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Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Just starting out
« on: February 01, 2023, 12:52:25 AM »
Hi,
my machine is funded out of my own pocket and so there is a very distinct limit to what I can do.
My machine has travels of 350mm x 350mm x 350mm. It has a linear resolution of 1 um and I'm trying to
end up with a machine repeatable to 10um or better. The overwhelming majority use it gets is making circuit boards
by isolation routing. It's a bit like using a sledgehammer to open a walnut I know, but its what I do for a living.
For that purpose I have an 800W 24000 rpm asynchronous spindle and I've had and used it for nine years.
I would love to be able to replace it with an ATC spindle, but trying to find one that matches the quality of my existing
Mechatron Gmbh 800W manual spindle is not easy, or rather it's easy, just not affordable!
The best replacement I can find is by the same company is an ATC 2.5kW, 42,000 rpm with an HSK25 tool interface for
5700 Euro. I just can't afford it.
As I posted earlier, I have paid a discounted $2000NZD for a one-year subscription to Fusions Machining Extensions.
I need to make use of that time, it may well be that I cannot afford to renew the subscription when it comes due in July, so I want
to use as much as I can before then. Ergo the push to use my fourth axis and the push to get a trunnion table and fifth axis working.
It must be said that I've had the fourth axis gearbox hanging around for years. I bought it thinking to put it on my mini-mill but it was
just too big and rugged for that machine. It's a perfect fit for my new (approx 18 months) mill. Even then I still had to buy a servo $1000NZD,
a chuck $150NZD and have my employee turn up the shaft through the gearbox........so even having the gearbox does not stop the drain
on my budget.
As you have seen I've bought a suitable gearbox for the fifth axis, but it cost all up, including tax and freight $614NZD. the next thing I'm eyeing is yet another
servo to drive it, another $1000NZD, and that does not count getting the steel laser cut for the trunnion table itself. I should be able to machine it all
myself unless I decide it needs to go on the surface grinder, that will cost me. All of this comes out of my pocket, and I'm just a working man so it takes
a while.
Craig
my machine is funded out of my own pocket and so there is a very distinct limit to what I can do.
My machine has travels of 350mm x 350mm x 350mm. It has a linear resolution of 1 um and I'm trying to
end up with a machine repeatable to 10um or better. The overwhelming majority use it gets is making circuit boards
by isolation routing. It's a bit like using a sledgehammer to open a walnut I know, but its what I do for a living.
For that purpose I have an 800W 24000 rpm asynchronous spindle and I've had and used it for nine years.
I would love to be able to replace it with an ATC spindle, but trying to find one that matches the quality of my existing
Mechatron Gmbh 800W manual spindle is not easy, or rather it's easy, just not affordable!
The best replacement I can find is by the same company is an ATC 2.5kW, 42,000 rpm with an HSK25 tool interface for
5700 Euro. I just can't afford it.
As I posted earlier, I have paid a discounted $2000NZD for a one-year subscription to Fusions Machining Extensions.
I need to make use of that time, it may well be that I cannot afford to renew the subscription when it comes due in July, so I want
to use as much as I can before then. Ergo the push to use my fourth axis and the push to get a trunnion table and fifth axis working.
It must be said that I've had the fourth axis gearbox hanging around for years. I bought it thinking to put it on my mini-mill but it was
just too big and rugged for that machine. It's a perfect fit for my new (approx 18 months) mill. Even then I still had to buy a servo $1000NZD,
a chuck $150NZD and have my employee turn up the shaft through the gearbox........so even having the gearbox does not stop the drain
on my budget.
As you have seen I've bought a suitable gearbox for the fifth axis, but it cost all up, including tax and freight $614NZD. the next thing I'm eyeing is yet another
servo to drive it, another $1000NZD, and that does not count getting the steel laser cut for the trunnion table itself. I should be able to machine it all
myself unless I decide it needs to go on the surface grinder, that will cost me. All of this comes out of my pocket, and I'm just a working man so it takes
a while.
Craig