[FannBlade]

Awesome stuff!
Keep those settings handy mine will be very similar to yours. Man I wish mine was as close as yours. I haven't even touched mine yet.

[Bob La Londe]

Major things I still need to do.

Finish my control console.
Figure out a remote power switch for the PC
Add and setup a coolant system

**** Add a table enclosure of some kind. ****
I have my Taig and my Chinese router in cabinets. For the first time in a long time half my shop is covered in chips again.

Awesome stuff!
Keep those settings handy mine will be very similar to yours. Man I wish mine was as close as yours. I haven't even touched mine yet.

... and don't worry that yours isn't done yet. I brought mine home on November 23rd 2010. Hopefully yours will go faster.

I have gotten it working with the C23 breakout board, but I got negative feedback from a few people about it, and after having to fix that cold solder joint on the circuit board the other day I am thinking I might try a PMDX126 for a similar project. Actually I am rethinking a lot of my choices for this build, but the machine works, and unless it has major issues develop it will stay this way.

For example: The smooth stepper is fine, but when I do a lot of manual control from the keyboard I sometimes get hangups up or long response time errors from the Smoothstepper plugin. Also, the use of a Smoothstepper pretty much sticks me with Windows/Mach3 for control. Had I gone with a 7i25 and daughter boards I would have the option of switching to LinuxCNC (EMC2) if I wanted to.

[Bob La Londe]

Welding back the parts I cut out. That's how I spent my afternoon. I got the mill mostly all running. I even figured out a remote power switch for the PC so I could finally close and lock the cabinets while I cut a part. Then I looked at the floor and all the chips everywhere from my testing the last two days. I could see it would quickly become a slippery dangerous mess of razor sharp bits as soon as I get the coolant pump going. I started thinking about a big tall chip and splash shield.

I thought and thought and thought, but no matter what I came up the control console would be in the way. Then it hit me. I would just have to weld back in the 16 inches or so of the arm that I had cut out when I moved the arm up and mounted it on my top cabinet. That will allow it to set well in front of the splash guard or swing past the end of it. Now I need to get monitor power and keyboard extension cables. LOL. It never ends.

[FannBlade]

Hope to have mine done in 2 weeks.......:stickpoke OK I dream about it!

That is the one thing I worried about with a knee mill was the coolant enclosure looking forward to your solution. I was thinking using fixed 3 sides with the front removable or hinged using cast acrylic.


pics pics pics!

[Bob La Londe]

I am going to need an enclosure for the table on this mill. I could build a fairly low wall enclosure that would help "some," but I don't think it would have the level of containment that I would like. Alternatively suppose I could build an enclosure that encompasses the entire front of the mill and rest on the floor. Something with partially sealed shower doors that I step inside of to setup a job.

Neither really fits my needs. One that set inside the table would substantially limit my choice of vises, as well as my Y axis travel to some degree. One that was short enough to have limited affect on Y would not fully contain chips or coolant when doing fast machining or using a face mill.

One that sets on the floor and encompasses the entire front of the machine would be much more expensive, although probably simpler to build. I would have to add a floor sump of some kind though, and I am not really crazy about cutting a sink sized hole in the monolithic slab. It would also take up a lot more floor space.

The one design I thought of that might work is one that extends outward to the front of the table about 8-12" and back from the table an inch. This would give me nearly full use of Y and not limit my choice of vises. I could also extend the front and side panels up more than 2 feet for plenty of chip and coolant containment. My son even suggest a fold up two or three section rear panel so I could raise it if I have to lower the knee, and fold it down when I raise the knee.

My problem with the last solution is that I don't see it being rigid enough and solidly mounted enough to hold up and not shake during some types of machining without screwing it to the table. That is, drilling and tapping the front and back lip of the table to solidly and physically attach the enclosure to the table. I had considered laying the base of the enclosure over the lip and making a clamp to bolt it to the table without drilling and tapping, but the lip is the same height as the surface of the table. This would again limit my choice of vises.

If I hadn't been chastised by "real" machinists about it I wouldn't hesitate to drill and tap the table to facilitate my solution. Especially since there is already a cast iron parts and tool tray attached to one end of the table by the same method. One that looks to have been installed or atleast sold originally by Hurco as it has the same aged Hurco blue hard paint. However, I have been chastised to "NEVER EVER EVER CUT OR DRILL THE TABLE EVEN BY ACCIDENT," by real machinists. This leaves me with a bit of a quandry. I can theorize and even visualize compromise solutions that are clamped near the ends and left floating in the middle, but my gut tells me when I am making multiple short rapids it will shake apart that way.

Suggestions?

I would otherwise build something like this with taller walls on the front and sides, and add a collapsible or foldable wall of some kind on the back. My table does not have a convenient T-Slot in the front as the one in this picture does or I would already be building it.

[Bob La Londe]

Well, I think I figured it out. I was so obsessed with not losing any Y travel or use of the table I failed to really register that the table length far exceeds the X Travel. I can bolt a piece of angle (probably something like 2x2x1/4 aluminum) directly to the T-slots at each and and use that as the base for constructing the entire enclosure. By suspending the front and rear skirts under the angle I will be sure not to obstruct my use of the full Y travel, and I can always run an easily breakable bead of silicone along the front and rear of the table to contain coolant so I can remove the enclosure if it does get in the way for some projects.

I had taken my control console apart to extend the arm and get it out of the way of the enclosure, and I was reassembling it when the obvious answer just came to me.


I DO NOT NEED TO DRILL ANY HOLES IN THE TABLE. Please don't beat me master.

[Bob La Londe]

Well, I started moving the table and taking some measurements to optimize enclosure construction, and I discovered it would be a lot more convenient if the spindle were an inch or two further forward. As it sets now at maximum positive travel in Y the spindle locking collar is partially over the rear lip of the table. That means my face mill could hit the enclosure.

Anybody want to offer any suggestions? I can't build the enclosure to go back more than about 3/4" behind the table, or it would hit the knee ways. 1/2" would be better.

It looks like I loosen two bolts and technically it will move, but it also looks like the head is awfully heavy. Any suggestions on moving it after I loosen the bolts?

[Bob La Londe]

Well, I started moving the table and taking some measurements to optimize enclosure construction, and I discovered it would be a lot more convenient if the spindle were an inch or two further forward. As it sets now at maximum positive travel in Y the spindle locking collar is partially over the rear lip of the table. That means my face mill could hit the enclosure.

Anybody want to offer any suggestions? I can't build the enclosure to go back more than about 3/4" behind the table, or it would hit the knee ways. 1/2" would be better.

It looks like I loosen two bolts and technically it will move, but it also looks like the head is awfully heavy. Any suggestions on moving it after I loosen the bolts?

Never mind. I just loosened up the two bolts that clamp the head in place and used a light machinist adjustment tool. (3 pound hammer) I chipped the paint on the back of the head, before I remembered I should use a machinists peak force spreader (2x4) between the adjustment tool and the mill head.

Actually quite light blows moved the head about 0.1" per impact. It wasn't hard at all.

Now my biggest cutter will come out just 1/2" of the rear of the table. Now I do not have to build out the rear of the enclosure. If I can borrow a decent brake I probably still will though. 1/2" stick back would be convenient. If not I can do anything I might normally do with the rear sheet just flush to the back of the table. Simple cut that way and no braking that way.

[Bob La Londe]

Oh, that touch screen is spoiling me, I was doing some work on the Taig the other day, and I kept getting frustrated that it wouldn't work when I touched the screen. LOL.

[Bob La Londe]

all I'm doing is a little lay out work on the coolant enclosure for the table this afternoon.

[Bob La Londe]

In the discussion below (x) is a tool number value. ie Tool 1, 2, 3, 4, ,5.

Example: If X=1 then T(x) = T1. In no instance does your code actually look like T(x). It looks like T1, T2, T3, etc.

I decided to setup the tool table in Mach 3 yesterday and do some experiments (while trying to cut some parts). I promptly broke 3 drill bits, put a couple dings in my vise, and decided I didn't have a clue what I was doing.

First thing I did was create a "safe" tool change location. G28 is then supposed to move to that location. The "Settings" page shows a place to set that location, but it didn't work. There was another place to set it on the "Homing & Limits" page. When I set it there it worked just like its supposed to.

Then I set some tool values in the tool table... and promptly started breaking things.

I use CamBam for CAM, and it gives me a T(x) M6 for tool changes. In the default configuration for Mach 3 that doesn't really do anything. It changes the display for the tool being used, but it doesn't actually change the tool offset.

Description:
T(x) sets the display and nothing more.
M6 has 3 options in configuration.
1. Do nothing, ignore tool change, and keep going.
2. Pause, Stop Spindle, and Wait for Start Button.
3. Automatic Tool Change - Execute M6 Tool Change Macros.

I watched a couple videos on YouTube and those from Tormach got me started on the right track. They showed G-Code with the following code. They must have been using a customized post processor or hand edited the code, because I have three CAMs with Mach 3 PPs and none of them generate this code.

G28
T(x) M6 G43 H(x)

Description:
G28 go to tool change position.
T(x) set display to tool (x).
M6 execute tool change.
G43 Set tool offset.
H(x) parameter of G43 to select tool offset to apply.

They all just generate:
T(x) M6.

I was thinking I'ld have to customize my post processor, but I have more than one machine and I didn't want to have to keep track of which post I was using for which machine. That bothered me so I started looking for information on the tool change macro instead.

The M6Start.m1s start macro just contains.

tool = GetSelectedTool()
SetCurrentTool(tool)

All that does is created a variable called tool, and set the value of the current tool in it. ie 1,2,3 etc. Really it does nothing. I tried adding some g-code in the file and nothing happened. I might have gotten an error on the status bar, but that was it. The program just kept going just like if it was set to ignore tool changes.

This MYCNCUK site thread got me started on the right answer:
HELP: Mach3 Tool Change Position

They had some simple M6Start.m1s macros with some code I could understand. You can insert G-Code in the macro file and have it executed if you format it right.

code "m9"
code "m5"
code "g28"
code "m1"
tool = GetSelectedTool()
SetCurrentTool(tool)

Stop coolant.
Stop spindle.
Go to saved tool change position.
Pause for operator start button.

This was a huge improvement. I could consistently finish a machine operation and put the spindle in a safe position for a tool change. But I still had to manually zero each tool before pressing start. That is ok. I have been doing that for years on my collet only machines anyway. In fact I had always had to manually move the machines before to make room to do the tool change. This was already so much faster. My collet machines are low power stepper machines with no limits or homing, so this won't work on them anyway. (Now I have incentive to put homing switches on them.)

Still I wanted to know more about the macro language setup. I found a bit of code in an old Mach 2 discussion that got me the last bit. How to format a code command to include the tool variable.

code "g43 h" & tool

Now my M6 Start macro looks like this:

code "m9"
code "m5"
code "g28"
tool = GetSelectedTool()
SetCurrentTool(tool)
code "g43 h" & tool
code "m1"

It does what I want for a fast easy tool change finally.

It stops the spindle and the coolant pump, goes to a safe tool change location, retrieves the T(x) value, and stores it in the variable "tool". (Tool 1, Tool 2, etc) Then it performs the Gcode G43 H(x) to set the tool offset. All that's left is for me to swap to the correct tool and press start.

There are still a few things I would like to figure out how to do. For one thing I never really found a good resource for the values, commands, language structure, etc for Mach 3 macros. I just pieced them together from bits and pieces found here and there. Another thing I would like to do is figure out how to "park" the machine at the end of a program. Basically raise the spindle to safe Z, center the table, and move it forward to make part removal faster and easier when a program completes. Maybe I'll add a park button to my program screen. I ran across references to that while I was researching M6 macros. Executing a macro from a screen button. Well, that is a task for another day.

[FannBlade]

"Safe" and hand coding not in my vocabulary! I will reference this later keep up the great work.

Looks like you are about ready to make parts.

[Bob La Londe]

I did say I broke a few things didn't I. LOL. My thoughts are with the proper setup for the machine tool changes will be fast and easy, and I won't have to hand code anything or manually re-zero standard tools all the time.

I have already made parts. I have made:

A 2 piece sandwich plug for an access hole in my aluminum boat.
Slots in the bottom rails of my table enclosure (not finished yet).
Rectangular washers and load spreaders to go above the slots in the rails.
Slotted rails for the polycarbonate going in the sides of my enclosure. That way I can lift them up if I need to leave a long part hanging over the end of the table.

Already I am finding myself wanting to use this machine for parts even when the high speed spindle on my Taig would do a better job.

[Bob La Londe]

Due to the wait times, failed page loads, invasive scripts, this site is getting onerous to participate in. I will try to keep up my build thread, but don't expect me to check in as often if somebody has a question. Sorry.


Anyway...
With the new splash enclosure sometimes the old coolant hose mount gets in the way. Today after work I came up with something better. An adjustable height stop bar. My primary purpose was to come up with a good place to mount coolant nozzles so that it would not interfer with the movement of the mill or hit the enclosures. It serves the secondary purpose of serving as a stopper bar when running a tapping head or a speed multiplier.

For now, it is held in place with 2 thumb screws in the guides, but I may drill it and use a hinge pin clip if that is not adequate.

The plan is to make an aluminum manifold that I can screw three coolant locline nozzles into. There will be a hose barb in one end, and a small ball valve in the other for cleaning. I may just machine a barb into the shape so I have one less place for errant chips to hang up. The manifold will be able to be loosened and moved up or down the bar as needed for the current job.

[Bob La Londe]

We don't need no stinking brake... just a table saw and some muscle.

http://www.yumabassman.com/Smaller/W...ng%20Brake.jpg
http://www.yumabassman.com/Smaller/W...ng%20Brake.jpg

http://www.yumabassman.com/Smaller/O...se%20Brake.jpg

The attachments wouldn't work for me, and the "use url" wouldn't work for me. The pictures are hosted raw on one of my websites above. Ever since I decided to upgrade my security and do a little privacy protection the zone has been a total pig. Like a fat pig trying to walk up hill in chest deep snow. Slow and stops alot. I really haven't had any issues with any other big site, except my security keeps blocking cross site scripting on Ebay. Doesn't stop the site from working though.

Anyway, look at the pictures if you want.

[FannBlade]

Lookin good so far.

You may try and clear your browser history,it may help since the version upgrade. I don't have any problem on my end.
I do wish they would allow more then one upload.

[Bob La Londe]

Latest update! Pictures here: Metal Nibbler Three

Coolant manifold finished and mounted.

[Bob La Londe]

Haven't done much, but my Polycarbonate to finish the splash enclosure came in the other day. I've had a few more tool holders arrive as well, now I need to setup some form of tool rack to hold all the tool holders I have accumulated. Maybe also hold certain size wenches, and the various associated spanners. I spent most of my spare time this last week fabricating some better compartment cover hinge mounts for a buddy's bass boat, and fitting new fenders to his trailer. It gave me an excuse to buy a new little portable wire feed welder since my old one crapped out and the the big welder doesn't have any place to plug in up in the front of the shop. Wow, do I like this little Lincoln Pro Core 125. A dozen 3-4 inch beads before it would start to hit its duty cycle, and it still didn't overheat and stop. I just turned down the wire feed rate and kept going.

Anyway, back to the Hurco build... Anybody else a few Kwik 200 tool holders for theirs. How did you setup your tool wrack to keep them organized? Mind posting a picture or three, or a link to pictures?

[FannBlade]

I'm planning on using the left side cabinet for my tool storage. Add couple shelves with holes and some places to hang wrenches.
Looking forward to your coolant guard.

[Bob La Londe]

Well, I can't use the left side cabinet for tools. I stacked the two cabinets, put the noisy stuff in the bottom cabinet, and all the electronics in the top cabinet.

I was thinking I wanted tools handier than that anyway. When it hits a tool change I snap out one tool, snap in the next one, and press start. I'm leaning more towards making holders on a cart... making it a "tool" cart. I was just hoping somebody had something more elegant to suggest. Your suggestions isn't bad, but it won't work for me.