the long end. Next I placed the toe-clamps over the blocks & screw jack, so the clamping pressure does not put strain on the weldment.
Next I setup a pair of dial-indicators, so that one was on the top & the other was on the long side. After dialing in the weldment so that both indicators stayed at zero when the table moved the full length of the part, I tightened all the toe-clamps. Next I placed a 3/4" diam 4-flute solid carbide end mill in the spindle, and made several light cuts on the outer surface until it was perfectly flat & square. Then I placed the 3" face-mill in the spindle, and made several light cuts on the top of the weldment, until there was 100% surface cleanup! Now the weldment has two perfectly flat & square datum surfaces.
Now I have to repeat the process on the 2nd weldment, but this one must be a mirror image of the 1st one! Both weldments cleaned up nicely, and now I can do the setups for milling the 3rd datum surface!
www.widgitmaster.com
It's not what you take away, it's what you are left with that counts!
Milling the base, or the 3rd datum!
To do this, I needed to rotate the mill's turret, and extend the ram so there was enough travel for the cutter to pass over the entire datum surface. Next I placed my big angle plate on the mill, and bolted some toe-clamps on the side to use as stops. Now the weldment can nest in the corner of the angle plate, squaring both of the previously machined datum's. Once the part & angle plate were in the optimal position on the table, I had to remove them and tram the head in its new location!
After tramming, I put the angle plate back on location, and used a big square to align it on the table. Then I placed the 3" face-mill in the spindle, and took several light cuts until I had 100% surface cleanup.
Now I have to tear down the entire setup, and put it all on the other side of the mill's table! Because the long tube sticks down under the table, I have to be careful not to feed the weldment into the DRO's linear scales mounted to the side of the mill! Again, I have to tram the head at he spindle's new location, then I can proceed to milling the base of the 2nd weldment!
So far everything has gone perfectly, as all three datum's on both weldments have cleaned up 100%
Now I can drill & ream all the holes with accurate locations!
www.widgitmaster.com
It's not what you take away, it's what you are left with that counts!
Its getting late, and I'm hungry! But I'll do one more setup!
After removing everything from the mill's table, I put the ram & turret back to normal position & trammed the head one more time (phew !!)
Then I placed one of the weldments on the table with three 1-2-3 blocks under it so the new datum was parallel to the table! Next, I dialed in the long side, so it was also parallel to the table. Then I used an edge-finder to set the X&Y axis of the DRO to zero. So the front side of the weldment and the base were zero.
Then I moved to location, and drilled two through holes .015" smaller than a .3760" reamer. Then I reamed the holes, creating the 4th & 5th datum's.
Tomorrow I will finish the next weldment, as its time for food
www.widgitmaster.com
It's not what you take away, it's what you are left with that counts!
Just a little progress today!
After I finished drilling & c-boring the 2nd weldment, I flipped them over and dialed them in again. Then I set the DRO to XY-zero on the center of the reamed holes, and drilled & reamed 4x .2501" diam holes .5000" from center. These holes will be for the dowel pins in the end of the gantry beams, the beams went to the welder today and will not be finished for a few days! But the two weldments are now finished and will be the gantry ends.
www.widgitmaster.com
It's not what you take away, it's what you are left with that counts!
You can see what has been happening here in problems forum and post any problems you are having. In the past it has been due to Google seeing files that it thinks contains malware code, but doesn't.
In Firefox security settings you can tell it to ignore the warnings. At your own risk of course.
CarveOne
http://www.carveonecncwoodcraft.com
Last week I bid on a large steel box for all the electronics, luckily I won it
Its a new Hoffman Box, 24" x 18" x 6", way more space than what I'll need !
www.widgitmaster.com
It's not what you take away, it's what you are left with that counts!
Hey Widgit!
That's the box I've been trying to win off of Fleabay! I'm re-engineering (again) my RF45 and decided to switch to a larger enclosure so I can un-pack some of the electrionics. Speaking of which, your going to either have to get a bigger garage/shop or smaller ambitions!
Great thread (as usual).
Bill
billyjack
Helicopter def. = Bunch of spare parts flying in close formation! USAF 1974 ;>)
This morning I cleaned the shop, oiled the mill, and decided to setup the 90-Degree head on the mill!
With the turret rotated 45-Deg., I mounted the 90-Deg head and placed my angle plate in the vise. Next I extended the ram to maximum, and locked down all the bolts! Then I placed a drill chuck in the 90-deg spindle, and clamped a dial indicator to the chuck!
Now I have to tram the head so there are 4-zero's while the spindle is rotated by hand. With the head trammed, I used a 3" face-mill to square up the ends of the 9-ft long tubes. Because the tubes are s heavy, I decided to finish all the drilling & reaming on each end.
www.widgitmaster.com
It's not what you take away, it's what you are left with that counts!
While I have the mill setup for finishing the ends, I'll finish the front & rear tubes! All the holes have been drilled, tapped and reamed, and all dimensions came from the center of the tube's length. There is about 1/16" material remaining! So I took a light cut, and used my depth-mic to measure from the end to the side of the pin. My calculations say the distance is .4375". So after a few light passes, the two tubes are 100% finished!
www.widgitmaster.com
It's not what you take away, it's what you are left with that counts!
Now for the moment of truth, will all the pieces fit?
So I muscled all the tubes over to the other side of the shop, placed the long tube off to the side, and started attaching the legs! This thing is so heavy, that I had to remove some of the tubes just to get one corner up on blocks! But with a little elbow grease, I managed to flip it into its upright position
Wow!
www.widgitmaster.com
It's not what you take away, it's what you are left with that counts!
Eric,
Good to see you back in force!
Shipping USPS Flat Rate Priority Mail might be a little tricky.
Have a most awesome Independance Day,
Jeff...
Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.
Well, it looks like it's round two of the eBay debacle! I won a 2.2Kw water cooled spindle on eBay, they sent me a 2.2Kw inverter along with a 1.5Kw spindle! So after a week of Chinese noodles, they sent me a replacement spindle! Only problem is they didn't package it properly, and it was damaged in shipping
www.widgitmaster.com
It's not what you take away, it's what you are left with that counts!
Today I used a 2-ton screw jack to lift the ends of the assembly, then I screwed in the dual-wheel locking casters. This way I can roll this beast out in the driveway and turn it around, or just work on it outside in the fresh air!
www.widgitmaster.com
It's not what you take away, it's what you are left with that counts!
Next I setup the mill to square the ends of the 2" x 2" gantry rail support tubes. To do this I measured for the 1/8" reamed hole I made a few days ago.
www.widgitmaster.com
It's not what you take away, it's what you are left with that counts!
After milling the tubes to length, I need to drill & tap a 3/8"-16 hole in the center of each tube, along with 4x .2490 diam. reamed holes for dowel pins!
Next I brought the two tubes to the other side of the shop, and assembled the gantry components! I'm please with how everything has gone together so far
www.widgitmaster.com
It's not what you take away, it's what you are left with that counts!
Very nice work.
Are you going to have some bracing at the bottom of the legs? A shelf for stock storage?
With the spindle, is it just a broken barb?
7xCNC.com - CNC info for the minilathe (7x10, 7x12, 7x14, 7x16)