[Bob La Londe]

Mortar Tub - a number of years ago I did some stucco repairs, and I used some big plastic tubs for mixing. It was long before I was into CNC. Anyway, those tubs were quite large and might have been big enough for a Taig working envelope. Problem is I have not seen them since...

[B-RAD]

That is what this tub is called, and was by the concrete and such.


Here is my mess I have to clean up now.... In half the garage!

[fretsman]

Brad, it's looking great and congrats on your progress.

Just wanted to warn you though about wifi and wireless components with Mach 3.

While not everyone has issues with them, on the Mach 3 forum, they HIGHLY recommend you do not use those devices, as the signals from wireless, and the interrupts from wifi can wreak havoc on your system.

Wish I had a garage like that to clean up!
Dave

[B-RAD]

Thanks! I used the WiFi before, and didn't have an issue, I was worried at first but so far it works great. I have ran Rhino3D, and internet all at the same time with no issues. I know its frowned on, but I just tried to push the limits and wasn't let down.


Well I'm off to go pick up a new 60 Gallon Air Compressor at Lowe's, can you believe only 500$?

Man... My Four Wheeler money is about gone, lol, oh well, got needed/wanted tools and medical bills paid off. Can't wait for my tig welder to show up . No Tormach for me.

[fretsman]

Sounds like you're having a blast, my friend , good for you!

Dave

[B-RAD]

Yeah, just getting my shop/garage finished before I move on to a lower paying job....

[B-RAD]

Started to make a fixture today, first time using coolant, 10min in, and.... Pump burnt out. It wasn't ideal, it was a battery powered pump that I rigged up to double the voltage to get it flowing good enough...


Any suggestions on a water pump?

[cameraguy]

Started to make a fixture today, first time using coolant, 10min in, and.... Pump burnt out. It wasn't ideal, it was a battery powered pump that I rigged up to double the voltage to get it flowing good enough...


Any suggestions on a water pump?

I use a peristaltic pump. Normal pumps die, even if you filter the coolant really well there are still abrasive contaminants. The great part of peristaltics is that the pumped fluid never contacts the mechanical parts. In medicine they use them to keep the pump parts from contaminating the sterile pumped fluids. We use it the other way - we don't want grit or swarf in the pumped fluid contaminating the pump parts.
Mine is an actual surgical blood pump I got surplus for scrap value, but they are brutally simple, and anyone can make a 1, 2, or 3 lobed peristaltic for only a couple bucks with some skate bearings and rubber tubing. Power it by a stepper and you can even get Mach to control it through G-code. That is likely my next step.

Page that has an animation from a company that makes them; Randolph Austin — peristaltic pumps, flexible tubing, performance gears, and rubber molding

See? Pretty simple. All you have to do is replace a foot of tubing every year or two when it gets enough grit embedded into it. Takes like two seconds.

[Bob La Londe]

Just go down to your local box mart and buy a couple cheap swamp cooler pumps.

[Taflin]

Started to make a fixture today, first time using coolant, 10min in, and.... Pump burnt out. It wasn't ideal, it was a battery powered pump that I rigged up to double the voltage to get it flowing good enough...


Any suggestions on a water pump?

I use a Rule 12v bilge pump for a boat...

Been using the same one for years.

Edit: 360 GPH is more than sufficient.

[B-RAD]

My buddy had a shurflo 2.8gpm 12vdc pump, I temp'd it in for now..

Here is my son and I building the temp shower curtain enclosure.

I will probably go with this pump if it works good. Thanks for your advice guys, but I can't complain about free.... For now. Haha


Cameraguy, if this fails, you bet I'll be doing your idea!

[B-RAD]

Done for tonight...

[B-RAD]

Coolant is working good so far, I started on a fixture for some parts I'll be making.

I'm not to happy about the rough machine marks, its from the nod on the Z my Taig has.... I'll fix it... Someday

[Bob La Londe]

That lopsided 14 pound head doesn't help, but a Taig needs to be lubed and adjusted and broke in. I found it was pretty hard to get the Z nice and tight without binding and losing steps.

[awerby]

It's hard to get a good finish on a slot-cut. It's usually best to cut the slot with a tool that's a little smaller than the ultimate width of the slot, and then do a finish pass to clean up the edges. Use some lubricant, and avoid re-cutting your chips. Climb cutting gives a better finish than conventional. And the type of aluminum you use is important too. The "aircraft grade" aluminum (6061 T6 is most popular) is hardened, so it cuts cleaner than hardware-store aluminum, which tends to be unhardened and gummy. Once the aluminum starts sticking to the cutter, it's all over...

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

[B-RAD]

So far with the ZrN coated endmills aluminum hasn't even thought about sticking.


Well... I just won a RepRap Prusa Mendel on eBay... Wonder what I can get in trouble with now... Haha.... Hoss... I'm catching up... Lol

[hoss2006]

So far with the ZrN coated endmills aluminum hasn't even thought about sticking.


Well... I just won a RepRap Prusa Mendel on eBay... Wonder what I can get in trouble with now... Haha.... Hoss... I'm catching up... Lol

LOL, you should have some fun with that Prusa.
Hoss

[BAMCNC.COM]

I'm doing about the same thing, so far with this fixture my surface finish looks like this.
Needs a bit more tweaking.

As you can see, I have a tapped hole in the fixture for the hole in the wrench, then put a screw in it to hold it down before I do the profiling.

Another thing, is you can tell my fixture is pretty good by it holding coolant.

[bjones]

I'm doing about the same thing, so far with this fixture my surface finish looks like this.
Needs a bit more tweaking.

As you can see, I have a tapped hole in the fixture for the hole in the wrench, then put a screw in it to hold it down before I do the profiling.

Another thing, is you can tell my fixture is pretty good by it holding coolant.

Gee BAMCNC, your fixture plate is exactly the one b-rad was working on.

[BAMCNC.COM]

I stole his idea... what can I say.