[SCzEngrgGroup]

For a day that started out kinda bad, this one ended pretty good. I just successfully made one of the triciker parts for the ATC - the shaft coupling between the carousel and its drive motor. The motor has a double-D shaft, but comes with a pinion gear on it. I really don't have a good way to make a close-tolerance double-D hole, so I decided to make a recess that is the complement to the pinion gear. The machining is tricky, since the shaft is steel, cutting this feature requires making a rather deep pocket with small tools, and I need a very close fit to minimize backlash, but it came out absolutely perfect on the first try:



I also got a brief video of the HSM machining on the other end of the shaft. I'll get that up on YouTube a little later.

Here's where the video will be, once it finishes uploading.

VID 20150607 143237164 - YouTube

The quality is awful (cell-phone, shot through the coolant-covered lexan doors). But, you can get an idea of the speed. This is using plain-old HSS 4-flutes, first a rougher, then a finisher, running at ~60-70 IPM, ~0.6" DOC, 0.025" stepover - a very easy cut for the Pro.

I never cease to be amazed at the accuracy of this machine! It makes doing work like this so easy!

Regards,
Ray L.

[daniellyall]

the power off HSM now they just need to get nesting and 4th axis working properly

[RCaffin]

Hi Ray

the reamed holes for the TTS shanks came out over-sized, which means all the TTS holders are shifted slightly from their proper positions.

Can you remeasure the jigs with, say, ground 10 mm stock in each one?

The outer web on that coupling looks awful thin, if you are pumping power through it. Hum?

Cheers
Roger

[tmarks11]

Nice job on the shaft coupling.

Wouldn't it be easier just to mill the Double-D shaft into a square drive by milling off the rounded bits? Seems like it would be significantly quicker, and probably give you just as good of coupling to the drive shaft.

Not to mention that then you don't have to mess around with small diameter endmills cutting in steel.... seems like a recipe to spend a lot of time and money on one little part.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Nice job on the shaft coupling.

Wouldn't it be easier just to mill the Double-D shaft into a square drive by milling off the rounded bits? Seems like it would be significantly quicker, and probably give you just as good of coupling to the drive shaft.

Not to mention that then you don't have to mess around with small diameter endmills cutting in steel.... seems like a recipe to spend a lot of time and money on one little part.

That would leave a very small shaft. Also, it would require diassembling the gearmotor, which is not easy. Making the coupling is not bad at all - probably about 20 minutes machining time, with only one manual operation -flipping it over half-way through.

Regards,
Ray L.

[tmarks11]

Ahh. Didn't realize the scale of the part, I was envisioning something that would leave like a 3/8" sq drive after milling.

[rowbare]

Have you considered rotary broaching to do the Double-D hole? The holders arent cheap but they are pretty easy to DIY. Slater tools will make Double-D broaches so it seems to be technically feasible. Once you get into production, it would certainly be a lot faster than milling out the gear shaped pocket.

bob

[mountaindew]

I almost always use assemblies for fixtures. But, in this case, an assembly doesn't work well. For some reason, the reamed holes for the TTS shanks came out over-sized, which means all the TTS holders are shifted slightly from their proper positions. There is no easy way in HSMXpress to deal with those inconsistent offsets. I can make a fixture model that shifts the part locations, but then it's impossible to properly define the stock for 2DAdaptive operations, without it spending a huge amount of time cutting air. At some point, I'll need to make a new fixture - not big deal really.

Regards,
Ray L.

If hsm allows you to set a ucs g54-g59 for any given operation then this would be one strategy that would work with those offsets predefined and located by machine.
Set the ucs g54-g59 for each operation or group of operations using one tool then change tool and operation and repeat for g54-g59 offsets. You end up with 1 tool doing 6 of the same operations , one at each g5x locations. This is repeated until the parts are finished and it would minimize tool changes by performing the operation at each ucs then tool is changed and operation is repeated for all ucs. Would not be hard with my software to set this up like this or a number of other strategies like mentioned above.

[RCaffin]

Set the ucs g54-g59 for each operation or group of operations using one tool then change tool and operation and repeat for g54-g59 offsets. You end up with 1 tool doing 6 of the same operations , one at each g5x locations.

That's what Ihave been doing for some time, in banks of up to 3 x 6 parts. It works very well.

Attachment 282658

Everything is relative to the centre of the part, which gets shifted in a grid as you can see here.
Alternately, you can simulate the g5n instructions by making the X and Y coords include a variable offset. However, embedding that offset can be a lot of work in some cases.

Cheers
Roger

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Just made a dozen of these little PITA parts. These are the little bits that lock the TTS holders into the carousel. They're among the few parts in the ATC that are made of steel.

Attachment 282666

I've also learned a few more things.... While an ATC is a wonderful thing, it also gives you many new and creative ways of screwing things up! Yesterday, I was making some parts, and needed to use a slitting saw. I setup the job, mounted all the tools, including the slitting saw, into the carousel, and clicked Run. The first several operations went great, and then it came time to load the slitting saw. The ATC picked it up out of the carousel, and proceeded to throw it across the enclosure. I thought "That's odd.... I'll have to figure out what happened there later on....". I manually mounted the tool in the spindle, and clicked Run, and the operation went fine, until it was time to change tools, at which point the PDB released the tool, and it dropped, crooked, into the arm, so I hit E-Stop. This is when I remembered that the slitting saw had nothing even remotely resembling an ATC groove in its holder! It can only be manually mounted. What a dumb-a$$!

A few days ago, I setup a job that required using the logical-to-physical mapping feature of the ATC. Only trouble is, I forget to setup the mapping table before kicking the job off. I can tell you, nothing good comes of that!

So, there are more things to remember before hitting Run, and more things that can go wrong, when you have an ATC. But, on the plus side, it is REALLY nice when it all works!

Today I also discovered, to my dismay, that in the process of adding the ATC communications to the PDB firmware, I seem to have broken something, as it misbehaved in a very odd way that I've never seen before. I'll have to get out my "PDB firmware debugging hat" sometime in the next few days and get that sorted out.

Regards,
Ray L.

[RCaffin]

To err is human.
To really foul things up you need a computer (or CNC).

Cheers
Roger

[Kenny Duval]

Just made a dozen of these little PITA parts. These are the little bits that lock the TTS holders into the carousel. They're among the few parts in the ATC that are made of steel.

Attachment 282666

I've also learned a few more things.... While an ATC is a wonderful thing, it also gives you many new and creative ways of screwing things up! Yesterday, I was making some parts, and needed to use a slitting saw. I setup the job, mounted all the tools, including the slitting saw, into the carousel, and clicked Run. The first several operations went great, and then it came time to load the slitting saw. The ATC picked it up out of the carousel, and proceeded to throw it across the enclosure. I thought "That's odd.... I'll have to figure out what happened there later on....". I manually mounted the tool in the spindle, and clicked Run, and the operation went fine, until it was time to change tools, at which point the PDB released the tool, and it dropped, crooked, into the arm, so I hit E-Stop. This is when I remembered that the slitting saw had nothing even remotely resembling an ATC groove in its holder! It can only be manually mounted. What a dumb-a$$!

A few days ago, I setup a job that required using the logical-to-physical mapping feature of the ATC. Only trouble is, I forget to setup the mapping table before kicking the job off. I can tell you, nothing good comes of that!

So, there are more things to remember before hitting Run, and more things that can go wrong, when you have an ATC. But, on the plus side, it is REALLY nice when it all works!

Today I also discovered, to my dismay, that in the process of adding the ATC communications to the PDB firmware, I seem to have broken something, as it misbehaved in a very odd way that I've never seen before. I'll have to get out my "PDB firmware debugging hat" sometime in the next few days and get that sorted out.

Regards,
Ray L.

It always makes me feel better when I see the guys that have been doing this for a while still screw things up just like the newbies.

[fishinguy1]

A replay on the tapping in aluminum, I found that tooling up for Roll - taps and using correct drill sizes works fantastically, No chips burrs or chasing the threads, blind or though holes. Remember there are specific charts for quick set-up for using Roll-Taps, they are considered a "forming" tool not a cutting tool.

Sent from my SM-P607T using Tapatalk

[MichaelHenry]

If you don't feel like making or adapting your own slitting saw arbors, these aren't too expensive at ~$50 each:

32430 - TTS 0.5" Saw Arbor
32431 - TTS 1" Saw Arbor


Mike

[SCzEngrgGroup]

I received 30 new Darkon collet chucks today - 20 ER20s and 10 ER32s. They are absolutely beautifully made!

I also got several more parts made today including these little parts, which are part of the mechanism for sensing whether a tool is loaded into each slot of the carousel:

Attachment 282872

I used what I think is an interesting approach to making these. They would probably typically be made on a lathe, but I don't enjoy lathe work, my lathe is a piece of junk, and not CNC'd. So, I mounted a 4-1/2" piece of 1" round stock in a vertical 3-jaw chuck, milled all the features in the end, then used a slitting saw to part it off. Then use G52 to shift the origin down, and repeat, making 6 parts from the one piece of stock. The whole thing went beautifully, and took only about 90 seconds per part - would've been faster with a gang fixture, and a TTS-friendly slitting saw (I am ordering one of the Tormach arbors...). The slitting saw even leaves a really cool finish.

Attachment 282876

VID 20150610 161038028 - YouTube

Regards,
Ray L.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

And now, for something completely different.... I've been wanting for some time to switch from tapping heads to tension/compression tapping. Now that I have a working ATC, I am even more motivated to move as many tools as possible to the ATC. I figure I'd want probably 3-4 heads to handle all jobs. Being cheap, that would be a lot of money to spend purchasing them, so I've decided to just make my own. Here is the rough design I've come up with:

Attachment 282894

The taps will be held in an ER20 collet chuck (I now have several not-ATC-friendly ones I can sacrifice). The TTS end of the chuck will be cut off, and the chuck itself shrink-fit onto the end of a shaft. The shaft itself is made from 1/2" Chromoly hex stock, with the chuck end machined to 1/2" round. The Hex will slide in a hex hole broached through the lower piece of the T/C housing. The upper end of the shaft is turned down to 3/8" round, and rides in a bushed bore in the upper housing, just to provide lateral support. The shaft also has a snap ring groove in the middle, to retain a large washer. The washer provides a surface for springs to push on, to provide the tension/compression. The springs (four on each side of the washer) sit in drilled pockets in the top and bottom housings. The entire TTS end (shank, ATC groove, etc.) is machined from 1.5" round Chromoly stock. The outer housing is simply a 1.5" tube, pressed onto the upper housing/TTS piece, with the lower housing being fastened to the tube with 3-4 small screws.

Since I already have the collet chucks, I figure I can build these for about $20-30 each in materials, and probably a days work to make 3 of them. I can then sell my tapping heads (one Chinese, one Procunier, one Tapmatic), and be money ahead!

Regards,
Ray L.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

The new carousel is coming along beautifully, and, with a little luck, could be complete today. All the parts fit, work, and look absolutely perfect. Compared to the first prototype, this one is a breeze to assemble. The first one took me probably an hour and a half to get all the receivers mounted on the wheel. On this one, I did it twice, and it took less than 5 minutes, even the first time. Just a few simple parts to complete, then it'll be done, and I can move on to the transfer arm drive, which will be much easier, since it is changing very little from the prototype.



I've also unpacked all my new collet chucks, and they are gorgeous - almost too pretty to use! Plus, I've got a drawer full of new collets. I've finally got enough toolholder to keep all of my most-used tools permanently mounted, and ready to go into the ATC.



BTW - A while ago, I picked up one of these:

31861 - TTS Electronic Edge Finder

I finally got energetic and took it out of the box, took it apart, removed the "electronics", and brought out a shielded cable connected to the ball at the tip, so I can use it as a touch-off probe, which is my preferred method of setting offsets. It works really nicely, and is a great deal for the price. The ball at the tip is held in place by a spring, so it is forgiving of (limited) over-shoot in X and Y. Not at all in Z. I would never dream of using it for probing with Mach3, but my KFlop is bullet-proof, so I feel very safe using it.

Regards,
Ray L.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Transfer arm drive fabrication is underway! Assuming all the raw materials and parts I'm waiting for show up on schedule, it should be done later this week. It only has about a half-dozen milled parts, all pretty simple. The ATC got a good workout doing todays part - 11 tools. Since I don't have to do the toolchanges, I've finally gotten "fancy" and started using different tools for roughing and finishing - 2 flutes for roughing, 6 for finishing. The parts come out just beautiful. Unfortunately, I seem to have somehow slightly damaged the inserts in my face mill, so I'm not getting the usual mirror finish. No clue what happened to them.... Several of the inserts have no good edges left, so I'll need to get some new ones (after only about 5 years of use!).

Attachment 283526

Yesterday I went through the transfer arm drive design one more time, and found some more simplifications, even eliminated a few parts, and was able to make the limit switches adjustable without adding any parts. I'm really pleased with it now.

Regards,
Ray L.

[RCaffin]

Assuming all the raw materials and parts I'm waiting for show up on schedule,

Never happens. Trust me.

found some more simplifications, even eliminated a few parts, and was able to make the limit switches adjustable without adding any parts

Phase 2 of the design process: simplification. Good stuff.

Rule of thumb: you need to get to version 6 before you sell ...

Cheers
Roger

[AiR_GuNNeR]

Ray,
What tool are you using for your chamfers?
Eric