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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Posts
    216

    RF45 Clone with full enclosure, coolant, and tool changer

    Starting a thread to document my build of my RF45 Clone machine that will eventually have a full enclosure including a stainless chip pan and stainless way covers, coolant, and some kind of a tool change system.

    This is my only mill so ive been assembling and diassembling it for milling and test fitting. The ballscrews for X & Y are 5/8" (SFU1605) and the Z will be 3/4" (SFU2005). These were purchased straight from china. Im using gecko 201 drivers

    The machine im working with:


    Parts starting to come in. All parts in this picture from Keling. 1200oz in steppers for X and Y and 2830 oz in for the Z. Beastly


    Electronics Enclosure


    More electronics. Also, touchscreen monitor


    Starting to mount the electronics on the cabinet board


    X&Y Ballscrews and Mounts


    Building Ballnut Mounts


    Finished X ballnut mount


    Finished ballnuts mounts and adapters plate. I plan to make nicer versions once the machine is CNC'd


    Screws mocked up. Nice factory hole misalignment


  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Posts
    216
    Next up is a full tear down and paint job, designing the Z-mounts and ordering the Z-ballscrew, as well as the enclosure lower frame fabrication. Here is the solidworks rendering of the enclosure. The lower half is made of a 1.25"x1.25" steel tubing frame. A stainless steel chip pan gets dropped in from the top (bolted down). Then the top of the enclosure is going to be laser cut and bent 16 gauge steel painted to match the soon to be paintjob on the mill. Im still trying to decide on a shade of white. Also trying to figure out what I want to do for the door sliding mechanism on the enclosure.

    My options on the door so far are:
    - One door sliding from the inside, tracks hidden, but hole needed to be cut on the side like a haas mini mill
    - One door sliding from the outside, tracks visible
    - Two doors sliding from the inside like a Fadal

    Here are the stainless way covers coming from Petefromtn (thanks!)
    PetefromTn's Channel - YouTube

    And here is the enclosure thus far. The door on the side is to access the underbelly where I will have the coolant resovoir. Purple is the stainless chip tray:


  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Posts
    216
    Electronics cabinet done with touchscreen. This cabinet will be mounted on the back of the enclosure and I will have a control panel in the front with the monitor and e-stop, etc. Will be adding a VFD, and a relay board for coolant and spindle control later in the build.




  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Posts
    216
    As I was finishing the ballscrew mounts for the X and Y axis, my stock Z-nut seems to have stripped out. So the plan now is to strip the machine down, give it a paint job, CAD up my Z-mounts and send the designs out to have someone build them for me. Ill order the Z-screw to the proper length after I have the machine stripped apart. Ill also be selling off the factory mill stand and power up/down Z-feed if anyone is interested in these.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Posts
    216
    I think im going to go with the single slide out door. Heres what I have CAD'd so far..



  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Posts
    525
    Looks great! What do you mean the Z screw stripped out? on the manual machine or the part you were making?
    Kelly
    www.finescale360.com

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Posts
    216
    The Z-Nut itself stripped out. This machine has seen its fair share of use before I acquired it. Click image for larger version. 

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  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Posts
    216
    Tonight I got most of the machine stripped apart. I made the mistake of taking paint stripper to the base. I didn't realize how much body filler is on these things. I will probably just scuff sand the column and touch up the dings before paint. The base I'll need to finish taking down to the raw casting and start the body filler.

    Click image for larger version. 

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  9. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Posts
    216
    Huanyang VFD showed up today. Will I have major noise issues mounting this unit in my control box with the computer in there? Or will I be okay with some clamp on EMI filters? Id like to keep everything in the box, but if its going to cause me issues I guess I could bolt it to the side of the box on the outside. Any thoughts?


  10. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Posts
    509
    A good number of people have mounted their VFD inside the control box and got away with it - but it sure adds
    1) complication - especially if you do have noise issues afterwards
    2) heat - my VFD has a fan on the back of it - keeping it in a closed box and then running for an hour or more wouldn't be too good I'd imagine unless you add cooling to your control box - again adding complication.

    I mounted my VFD up high on the front right side of my enclosure - its out of the way yet accessible.

    Looking forward to the rest of your build. BTW - those bearing blocks look like they are exactly the same as what I got through a Chinese ebay seller - they will very likely be a source of major backlash if you don't take them apart and 1) clean 2) reassemble properly - often the bearings are not put together right (ie back to back) 3) after that shimming between the races or under the cap may be necessary to get rid of all play.

    Mike

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Posts
    216
    Sounds good, thanks for the tips. Im gonna mount it inside and get some clamp on EMI rings. I have an intake and exhaust fan on the enclosure, I will add more if needed later. Also probably going to redo the control box and mount everything on a big sheet of aluminum instead of the perforated steel that came with it. Going to add a breaker box as well so I can split 220 coming in to a 220 feed for the VFD and a 110 feed for the computer and power supply.


    Quote Originally Posted by ninefinger View Post
    A good number of people have mounted their VFD inside the control box and got away with it - but it sure adds
    1) complication - especially if you do have noise issues afterwards
    2) heat - my VFD has a fan on the back of it - keeping it in a closed box and then running for an hour or more wouldn't be too good I'd imagine unless you add cooling to your control box - again adding complication.

    I mounted my VFD up high on the front right side of my enclosure - its out of the way yet accessible.

    Looking forward to the rest of your build. BTW - those bearing blocks look like they are exactly the same as what I got through a Chinese ebay seller - they will very likely be a source of major backlash if you don't take them apart and 1) clean 2) reassemble properly - often the bearings are not put together right (ie back to back) 3) after that shimming between the races or under the cap may be necessary to get rid of all play.

    Mike

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Posts
    236

    VFD in Control Cabinet.

    Mine is in the control cabinet with the computer. The computer is open and not in a case of any kind. The cabinet is cooled with 2 5" fans I purchased off of ebay for $12 each. I use a section of furnace air filter on the intake of the fans. The cabinet is positive pressure. The cabinet size is 24"x 36" and 12"deep.

    I have not seen issues with noise that causes a missed step or other problem.

    See this UTube video of the Jaguar Cub I used to run my spindle.


    [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5TstpkDdIQ&list=UUCdf9bc7fhfQUBckLmEudtQ&index=11&feature=plcp]IMO Jaguar Cub VFD - YouTube[/ame]



    Ark1.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Posts
    216
    Okay...tons to update since we left off...2 years ago. Lol.

    Ive been spending alot of time on this thing over the last few months and hope to have it complete for spring.

    First, I sent the column and base to a local body guy to refinish and put into primer. I forgot to take pics of them in primer, but this is after painting the base, lapping the Y ways, and installing my ballscrews with my brackets from last year. You can see the column in the background still in the green epoxy primer.





    Here is test fitting the X ballscrew

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Posts
    216
    Next I finished lapping the X & Y ways, mounting the table, and mounting the motors using standoffs from scott @ benchtopprecison. Later when the mill is fully functional ill be making some new X and Y motor mounts that are beefier, but for now these work great. They are quite strong, I can pick the table up by the motors with no flex.






  15. #15
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Posts
    216
    I tested out the X & Y axis movements and they worked great, after I fixed my Mach3 issues. The loudness in these videos is from the filing cabinet vibrating, not roughness in the linear motion. I think my rapids were in the neighborhood of 175-200 IPM . Also, I was able to get Mach3 to communicate with my Huanyang VFD through modbus using this NEW plugin. This isnt the first modbus huanyang mach3 plugin, this one JUST came out. The original is made for the chinese spindles and doesnt really work if you arent using one. This plugin works AMAZINGLY and has all kinds of additional features. http://www.machsupport.com/forum/ind...c,22806.0.html

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2O5pDEgxtg"]RF45 CNC Movements - YouTube[/ame]

    And here running a demo Mach3 Gcode file

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epdYISL8aPI"]RF45 Movements 2 - YouTube[/ame]

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Posts
    216
    Next, focus turned to the column. I sanded the primer down, reprimed, and taped off the way for paint. The dodge in the background is one of my long term projects. It will be getting a (earmuffs for purists) 6 Litre LS Chevy Motor which im hoping should push 500+ hp.



    Once the column was painted, I mounted it up to the base. The whole machine is just sitting on a filing cabinet right now while I assemble it, then it will be moving to its frame and enclosure. You can see the electronics cabinet in the background...more pics on that later



    Next I turned to the Z-Head. First, I stripped all the bondo and paint off the Z Mount..



    Then gave it a coat of machinery paint (Im going for a white and gray ... HAAS-esque ... theme)


  17. #17
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Posts
    216
    Mounted the Z-bracket on the column, lapped the Z-ways, and installed the stainless X limit switch guard from "PeteFromTN"




  18. #18
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Posts
    216
    Next, I designed a Z-Nut mount in Solidworks and sent the drawing over to Scott @ benchtopprecision



    He sent me back the completed mount, in steel, and black oxide to protect from corrosion.


  19. #19
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Posts
    216
    After the mount was made, I sent scott drawings for the Z motor mount. Hes working on these right now


  20. #20
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Posts
    216
    While Scott is/was working on the Z mount, I tore into the head to put new bearings in it, remove all the body filler, and repaint it gray to keep with my theme. My plan WAS to put new bearings in it, but upon removing them, i damaged one of the removable seats in the base of the head. Grizzly lists the part, but cant get it...ever. So, what turned out to be a crappy situation has actually forced me to go the belt drive direction, which im going to like much better anyway. I just need to find someone who will build me the pulleys I need. I think im going to go the route that g.marsh went with his.

    Here are the bearings that, for the most part, wont end up getting used.



    And the dirty mill head all torn apart. Surprisingly the oil level was right full.










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