[nateman_doo]

Test tapping in Aluminum
Tapmatic Rx30 Aluminum tapping - YouTube

[nateman_doo]

150 4-40 holes tapped.... in 26 minutes! AMAZING!

[nateman_doo]

In other news... the retracting bellows bit the dust. Not really the bellows themselves, but the rubber chord that held the tension. I opted for some stronger, and more robust construction:


replaced the rubber with coated wire, and 2 springs going to the ceiling above. Its FAR stronger with much more tension. Keeps the shower liner material much more taught. Plus I don't have to worry about the rubber cords breaking anymore.

The rubber lasted almost a year straight, but I had to replace it once before. Lets see how long this lasts.

[coils]

First off I want to thank you for putting this thread together, I enjoyed reading through it and seeing your build come to life, you did a really good job and got very creative. It also answered a lot of questions I had too.

But I need to ask about the resin sand mix you did, what type of resin did you use? I looked through those posts a few times and didn't see it mentioned, and I did a google search but I'm coming up with a big list of the different types of resins out there.
I'm going to try and make a chip / coolant tray out of wood and in the center area use your resin sand mix idea to make everything flow to where the drain will be.

[nateman_doo]

AHH! I didn't see you replied. Sorry for the delay. I just went to lowes and got the course play sand (fine if you wish) and just the simple gallon of fiberglass resin mix. I think I used 2 gallons.

BUT WAIT. Here is what I will do with my new build being that hind site is 20-20. Once you make the sand/resin mix (25% resin & 75% sand worked fine for me), let it cure. COAT THE TOP WITH PURE RESIN. The textured surface of the sand/resin isn't smooth (its sand right) and it doesn't let the chips really slide off as well as they could. (it still works well though). If you mix a small bit of resin and glob it over the surface so that its now smooth, your chips won't sit on the textured surface, the will slide right where you need them too.

I could always wait a few days until most of the coolant drys, clean off my machine, and then coat the resin again, but my wife HAATTEESSS the smell of that stuff and it lingers in the house for DAYS no matter how careful I am to turn on my home-made exhaust system.

[coils]

No need to apologize, I'm doing other things right now and will start this shortly.
OK on the fiberglass resin, I was hoping it wasn't anything fancy. And the rest of the info you gave is great.

As for the smell, I'm luckier then you since I'm doing my tray with wood, I should be able to do it in the garage or out side then bring it inside after it cures.

Thanks again

[nateman_doo]

I built the tray in house as it stands. Will you use any kind of concrete pouring as the main pour and resin/sand top it? I would suggest some sort of anchoring system into the wood so you can draw the wood into the mix.

Hurry up and get started already!!

[coils]

I'm trying to get this project done but other things keep getting in the way

No it's not going to have any concrete, just the wood. I guess I should give more details, I will start a thread on my project later.

I found your thread through one of TangentAudio's threads and found his by doing goggle & youtube searches.
I'm not doing a full build like you did, I have one of the large round column machines (rf 30/31 style), and I learned the limits and down side of the round column as a cnc (which I'm still learning).
I'm going to replace the round column with a home built one and I'm putting on a Tormach 770 head (well that's the plan anyway), and it's going to get moved from the garage (no heat or a/c) to the basement.

To get back on track.
I want to do as much as I can before & when it gets moved, like putting in a full size chip pan for now that can be added to later. I'm not good with large pieces of sheet metal so making those bends wouldn't work out and I can't find anyone to do it for a reasonable price around here, so I figured I'd do this part with wood since I have most of what I need already.
I looked around the net after you told me it was fiber glass resin and a lot of people actually seal wood with this, I was going to seal the wood first with resin, then scuff the center area to add the sand mix to form an uneven surface so everything will go toward a drain for future flood coolant if I add it.

So that's the plan so far, but it might change as I progress. But your suggestion of "anchoring" it is a good tip. Maybe I can put some short drywall screws in the wood (with the heads sticking out a little) so the mix can lock onto the heads? See it might have changed a little already

[nateman_doo]

believe it or not, the sand was only for mass. In hind site... leave a smooth surface. the sand and resin catch small chips and can make them build up in various areas. I intend to coat top layers with just pure resin to make it very smooth so that coolant and chips can slide easily into the drain.

Also I plan to eliminate all wood from the next build. Its never a perfect seal no matter how much resin you use. Small splashes get into MDF anywhere and start to warp the wood.

[coils]

I mainly used the sand/resin to make a slope and hopefully seal the base of the mill to the table so nothing get's under the base, the section of the wood tray that the mill sits on is flat & level. I put a drain in the front right corner and have the sand mix thicker at the back & left side so hopefully everything (or almost everything) will flow to the front right corner.

I understood what you were doing with yours, it was mainly for mass and some fluid direction control to get as much as possible to the PVC pipe, I'm just using the direction control part on mine. I did put a layer of resin over it, and it seems to have worked very well, there's a few spots that have some texture yet where I put it on thin but for the most part it's really smooth.

I didn't use any MDF, I found a solid wood 1"x30"x48" thing that was made from a bunch of smaller pieces that are glued together, I forget the actual name but it's kind of like a butcher block type thing with the boards flat rather then on end. I used this for the center of the tray where the mill will sit, have 2x6 for the front and back going the full length of the tray, 1x3 on the ends and 1/4" ply for the slopes on each side.
I already had all the wood other then the piece used for the base to sit on.



As for the "sealing the wood" part I did a few hours of searching the net on this and found a lot of people doing it, but they do extra steps first.
It seems the secret of sealing the wood with resin is to apply a few coats of thinned resin first, like 3 to 5 parts thinner to resin ratio. This is how I did it but the ratios can be changed a little.
I put about a quart of resin in a throw a way container and added the hardener like you normally would, then I added about 3 quarts of acetone and mixed that in (this is the part that makes it work well) so I got roughly a gallon of mix.
It's like water when it's all mixed, it dries slower, and it soaks into the wood rather then just bonding to the surface. I had the tray hanging so what was going to be the back was pointing down, this let me get to all sides easy (other then the down part, had to squat), and I was able to do the whole thing at once and do a couple coats too. I had just a little over a pint of mix left over.
When it dries it's tacky since the acetone dissolves that wax like stuff in the resin, so it's ready for the next/final coat you want to apply without sanding or anything like that even if it's paint. Then I mixed up a batch of straight resin and put a thin coat of that over the whole thing.

When I did the sand I just followed what you said, mixed resin with sand and formed it to the floor of the tray the way I think it would work, it's just in the center section by the base of the mill. After a few days I put a coat of resin over the sand mix.

[nateman_doo]

My advise? stay away from wood at all costs. I have no intention of using any wood for my new build. Any sort of moisture will start wood warping.

Now, I know its been a while, but the most random thing happened. I can't get my VFD to put out less then 1.5V, which equates to 20 Hz (650something RPM). I have NO idea where this came from. I just threw in the tapping attachment, and it was spinning way too fast. I haven't messed with a single setting.. in a loooong time. Any idea how that could randomly happen?

Here are some random settings:

M3S1 1.46V 20.7Hz
M3S10 1.53V 21.3Hz
M3S100 2.18V 30.6Hz
200 2.45V 41.5Hz
300 3.14V 52.6Hz
400 4.53 63.7Hz
500 5.4V 75Hz
600 6.29V 88.1Hz
700 7.2V 100Hz
800 8.1V 113Hz
900 8.1V 113.6Hz
1000 8.1V 113.7Hz
10000 8.1V 113.7Hz

Back to
M3S1 1.43V 20Hz

[keebler303]

Have you made any software changes? Seems like maybe the pulsing for the spindle speed module has somehow changed? If you can't get it figured in software, your VFD should have "zero" and "span" settings for the analog input so that you can tell it to be stopped when it gets 1.5V and be full speed at 8.1V. Basically you are just remapping the entire speed range onto your actual analog input range.

Matt

[nateman_doo]

Im not really sure, but it seems to have fixed itself the next day. Stuff like that puzzles me.

[Hans_G]

Could be a ground/reference voltage issue maybe? The VFD analog input has a ground and your analog signal source is also relative to a ground. If those 2 grounds aren't wired together, but a/c ground is the same for both devices, sometimes it will seem to work fine and sometimes one ground may float a little relative to the other. Something to check anyway.

[nateman_doo]

So I figured out what sets off that weird voltage issue. The M7/M8 commands. When i use the M7/M8 commands everything is perfect, but if I DONT, thats when it gets wacky.

So the quick fix is always program an M7, or M8 type of coolant function in every process (which I always do anyway).

in the meantime, here is a most random video of the machine in operation. Over a year this this has been going, and still works like a champ.

[nateman_doo]

Another video, surfacing aluminum:

[nateman_doo]

Anyone randomly have their flood/air coolant stop working via Mach?

I set a cycle to run, and went away. Came back and the job stopped half way through. I reset, hit the go button and no fluid. I can flip the switch manually, but even entering a M7, or M8 will not engage the coolant. Thats not fun. Now I have to babysit the machine until the cycle is over so I can turn off the fluid.

[nateman_doo]

I no longer hear the relays clicking. Its almost 1 am. I would love to run this 3 hours cycle overnight... but I don't want to leave the coolant flowing ALL night.

[LeeWay]

It could be bad wiring, bad BOB or bad relay. I had a coolant pump motor go out recently, but acted differently. Time to break out your multimeter.

[nateman_doo]

ugh... not what I wanted to hear.