[ghulands]

The images aren't coming up in your last post

[MikeC8]

Opps, I forgot to move them into my shared folder... And I cannot seem to edit my post, so I will just repost the photos.








I didnt get very much done with the mill this weekend. I ended up pinching the tip of my finger a clamp.. Kreg jigg automaxx, the tension parts in the handle area can bite you pretty good as I found out. I could have done some work yesterday, but I just wasn't in the mood to work on it.

[CNCMAN172]

Still looking pretty good. Pinching your fingers is no fun, been there done that. LOL

[MikeC8]

I've been mocking up the front sliding doors recently, using 16" bearing drawer slides on the top, and will be adding plastic guides along the bottom. Got the idea for the doors in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iNmwl3zqs8

Here are the front doors closed, I did screw up on some measurements on the door opening. I realized this mistake after I finished welding up the first side of the enclosure frame, and noticed that I cut it to the wrong mark on the front rail... But I did not want to cut my welds, so I decided to deal with it later. And the gap you see at the bottom is from the slides sagging, adding the plastic guides should fix that.



And the doors open. I will need to relocate the lights, as the doors hit them. In this picture I had the left light removed, so I could fully open the door. I will also probably trim a inch off the doors to maximize the space I have to work with.



Here is my todo list for this weekend -
- Make final brackets for drawer slides that bolt into the frame, with adjustability
- Make a temp set of lower door guides, possibly on the 3d printer.
- Cut out the windows in the side doors, and install lexan windows.
- Weld in steel backstop/seam for side doors

I probably have another solid month of detail work before paint, but I also want to machine a few parts pretty soon. So it might be another 2 months before I can call the enclosure done.

[LeeWay]

Looks good. That is the same door design I used. No need for a bottom track. I also used an astragal or strip to cover the crack. Simply glue it on the back face of one of the doors. I like the way they work. Drip less and trouble free.

[MikeC8]

Had a productive 3 day weekend, finally at a point where I can step away from working on the mill, and start making parts for awhile. I spent most of Saturday just cleaning the garage. I also cut the front frame extensions. Sunday I welded up the frame extensions, and welded the final sheet metal panels on the front. Then worked on brackets for the front doors, they are clamped in place for now. I also put in the side windows, but I did not finish welding in the back stops or the bolts to keep them closed.




Machining a new set of soft jaws



I attempted to machine my bellville washer cut last summer, but my lazyness in fixturing it bit me. I wanted to use my new Kurt vise, but I did not have soft jaws for it yet, only for my Chinese import vise. So I just dropped my v jaws in, and clamped down on everything.... The part slipped, so I stopped it and set the part aside. I could have easily used the import vise and finished it then, but it wasn't high on my list of prioritys at the time. I finally ordered some soft jaws for the kurt, since I hate spending my time machining them. And now that the enclosure is 90% done, I put the part back in and started working on it again. I also got a new endmill just for this part, which worked great. This is by far the most aggressive cut I have taken in steel yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roYs...ature=youtu.be

I still need to thin down the outside, and run a finish pass on the inside.

[MikeC8]

Bellville washer cup is done, going to work on the lift plate and air cylinder brackets next.





Going to have to cut my spindle shaft down pretty soon....

[RotarySMP]

You have made a nice job of cleaning up the earlier conversion and adding the enclosure.

You said you bought it from your employer. Did they do the conversion from V ways to box ways in house? Did you ever shim the box ways to take out the stick slip binding it was having. In the last photo in post#21, it looks like one of the ways wasn't getting lube, and has scored.

There is not much left of the original RF45 on his one.
Mark

[91TSiGuy]

Any more progress on the air cylinder draw bar? I think something like is next on my list and I like your custom washer cup. Everything else looks great too.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

[MikeC8]

I've been hung up on where to mount the electronics for the draw bar, I do not have enough space left in the main enclosure, so I need to mount a smaller enclosure some where else.

I didn't want to have constant pressure on the air cylinder when it was retracted. So I am using two pneumatic valves and a relay timer. The timer opens the main valve, and holds it for 2 or 3 seconds. When the momentary button is depressed, it triggers the relay and the secondary valve. Once released, the cylinder retracts and then the main valve closes air to the entire system.

So I have a power supply, relay, terminal blocks, and 2 air valves that I need to mount. I will try to get some pictures of the setup later this week. From the initial testing, I think this setup will work great, and with the main valve switching the entire system it should minimize air leaks.

[LeeWay]

Just thought I would mention it and I am sure you are aware, but if you mount the solenoids in the box too, you will need to direct the exhaust air outside the box.
Very cool project, BTW.

[MikeC8]

I will be surface mounting the valves, only putting in the power supply, relay, and terminal blocks in the enclosure.

[MikeC8]

Here is a short video clip showing how my setup works. This was from my initial testing to get it working the way I wanted. Initially the main valve I had was to small, and restricted the air flow. I also had the wrong timer relay setup, which worked backwards of what I wanted.

https://youtu.be/dWkNStxkcSk

[HD59KIM]

Hi Mike iam interested in your power drawbar iam in the middle of doing a conversation on my Enco RF45 mill but i had started working on a power draw bar kinda simular to yours with the cyclender iam curious on how you plan to connect the cyclender to the draw bar i experimented with a bering pressed onto a journal and threaded onto the bar and that seemed to work ok was a bit noise but the bering was not a very good one it was all i had handy in the shop at the time i sat the project aside so i could work on getting the more important things to get the machine running i am definitely curious how you plane on doing yours.
PS your machine looks great looks like you put alot of thought into it i look foward on hering some of your thoughts.
Tom