[Ekkekke]

Hi!

Yes, yet another RF45 clone, sorry.

There seems to be so many RF45 clones and cnc builds that I will try it also. Here is a picture of my RF45 clone in the day I received it. It seems to be big enough for me. I have disassembled it and ordered most of the parts.

There isn't so much designing to do, I will just try to copy my favorite designs from other designs and add something of my own.

I hope I won't underestimate the work that this project needs.

My plan:

• Ballscrews
• Servos with 3-4:1 pulley ratio
• One shot oiler
• Stand and enclosure
• Flood coolant
• Belt drive with 2:1 & 1:2 ratios and VFD
• Hopefully some kind of power drawbar
• 4th axis (later, rotary table)

Simple list, so much to do.

I started about a week ago. My dream is to have it "running" before end of february (maybe I shouldn't decide the year yet? ) and making my first chips so I need to be fast. Not fully ready, but at least some chips. My biggest problem is that I don't own a mill or a lathe that I could use to make all the parts.

PS. Sorry of my English, it isn't my native language and I'm only 25-year-old.

[cheetahcnc]

Nice project, keep us posted with plenty of pics.

Jim

[doorknob]

I will be interested in following your progress...

[gd.marsh]

Come on in Ekkekke .. the water's fine!

Do you have access to a mill / lathe somewhere else to make parts?

[eartaker]

Ekkekke,

That is going to be hard to do without a Lathe or Mill to help make some parts. You can use the mill as a manual machine to help you make parts but you will need a lathe to machine the ballscrews and some other random parts. I suggest buying one to match she size of your Mill. It all depends on your budget.

[Ekkekke]

Come on in Ekkekke .. the water's fine!

Do you have access to a mill / lathe somewhere else to make parts?

Thanks for encouragement!

My friend has a BF20 copy and big enough lathe, but he has his own projects etc. so my machining time is limited.

Here is my X, Y, Z oil grooves, should be very similar to others like Bob Warfield. Milled with 1/8" 0.02"r end mill.

There are threaded holes for fittings, but no holes from "fitting holes" to grooves yet. I want to be sure they are in right place or won't hit anything before I drill those, so I don't have redundant holes that need to be plugged.

[Ekkekke]

Ekkekke,

That is going to be hard to do without a Lathe or Mill to help make some parts. You can use the mill as a manual machine to help you make parts but you will need a lathe to machine the ballscrews and some other random parts. I suggest buying one to match she size of your Mill. It all depends on your budget.

Yep, I don't have a budget for a lathe this time. I'm tempted to put my mill back together so I could make parts with it, but I don't have tooling yet, and the head is in pieces and some of the oil seals are damaged. Wouldn't be a problem IF I had finished my belt drive already..

I drilled a hole to the head so I can hopefully "wire" my oil line to z ball nut from there.

[Ekkekke]

Here's the current status of my stand & mill.. Stand is very similar to gd.marsh with blue hockey pucks under the mill. That blue rubber isn't so nice to machine, will put black ones under the stand.

I will need longer bolts so I can level it, floor has so big inclination in it.. Had to remove some cabinets from the wall, so I need to find some nice paint for walls, stand and maybe for the mill also. That pale yellow isn't my color really and the hole garage is painted with it..

[Ekkekke]

Sadly my friends BF20 had some "issues" so now its spindle is also in pieces.. I was machining Y-axis ballnut mount and it didn't sound healthy. Obviously there will be some delay with parts now. Hopefully it will be running soon again..

Some progress with one shot oiler:
pete from TN said "Just build your best mousetrap" so here's part of my trap. I'm waiting more parts to arrive, should get those in friday but without ballnut mounts, those won't be so helpful. Almost finished my valve blocks, 6x for X & Y, 4x for Z:

[Ekkekke]

Finally got all the parts for the one shot oiler. Still need to make some mounts for those and seal everything so I can test it.

I didn't found any nice 25° AC bearings (or cheap enough), so I will be using some generic 45° and will try to do my best so they will last for a while. So quality grease and this little gem:

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2nEfuiwHr8"]YouTube - New lock nut for spindle[/nomedia]


Also got my 800x115x115mm 7075 in smaller pieces. I think one 200mm block is missing, still pretty nice pile.

[gd.marsh]

That new spindle nut looks like a great idea!

The fit on mine is just like the stock nut in the video .. with a custom nut, you could add additional notches around the outer edge for finer tuning of the bearing pre-load as well ..

I like it!!!

[Ekkekke]

That new spindle nut looks like a great idea!

The fit on mine is just like the stock nut in the video .. with a custom nut, you could add additional notches around the outer edge for finer tuning of the bearing pre-load as well ..

I like it!!!

Actually the isn't any needs for those notches. It has locking pins that I tried (but failed) to show, brass pins inside the nut that are pushed with hex key bolts. No need for that washer anymore so stepless tuning should be possible. I like it too, but it is priceyyyyy.

[gd.marsh]

I think I understand what you're talking about ..

Are the brass pins jammed against the threads on the spindle by set-screws?

And when you say it's pricey .. is this something that can be purchased off the shelf somewhere .. or am I missing something else about it?

I would probably just make one myself out of a piece of cold rolled stock I already have laying around the shop ..

[Ekkekke]

I think I understand what you're talking about ..

Are the brass pins jammed against the threads on the spindle by set-screws?

And when you say it's pricey .. is this something that can be purchased off the shelf somewhere .. or am I missing something else about it?

I would probably just make one myself out of a piece of cold rolled stock I already have laying around the shop ..

Yep, those pins are inserted (60° angle) before thread is turned so those have threads too.

Mine in stock part, but surely you could make your own. I don't have a lathe, so it was too easy to just buy one.

It's "Precision lock nuts with locking pins", KMT6, M30x1.5, though mine is from FAG it's quite similar:
Precision lock nuts with locking pins - SKF.com / Products / Interactive Engineering Catalogue/Rolling bearings

Tell me if you want better pictures from it..

[Ekkekke]

Got my bearings, ball screws, belts and pulleys for those, servos and servo drivers and VFD.. Should get spindle motor tomorrow. And I was in the right place at the right time and gain access to a VMC, so things are looking good. :wee:

Still plenty of little things to get, and million things to do. Next I need to figure out how to fasten pulleys to servos. My plan was to use keys, since servos have 4mm keyways, but couldn't fit those in the pulleys. I didn't pay enough attention to pulley hub diameter and I think those would split if I tried to make keyways. So maybe roll pins or set screws.. Not sure yet.

[pete from TN]

Hey man glad to hear you are well on your way to CNC'd RF45. I had initially used setscrews on my pulleys, big mistake.... Use some roll pins and drill your hole for a tight fit.... Not had any problems with them since.... peace

Pete

[Ekkekke]

Hey man glad to hear you are well on your way to CNC'd RF45. I had initially used setscrews on my pulleys, big mistake.... Use some roll pins and drill your hole for a tight fit.... Not had any problems with them since.... peace

Pete

Yep, I'm trying my best to put this thing together.

Thanks for the input. Have to do some more drilling then.

I think spindle pulleys are my next big concern. Hopefully some progress with those in next week, but first I need to get my spindle back together. Maybe I have enough time in monday..

[Ekkekke]

Did some work with ballscrews.. Ordered those without nuts mounted, but they came with all mounted and X & Y was put in wrong way. Unmounted those over tubes and flipped and put back together. Hopefully all went ok. Also changed those impossible-to-reach-grease-nipples to push-lock-fittings..

Here's some pictures, last one with pulleys.. That biggest one is HUGE.

[Ekkekke]

Also finished my first cnc parts, 4x servo mounting brackets. And here's rest of the oiler parts.. Obviously I need more tubing, but it's from local store and they have it in stock, so only bought enough to test everything..

[gd.marsh]

Looking good Ekkekke ..

I like the manifolds you made for the oil system .. will they mount somehow or be suspended by the tubing itself?

Very Nice!