[manton]

Thats 1.3cc every 6 seconds.

2.16cc every 10 sec.

Well, you're close, but there are 1000cc/L. So, 0.13L/min = 130cc/min = 13cc/6 sec = 21.6cc/10 sec.

[rwskinner]

Awesome train. The RF45 is a very capable machine. Anxious to see your build.
Yep, Gary and Pete built some outstanding machines. Good folks for sure.

Richard

[Wallerawang]

Hi Richard
Thanks for the kind words and encouragement, I admire your auto tool changer greatly - terrific work.
Steve

[Wallerawang]

I guess at the start of these builds most of your time is spent either researching or shopping. This web site has to be one of the best places for your research and inspiration.
So onto shopping - I thought I may go into some detail on my shopping so others can see what you need and get a feel for the costs involved - I look with envy at some of the prices the guys in the US pay and I realize that the market is just too small in Australia to have the same competition as in the US.
So I get most of my stuff from Ebay - maybe not the cheapest place to get things but at least I am covered if things don't turn up. I may now have a little whine about how much the post is from the US - 2 to 4 times of what it would cost to send the same thing there from Australia but we have little choice - pay the crazy post or don't but the parts. Whine has finished.
Steve

[Wallerawang]

The Curly Hose is for wash down - an idea from Gary Marsh, this was $20.00 and $10.00 post from Ebay in Australia.
The Coolant Nozzles are from China again from Ebay $11.90 and free post - The quality is the same as the ones I have got from Hare and Forbes in the past but a fraction of the price. I won't be using all six but at less then $2.00 a nozzle I'll keep the ones I don't us as spares.
Steve

[Wallerawang]

Here is the main electricity supply switch and contactor.
The main switch will isolate the entire machine - it will only be used for maintenance and switching the whole system off at the end of the day. It's capacity is 32 amps at 250 volts. If everything is working at their maximum loads this will just cover that (31 amps). I don't think you will ever see everything at maximum load at once - that is the spindle (2200 watts), 4 servos (4350 watts), coolant pump(500 watts), oil pump (100 watts) and electronics (400 watts) the brackets are their full loads - I expect it will pull less then 20 amps max and in normal every day milling about 16 amps. The main switch was $33.00 and $7.00 post.
The Contactor was $65.00 and $9.00 post, it is a 125 amp 3 pole version - way over the top in capacity but this won't hurt anything - I am not using it for protection of the motors.
So why do you need a contactor - my back ground is a mechanical one so any one with an electrical one can chip in here - their main job is to switch a lot of power fast - if you were just to us a mechanical switch when turning on and off your machine you would get a lot of arcing and spikes as mechanical switches are slow, and when you have a Variable Speed Drive for your spindle and Servo Drives that convert single phase into 3 phase they can send a spike back down your power supply when they are turned off as they store quite a bit of power that wants to go somewhere and that can be trouble.
Steve

[skullworks]

Well, you're close, but there are 1000cc/L. So, 0.13L/min = 130cc/min = 13cc/6 sec = 21.6cc/10 sec.

Oh my - Guilty as charged, I throw myself on the mercy of the court and claim extenuating circumstances as I tried to do the calc in my head while suffering from coffee withdrawl. :drowning:

[Wallerawang]

Here is a photo of one of the five Radio Frequency Interference Filters I got for my system. As my servo drives run straight from the 240 volt mains supply and not through a transformer I need to have a way of stopping the radio frequency interference they generate travelling back up the mains and into everyone's TVs and computers and these are the components that do this. This is of course because I like my neighbours and don't want any suspicion that my hobby is ruining their TV enjoyment. If you have neighbours or family you don't like these items can be left out. Their capacity is 21 amps 250 volts at 40 degrees C. They were $47.00 each and a total of $100.00 post from England.
Steve

[Wallerawang]

I purchased 2 Solid State Relays, one for controlling the coolant pump and the the other is for the lubrication pump. They were $16.00 each with free postage from Ebay. They are activated with a DC voltage (3 to 32 volts DC) and switch an AC voltage (24 to 480 volts AC) up to 70 amps. For those that don't know Mach 3 can output a 5 volt DC signal at your command or under G Code to control various ancillaries such as coolant pumps and these relays take the low power commands and switch the high power to run these ancillaries.
Steve

[Wallerawang]

Hi All
More shopping I'm afraid, I hope to do some real work this coming weekend but as always family comes first so we will have to see if I get a chance. These are the Servo Motors I have chosen for the project. They are 1.2kw (1.6hp) Chinese ones from SaleCNC. 4nm (566 oz in) normal duty torque and they peak at 12nm (1700 oz in) with my planned 3 to 1 belt drive that brings that up to 1698 oz in with a peak torque of 5100 oz in. Yes I know that's a mile too much but it gives me the opportunity to have firm gibs and high acceleration. I have used these motors in my lathe for about a year and have been very happy with them with the only fault I have ever had was due to over speeding them. The max speed I will get at my planned 3 to 1 belt ratio with my 5mm pitch ball screws will be 5000mm (close to 200in) per minute. They look well made and have every thing you need in the box, cables and connectors - even the ones you need to hook into your break out board. The motor encoders are 10,000 pulses per rev but the drives let you electronically gear them to nearly anything you need. The drives run from straight 240 volts single phase which suits us Aussie's no end. The good news is they are $660.00 a set.
Steve

[Wallerawang]

Basically the same set but 750 watts for my 4th axis - might as well get it all at the same time. 2.4 nm (340 oz in) and peaks at 7.2 nm (1020 oz in). SaleCNC at $620.00
Steve

[Wallerawang]

Here is the Ball Screws I have got for this project. They are ground P5 class which have a lead error of less then a thou per foot - about half the lead error for the more common P7 class. Also them being ground it enables me to use a double ball nut that can be adjusted to remove any backlash at the nut. With rolled P7 screws a spring loaded arrangement should be used like Gary Marsh used because you can have variations within the length of the double ball nuts enough to cause it to go tight or loose along the length of the screw (the springs take up and allow for this variation). In the photo of the ball nuts you can see a collar between the nuts that you use to adjust the distance between the nuts to preload them. For the z axis I used a 25 mm dia x 5 mm pitch and the x and y use a 20 mm dia x 5 mm pitch. I found a company in China to make these for me - a nervous 6 week wait but they did a wonderful job - Total cost $1326.00 US delivered for the 3 screws - 3 double nuts and end machining.
Steve

[arizonavideo]

You know if you lean on the head of your mill it will flex .001" or as it worms up the head will raise more than .001".

That sounds like a good price on three ground double nuts C5's but it is really hard to take advantage of them on our type of mills.

They do look top shelf.

[Wallerawang]

A little bit of progress, I have filled in all the odd unused holes in the head and painted it. I have engraved a new face plate and anodised (Aussie spelling) it.
This is the first thing I have anodised and I have say I am happy with the results. I followed the instructions on the Caswell Plating site and used their chemicals. I could have got a super finish but I didn't want to buff the aluminium before the anodising in case I damaged my engraving. I ended up just using 600 grit paper for the finish and this has left the results you can see here - not too bad.
I used a nine9 engraving tool which has a replaceable carbide insert - this also is a joy to use. I'm still on the first tip and have engraved about 10 projects so far. Does anyone know of an online seller of these tools that will post to Australia - it's too hard to get the people here to deal with us hobby users or they want 2 times what you see them for overseas.
I have also had second thoughts on the pinch bolt that clamps the spindle cartridge and now have used a nice long allen bolt inserted a little way into the clamp - this looks a lot neater.
Steve

[D.L]

Cudos for the servos Steve, this baby is gonna take big cuts.
I got my eye on 20mm ball screws as well, i've heard of guys using 16mm but that seems like coat hanger wire on a larger mill.

[fretsman]

A little bit of progress, I have filled in all the odd unused holes in the head and painted it. I have engraved a new face plate and anodised (Aussie spelling) it.
This is the first thing I have anodised and I have say I am happy with the results. I followed the instructions on the Caswell Plating site and used their chemicals. I could have got a super finish but I didn't want to buff the aluminium before the anodising in case I damaged my engraving. I ended up just using 600 grit paper for the finish and this has left the results you can see here - not too bad.
I used a nine9 engraving tool which has a replaceable carbide insert - this also is a joy to use. I'm still on the first tip and have engraved about 10 projects so far. Does anyone know of an online seller of these tools that will post to Australia - it's too hard to get the people here to deal with us hobby users or they want 2 times what you see them for overseas.
I have also had second thoughts on the pinch bolt that clamps the spindle cartridge and now have used a nice long allen bolt inserted a little way into the clamp - this looks a lot neater.
Steve

Looks like you did a great job on the cover plate/head.

May I ask what type of tip are on those engraving tools? I had a look at the website and even the brochure for them but it doesn't mention a tip size.

Thanks for sharing-
Dave

[wizard]

There are many factors to consider, for example the load, speed and duty cycle. I'd suggest making the timer adjustable until you get a good feel for a proper lubrication rate. I've seen machines take a shots everywhere from 5 minutes to one hour intervals. You might want to try every half hour keeping an eye on lubrication however it doesn't hurt to over lubricate a machine when first starting up.

Hello
It was Ebay Christmas today because in the post was my Automatic Oil Pump for the ways and screws lubrication. It was $180.00 and $68.00 post from the US. I could have got a manual one cheaper - but it's an investment in protecting my machine and I think it should prolong the life of it greatly. A few of it's spec's - 240 volts to suit Australia. 0.13 litres a minute when powered. 2 litres oil capacity and it shuts off when the oil level goes low. You can give it a manual cycle when you need to - but not too often as the motor will overheat. It looks very well made with very neat electrics inside the top cover and it feels solid.
I intend to use a timer brain in Mach 3 to turn it on through a solid state relay - I guess I will have to experiment a little to get the cycle time right - anyone with a start point for me?
Steve

[gcofieldd]

A little bit of progress, I have filled in all the odd unused holes in the head and painted it. I have engraved a new face plate and anodised (Aussie spelling) it.
This is the first thing I have anodised and I have say I am happy with the results. I followed the instructions on the Caswell Plating site and used their chemicals. I could have got a super finish but I didn't want to buff the aluminium before the anodising in case I damaged my engraving. I ended up just using 600 grit paper for the finish and this has left the results you can see here - not too bad.
I used a nine9 engraving tool which has a replaceable carbide insert - this also is a joy to use. I'm still on the first tip and have engraved about 10 projects so far. Does anyone know of an online seller of these tools that will post to Australia - it's too hard to get the people here to deal with us hobby users or they want 2 times what you see them for overseas.
I have also had second thoughts on the pinch bolt that clamps the spindle cartridge and now have used a nice long allen bolt inserted a little way into the clamp - this looks a lot neater.
Steve

Wallerawang, I was curious, what did you use to fill the unused holes in your mill and what paint did you use? I need to fill the holes in the head of my mill also and then repaint it.

Thanks

Graham

[Wallerawang]

Hi Dave
The tool I use is a 45 degree one and the tip radius is 0.2mm. I have attached a pdf brochure - it has info on depth of cut verses width etc. The tool itself is 6mm in diameter.

[Wallerawang]

Wallerawang, I was curious, what did you use to fill the unused holes in your mill and what paint did you use? I need to fill the holes in the head of my mill also and then repaint it.

Thanks

Graham

Hi Graham
To fill the unused holes in the head I use mild steel turned to fit the holes and they are glued in with Loctite 680 retaining compound. I leave them a half thou proud of the surface and file them down flush. I use Rust Guard to paint it - I think it is like Rust-Oleum in the US - sticky smelly stuff that takes a few days to go hard but once it is hard it lasts a long time.
Steve