[LeeWay]

I remember after Hurricane Andrew, I went down to Homestead to help with some clean up with Friends and stayed a little longer helping others with my chain saw and trailer. I remember the local scrap yards went from paying about 50 cents a pound for aluminum to 4 cents a pound overnight. Several guys then parked semi trucks down there and bought the stuff before it got to the scrap yard paying much better prices. They then just trucked it up to Georgia and doubled their investment. Those guys would make several trips a week.
There were untold tons of Florida rooms, carports and awnings that had been blown everywhere.

So ultimately the scrap yards lost out on that bonanza. They have price gouging laws that cover that now too.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Well, in the last week, I've made 194 parts, only one ending up in the scrap bin, and that due to a broken tap, nothing wrong with the milling. The parts are coming off absolutely consistent, and the finish is consistently excellent. So far I'm getting these ignition kits done faster than I dared hope! In fact, this build is 44 kits, and I'm getting it done faster than I did last time, when I built only 25 kits. Much of that is, no doubt, due to the fact that the G-code is stable, but the reliability of the machine also helps - I have had *zero* problems!

The new coolant system is working really well, except for the difficulty of getting all the chips through the little 3" drain. Otherwise, the chip "filter" is doing a great job, and pump is doing an admirable job of clearing chips from the work. I only have to go in and clear the chips with an air hose when doing finishing on parts that are close together - the "hair" that's generated is just too much for the coolant to clear fully.

Sooooo.... Am I the only one here actually making anything?? What are the rest of you doing with your machines? :-)

Regards,
Ray L.

[Hirudin]

I'm trying! Being a newbie is tough. I'm working on a power draw bar (too) - I plan to start a thread about it soon, but I want to get the prototype working first. I think I'm close, but I've also thought I was close for a while now.

Here's a couple test pistons I made yesterday...

[AUSTINMACHINING]

Well, in the last week, I've made 194 parts, only one ending up in the scrap bin, and that due to a broken tap, nothing wrong with the milling. The parts are coming off absolutely consistent, and the finish is consistently excellent. So far I'm getting these ignition kits done faster than I dared hope! In fact, this build is 44 kits, and I'm getting it done faster than I did last time, when I built only 25 kits. Much of that is, no doubt, due to the fact that the G-code is stable, but the reliability of the machine also helps - I have had *zero* problems!

The new coolant system is working really well, except for the difficulty of getting all the chips through the little 3" drain. Otherwise, the chip "filter" is doing a great job, and pump is doing an admirable job of clearing chips from the work. I only have to go in and clear the chips with an air hose when doing finishing on parts that are close together - the "hair" that's generated is just too much for the coolant to clear fully.

Sooooo.... Am I the only one here actually making anything?? What are the rest of you doing with your machines? :-)

Regards,
Ray L.

Shop ready to go, Parts designed, CAM output generated, just waiting to fill that empty void with a new mill. Shipped last Friday, hoping it gets here before the weekend (fingers crossed).
There will be a lot of air cutting, testing the post processor from HSMworks to Mach, before I actually load any stock .

[jid2]

The HSMWorks Post is good. I end up turning off the G28 and then I manually code in the Z height I want between operations for tool changes.

[AUSTINMACHINING]

The HSMWorks Post is good. I end up turning off the G28 and then I manually code in the Z height I want between operations for tool changes.

Wow,
Thanks, that's good to know. Glad I'm not the first

[MRM RCModels]

Bring on the chips! Ray recommended the Hertel 0.5in AL HSS Endmills from use-enco.com. These cut thru AL like butter and only cost $10-13. I cut for 30min continuous at 2900 RPM 0.25DOC, 0.5in WOC (Slot) at 20IPM, made tons of chips, it's still sharp with little wear. The vibrations were negligent and the machine never sounded so happy.

I'm a believer!

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Bring on the chips! Ray recommended the Hertel 0.5in AL HSS Endmills from use-enco.com. These cut thru AL like butter and only cost $10-13. I cut for 30min continuous at 2900 RPM 0.25DOC, 0.5in WOC (Slot) at 20IPM, made tons of chips, it's still sharp with little wear. The vibrations were negligent and the machine never sounded so happy.

I'm a believer!

30 minutes? I've used the same endmill for DAYS, and they still cut very nicely!

Regards,
Ray L.

[MRM RCModels]

Crawl before you walk

[rlockwood]

Ray, is there any possibility you could shoot some video of the torus pro in action? I'm getting increasingly interested in one, but cant really find anyone who actually knows how to use it.

Either way, Thanks

[MRM RCModels]

Ray, is there any possibility you could shoot some video of the torus pro in action? I'm getting increasingly interested in one, but cant really find anyone who actually knows how to use it.

Either way, Thanks

http://m.youtube.com/user/CNC2Live

This may help.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Ray, is there any possibility you could shoot some video of the torus pro in action? I'm getting increasingly interested in one, but cant really find anyone who actually knows how to use it.

Either way, Thanks

I have a hard time getting decent video. With my seriously upgraded coolant system throws so much coolant, it's impossible to get close enough to get a decent video without taking a bath in coolant. Even then, mostly what you see looks like the back side of Niagara Falls - lotsa bright translucent blue coolant, with a vague outline of a cutting tool buried in the middle of the flood.

MRMs videos are pretty good - I like the one showing the Turners cube. He's lucky enough to have a Plexi enclosure on his machine - I currently have just shower curtains, which are not transparent enough to photograph through.

Regards,
Ray L.

[neilw20]

Oh, Ray. What an excuse!! DO you have a zoom lens? LOL

[LeeWay]

Okay. A close up of the shower curtain will work. Then we can imagine whats really going on.

[Bob La Londe]

I have weatherprrof security cameras inside the enclosure on my two little machines. The one on the wood router gets a film of sawdust pretty quick, but the one in the cabinet with the Taig (28K spindle) doesn't get too coated with cutting oil to see for several hours. The video isn't awesome, but it works. Mostly I use them to keep an eye on the machines from my desk in the office.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Ray, is there any possibility you could shoot some video of the torus pro in action? I'm getting increasingly interested in one, but cant really find anyone who actually knows how to use it.

Either way, Thanks

Honestly, I don't know what your other options would be, other than either significantly less capable, or more expensive ones. The Tormach is, by all accounts, a very nice machine, but significantly, smaller and much lower performance. Beyond that, you're looking at machines that are probably 3X the price, or half the size. A DIY conversion will not come close to the performance and accuracy of this machine, unless you spend more on the parts than the Pro costs, in which case you *might* end up with a comparable machine a few years from now once you've finished wringing out the bugs.

I am 100% satisfied with mine, and I haven't even put the servo kit on yet - still running steppers! It has proven dead-reliable, and provides performance at least as good as my 9x49 knee mill, with much greater accuracy and repeatability, and greater usable travels, except for the X axis (25" vs 32" on the knee mill). As a CNC machine, a bed mill is a FAR better configuration than a knee mill. The spindle is more powerful than the knee mill, and surface finish is, if anything, a bit better.

A far as a video, tell me exactly what you're looking for, and I'll see what I can do. But it is hard to get anything clear, due to all the coolant splashing.

Regards,
Ray L.

[ihavenofish]

gopro behind a sheet of plexi a small distance in front with an air blast on the front of the plexy.
thats what im planning on setting up at some point. stole the idea from my renishaw probe.. has an air blast on the IR reciever to keep it clean.

[wwendorf]

Ray,

Have you tried any High Speed cuts with your Torus Pro? I'm particularly curious how the speed on toroidal pocket removing cuts compares to standard machining practices.

If so, what kind of stepover and DOC are you doing on the toroidal toolpaths?

Thanks,
Wade

[Hirudin]

I just recorded a video of a Torus Pro S doing some milling. There isn't an enclosure, flood coolant, or a curtain getting in the way. I don't think I'm getting removal rates like HimyKabibble, more like half*, but it's definitely cranking along! It was the first time I tried that program and also the first time I've tried using the "Tool Table" in Mach3. There is certainly room for improvement - for instance: I forgot to tell my CAM program to use the pilot holes I drilled so there is a lot of wasted time. I figure it could go a fair amount faster too - maybe 50% faster?

It just so happens that my video camera had to split the file right as I was changing tools. The following tool lasted about 1 second into its second operation. Since it's pretty short I probably won't post the video of the tool snapping.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQMb0mFbHII
(The actual action starts at 3:40.)

* [edit] Actually, now I'm thinking even less than half.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Ray,

Have you tried any High Speed cuts with your Torus Pro? I'm particularly curious how the speed on toroidal pocket removing cuts compares to standard machining practices.

If so, what kind of stepover and DOC are you doing on the toroidal toolpaths?

Thanks,
Wade

Wade,

I have no tools for generating toroidal (I think you mean trochoidal?) toolpaths. If you want to send me some code, I'll run it.

Regards,
Ray L.