[upnorth]

I have a Novakon Torus Pro. I'm soon going to be at the point where I will be needing to make some parts that will be near the limits of the machine. It looks like I'm going to need a tooling plate. One of the things I do not like about the Torus pro is that the spindle stops too high above the table. I cant see being able to bolt a tooling plate directly to the table as the tools will not come down low enough to work.

So here is a 2 part question. For those of you using a tooling plate how did you attach it to the table? I'm thinking maybe some sort of riser blocks with bolts going through the plate to a t slot nut. Would it be feasible to clamp a long 36" or so tooling plate in two vises set up in parallel? Photos would be nice!

Second question would be did you buy or make your own tooling plates? If you made it can you point me to any resources you used to design it? I have made fixtures in the past but this will be my first tooling plate.

Thanks

Tom

[kvom]

I've been dealing with a similar issue on my nm200 since new. I bought the "tall column" version without thinking too much about the implications. So my spindle won't get within 7" of the top of the table. Fortunately I'm a hobby machinist and male mostly 1-off parts. My solution has been a cast iron tilt table that's locked flat and bolted to the mill table. I was able to get it surface ground on both sides. I normally have a 6" Kurt vise mounted to this table, which is 10" x 15". In the past I also had two 4" Kurts side by side. Currently for larger work I use 12" soft jaws from Monster Jaws on the 6" vise, and by mounting them on the outsides of the vise jaws I can hold stock large enough for my needs thus far.

When I used the two 4" vises, I would tram one the usual way and then mount the other used a parallel against the fixed jaws to align the the second. Soft jaws on both then got them aligned more exactly.

I've also used the top of the tilt table for some larger pieces, but for thin workpieces I needed to make some riser blocks for the table in order to use it with short tools.

I've seen a lot of recommendations to use Mic-6 cast aluminum for tooling plates. Fortal plate is also an option.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

I just made up a set of three 2" x 2" x 12" riser blocks for all my low fixtures. Works perfectly.

Regards,
Ray L.

[keithmcelhinney]

I have 2 fixed 3" riser blocks and a middle "floater" riser. I bolted them to the outsides of the table and they stay there. I have locating pins on the 2 secure ones and none on the floater. I make all my fixture plates have the receivers for the locating pins. I made middle so it can go anywhere and I have a bolt that goes through every fixture plate somewhere near the middle so it holds down the middle of the plate. This makes it so I can have the same zero on all my fixtures making it so I don't have to rezero the x and y very much. It also makes it much easier to squeeze every last inch of travel out of the machine because the zero is always the same relative to the absolute travel. I can take the fixture plates off and use a vice in the middle, but since the fixed risers are secured using the front and back t-slot so you can only use the 2 middle ones when doing something in the middle.

-Keith

[Frogblender]

Many moons ago I had the same issue with my NM135- head doesn't go low enough. I found, on all 3 axis to some degree, that the travels were "artificially" limited, and I extended the travels by:
- rejigging the ways covers such that they wouldn't get crushed
- moved the zero-switch dogs to the max.
- moved some oiler piping out of the way

Now, on all three axis, the limits are within .050" or so of clunking against the hard stop. I have several more inches of travel than what was shipped from the factory.

[UniqueMachining]

Tom

About 2 years ago I decided to have a 1" thick aluminum surface plate made by a local machine shop (aluminum tool plate). It has 3/8-16 tapped holes every inch on X and Y (offset 1/2 " on Y).
I then mounted 2- 6" vises on 1/2" aluminum plates, drilled to match the surface plate. Whatever custom jigs I require can be mounted to the surface plate with or without risers.
When I switch back to the vises, they can be accurately aligned quite quickly.

John

[upnorth]

Thanks for all the replies you guys have given me some ideas. I like the idea of mounting the tooling plate directly on the table like Uniquemachining did. However I also think Keithmcelhinney had a good idea with the risers. I'm going to do some measuring today and see what will work best for me. I'm going to put my shortest tool in the machine and see how low it will go. I was estimating a 1" thick tooling plate would not be enough. I'll do some measuring and then take off the Z axis covers and see about tweaking the stops as Frogblender mentioned.

I'm a bit new to the cnc thing so I'm not sure exactly what work will be coming through the door so I want to have something as versatile as possible. Last job I ran yesterday fit in my 4" vise so it was an easy one.

Thanks again for the replies. Its great to have people willing to help out. I live in a place where there is no one to ask about this sort of thing so the zone is making my life a lot easier.

Tom

[SCzEngrgGroup]

There is nothing you can do to bring the head down lower without getting modifying the gas spring (you'd need a longer spring, and new top mount), and installing longer linear rails, whch wuold require modifying the column pedestal to provide support for the longer rails. In stock form, the lower "trucks" run down to the end of the rails.

Regards,
Ray L.

[upnorth]

I had a look today and it looks to me like my best option is to have about 2" riser blocks with dowel pins for locating fixtures. I'll have to figure out where to mount them that will be the most convenient. I think once they are aligned they can just stay in place if I remove the tooling plate for some reason. A couple of movable risers in the middle for oddball stuff. On top of the risers I'll likely have a 1" thick tooling plate so that will give me the 3" lift I want.

I agree with Ray tweaking the head to go lower is not worth the effort. What are you guys making your riser blocks out of? Aluminum or steel? If steel what grade. I want to avoid the warping I get when facing cold rolled steel.

Tom

[kvom]

I'd have thought that the length of the ball screw would limit descending further regardless of longer rails or gas spring.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

I'd have thought that the length of the ball screw would limit descending further regardless of longer rails or gas spring.

I'm not sure it does, because the screw is pretty long, and the nut is all the way near the top of the head.

Regards,
Ray L.

[CROSSHATCH]

Well, technically...isn't possible to make an adapter plate between the headstock and the Z-axis mounting plate? You can make this adapter plate, bolt it to the original bolt pattern and drop the headstock a few a inches. You will suffer from lost rigidity and probably a loss in the Y-axis.

Regards,

-Jason

[Hirudin]

Maybe some 246 blocks would make for some stout, easy, accurate riser blocks. Whatever you use, it would probably be a good idea to try to make them as close to 2" as possible so you can use 123 blocks for additional support if needed.

[upnorth]

I had considered 2-4-6 blocks but I'm thinking I would need at least 3 sets maybe 4? They are over $100 a set here for the cheap ones. I'm thinking of just ordering in some 2" or 3" cold rolled steel and giving it a very light skim.

Tom