[sagreen]

Ordered a Torus Pro with Power Drawbar a couple of weeks ago. It is supposed to ship 10/7/2013 and will take about a week to get to me...

This will be my build thread. I currently have a Grizzly SX3 Clone that I converted to cnc using a CNCFusion kit, and was looking for something a little more solid.

Build log for my SX3 http://www.cnczone.com/forums/x3_sx3...onversion.html

buying a bunch of stuff to set my new machine up, and will post pics of the things I've bought in the next couple of days. Mostly vices and TTS tooling.

Very excited to get my machine!!!

Scott...

[MRM RCModels]

Welcome to the fam. What's your first project?

[sagreen]

Welcome to the fam. What's your first project?

thanks! first project will be to productionize some parts that i sell on ebay that i am currently making on my sx3.

so while i am waiting on my new torus pro i added a power drawbar this weekend to my sx3. all i can say is wow, what a difference! with a pdb and tts tool holders you only touch off one time when you load your material. you never have to do it again when u change tools. pure magic!

Scott...

Attachment 203654Attachment 203656

[sagreen]

Update: my Torus pro will be at my shop between 12:00 and 3:00pm tomorrow. Guess what I will be doing the rest of the week and over the weekend?

Cant wait!

Scott...

[keithmcelhinney]

Take lots of pics! Can't wait for mine!

-Keith

[sagreen]

Gonna post unboxing pix later on, but I gotta tell you. This thing is freeking huge! Cant wait to get it going!!

Scott...

P.S. Stay Tuned

[sagreen]

Thought I'd post some pictures of where I am so far...

Picture 1: Box 1 of 2 coming off of truck.
Picture 2: Entire shipment in shop.
Picture 3 & 4: Unpacked
Picture 5: Stand with casters installed
Picture 6: Spacers and Chiptray on Stand

Now to lift the mill onto the stand.

Scott...

[keithmcelhinney]

Well those look light...

[MRM RCModels]

Nice. I see you went with the casters. Might want to lower the stand on the casters more. The threaded risers may bend when under load.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

I'll give you a tip - before you mount the chip trays and other shields, go to the hardware store and buy a couple miles of some pretty thick self-adhesive closed-cell foam weatherstrip (probably on the order of 1" wide, and at least 1/2-3/4" thick), and put it all around the underside of all the vertical panels that make up the chip tray, and the inside edges of the side trays, to prevent coolant from finding it's way over the lip on the center tray, and out to the floor. As-delivered, there is a pretty big gap there, and the lip on the center tray is only about 1/2" high. With a high-flow coolant system like I have, it's not unusual for the coolant to pool almost that deep. Also caulk up the joints where the side trays attach, as those joints will also leak. I would suggest putting a bead of good silicone caulk between all the parts before bolting them in place. Also, you should look at what I did to my machine to improve coolant return flow. The stock 1" drain is really inadequate if you're running coolant more than a dribble. All very easily, and inexpensively, fixed.

Regards,
Ray L.

[sagreen]

I'll give you a tip - before you mount the chip trays and other shields, go to the hardware store and buy a couple miles of some pretty thick self-adhesive closed-cell foam weatherstrip (probably on the order of 1" wide, and at least 1/2-3/4" thick), and put it all around the underside of all the vertical panels that make up the chip tray, and the inside edges of the side trays, to prevent coolant from finding it's way over the lip on the center tray, and out to the floor. As-delivered, there is a pretty big gap there, and the lip on the center tray is only about 1/2" high. With a high-flow coolant system like I have, it's not unusual for the coolant to pool almost that deep. Also caulk up the joints where the side trays attach, as those joints will also leak. I would suggest putting a bead of good silicone caulk between all the parts before bolting them in place. Also, you should look at what I did to my machine to improve coolant return flow. The stock 1" drain is really inadequate if you're running coolant more than a dribble. All very easily, and inexpensively, fixed.

Regards,
Ray L.

Thanks Ray!! OMW to Ace Hardware.

Scott...

[sagreen]

Nice. I see you went with the casters. Might want to lower the stand on the casters more. The threaded risers may bend when under load.

I didnt use the threaded rod from the levelers, I bought 1" bolts and tapped them to 12mm. doubt these are gonna bend before the wheel on the caster breaks.

Scott...

[sagreen]

Ok, more progress...

Picture 1: Lifting mill head off of pallet.
Picture 2: Lowering onto the stand.
Picture 3: On stand.
Picture 4: At home.

Scott...

[sagreen]

Problem #1... There is a stop on the right side of the table that keeps the table from moving too far to the left. This stop is preventing the X axis motor cover from lining up to the holes. Anyone else have this prob?

Scott...

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Problem #1... There is a stop on the right side of the table that keeps the table from moving too far to the left. This stop is preventing the X axis motor cover from lining up to the holes. Anyone else have this prob?

Scott...

Scott,

I had the same problem. Just bend the vertical flange out a bit, or enlarge the holes. Or, unbolt the stop, and mill some off the front edge.

BTW - I don't know if the servos are longer or shorter than the steppers, but on my machine, I shortened that cover by about 1-1/2", which is enough to keep it from running into the chip tray at full X- travel. If you do that, you can just cut it off, then re-drill the bolt holes so the cover clears the stop.

Your PDB just shipped Priority Mail 2-Day. You will receive it on Monday. When I got back home, I found the short 4mm hose that connects the air cylinder on the PDB to the solenoid valve didn't make it into the box. You do have a longer piece for connecting to your air supply, so just cut 18" off of that to replace the missing piece.

Regards,
Ray L.

[sagreen]

Good progress yesterday. Got the mill moving and the spindle turning. I should be making chips this morning!!

All I have left is to install the 1 shot oiler, and my 2 new beautiful Shars 690V vises.

Novakon forgot to ship me the bolts and nuts to put the chip shields on. I used 3/8" bolts and nuts for the most part, with 10mm and 5mm bolts (from Ace) for the threaded bits.

Scott...

[sagreen]

ok, stupid newb question...

I've installed 2 vises on my table. I zeroed the right most vice. What is the best way to zero the 2nd vice? do you use a dial indicator like the first, or do you just chuck up a piece of stock in the first vice while the 2nd vice is loose from the table, tighten the 2nd vise on the stock, then tighten the 2nd vice to the table?

Scott...

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Unless you're going to have a single workpiece spanning both vises, you should reference each vise separately, to different fixture offsets (G54-59).

Regards,
Ray L.

[MRM RCModels]

Unless you're going to have a single workpiece spanning both vises, you should reference each vise separately, to different fixture offsets (G54-59).

Regards,
Ray L.

That's what I do.

[sagreen]

Unless you're going to have a single workpiece spanning both vises, you should reference each vise separately, to different fixture offsets (G54-59).

Regards,
Ray L.

Ray, do you set your Y0 to the back (fixed) side of your vise and as the table moves to the back of the machine you go negative in the Y dir? Seems like this is the right way to do it if you are using vise stops like you guys are.

Scott...