Machsupport Forum
General CNC Chat => Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) => Topic started by: Tristar500 on February 10, 2010, 08:57:58 PM
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Been working on the design of my latest machine. I've got a half dozen cnc machines under my belt now and with the help of others here on the forum and 2 years designing the build has started on my most ambitious project to date, a 5 axis mill.
I plan to use the machine to help in the fabrication of the sculpture that I create. Specifically
3D carving of the female form.
Here's a couple of examples of my sculptures and the general layout of the machine.
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raw steel arrives from the mill..
Williams Steel In Greensboro NC did and outstanding job oc precision cutting the 2X5 X.25 (inch) steel tubing to size.
I got right to work welding the pieces together. Each side of the frame is a hefty 280 lbs.
A day later, both sides are ready for assembly..
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Looks like your coming right along. Keep us updated!
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Looks like its going to be a sturdy machine, keep the pics coming :)
Hood
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CNC metal mill drilling pilot holes for the brackets that hold the frame in place.
Brackets welded to cross members and opened up to .75" to receive the bolts that will hold the structure together.
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Gantry is introduced to the frame for the first time. Hopefully my CAD skills and measurements are close...
A little while later the gantry is carefully lifted via a floor jack a foot or so of the floor. Step one..
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a couple of hours later the gantry is getting closer to home..
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Gantry finally in place. This was heavy and dangerous work. Balancing a piece of steel like this on one floor jack and then rotating in 90 degrees is a bitch. Resting for a while..
Here's a shot of my now messy shop with me in the pic so you can get a feel for the size of the machine.
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That reminds me of the kind of things I have to do in my day to day work, except its fish boxes that things are stacked up on ;D
Looking good :)
Hood
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Today I put a jig together to align the primary THK rail along the X axis. Holes were drilled and then tapped with using lots of cutting oil and the slowest speed on my cordless drill. I set the clutch on my drill near it's lowest setting and got all the holes done without breaking a single tap ;D
Later the rail was placed on the frame and each socket head cap screw was installed so that they are all still loose but the heads are beneath the surface. This allows me to move the gantry back and forth to get at all the screws.
Late in the day I started positioning the X axis ball screw assembly, more on that in the next few days...
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Very nice job you have done so far.
Impressive in it's design and mass.
What will the max Z capacity be when done ?
I enjoy watching your progression.
Good work and thanks for posting,
Russ
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Russ, Max Z travel will be in excess of 18 inches and the Z will be able to rotate around the Y axis 45 degrees on each side of Zero. I'll post some pics of the gantry in the coming days.
Been working on the alignment of the X axis ball screw. (pics to follow)
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Can a man have too many clamps? NO!!
Here I am setting up the ball screw for the X axis.
Once measurements were taken it went to the CNC mill to make the mounting brackets. Everything will be roughly aligned and then shimmed to precision near the build end.
Next step: Contemplating the 5th axis.. Here in place with yet more clamps... Thinking...
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Been working on the electrical enclosure for the 4 G&L Servo drives. Got luck at the local scrap yard and scored a enclosure box for $5.00 Got all my wiring done in a couple of hours this afternoon.
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Took apart a Dell computer that will be the brains of this beast. I was able to shrink it down by tossing all the useless bits of plastic and brackets. I got rid of the CD rom and the diskette drive ( I could always plug one in if I really needed to but I can't see a reason why I would need to.) It now fits nicely in to the control panel I scored at the local scrapyard a while back. Another $10.00 well spent!
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Now for the deep Z axis. I hit the local scrap/recycling yard this morning and purchased a couple of pieces of 1 inch thick by 5 inch pieces of 6061 T-6 aluminum. This is the primary material I will use for the Z. I started off by chopping to the length a piece of the material to mount the bearings. A chop saw with a carbide blade made the cut quickly. I'll set up the mill to true the end after rough cutting to length.
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A couple of years ago I picked up a couple of THK linear rails and cassettes at the same scrapyard for $10 for the pair. I got 4 rails and 4 cassettes and some .5 inch aluminum. The rails are about 26 inches long. An hour later I had it stripped down and a "pile o' parts on the table. Bearings were well greased as you can see and are in excellent shape. Time for some thinking..
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Slept on the Z axis for a night and came up with a plan. It will be based on the 1 inch thick by 5 inch 6061 T6 aluminum pieces procured at the local salvage yard. Here the mill is happily plugging away doing a G83 routine for the mounting holes for the 4 bearing cassettes. A quick too change and it's back counter sinking the mounting holes.
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Bearings and rails took an hour of so going back and forth with a run out gauge to make sure they are dead on parallel. Once done they are tightened down and I'm moving to position the ball screw. After a lot of thought I went with a somewhat unorthodox design for the Deep Z axis. Rather then run the screw done the center I opted instead to run it to the side. This allows me to keep the two load bearing members as close together as possible. Considering the stout constuction of this axis due to its unusual reach I see no problem with mounting the screw off center. It's got a 19 inch inch Z travel. ;D
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Looks like it's coming along nicely. Lots of pictures to look at this time around! Thanks for the update.
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Looks great... Love the PBR too
JH
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what will do your five axis, will the articulation be on the head, or will you do something different, if the 4th/5th is on the head, what kind of CAM will You use to handle translations and tool tip offsets?
scott
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Not sure what software I will use. Currently using BobCad/CAM V 21 but it does not support 5 axis.
Maybe Mastercam will come out with a full featured hobby version for less then $100??? Holding Breath...
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This machine is getting heavy. I'd estimate it at 3000 lbs as it sits. It only gets bigger and heavier from here.. :)