My CNC machine to arrive @1:00 pm saturday

[stingray_65]

I'm Jazzed!

I even hired a kid to help me finish my drywall in honor of my new toy 

This is his video before it was finished. Pics to come tomorrow night

Ray

[EL34]

Nice

Is that a router off to the side of the main sindle?

Are you gonna set it up to use coolant?

[stingray_65]

yeah thats a laminate router.

I'll put a nice PC or Bosh on there later.

The mill head isn't a spindle. It came off on of these shop smith(type) combo machines so it doesn't need cooling. but if you meant running coolant on the part and cutter, likely no. my shop is so well sealed with little fresh air that the thought of running coolant with it misting all over gives me bronchitis just thinking about it

mil head is underpowered IMO, barely sufficient, but it does steel! I took some cold rolled steel with me to test  it out when I looked over the mill and it would take some decent material off per pass.

I've used old worn out J head bridgeports that wouldn't take as heavy as a pass.

The price was REALLY right. The guy I bought from refurbishes and converts machinery into CNC.

I was a bit nervous buying from a non manufacturer, but then I realized the kind of work and attention that so many paople on this forum do and realized there are LOTS of guys with that spirit doing other things too.

This guy is one of them. He's local (here in rural MI an hours drive is local) and his shop/garage is PACKED with projects! ( I like that in a man's personality)

My only issue with the machine is it's small table. But I purchased this so far under my budget price for a CNC router that I can buy one of those chineese imports with a 4' x 4' table and still have $6K in my budget for other equipment.

Being able to CNC steel will add so many more opportunities for me. I'll be able to have steel or aluminum chassis' now for my amps, frame parts for my next chopper will be a breeze (sold my Ace of Spades/Motor Head tribute chopper to pay for this and the rest of the budget).

[tubesornothing]

Very cool.  My buddy has been trying to get me to convert my mill, but the CNC router I build has been more than good enough (I haven't yet a steel project).  What size of piece can you put in it?

[EL34]

What about coolant?
I did not se you running any on that video.
Coolant will be a must.

[DummyLoad]

very   :glasses9: ray!  if you're going to mill steel, won't you need to flood coolant?

[EL34]

Aluminum too.
The hotter the alumnum gets, it will stick to the tool bit and gum it up.

I still have a very nice 4 flute endmill in my shop that I cannot get the gummed up aluminum off the bit.
After the bit gummed up, the motor started to work too hard and the cutting stopped.

I am not able to run coolant on my rig, but just a tiny bit of cutting oil on the workpiece works way better than running it dry.

[tubesornothing]

 I typically run WD40 or windex (really, windex, learned it from the guys at Belin Y) when cutting aluminum for chassis or engraving.  Its a PIA to stand there and spray it on though.  It messes up the MDF spoil board though.  Then I have to resurface after each operation. 

Some of the guys on CNCZone are running mist coolant.  I sure like that idea.  Just enough to keep the bits cooled down, but not so much as to create a big effin mess.

[EL34]

Yeah, My cnc surface is very hard and dense red oak
I have to resurface it a few thousandths if I get too much oil on it, but it hold up pretty good to just a bit of oil on the surface.

If I use MDf on top of the red oak surface it keeps the mess off my oak top, but as you know, MDF is just glued together sawdust
It won't take too much of anything damp.
It does make great spoil board though, cause it's so flat.

[simonallaway]

I typically run WD40 or windex (really, windex, learned it from the guys at Belin Y) when cutting aluminum for chassis or engraving.

What is it about Windex that makes it good for cutting aluminum? I'm intrigued

[tubesornothing]

What is it about Windex that makes it good for cutting aluminum? I'm intrigued

Hell if I know.  The guy at Belyn Y just suggested it, and it works well for me.  Not really and better or worse than say WD40.

Yeah, My cnc surface is very hard and dense red oak
I have to resurface it a few thousandths if I get too much oil on it, but it hold up pretty good to just a bit of oil on the surface.

Problem I have is all my CNC work is through the material, so I need a spoil board, and any coolant I use soaks in and make a mess of the spoil board.   Perhaps I should look into another flat material like a plastic or something.

(I sure would love an inexpensive mist system though).

[EL34]

HDPE is the material I like the best

It is not super hard, but it machines like butter.
I buy 1/2 and 3/4" thick sheets to make all kinds of goodies

I am sure it would make a nice work surface

[tubesornothing]

I'll give it a shot - thanks!  What kinds of feed and speed, with, lets say a 1/2" router bit?

[EL34]

10 to 20 speed and feed is what I use
Depends on how deep you are cutting and how powerfull your spindle is.

Mcmaster has black hdpe but you can find white much cheaper.
BTW, for those who don't know, HDPE is what food grade cutting boards are made of.

[stingray_65]

Sorry guys,

I haven't been on in days, Life can be a bitch some times.

Sunday morning I started playing with my new toy. also had an ingrown hair on my leg. By 6:00 pm saturday I had burnt my Y axis motor by trying to force it  past its soft limits.

The person I rent my shop space from is a great friend and also a RN, MSN, Nurse Practitioner. She said I was acting goofy and I guess I looked flush.

She put her hand on my forehead and thats when the fun began,

I was running a fever of 102.6 and while she was looking for Motrin she was asking me all sorts of questions and I mentioned the ingrown hair. When I showed it to her it was as big as a golf ball, By monday morning it was as large as a chicken egg, and by time I had emergency surgery Monday afternoon it was as large as my fist.

I'm not having many moments of clarity like now, they have me doped up pretty good  and I'm typing this standing because sitting is excruciating.

The fever is still there, but low grade thanks to modern medicin, They fear the abcess is MRSA and we won't know lab reports until thursday.

Funny thing is I have no insurance  The cost of the surgery cost me  the money I had earmarked for an ocillating spindle sander. While I got up in the middle of the night last night I found a spindle sander drum set and mandrel. and when I was sleeping, I wrote the G Code to move my Z axis  up and down in a continuous loop and so with the mandreal chucked in the mill, I have my ocillating spindle sander with a MUCH bigger table than I would have bought.

I also had a dream this morning that I was using a pin router to cut out a guitar body. this afternoon I figured out how to use the CNC as an over head router. LOL sick minds at work.

ANy how I'll read all you post when I can focus better.

\Ray

[stingray_65]

Aluminum too.
The hotter the alumnum gets, it will stick to the tool bit and gum it up.

I still have a very nice 4 flute endmill in my shop that I cannot get the gummed up aluminum off the bit.
After the bit gummed up, the motor started to work too hard and the cutting stopped.

I am not able to run coolant on my rig, but just a tiny bit of cutting oil on the workpiece works way better than running it dry.

soak the cutter in a tapping solution or kerosene, chuck it up and as soon as you cut into some aluminum it WILL clear itself.

as far as coolant, cast iron I run dry(God  what a mess that is), steel depending on the alloy I can run a mister if I can suck it up into the chip collector before it fills my shop.

But PLEASE dont think this is a powerful mill, Just a tick over 1 HP, so light cuts with a cold air jet will likely work. Aluminum I can squirt Tap Magic on from a squirt bottle and Brass, well every time I run brass I grit my teeth, never know when it grabs or why. I really dislike machining brass.

talk to you guy later
Ray

[tubesornothing]

... a cold air jet ...

That'd be nice, but I just dont have the shop air.

[DummyLoad]

The fever is still there, but low grade thanks to modern medicin, They fear the abcess is MRSA

damn! do take care, & hope you're back 100% soon! 

[stingray_65]

The fever is still there, but low grade thanks to modern medicin, They fear the abcess is MRSA

damn! do take care, & hope you're back 100% soon! 

Thanks Iso,
I'm back, but not 100%

I'm told this is going to be a LONG drawn out affair. WHO HOO!

my brain is running at maybe 60%.
The new Y axis servo arrived Saturday morning along with a full R8 collet set and some VERY nice carbide cutters. in the time it took to hook up the new motor, I dropped the encoder wheel and crushed it under my heel.

So I decided that I would button down the gecko drives that I had swapped around last week while I was trouble shooting.

Powered up, I hear a loud SNAP, like a big cap discharging, then the clack of a circuit breaker tripping.

I CALMLY set down the screwdriver I had in my hand, (new drywall does not need more holes from flying tools), pulled the disconnect for the machine, shut down the shop and VOWED SOLEMNLY I WILL NOT TOUCH THIS AGAIN TILL I"M MUCH BETTER.

An hour later I had ordered 2 encoders, one more servo, just in case and 2 G320x Gecko's just in case.

If I need the parts so be it, but if I don't, they are the last of the expensive parts for my CNC fret slot machine I'm building. It will be only a X axis positioner under a modified Makita trim saw. The blades with just the tiniest modification cuts a perfect .020 wide kerf.

This is the only pic I have right now of the saw, I know, it looks flimsy. but in the trail runs when I had everything trued It was difficult to tell that it was actually cutting. I'm using a 10VDC  constant current power supply for the saw and no matter the load it doesn't bog down.

I have a 2 turret depth stop that mounts on the left side of the Z carrier.

I'm hoping to write a program where I can input the nut width, then the scale length and number of frets like the stew mac calculator.

Limit switches on the Y axis carrier will tell where the saw position is.