[dfranks]

I have to check out the Morse Metal Devil. The demos on their site looked pretty impressive. Thanks for the tip.
I just got back from dinner with another couple. I thought that the gentleman worked somewhere that dealt with steel but thought it was just commericial stuff. Turns out they will sell to the public so I told him what I was doing and he said they definitely would have what I am looking for, 3" square tubing (maybe 2"x3" tubing.) I don't think that he can necessarily get me a deal on it but I will save the $175-$200 bucks for shipping. I can use that extra money towards other parts.

[mxtras]

Absolutely no gloves when using saws, drills, etc.

There was an episode of American Chopper that demonstrated the reason quite nicely when one of the guys got wrapped up in the drill press. Blood splattered everywhere, chunks of finger left on the bit, shredded glove, trip to the emergency room for stitches...

When welding however, please use a helmet, golves and appropriate long sleeve clothing, unlike what is demonstrated on so many of the programs like AC.

Pete C.

Are you using American Chopper as a good example of how to work safely? Sheesh - give me a break!

Scott

[mxtras]

dfranks -

WE NEED PHOTOS!!! This thread is dead without PHOTOS!!!

Just busting your chops. I just want to see how messy your shop is....if it's clean, then you must be cheating.

Scott

[dfranks]

mxtras - Well I just cleaned up the shop (garage) recently to start this new mess. But I will have photos, who knows maybe even a short video or two The 1st of my aluminum stock is to arrive tomorrow. Went out today and picked up a fresh set of taps and waiting to hear back about my steel tubing.
OK time to brainstorm!!! I realized tonight that when I drill and tap that some of my aluminum stock is going to be to long for my drill press, well at least without modifying the drill press (that's a possibility). Surely others have come up against this as well. Any suggestions???? And I don't have a horizontal bore before anyone asks
I have been checking Ebay alot lately looking for rails and ballscrews/acme screws. WILL YOU GUYS PLEASE STOP BIDDING AGAINST ME!!! YOUR'RE KILLIN' ME!! Just kidding guys. Just wanted to make sure that you were all awake.
I can already see that I'm not going to be getting much sleep for awhile

[mxtras]

Mr. Franks -

Can you rotate the table on your DP so that it is vertical? If so, do that - you will have to rotate the head on the column, too, and move the DP near one edge of the bench. If this is all possible, then you have it made. If not - you are screwed. Sorry. Head to Sears and pick up the $89 bench top DP, get home and get back to work.

We expect a full report on our desk first thing in the morning. :stickpoke

Signed,
The Forum

[dfranks]

Mr. Franks -

Can you rotate the table on your DP so that it is vertical? If so, do that - you will have to rotate the head on the column, too, and move the DP near one edge of the bench. If this is all possible, then you have it made. If not - you are screwed. Sorry. Head to Sears and pick up the $89 bench top DP, get home and get back to work.

We expect a full report on our desk first thing in the morning. :stickpoke

Signed,
The Forum

------------------------------------------------------------------------
After my last post I got thinking about that very thing. I know that I can rotate the table to the vertical position but I'm not sure about the head, I'll check that out tonight. If not I believe that I can remove and rotate the base and bolt the entire DP to my bench to keep it from tipping over. I just picked up this new DP so I haven't gotten much time to do much with it other than aligning the laser sight on it. The aluminum for my gantry arrived today so pics should be coming soon. :banana:

I'll say this for you mxtras.. you do have my sense of humour but I'm not sure if that is good or not

[dfranks]

Ok, let the ribbing begin!!! My DP's head does rotate around and the head is in the verical position. Guess I've been spending too much time at work dealing with computers and not enough time in the shop. But I'll be ok, just got to get back into the swing of things.

[mxtras]

Franks -

If the head does not rotate on the column, how 'bout at the base? Can you rotate it there? Many DPs I have seen lately have a 3 (or 4??) bolt flange attaching the column to the base.

Scott

[dfranks]

Yes, the DP head and table rotate fine and the height will be no problem, I will indeed be able to fit the longer stock under it.
I thought that I had the 80t carbide blade to begin cutting my aluminum stock tonight but it turns out that I didn't. I was not able to locate a Morse Metal Devil blade locally so I ordered a TenRyu aluminum cutting blade from a local woodworking center, it will be here Monday. In the mean time I couldn't sit still so I decided to try and begin cutting the stock with my router. What can I say but lessons learned. I set the depth for only about 1/8" and made a couple of passes increasing the depth by 1/8" each time. After the second pass my suspisions were correct, the bit heated up and broke off. I really didn't think that it would work but I had to try, I was bored. So in the mean time I won a bid on Ebay for my Y axis ground ballscrew. I think I got a great price of $79 + shipping.
I am hoping that I will be able to get my square steel tubing by tomorrow and begin welding the frame up this weekend. I intended to take some pics of cutting the aluminum but the batteries were dead and I don't think anyone wants to see pics of a broken bit anyway I have also have added a CNC section to my webpage and plan to document my build as I go along (just an intro page so far.)

[Goldhunter_2]

becareful make sure you are useing metal cutting blades, for small parts a jig saw does just fine or you can get a carbine fiber blade be sure you get the one for metal and not concreate, band saw with a metal cutting blade would be great. Actual that was my reason coming to this site is find a CNC to cut and shape steal and alum

[dfranks]

The blade that I ordered to cut the aluminum plate came in today. It is a TenRyu Alumicut 7 1/4" blade and it worked great! It worked great even using it on an el-cheapo Makita circular saw. I have attached a couple of pics that I took. 1.) cutting 1/2" aluminum plate 2.) smooth cut (sorry 'bout the glare, just really shinny). The store that I purchased the blade from said that they had spoke with the manufactuer and stated that I could cut my 5/8" plate in a single pass. I said that I was a little doubtful of that, especially considering the circular saw that I was using. But he told me to go for it and if I wasn't happy with the blade to bring it back for a full refund. After a couple of test runs, making 2 passes on the 1/2" plate, I put the blade to the test and cut the rest of my plate in a single pass. It was a little slow as you can imagine but the guy was right. It did do the job and left a very smooth finish. :cheers:

I was able to get both of the gantry uprights, bottom plate, main plate all cut to size. If I get time this evenig I may start marking out where my drills need to go.

Still waiting on the steel for my base. Should be any day now.
Waiting on Y axis ballscrew that I got off Ebay, probably be here tomorrow or Wednesday.

[mxtras]

Awwwwwright! We finally have pictures!!! :banana: :banana:

See - to all you non-believers - the skill saw thing does just fine. (nuts) ...a pain, maybe but it does the job.

dfranks - you are free handing it? I didn't see a fence in place?

Scott

[ger21]

dfranks - you are free handing it? I didn't see a fence in place?

Scott

It looks like it's riding on one of those aluminum tracks.

[dfranks]

I'm definitely using a fence. It's kind of hard to tell by the pic but I am using another sheet of aluminum plate clamped down as my guide. I was very impressed by the blade and would recommend it. Tenryu $42.00 7 1/4".

I have started drilling and tapping for the known postions of my uprights, base and main plate. I will have to wait until I win some rails off Ebay and decide on exactly which steppers I am going with before I can drill & tap for those.

I've been looking at stepper motors on homeshopcnc.com. Thinking about the 270oz., wondering if those will have enough torque? They do have 640oz. steppers but at twice the price. It would be nice if they had something in between.

[Harlow]

276's at AutomationDirect are $39.00. They have 400's for $99.00. I also use some of the HomeShopCNC 640's and am fixing to order some of his 1200s.

http://web5.automationdirect.com/adc...ors_-z-_Cables

[dfranks]

Just finished up some more drilling and tapping. Thought I'd post a couple of pics. 1.) Better picture of my 'fence' 2.) DP table and head rotated, drilling 3.) Uprights, base and main plate assembled. I think someone said before that if my shop wasn't messy then... well you judge for yourself

I appreciate all of the feedback that I have been getting from you guys. It's already been a big help. :wave: I'm sure that I'll be asking for more as the build progresses.

[dfranks]

Oh, I forgot to ask. After I get this aluminum cleaned up how do you get it nice and shiney? I thought maybe I needed to use the ol' car buffer (might as well use it for something) and aluminum polish. Wasn't sure so I thought I'd ask. Thanks again.

[mxtras]

Loooooking good!

Yeah - it was me poking at you about housekeeping - clean shop = no work. It's simple, really.

Just one suggestion - to shine it up you may try ScotchBrite on an orbital finishing sander. Coarse, then fine - you know the drill. I don't know if you will like the finish, but it's pretty quick. The car polisher will do it, too of course.

Keep us posted.

Scott

[dfranks]

Another update of the build. Don't know if I should continue in this thread or not. Just seems like I should since this is where I started. Anyway, it's been a great last couple of days. My Kuroda ground ballscrew arrived and it's a beauty. It's almost exactly the size that the plans called for. Just a minor change to the plans and it'll be in like Flint. The only thing I questioned was this. I thought that I had read somewhere that typically you use double bearings at the end of the ballscrew and a single bearing on the end that the stepper connects to. This appears to be the opposite. I emailed the gent that I bought this from and he said that the way it was installed, before it was pulled, was just the opposite and it really shouldn't make a difference. In the case of this ballscrew I will have to do it the way the seller described as there is not enough length of the milled end to connect the stepper to on the end with the single bearing. Any comments on this??
And then this evening my buddy brought over the steel that he got for me through where he works. It is a total of over 32' cut to size already for me. It would have cost me about $140 for the steel and the cuts normally. He got it for me for $34 !!! What a 'steel' !! I've attached a few pics, the steel, some welding, a little grinding and tons of fun !! Looking forward to the long weekend working on the build. Opps, forgot, we're having a b-day party for the mother in law tomorrow evening. Wonder if she is any good at welding or grinding?? Everyone have a great and safe July 4th weekend.

[ViperTX]

Now that's the way I want my steel delivered....geesch...I think your buddy is spoiling you....MIL.....grinding......probably more like grilling....*chuckle*