[Steve Seebold]

I have always said that my PCNC 1100 would hold +/- ,001, bit if you needed to work any closer than that, you probably bought the wrong machine.

Well, it's a good thing I have a big jar of peanut butter on my bench because i am going to have to eat my words.

I bid on and got a job with what I saw as +.015 -.000. what the print actually said was +.0015 -.0000. In other words +/-.00075. Well, I'm here to tell ya, I ran 30 parts and was able to stay well within that +/-.00075.

I think the only thing I would change is jump to 3 horsepower and I would probably have bought the BT30 spindle, although the tool holders a quite a bit more expensive.

[luv2ride]

That's always good to hear Steve. I just pocketed some holes and as best I can tell they are within .001. I'd be interested to see what they measure with a 3 point bore gauge though.

[mountaindew]

I noticed an improvement in accuracy with path pilot and the control card. Also when my shop is around 80 deg I find parts are come out very accurate and even hamier probe touch offs repeat well beyond the machine specification. Touch off z height and run code all day and come back to find z is 0.0005 or less off 0. This is better then the probe claims even .

[CadRhino]

That is really impressive, Steve.
Did you have to spend some time getting your machine trammed properly? If so, do you mind sharing your technique for adjusting your machine to be so accurate?
Thanks so much,
Nathan

I have always said that my PCNC 1100 would hold +/- ,001, bit if you needed to work any closer than that, you probably bought the wrong machine.

Well, it's a good thing I have a big jar of peanut butter on my bench because i am going to have to eat my words.

I bid on and got a job with what I saw as +.015 -.000. what the print actually said was +.0015 -.0000. In other words +/-.00075. Well, I'm here to tell ya, I ran 30 parts and was able to stay well within that +/-.00075.

I think the only thing I would change is jump to 3 horsepower and I would probably have bought the BT30 spindle, although the tool holders a quite a bit more expensive.

[Steve Seebold]

That is really impressive, Steve.
Did you have to spend some time getting your machine trammed properly? If so, do you mind sharing your technique for adjusting your machine to be so accurate?
Thanks so much,
Nathan

My machine is not perfectly level so I use only aluminum soft jaws and cut them parallel to the axis of the machine. I get my soft laws from Monster-Jaws.com and I pay less than $11.50 per set when I boy 10 sets. And for a lot of jobs, I will make a fixture to hold the part, sometimes, I'll make 2 fixtures so I have one in the machine making parts and one on the table being reloaded.

[CadRhino]

Thanks Steve
Post a photo of the parts of you can.
I love monster jaws.
My machine needs a good tramming. When doing parts that push the envelope of the tormach, it is really noticeable - mainly when fly-cutting.
Best
Nathan

My machine is not perfectly level so I use only aluminum soft jaws and cut them parallel to the axis of the machine. I get my soft laws from Monster-Jaws.com and I pay less than $11.50 per set when I boy 10 sets. And for a lot of jobs, I will make a fixture to hold the part, sometimes, I'll make 2 fixtures so I have one in the machine making parts and one on the table being reloaded.

[mountaindew]

I noticed an improvement in accuracy with path pilot and the control card. Also when my shop is around 80 deg I find parts are come out very accurate and even hamier probe touch offs repeat well beyond the machine specification. Touch off z height and run code all day and come back to find z is 0.0005 or less off 0. This is better then the probe claims even .

I recently decided to adjust machine gibs and bearing preloads using Path Pilot as controller for feed back. Hard to evaluate if I gained much if any accuracy. It was noticeably more consistent to zero in on lost motion and find good positions for the tapers. Also bearing preloads were checked with the newer method outlined in new pp manual . Didn't change much here and the new method with a hand wheel attached to axis drive for feeling bearing load was what I ended up doing before.