[wcarrothers1]

I know it probably does not seem like much... After all they are just wood chips (vs metal) but this type of thing is what my R will probably be seeing a fair amount of.. Ya might be over kill but having a bot do your work for you is something I'm starting to like..hehe

Anyway went through the paces. Figured out how to zero everything, download a program and run (with help of others here... Thanks) and it ran off 12 or so of these (6 holes in each) with out missing a beat..

Pretty cool I think.. I can only imagine what an operator back in 85 must have been thinking then if I think it's cool even now..hehe State of the art I suppose..

Either way it did it faster then I used to do it manually on the drill press + being perfect and I was able to cut other pieces while it was busy.. Leaves me wondering just how "un attended" others run their cnc's????

Factor in the time spent writing this and I'm a net negitve in time savings at this point (maybe) vs doing the drilling manually... But hay..

Either way proves the machine does work all the way it seems (or at least 1000.00 bucks worth) hehe

b.

[HelicopterJohn]

Hi,

Well it looks like you are making chips and having fun and hopefully saving some time and increasing accuracy on this project and ones in the future.

I am new to the CNC world and recently acquired a couple of used Seiki 3 Axis CNC mills with Anilam 1100M controls on them. I am having a ton of fun learning how to program these machines.

On some of my first programs I ran them in air (with plenty of Z Axis clearance). Then I cut them in MDF (Wood) and now I am cutting in 6061 T6 aluminum. I am also lucky in that Anilam offers as an option what is called off line software for my controller which allows me to program parts and actually verify the parts on my PC Prior to loading them into the machine and running them.

Keep up the good work and have fun.

John

[wcarrothers1]

That part verification is lacking a bit at the moment. I think there is a product virtual mill that can read g code and give a graphic display (think I have it around) but I mostly draw things up in vcarve and output it. Been using MACH for my other machiens. So I could output the path with the mach post, check it again, then output in the bridgeport post.

I probaly have some tweeking to do to that bridgeport post processor anyway because it was for Eztrack and I don't know how similar that is to the Boss 10. Evidently it's pretty close

I'm also curious about power consumption wth the new machine vs my gecko controlled machine. As the tranformers in this one seem to make quite a bit of heat (ie waist energy?) so I'm wondering just how much it costs to run the machine over the long run.. Guess I will have to watch my electric bill. HOw ever the basement will be a bit warmer in the winter I guess..

b.

[HelicopterJohn]

Hi wcarrothers1,

I sent you a PM.

John