[Metal_twister]

Sounds like a great childrens story in the making, eh?

Just got my mill in and started tearing it down.
I like it, as do my chickens.....

[jl123]

Damn, that's what I'm missing...

Sell me a chicken.

That grizzly is a great machine. Pretty amazing how fast they get it to you.

[Metal_twister]

Yes, those grizzly folks got it goin on!
I had the machine and stand 3 days after I ordered it.
Phone support at p.m., no problem.
It is a great company to do business with.
The mill was excellent shape.

Everyone needs chickens.
They are really helpful at eating bugs.
They want to help you with everything.
They give us eggs.
And they are pretty darn tasty in the end.

Here you can see they helped me get a 900# Kalamazoo down out of a tree.

[pastera]

I hate it when my bandsaw gets stuck in a tree - but I normally send the cat up after it!

Nice way of unloading it!

Aaron

[Pres]

Maybe next time don't use that "900# Kalamazoo" to cut down such a big tree!

[ViperTX]

If you were trimming branches there is a better way........

[miljnor]

but it was a really big branch!

[Metal_twister]

OK, Got it running last night.

201 Geckos, PMDX 131, 48VDC 8A, (2) 270oz Nema 23's, (1) 640oz Nema 34, CNC FUSION kit, Mach3.

This thing is stupid fast!
:withstupi

The video is here (see 300IPM_GRIZZLY)

www.bragbook.adaptivemachineworks.com

[jl123]

Looks great sir. You obviously knew what you were doing. You don't have a 15+ page thread asking every question in the book.

Any plans for limit switches? I already pulled the ballscrews out of the nuts on mine... Since I'm using a Grex I can't use mach's soft limits. Darn.

What does the stand look like?

[Metal_twister]

I am putting switches on whilst my 3rd Gecko is being sent off to get repaired.

Nothing kills a lizard faster than shorting him across 8amps!

I am debating using just homing switches and relying on soft limits.
I am leaning on physical limit switches though.
Scary as hell running this thing knowing that one little mistake can rip $tuff apart!

What do y'all think?
I dunno about trusting software. Mach3 is great and all, it's that damn Bill Gates I don't trust!

The stand came from Grizzly.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/G5944

It's nice as it has a coolant drip tray and a drain.
However it positioned the mill too low, so I bolted the mill on two pieces of 4" steel square tubing 3/16" thick.
The mill is bolted to the risers, and the risers are bolted to the stand.

that works out real good, because the mill is up so you can get to the 'y' axis nut block if need be.(nuts)

Then I put a flood coolant pump in the compartment behind the door of the stand.

lots of work left to do!!!!

will keep y'all posted.

[miljnor]

what format is the video file?

[jl123]

Divx.

I think I'm going to buy that stand. And make it taller for the bottom. If it has a nice flange to hold coolant I'd want to keep that feature.

[trubleshtr]

chickens as machine operators?? this hobby is going to the birds....

[HayTay]

what format is the video file?

Rename the file to 300IPM_GRIZZLY.MPG or 300IPM_GRIZZLY.MPEG and it should play, just fine.

At least it does on my PC. :cheers:

[Metal_twister]

The video was compressed in divx. It should play with anything. If not chunk all the other players and get divx for free. It ROCKS!

The 4" risers under the mill does improve the chip and coolant handling of the tray. Gives alot more room for chips and coolant to flow. The edges of the tray are angled to which I am adding lexan shields to create a larger encloser.

If I had it to do over, I would buy the stand at harbour freight. I saw a nicer one in there that was the correct height, and it did'nt appear to conform to Harbour Freight quality standards. This thing actually look really well built!
And it was cheaper.
I do not know if this is the one I saw, but go visit your nearest Chinese scrap recycler (er harbour freight) store to see for yourself.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=91779


Leaders: Leaders are like Eagles.... We don't have either of them around here.

[Metal_twister]

Here are some pictures showing the stand and risers.

[jl123]

I need to get some sort of metal stand. Right now mine is on a wood bench that has casters on it. Movement of the mill table rocks it back and forth.

I'm going to check out that harbor freight one this weekend. Nice setup btw.

[Metal_twister]

:rainfro:

Anyway, I love old electronic stuff. The more knobs the better. What kind of CNC doesn't have gobs of knobs? I am from the old school fella's we had knobs and meters all over the place. big blue, and ge1050 controls were great with the knobs. I began running a Burgmaster back in the 70's that required us to be tethered to the machine so our static didn't fry the transistors, and vacuum tubes!

Mach3 is super great and all, but it does eliminate the need for a traditional operators control panel.
I'm sorry, but I simply do not get excited over these virtual knobs. Give me a great big ole honkin knob anyday.

"Hello group...My name is Metal_twister, and I am a knob guy...."

Look at this. I needed a box to house my drives, and power supply, and I came across this 1950's signal generator from the Navy. It is a Polarad 11ghz model.
This thing weighed at least 60 pounds. The box is mostly cast aluminum. There were vacuum tubes, flux capacitors, and all kinds of neat stuff in this thing, I was in heaven.
Gear driven analog digital setting knobs, and gear driven frequency knobs. $25.
This thing cost the old tax payers a mint, and probably was instrumental (pun intended) in bringing the cold war to an end.

I gladly paid the fella, and bandsawed,and chiseled all this old gear out leaving the knobs of course!

Here are some pictures of the progress so far.
Made a swivel copntrol pendant attached to machine.
Got my $40 touch screen goin, so now not only do I not need those knobs, I trashed the keyboard too.
The only thing functional on the control panel is the power switch. I can pretend to generate any damn signal you could dream up.

On the next episode of "PIMP my mill", I am going to install those back and forth bouncy LED's like KIT on night rider had.

I love knobs!


LOOK! THE FLUX CAPACITOR!.....IT'S FLUXING!!


http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...controlsii.jpg


"I need 1.21 jiggawatts to activate the flux capacitor !!!!"

[BobWarfield]

:rainfro:

LOOK! THE FLUX CAPACITOR!.....IT'S FLUXING!!


http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...controlsii.jpg


"I need 1.21 jiggawatts to activate the flux capacitor !!!!"

Aye, Captain, it IS fluxing, but I dinna know how much longer she'll take it laddy. I canna change the laws of physics!

So build a panel. You can run one from Mach 3. The biggest issue is getting enough I/O channels to hook it all up. That's why I resorted to a GRex for this panel: http://www.thewarfields.com/MT/MTLatheCNCPanel.htm

The MPG wasn't cheap, but the joystick and buttons are slot machine and arcade parts from Happ Controls. Cheap, durable, and easily customized for this application.

If you don't use a GRex, you'll want to look into the Hohman ModIO and/or a keyboard emulator such as a VTAC to hook up all the goodies.

BTW, here is a page where I surveyed panels out their, both homebrew and pro before designing my own:

http://www.thewarfields.com/MT/MTCNCPanels.htm


Cheers,

BW

[Metal_twister]

Dang dude!
That is great work. Awe inspiring.
Unfortunately, I do not have the skills, nor pertinence to put all that together. Electrical stuff is just not my bag, man. I would rather be makin little ones out of big ones, know what I mean.?.?..

Great website. I would have spent 60 hours just trying to put all the website together. Super work!

I am completely content to pretend to dial in the correct flux range on my analog digital readout.

I went with the shuttle pro MPG'sh pendant.
Mach3 plugin can program virtually any Mach3 function right on the pendant. 15 programmable buttons. Although buttons do not give the equivalent joy factor as big honkin knobs, physical buttons are more gleeful than virtual buttons.