[zamazz]

Are you telling me the cardboard isn't a permanent solution?

It worked for the dry chips, but I think it'll get a bit soggy with coolant!

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[DonKes]

Use Ducktape to cover the cardboard.

Don

[zamazz]

Use Ducktape to cover the cardboard.

Don

Red Green style, eh?

[Kenny Duval]

If you can't handsome you should at least be handy.

[zamazz]

Short update:

Here's the enclosure:

Attachment 300896

Not much to say and I must not have taken any other pictures. It was plasma cut (by hand, the last thing I need to start right now is a CNC plasma table), bent in a few places, welded, then assembled and all the fastener locations were match drilled. I welded flanges on the ends of the front and back panels rather than bending them because my crappy homemade brake struggles with 16g over 3 feet long and I wanted to practice my TIG welding. Some of the welding came out a bit porous; I may not have cleaned the seams enough (or at all). Other than a few little repairs and tweaks it went together relatively easily. I only had to fill in and re-drill one fastener location. The two seams at the bottom of the door cut out were a pain. One side got cut and rewelded 3 times due to not being lined up correctly or the sheets not being parallel. Overall, it's far from perfect but perfectly adequate. If I did it two more times I'd probably be really happy with the result, but I'm pleased enough now to leave it alone. I just hope it doesn't ring like a bell during cutting...

I then started to make a mounting bracket for the control panel. It will attach to the front of the stand base and hold the panel at both the top and bottom, since the bottom mount proved too flimsy by itself. Here is the design:

Attachment 300898

I started by sawing to length and the 45* angle on one end. Ah, a nice clean work bench.

Attachment 300900

Then I started on the plate that mounts the panel's detent mount will bolt to. It wasn't the flattest piece of metal, but it'll will work. I did this the good old fashion way: Dykem, a height gauge and scribe, and a punch. I then had to clear off my other "workbench," the one that's drills things. Every bit of flat space in my shop finds crap... Then I punched the holes in it and welded it in place. I welded a mitered piece of pipe into the sides to allow access to the back two screws (this took a couple tries to get right, but ended up nicely. I won't post a picture before grinding and give you guys the chance to critique my welds. I took a die grinder to them tonight and finished cleaning the reliefs up, but I didn't snap a picture. I need to machine the very top of the mount and get it drilled to the base, then it will be done. Pictures:

Attachment 300902

Attachment 300904

Attachment 300906

Certainly the heaviest bench in my shop:

Attachment 300908

Pardon the terrible quality, hand plasma cut "circle." Not up to my usual standard of work, but it's just a clearance hole and will never be seen.

Attachment 300910

Attachment 300912

Thanks for reading!

-Zach

[benjamintmiller]

Do you not have a pile of hole saws for use in the drill press? That seems easier than plasma cutting an ugly hole.

[zamazz]

I tried a hole saw first, but the only big enough ones I have are cheese grade steel meant for wood. It dulled out very quickly. My drill press also spins a bit fast for hole saws, oddly.

I'll clean it up with a die grinder, just for you.

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[lcvette]

You need a circle guide for your plasma, well worth the tiny investment for quick accurate holes big or little. Can make one in about 5 minutes with your drill press, a 1/4" or so bolt and scrap piece of metal. drill a hole in your intended circles center for the bolt to fit through, use a scrap piece of sheet metal can be small, only need it to be an inch and a half wide and a little longer then the radius of you intended hole. drill a hole same size as your center hole in the metal at one end and a hole big enough to fit over the cup of your torch. Make the hole centers distance the radius of your intended hole. Pit the bolt through the the scrap and through the hole in the work piece, then slip the other end over you torch cup. And hit the trigger and the torch is guided around the center hole making a pretty perfect circle! Voila.. Can buy them two or make them more elaborate of course, just giving you a quick solution with stuff around the garage or shop in a pinch!

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[zamazz]

You need a circle guide for your plasma, well worth the tiny investment for quick accurate holes big or little. Can make one in about 5 minutes with your drill press, a 1/4" or so bolt and scrap piece of metal. drill a hole in your intended circles center for the bolt to fit through, use a scrap piece of sheet metal can be small, only need it to be an inch and a half wide and a little longer then the radius of you intended hole. drill a hole same size as your center hole in the metal at one end and a hole big enough to fit over the cup of your torch. Make the hole centers distance the radius of your intended hole. Pit the bolt through the the scrap and through the hole in the work piece, then slip the other end over you torch cup. And hit the trigger and the torch is guided around the center hole making a pretty perfect circle! Voila.. Can buy them two or make them more elaborate of course, just giving you a quick solution with stuff around the garage or shop in a pinch!

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Yeah, I really should build something like this. I also need a better guide for cutting straight lines. Currently, there is a small standoff made from .080 or so wire designed to keep the tip off of the workpiece. The problem is that the wire will slide under and snag on a straight edge, giving jagged lines. I may look at getting a rolling one.

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[lcvette]

Rolling one is very good for quick straight line cuts against a clamped piece of straight stock. Good news is you can make whatever you need and more on the mill!!

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[zamazz]

Just a teaser, full post to come soon.

Attachment 302840

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[zamazz]

Sorry for the delay, these updates take quite a lot of time and I've been devoting that time to the machine lately.

Carrying on with the panel mount:

To clear the panel mounting screws, I mitered a piece of pipe and welded it in place to create a small recess. I'll admit it took a couple tries to get it right, but after a bit of die grinding it came out alright.

Attachment 306484

Since I wanted all the wires totally concealed, I decided to make a small closeout panel for the 45 degree face on the bottom of the mount. I welded four tabs for mounting screws then match drilled a small piece of sheet metal in place. A couple of countersunk screws and I had a clean closeout panel that hid the wires but could be removed for wire routing.

Attachment 306486

Attachment 306488

I then drilled four holes in the back of the mount for attachment to the stand. I took a 2 x 3 piece of .25 thick steel and drilled/tapped the matching hole pattern. This small piece was welded to the base in the proper location. Using this small piece solved two problems. First, I needed some kind of spacer since the chip tray extended forward past the base about 1/8". Additionally, it allowed me to mount the panel to the base using removable screws without requiring me to drill into the base. Since the base is filled with sand, drilling four 1/4" holes through it could get messy. The last thing I want to try is using a sandy tap in steel. For some reason the only picture I have of this showcases a poor weld. You can also see that the mount extends past the side of the base. This allowed the edge of the panel mount to align with the edge of the enclosure opening and left a 3 x 1 area to route cables through. Eventually, a 1 x 3 steel channel with be mounted to run wires from the control panel to the electronics enclosure.

Attachment 306490

All that was left to do was mount it up at this point. Note that there is a bit of a gap between the enclosure and the panel mount. They also aren't perfectly parallel. The enclosure is just a bit out of square but good enough if you don't break out the tape measure.

Attachment 306498

Attachment 306500

With the panel mount mostly done, I temporarily attached the panel to see how it looked. I threw one of those 90 degree welding magnets on there for added support.

Attachment 306502



Temporary detour from the panel:

You may notice the temporary wiring in the last image. The cables (which were barely long enough to reach around) are running to the final electronics cabinet location. To mount the electronics for good, I used 1 x 1 angle to create a frame for the subpanel to sit in. I welded spacers onto it in six places and drilled/tapped holes corresponding to the locations on the subpanel. This frame was then welded onto the back of the enclosure. As an added benefit, the rigid frame also reduced the warpage of the back of the enclosure. I then cut a 3 x 3 hole in the lower center of the back for cables to pass through on their way to the servos and encoders. It isn't shown, but I welded together two pieces of 3 x 3 square tubing cut at 45 degrees to create a small 'L' that allowed the cables to enter while keeping coolant and chips in (hopefully). I then welded this to the inside of the enclosure back and reassembled it. I plan on making the sides of the enclosure from aluminium, milling the fan holes and other connections, then using a piece of plexiglass for the front.

Attachment 306504

Attachment 306506

Attachment 306508

More in the next post!

-Zach

[zamazz]

Carrying on with the panel mount:

I now needed to make the plate for the top of the panel and attach it to the steel panel mount. To start, I cut the top the flanges off the top of the panel mount and drilled three holes. I used the mill to do this:

Attachment 306510

You'll of course notice that it is too long to fit in the enclosure! Just my luck that the first part I want to machine after putting the enclosure on is too big! I eventually plan to add removable windows to each side, but for now I just removed that side.

Attachment 306512

Attachment 306514

I then machined the upper bearing plate from a piece of 1/2" aluminum. All it is is a flat piece with three tapped holes on the back face and a blind pocket for a bearing. I got decent finish, apart from recutting a few chips (no coolant yet).

Attachment 306516

Attachment 306518

I then machined a little pin on a base to go into the control panel itself and slide into the bearing.

Attachment 306520

This was then mounted to the control panel. This involved drilling a 1/2" hole and enlarging it with a die grinder to the proper size, since I didn't have a large enough drill on hand. To get everything lined up, I used an iterative process of mocking everything up, then tearing it all apart, pulling the hole a tiny bit with a die grinder, then repeating the process till the pin sat in just the right spot for the control panel to sit parallel to the panel mount. I then drilled and tapped and screwed it in place.

Attachment 306522

Finally, I plasma cut a rectangle into the panel mount for the wires to pass through. Also shown is my custom modified VGA cable. I had to sand it down a bit to get it through the lower control panel bearing.

Attachment 306524

Attachment 306526

Putting it all together results in:

Attachment 306528

Attachment 306530

Attachment 306532

I still haven't caught up on everything I've done on the mill, so I'll try to get another update in this week. As always, thanks for reading.

-Zach

[zamazz]

Spent quite a bit of my time actually running the mill, not working on it. But here's a little update on what has happened and some of the parts made.

First, the mill all came apart for a couple more modification. The encoder on the Z axis is working out pretty well, so I've procured 2 more for the X and Y axes. Putting them on requires a 1/4" shaft on the end of the ballscrews, however, which means they need to be machined again. I took them out of the machine and drilled/reamed a 1/4" dowel hole. While I had the screw out, I decided to fix a mistake I made when I first machined the screws. The bearing journal for the anti-whip end of the X axis ballscrew was machined too small. To fix it, I trued it up and machined a small bushing to be pressed on. It worked out perfectly, although next time I'll try to machine the screw correctly to begin with. More on the encoders later.

Cluttering the bench:
Attachment 317654

Bushing and reamed hole:
Attachment 317656

Once the machine was reassembled, I made a few parts for a co-workers hot rod truck. The project is dubbed the 'F-ROD' and these are replacement center hub caps. The originals were cheesy plastic pieces. The bottom finish left a bit to be desired, but they are going to be painted so it won't be seen. He didn't complain too much for what I charged him (he was actually thrilled, possibly because the other machinist he was using took 8 months to make 2 parts and he is still waiting on 2 more). All 4 were machined at the same time from the same block.

Roughing the backside, which isn't shown finished, but is a 1" boss:
Attachment 317614

Finishing the front. 1/8" endmill followed by 1/16. And a picture after the detail was finished. Then they were cut out of the bar. I left a ~.010 lip at the bottom so that they just broke free and I could easily file the remainder off. Note the high tech air blast system.
Attachment 317618

Attachment 317620

Finished parts:
Attachment 317624

The fine detail on these took forever. Knowing I had a bit more detail work to do, I decided to quickly knock out a belt drive. It's a simple design with two rails, a sliding motor plate, and a motor clamp that screws to the motor plate. It also has mounting points and locating holes for a future pneumatic drawbar. I machined these with the mill.

Attachment 317626

Attachment 317628

Attachment 317630

Attachment 317632

The belt drive uses a 1" wide 5mm pitch HTD timing belt with a 50 tooth pulley on the 2.25 horsepower treadmill motor and a 22 tooth pulley on the spindle. It connects to the spindle using set screws on the splined shaft. The motor is 3150 rpm which theoretically gives me 7159 at the spindle. At the moment I don't have a good way to measure that, but I'll eventually get an encoder on it, which will allow rigid tapping. The motor has an encoder on it already, but its not quadrature. The motor is driven by a KBPB-125 which is basically a KBIC with relay reversing built in. I was in a hurry, so right now speed is just controlled by a potentiometer. The motor was free and the driver was $75, otherwise I may have chosen a different route. When this burns up, I'll probably jump over to a VFD and 3ph motor. Intalled:

Attachment 317634

Attachment 317636

Attachment 317638

You may be wondering what the taped on cardboard abomination is on top of the motor. I was in such a hurry to get this on the machine I neglected to provide any cooling! That's a 12V computer fan taped on. I also had to drill a few holes in the motor plate for air to escape from the other side of the motor. I did this the good ol' fashioned way. I applied Dykem, scribed it with a height gauge, punched the hole location, and drilled them on the drill press. Turned out great!

Attachment 317640

Overall the motor/belt drive is working really well. 5000-6000 rpm is much, much better in aluminum. I was worried that I would be overdriving the motor too much to drill at lower speeds, but I've spot drilled at what I would guess was about 1500 rpm and while the motor slowed, it had no problems. When I get the chance, I'll hook the motor encoder up to LinuxCNC and run the speed control through a PID loop. That should keep my spindle RPM much more constant.

Once this was done I went back to making parts, including these for the same hot rod. These are coil covers that go on top of the engine to cover the coil packs. They're made from 6061-T6 from a model provided by the customer. Again, they will be (mostly) painted, so the finish wasn't too critical. These had to be done in 4 setups because they were too long in the X. Although I do have less X travel than most G0704s, these were really long, longer than any G0704 or Tormach. While I find the finish mostly acceptable, I believe it will improve when I get the high resolution x and y encoders on.

Top cut:

Attachment 317642

Attachment 317644

Finished (left and right hand sides):

Attachment 317646

Attachment 317648

Attachment 317650

Attachment 317652

I like to joke that he misspelled Ford...

I'll try to take a video of it running one of these days. I'm only up to about 1.5 MRR, but that's mostly because I don't have doors on the enclosure yet or coolant. Up next is a more official motor fan mount, getting the X and Y encoders on, Y axis way cover, y axis motor cover, computer controlled spindle speed, coolant, doors, finish the BT30 spindle, etc. About half those things are about half done. The BT30 spindle is finally back from heat treat (I started that a year ago). I'm working on a home made tool post grinder which should be done soon, then I can hopefully get that finished, install nicer ABEC7 bearings, and get a PDB, drawbar, and gripper made. Not to mention finishing the control panel and rewiring all the things I've hastily tacked onto the electronics recently. Lots to do! Until next time,

-Zach

[Fastest1]

Looks great. Video please.