Messages

261

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Denford ORAC lathe retrofit.

« on: August 04, 2013, 11:06:56 AM »

After further review, I added a manual cutting oil flow control knob to the oil dispenser.  I’ve been making a few parts with the ORAC lately and found that different cuts wanted more or less oil.  I could change the flow rate during the cut but had to walk around behind the machine & tweak the pump control arm.  Not cool!

Never ignoring a chance to use stuff in my junk drawers to rig up a Rube Goldberg (Heath Robinson for my English brethren) contraption, here’s what I came up with.  The bellcrank & connector widgets were from my R/C model airplane drawers.  The rack & pinion remote cable was given to me back in the 80’s.  Dunno what it was made for but it works smooth as silk and was perfect for the job.  Anybody else got packrat disease as bad as me?







I’ve been messing around with my Denford MicroMill (runs on Mach3 & W2000) and made a little label plate to go under the knob.  The little thing does a pretty decent job!  Funny, even after a lifetime of adjusting carburetor needles & turning water faucets CCW to increase the flow, my automatic instinct to increase the oil flow was to turn the knob CW like a volume control.  Brain defect I guess.  That’s why the wacky linkage was used.  Sidenote:  Pi$$ed me off when I used acetone to clean the ORAC graphic before sticking the label on & found out Denford screen printed the clear film on the outside!



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262

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 Output For DC Motor Control

« on: July 31, 2013, 11:30:46 AM »

Probably because many of the users you're referring to (like myself) don't have the electronics knowledge to build their own safe, reliable DC speed control from scratch.  Most will buy an industrial controller new or used off ebay, like KB brand or others.  You just can't beat their availability & value.  I have 4 or 5 of the KBIC-120's and paid less than $35 each incl. shipping.  They're older SCR models and not PWM but the motors are very happy with them. 

263

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3 and Mach 4 Questions

« on: July 26, 2013, 11:02:23 AM »

Okey-dokey, thanks.

264

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3 and Mach 4 Questions

« on: July 26, 2013, 10:43:02 AM »

I recently watched a couple of chrisjh's lathe videos and saw his use of CSS and it seemed to work pretty well.  I did some searches on the subject and it looks like the CSS fault is that it doesn't work right in G95 mode?

If that assumption is correct, would it work OK in G94 if I compute & program the feed rate properly?  I'm mainly interested in using it for parting ops.

265

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: 2 flute grinding

« on: July 24, 2013, 10:35:57 AM »

That's fantastic Graham!  I dream about a machine like that.

Can you post some details about the machine itself or have you posted something somewhere & I've missed it?

266

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: A few more parts made on my Mach3 controlled CNC Lathe and Mill

« on: July 23, 2013, 04:21:45 PM »

Just bumped into this thread Chris and wanted to tell you that I enjoy your videos very much.  Thanks for taking the time to record, edit & upload them. My CNC lathe project isn't as far along as yours but it is finally getting a bit more useful every day.

Question:  What version of Mach do you run?  I noticed CSS is working pretty well on your lathe.  I've read on the forum that it's dead in Mach3 so I haven't even tried it yet.  I noticed also that your spindle speeds up smoothly as the cut progresses until it reaches a certain diameter then stays at one speed.  Is that because your spindle won't go fast enough for the smaller dia's?

267

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Made a new center setting gauge for the lathe today

« on: July 22, 2013, 01:23:05 PM »

Thanks Hood.  I love it when an idea actually works!

Funny, I was just snoozing & daydreaming a bit during my lunch break at work & it suddenly dawned on me: silly boy, back the tool up a bit, rotate the gauge 90 degrees & re-square it, jog the tool back until the tip is at zero again & voilá, instant tool table offset measurement!

It'll probably need a bit of a tweak to hone in on the "dynamic" tip position due to flex in the machine under cutting pressures but at least I'll have a consistent starting point.

268

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Made a new center setting gauge for the lathe today

« on: July 21, 2013, 04:17:40 PM »

I’m sure I’m not the 1st guy to make one but I haven’t seen another one like it yet.  I found a small .150” travel D.I. dirt cheap on ebay.  It’s small enough that it won’t hit the ways and explode if the spindle is accidentally turned on with it still in the chuck.




It’s calibrated with a .250” dowel pin that slides in & out of a close fitting reamed hole in the center of the shaft.  The indicator dial is set & locked so that the needle sits on zero with the dial tip extended exactly .125” It works great and is very consistent.  The only variable is making sure it’s set at 90 degrees to the carriage but that’s pretty easy using an accurate square.  I thought about adding a level but I think the square is more accurate.



A bonus is that it’s very quick and will work in all 3 lathes without any fiddling with D.I. stands & knobs like I had to do previously.

269

General Mach Discussion / Re: X DRO changes after running lathe drill wizard?

« on: July 21, 2013, 08:55:30 AM »

Thanks Simon, that was the problem.

Should've known anybody that could spell voilá correctly would have the answer!;D

270

General Mach Discussion / Re: X DRO changes after running lathe drill wizard?

« on: July 19, 2013, 10:54:23 AM »

Thanks for the quick response!  I'm trapped behind a desk at work right now.