Machsupport Forum
General CNC Chat => Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) => Topic started by: zafarsalam on January 13, 2013, 09:40:04 PM
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The CNC conversion project which was running for the last 8 months has finally finished. I am going to post photos and details about this project here. Here are the photos of the machine before and after the conversion. More photos to be posted later.
Zafar
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These are the specs we achieved with this retrofit.
X-axis travel - 1515 mm
X-axis rapid speed - 20,000 mm/min (radial arm)
Y-axis travel - 2035 mm
Y-axis rapid speed - 7,500 mm/min (bed installed on machine base)
Z-axis travel - 400 mm
Z-axis rapid speed - 3,000 mm/min (quill)
Repeatability for X and Y axes - 0.05 mm
Maximum load tested on Y axis - 2,500 kg
Used Mach3 with smooth stepper ethernet and arduino modbus. AC servo motors on all three axes. 5.5 kW on Y-axis, 3 kW on x-axis, 1 kW on Z axis.
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This is one impressive machine, Zafar! And you did a good job with it. Like to see your work - always something special and unusual machines.
By the way, why Arduino and not an industrial PLC?
Dan
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You seem to get some nice machinery to work with and put a new twist on it :)
Hood
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Thanks for the compliments Hood and Dan. Arduino is used just for Feed Rate Override and function buttons on the control panel. Don't need a commercial PLC for it.
I am planning to post a build log for this machine here. There are tons of pics and vids for this project on my PC. Let me sort and edit the photos and then I'll start from the beginning.
Zafar
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Wow..nice to see the machine here...
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Wow..nice to see the machine here...
Forgot to tell that it's Khalid's machine. And I would have refused to start this one altogether if Khalid wasn't there. His help was a big contribution towards this project.
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Nice to see an industrial sized machine instead of the wee stuff usualy posted.
Looks good.
RICH
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Ok. This is how it started.
Customer want to convert their radial drill into CNC. They need to drill holes in medium carbon steel upto 1600 mm dia and upto 150 mm thickness. That's roughly 2.5 tons or weight and they want repeatability of 0.05 mm between holes with that. They have a low budget for this so can't go for a new CNC machine. The drill they want to convert is an Italian machine. Manufacturer in Italy says that this can't be done and offers them their new CNC model (budget constraint!).
Here is the photo.
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Came up with this initial design. Add a linear table to the base, this will be our Y-axis. Lock the radial arm at 90 degrees to the table and use it as X-axis. Now we have a cartesian coordinate system instead of polar for the radial drill. Put ball screws and servo motors on X and Y axis. Another set on Z-axis too on the quill. Next step will be to calculate and design the linear table, ball screws, bearing blocks, servo motors, their mounting on the machine etc., etc., etc.
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Ok now. The design is approved so we go onto the drawing board. The linear table is the first priority.
First we design it to be made from cast iron, machine and fit linear guides to it. Calculated cost exceeds customer's budget. Switch over to plan B. Search for an old planar base and table. Found one in a junk yard in Lahore.
Scrap the vertical columns, gantry, drive motor, gears, rack and other fittings. Ship the base and table to Gujranwala at Mr. Iftikhar's workshop. He is a manufacturer of shears and press brakes (www.bncmachines.com) and helped me find this machine in Lahore.
Next step, find the ball screws.
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Eagerly waiting for more posts on this project!
Love it!
That step under the Y bed...I believe it is a step to get better access to the table...
I need one of those in front of my tool chests to peer into the top drawers without standing on my toes. :)
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Eagerly waiting for more posts on this project!
Love it!
That step under the Y bed...I believe it is a step to get better access to the table...
I need one of those in front of my tool chests to peer into the top drawers without standing on my toes. :)
The step under the Y-bed is the extension of it's foundation. Y table weighs 8 tons, so they designed a foundation which goes 500 mm under ground and is filled with steel reinforced concrete. I'll post about it when I get there in the build thread. They are also going to put a platform around the machine at this level for the operator. Maybe on my next visit it will be ready and I'll get photos of it. It is 10 hours drive from here.
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With the planer table procured and despatched we head on towards the drawing board again (which is actually an Autocad based PC with internet). Now this one is hard. How to get the size of a ball screw which won't buckle under the load. Remember, the job's weight can be upto 2.5 tons. The moving table itself weighs nearly 5 tons and is sliding on v-shaped guideways which are 3.5 meters long. Where do we start?
THK website gave us some figures to start with when we were desgning the table with linear guides. It suggested a ball screw of 50 mm dia with 6mm balls and 10mm pitch for the loads and speeds we selected. The weight of table was comparable to this one but again those were linear guides and this is V-guideways with cast iron sliding against cast iron. Ok, let's compare our structure with other machines close to this size and weight. Customer happens to have a horizontal boring mill with a 3 tons table sliding on box slides (see photo). The screw there is 50 mm too.
A 70 mm dia ball screw having 2.5 m travel is available in the local market in Lahore. That would do the job. Buy it and ship it to Gujranwala too. Screw and nut weighs almost 100 kg. Comparable to that a 40 mm screw would be enough for the X-axis as we could push the drill head on radial arm by hand when it's gears are disengaged. Buy it too and include it in the package.
5.5 kW AC servo motor and drive selected for Y-axis, 3 kW for the X-axis and 1 kW for Z. Shipped these to the customer.
Mr. Iftikhar in Gujranwala will now take care of the Y-table. He'll give the slides an overhaul and install the 70 mm ball scews on it. After that he'll make mountings for the 5.5 kW servo motor on it which we'll install when all this setup reaches the customer's location. Sounds simple? No, it wasn't. This we'll find in the next post.
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Build Thread
I am back in Karachi after spending a week in Lahore and Gujranwala, an hour and a half flight from here. Informed the customer that the work is underway and we'll be able to deliver the planer stucture within a month's time.
Called Mr. Iftikhar two weeks later to get update on the progress of overhaul. His cell phone is off. Contacted his manager and he informed me that he is out of country on some business visits. Asked about the progress of our job and he says that he has no work instuctions on that. I get his number overseas and contact him there. He says that he'll be back soon and start working on our job. We are still within our job's time limit of 4 months, so no need to panic.
We start working on the control panel box and the servo motors' mounting fixtures for this job. Another customer's Turret Punch retrofit is underway in Karachi. He is fabricating control box for his machine. We request him to make 2 of those. The box arrives at our workshop in 2 weeks' time.
In Sadiqabad, where our client is, the summer time temperatures go up to 50 oC (122 oF) so a panel A/C is must for the drives and electronics. Inquired about industrial panel A/C's and again budget goes out the window. Decided upon installing compact window A/C unit in our panel. It is big enough to accomodate it.
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Were the balls screws and motors/drives new?
If you dont mind me asking what kind of difference in price between this and a new machine? Not wanting numbers, % will do :)
Hood
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Hi Hood,
just to let you know if you haven't gone to CNCzone, Zafarsalam and Zafar! are entering in a parallel thread and conversing there. Some extra information is being exchanged. I don't offhand have the link right now but I was reading their posts this morning.
John M.
edit: Here it is...
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/general_metal_working_machines/171471-cnc_conversion_radial_drill_-_novisa_tro_65_80_2000_a.html
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I meant Khalid.. rather than Zafar! in the above post.
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Were the balls screws and motors/drives new?
If you dont mind me asking what kind of difference in price between this and a new machine? Not wanting numbers, % will do :)
Hood
Hood,
Motors and drives were new. Bought ball screws from a guy who imports used machine parts. But both of them appeared new and were in their original packing. Those were THK brand. Khalid can better tell the difference in price for this setup and the new machine. My guess is it would be around 20% of the cost of new.
Zafar
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Build Thread
We are into third month of our project. Controller box is almost complete. Break out board assembled and tested, Arduino programmed, Smooth Stepper Ethernet installed on the Dell compact PC, LCD screen mounted with function buttons.
Check out the progress on the planer bed. Mr. Iftikhar is back from his business visits. A new project on retrofit of Turret Punch starts in Lahore. I go with my team there. A visit to Gujranwala is also underway. It is one hour's drive from Lahore. Another surprise is waiting for me in Gujranwala. The planer bed is still lying there untouched. It is summer time and also rainy season. Almost half of Pakistan is affected by worst floods in history. Add to it the ongoing power crisis in the country. The delay was inevitable. Time is running out for the project. Slight panic starts to creep in.
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John M
thanks for the link, xone has lots of info on it, problem is finding it as there are so many different sections ;D
Zafar
Thanks for the info, sounds like a good price :)
What make are servos/drives? cant make it out from the pics.
Hood
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Zafar
Thanks for the info, sounds like a good price :)
What make are servos/drives? cant make it out from the pics.
Hood
Hood,
Servos are made in China from Invt. http://www.invt.com/en/index.aspx
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Thanks, do you get direct from INVT or is there a dealer in Pakistan? I did a search in the UK for a dealer and didnt see one :(
Hood
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Thanks, do you get direct from INVT or is there a dealer in Pakistan? I did a search in the UK for a dealer and didnt see one :(
Hood
They have a dealer in Pakistan. I bought it from him.
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Thanks :)
Hood
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Here's another link for more on this project:
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1224322#post1224322
Included is a video of first operation
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The reason for putting this build thread both here and on cnczone is that Khalid does most of his posts on cnczone while I linger mostly on machsupport forum.
Hi Hood,
just to let you know if you haven't gone to CNCzone, Zafarsalam and Khalid are entering in a parallel thread and conversing there. Some extra information is being exchanged. I don't offhand have the link right now but I was reading their posts this morning.
John M.
edit: Here it is...
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/general_metal_working_machines/171471-cnc_conversion_radial_drill_-_novisa_tro_65_80_2000_a.html
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Build Thread
We are entering the 6th month of the project. The deadline is extended for two months. Customer was kind enough to understand the extraordinary circumstances we are going through. They too were effected by the flooding at their fertilizer plant during this time.
I get the news from Mr. Iftikhar that the overhaul for planer bed is complete and they have installed the ball screw to it. He asks me to bring the servo motor along so that he can make its mounts too. This is good news. We are going to finish it in time eventually.
I prepare my team to go to the customer to install the X-axis ball scew and motors for X and Z axes along with the control box. They leave for Sadiqabad and I for Gujranwala. Sadiqabad is exactly halfway between Karachi and Gujranwala.
At Gujranwala our first task is to check the torque at the screw end with the table installed. Mr. Iftikhar has already arranged for a hand-wheel at one end of the screw to check the torque. Till now all the parts were selected on rough estimates. Let's see how it goes.
I need to check the screw alignment first. They don't have proper instruments to check these. Ok, let's try it as it is. We'll make the final alignment at customer's premesis. Tighten all the bolts, put the handwheel in place. Try to move it with bare hands. And it does! What a relief. It's bit tight and needs a strong man to give a few steady turns. But it moves. Now, hang a weight to the wheel handle to find the torque which can just move the table. Handwheel is 300 mm in dia. The starting torque calculated is 28 N-m.
Our motor is 35 N-m. It is decided to put a 2:1 reduction at the ball screw with timing pulleys and belt. This way we make sure it runs without putting too much strain on our motor and also with 2.5 tons extra load.
I order an end support for the radial arm to be made at Mr. Iftikhar's work shop. He starts the work to mount the 5.5 kW servo motor on the planer body. Mr. Iftikhar promises to ship the planar base and the end-support to Sadiqabad once he finishes the motor installation and the paint. I return to Sadiqabad to check the progress of X and Z axes stuff installation.
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Build Thread
I arrive at Sadiqabad to check the progress with the machine. My team has already removed the handwheel for Z-axis feed, installed timing pulley to it and put the 1 kW Servo in place with 1:2 timing pulley reduction. This one was easy and took just a few hours.
Installation of X-axis motor mount is still in progress. The alignment of the ball screw with the radial arm slide took longer than expected. The mounting brackets were to be fixed to cast iron, unmachined surfaces. First they tried to make the surface as flat as possible with angle grinders and then machined leveling plates which gave them the mounting surfaces parallel and perpendicular to the sliding faces. The levelling plates had to be machined 5-6 times to get it right. I did the final alignment of the screw myself and in the end it got aligned within 0.02 mm with the slides. Not bad!
After installing motors, we realized the toothed belt is skipping notches on the pulley. We happened to have the wrong standard of belt shipped from Karachi. Sadiqabad is a small town and we can't get timing belts of all sizes there. We'll have to get it either from Karachi or Lahore. Both are equally far away.
It is only 4 days left before the Eid vacations and the planar bed is on it's way to Sadiqabad from Gujranwala. They say that we will get it next day. We will have to return to Karachi for the vacations. It is decided that we'll put the planer bed in place on the machine when it arrives and then leave for Karachi. We come back a week later with the new timing belts and finish the job. Everybody's happy for heading home for the Eid and also for the end of the project is in sight. But another delay is waiting for us which we'll find the next day.
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Build Thread
The planer bed finally reaches the customer's premesis in Sadiqabad. And guess what, they weren't expecting it to be this big. I had sent them photos of it earlier and also it's weight. Maybe they were expecting something like this.
(http://www.robertcameron.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/image046.jpg)
The radial drill machine bed is raised 330 mm from the ground. Since the shop floor was already 400 mm thick compacted concrete, we had planned to clamp the middle of the planer bed to the drill bed and support the hanging ends of the planer with steel I-beams in 4 places at the floor. The customer rejected this plan and decided to build a foundation on both sides of the drill. It is to be 600 mm deep in ground and 330 mm above it to reach the planer bed. There goes another month again till they design, dig and build the foundation. We wish them happy vacations and return to Karachi with them telling us that they will call us after setting the planer base up on the new foundation.
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Build Thread
Two weeks to go before the final deadline (which was revised to 8 months when we last left Sadiqabad). I get a call from customer that bed is placed on the new foundation and we can come over to finish it over. I prepare my team and leave for Sadiqabad again. 10 hours drive.
The bed is on the foundation, levelled and fastened. They are going to plaster the sides of foundation today. Masonry work won't stop us from doing light work on machine. We install the Z-axis motor with new belt and also put the X-axis motor in place.
Next day, the table is taken off the bed to install the auto-lubricating pump, it's pipes and nozzles. Mr. Nooruddin starts laying out wires for motors' encoder and power cables. Next task is to align the Y-axis screw.
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Build Thread
Day 4 of our stay in Sadiqabad. Lubricating pumps is installed on the machine. Laid out its pipes and pressure nozzles. Should have been SS tubes instead of Nylon if we were not constrained by time.
Aligned the Y-axis ball screw today. Vertical alignment was out by 0.5 mm and horizontal by 1.4 mm. Fixed them all and in the end we got both the ends aligned within 0.04 mm. Next step would be to fix the ball nut to the end of table.
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Build Thread
The next challenge was how to locate the position of ball nut on the table. There were two dowell holes in the nut but those where blind. Mr. Iftikhar had tried to locate them on the table but couldn't do it and he ended up giving us 3 mm loose holes which we were not sure how much misaligned they are.
We first measured the location of mounting threaded and dowell holes on the nut. Reproduced them on another plate with the help of a DRO based mill. Confirmed the dowell holes location on it by placing it on our nut. This plate acted as a template for fixing our ball nut on the table. Moved the table close to the end bearing blocks, put the dowell pins in through the template and tightened the bolts on the nut. Drill 2 more dowell holes through the template and fixed it to the table body. Sounds complicated? Yes it was. And inefficient too. We'll have to fix it later as we'll learn in the posts that follow.
In the mean time oil groves are machined onto the V-shaped ways on bottom of the planer bed. The original groves were almost cleaned up when Mr. Iftikhar overhauled the bed and grinded the v-ways on his planer.
Mr. Nooruddin is still busy with the wiring of motors, switches and other accessories.
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Build Thread
8th day of our stay here. We are working 10 to 12 hours a day (week-ends included!). Khalid's team is also helping us out. Motor's wiring is almost getting there. The Z-axis motor drive is 220 V. Mr. Noorudding powered it temporarily from a wall socket and checked it's motion. The other two drives need 400 V. He has to layout some more wires for them.
Mr. Iftikhar had shipped the radial arm end support column from Gujranwala when we were in Karachi. Now I have to locate it. He says that we have to collect it from the Truck stand in the city. He seem to have misplaced the tracking number and receipt from the movers. All he has is their phone number. I contact them and then visit them. I ask them if they received a 10 ft long 500 kg machine column from Gujranwala. One of their employees recalls it and informs us that the customer has already picked it up. We go back to cusomers' premesis and find that it was lying there in their warehouse during all this time. They didn't know what it's for. We shifted it to the machine shop. It is sand blasted and painted with primer.
With all the screws and motors in place, it's time to put the guards on them. I'm not sure what's the effect of pigeon droppings on ball screw lubrication. Don't want to find out either. So better cover them up. Got some made from a local shop in Sadiqabad and a few from the fabrication shop of customer, we start putting them in place over the next few days.
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Build Thread
Vertical shaft of the end-support is to be fixed to the end of radial arm. It is an unmachined cast iron surface. We strip out the paint and bolt a flat 30 mm thick plate on it. The bracket will mount on it. After mounting the shaft to it we check it's alignment. It is found 2.3 mm tilted towards the machine at the bottom end. We take off the bracket and and face its mounting surface to take out the tilt and mount it again. Had to do this exercise twice to make it aligned with the machine within 0.1 mm. Alignment in the other direction is done with a tri-square.
We mark roughly on the floor where the base of the end-support should go and then slide the shaft out. It will be installed again when we align the X and Y axes perpendicular to each other and make sure of their alignment by drilling a sqare pattern on a big surface, measuring the diagonals. The radial arm rotation is locked. We now have to figure out how to keep it locked permanently.
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Build Thread
Mr. Nooruddin finally gives us the green signal that we can move all the axes with our controller. This is going to be the first test for 5.5 kW motor on Y-axis. We check all the bolts, belts, bearing blocks, lock nuts etc. and give the motor a nudge with controller. IT'S ALIVE!
Need to change the electronic gearing ratio on the drive to get the full speed. Adjusted that and ran it up to the max of 1500 rpm. There is 1:2 reduction with timing pulleys and 10 mm pitch on the ball screw. So it must be giving us 7,500 mm/min of rapids. Checked the torque on the the drive and it showed 35% torque with continuous running and 65% on start and stop. Tweaked the acceleration setting in Mach3 and ended up with a max torque of 50% on the drive. The initial calculations are paying up and behaviour of machine is predictable. So far so good with the bare table which itself is a 5 tons load. X axis motor is running on 10% of it's rated torque. Seems like we selected an extra strong motor for it. We'll check the torque on Z-axis during the drilling process.
With all the axes running we can make them perpendicular to each other. Unlock the radial arm rotation, dial and clamp a tri-square on the table and make other axis perpendicular to it within 0.005 mm in 400 mm length. Lock the radial arm again.
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Build Thread
With the X and Y axes aligned with each other we need to lock the radial arm rotation. Can't disable the unlock switch altogether as unlocking is required to move the drill head on radial arm. Just the unlocking of arm rotation is to be disabled. Time to consult the original mechanical and electrical drawings of machine.
The lock happens to be on top of radial column. The locking electrical logic and the mechanism suggests that we need to disable a micro switch on the column. According to company's safety rules we can't climb onto the machine structure or use a step ladder. A scaffolding is assembled around the column, we climb it, trace the wire number of the switch and disable it in the main wiring cabinet. Piece of cake. Took a whole day for this exercise.
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Build Thread
Piece of cake. Took a whole day for this exercise.
Hah, hah. Piece of cake you say? Well, compared to all the other operations....
Nice!
But I am wondering.... If the radial arm brace is tightened into position vertically, will/do you have a lockout switch to prevent the radial arm from being raised or lowered until unlocking the brace? Or will the brace always just float? The machine could really rack itself if a command to raise or lower the arm were issued if the brace bracket was inadvertantly left tight.
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Build Thread
Piece of cake. Took a whole day for this exercise.
Hah, hah. Piece of cake you say? Well, compared to all the other operations....
Nice!
But I am wondering.... If the radial arm brace is tightened into position vertically, will/do you have a lockout switch to prevent the radial arm from being raised or lowered until unlocking the brace? Or will the brace always just float? The machine could really rack itself if a command to raise or lower the arm were issued if the brace bracket was inadvertantly left tight.
It was an overcooked, rather burnt out, piece of cake :). Beauty of this arrangement is that just the arm rotation is locked. There are different bearing surfaces which allow rotation and up/down motion of the arm. When unlock button is pressed or commanded through Mach3, only those solenoid valves turn on which supply hydraulic pressure to other locks. That's what we fished out from the drawings of machine. We had to come up with another ingeneous method to prevent the arm from going up and down when braced to the end support. Wait for that post where I'll describe it.
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Build Thread
It's now time to calibrate the axes and check their repeatability. We have a couple of linear glass scales and a lathe DRO imported from China. These scales would be installed on customer's vertical lathe once we finish the calibration of this machine. X and Y axes steps per mm are calculated from the servo drives gearing ratio, timing pulleys' reduction ratio and the ball screw pitch.
Align and install the 2.5 m scale to the Y axis of machine. We get a slight difference in the readings on Mach3 and glass scales. It is because we had miscounted the number of teeth on our timing pulleys. Corrected that and ran the slide at different speeds to check the repeatability. A backlash of 0.3 mm is corrected in Mach and we get a repeatability of 0.05 mm. What a nice feeling to achieve the results after such a hard work.
X axis is calibrated similarly. Got an unusually large backlash of 0.7 mm initially. But soon caught our mistake. We hadn't locked the sliding head against the slide on radial arm. Without locking we got a scewed movement of the head which appeared as exeggerated backlash. The backlash with the locks on was 0.25 mm on X.
Z axis was a bit tricky. We didn't know about the internal gear reduction on the handwheel. What we did was put a 300 mm high block on the bed and touched it's top and then the table with a dial indicator on the quill. Noted the difference on Mach Z-axis DRO. Corrected the steps per mm value in Mach accordingly and we are back in business. Z-axis gave us a backlash of 0.6 mm. This was expected as there was a lot of gearing involved in it's movement.
Limit and home switches are also installed while this exercise is underway. End-support column and the guard cover are in the paint shop. Tomorrow we will check the repeatability on Y-axis under 2.5 tons load. Put the end-support column in place and we are finished. I'll be home well before my daughter's birthday :).
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Build Thread
Finall we reach the day when we have to test out machine with load on it. First we check the diagonal mesurements on the bed with a sqaure drill pattern. Clamp an acrylic sheet on bed and drill 4 holes on a 1000 mm square. Get 2 m Vernier Callipers to measure the diagonals and these are within 0.04 mm of each other. Goal achieved.
Now we shift the loads from the cranes yard to the shop and put them on the machine bed one by one. It's now roughly 2.5 tons loaded onto it. We jog the Y axis again and check the torque on motor drive. It's 60% on start and stop, 40% on continuous run at full rapids. So far so good. Hook up the linear scale again and we spot a trouble. The repeatability is out by a lot and the backlash is changing with each run.
It's panic time ... Ok, let's be calm. Check the system closely and try to find out the weak points. We check the deflection on bearing blocks. It is slightly increased than before. Tightened the bolts some more and it is back to where it was. But still the problem is there. Now check the ball nut mounting on the table. This is giving us a huge deflection. The ball nut mount contraption which we used earlier is proving to be too flimsy. Tried to tighten the bolts on it and ended up breaking one up in the middle. It is decided to remove the nut locating plate altogether and drill bigger holes for the dowell pins to fix the nut with the table.
A magnetic base drill is arranged. Put on the machine table and work begins on it. We worked from 8 am till 10 pm that day. And by the end of day we had done all the machining to fix the ball nut. We will come again tomorrow morning and install the nut and test the machine once more under load. Lost my camera that day. Rest of the photos were taken by Khalid's camera. I foresee another two to three days work. I wonder if i can make it back before my daughter's birthday.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4633322225775 (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4633322225775)
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Build Thread
Next morning we test moving our bed again. First we check the deflection on the ball nut mounting. It's not noticeable on the dial indicator. The deflection on bearing blocks is also less than before. We load the bed again and give it a trial. This time all the things work perfect. It's almost lunch time and we decide to put up the end-support column after lunch and finish it by evening. We'll do the drill test runs the next day.
The end-support column is back from the paint shop after lunch. Two days earlier we had drilled and put in the anchor wedge bolts for it's base plate. It was installed, levelled and then sealed with grout the next day. We can bolt up the end-support to it today. We hoist it up and put it on the bolt holes on the base plate. The mounting holes on both plates are out a little. Move the end support to the horizontal boring mill and slot the holes a little. Put it back on the base plate and it fits perfectly.
Now there's another problem. What will happen when someone presses the switch to move the radial arm up or down. With it securely bolted to the end-support, any up or down movement will stress both the radial arm and the end-support. We need some safety which will prevent the movement of radial arm when the bolts on end-support are tight.
After discussing some options it was decided to put a couple of micro switches on the end of bolts which secure the radial arm against end-support shaft. The switches will cut off the power to the drive motor which moves the arm. The power is restored only when both the switches are free from the bolts. With these switches installed and connected them to the control panel wiring we test their operation. It's a success. We call it a day and plan to do actual drilling the next day.
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Hi Zafar,
Looking Great!
I'm curious about the drill radial arm. Will there be times when light use will make clamping of the support unneeded? Originally, the drill did not use the support arm. Otherwise(heh), has the company yet contracted you to install your newfangled auto-clamping system so that this machine operation will be carried out at the control panel?
On my little bridgemill I also installed a microswitch at the spider handle on the bridge support. It rides on the flange of the tightening screw and allows adjustment only when the spider/screw clamp is loose. I thought of maybe adding a motor with gear/belt reduction(high torque) to replace the manual clamping screw.
Yours would obviously require a much more complex system for auto-clamping...and be way over budget considerations. :)
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Hi Zafar,
Looking Great!
I'm curious about the drill radial arm. Will there be times when light use will make clamping of the support unneeded? Originally, the drill did not use the support arm. Otherwise(heh), has the company yet contracted you to install your newfangled auto-clamping system so that this machine operation will be carried out at the control panel?
On my little bridgemill I also installed a microswitch at the spider handle on the bridge support. It rides on the flange of the tightening screw and allows adjustment only when the spider/screw clamp is loose. I thought of maybe adding a motor with gear/belt reduction(high torque) to replace the manual clamping screw.
Yours would obviously require a much more complex system for auto-clamping...and be way over budget considerations. :)
John,
In my opinion the end-support is redundant at this point. We simply put it there because it was included in the contract.
Initially it was put in design to keep both the axes perpendicular to each other after unlocking. But now we have put the lock permanent on the arm rotation so it is not needed any more. There are a lot of improvements possible to this system. One is the use of a pressure arm on the work piece to keep the stacked sheets in place. The customer is interested in putting one with this system too. Seems like a few more months of hard work are in line for us :).
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Ah! I was thinking in terms of vertical deflextion of the drill arm. With the support arm in the secure mode, maybe a much higher load could be applied downward for those inevitable big tressful drilling operations, although the arm's loading specs may far exceed the spindle's capabilities. I have no idea of how much flex there might be vertically in the arm.
I hope you continue to provide us with your detailed construction activities as you have done with this drill.
The other videos of your punch installations were nice to see!
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Build Thread
It is Sunday and we are going to do drill tests today. It is going to be our last day in Sadiqabad (hopefully :) ). It will be our third Sunday here and Khalid has been with us all those week-ends.
Khalid has modified the post processor for Visual Mill and has put in extra M-codes for locking and unlocking the drill head during each drill cycle. He makes a sample program and we are ready to go. Put a center drill in the drill chuck, center the work piece, adjust height of tool and we press the start button. Works smoothly and finishes the cycle. Now put in a 20mm drill, edit the drill depth and run it again. Within half an hour we are through with the drilling.
The coolant pump is in operation too but the coolant drain system is not finished yet. So we apply a little amount of coolant manually for this operation. Measured the holes, inspected the drilled hole finish, noted down the speeds and feeds. Every thing is perfect.
Last few hours are spent in putting on different indicators on the machine. We leave Sadiaqabad at night and by next morning we are in Karachi. Right on time for my daughter's birthday :).
Guards for the Y-axis slide ways and the ball screw are in fabrication shop. I have to go to Sadiqabad again next week to look after the installation of guards and also discuss a few more accessories for this machine. More photos and vids to follow that visit.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4613441528770 (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4613441528770)
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Build Thread (Update)
Work is still in progress on the slide guards for the Y-axis. I am supposed to get them this evening or tomorrow. I'll have to make some fittings for them at my workshop in Karachi and then take them with me to Sadiqabad by the end of this week.
Meanwhile Khalid has installed a support for the Y-axis ball screw. The screw was almost 100 kg in weight and there was a noticeable sag when the slide reaches it's extreme end. By putting the teflon support under the unsupported length this sag is reduced by a great amount. I'll check the backlash and motor load once again when I get there.
That's it for now. More updates next week.
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Build Thread (Update)
Here are recent photos of the machine. Khalid has tidied up the lubrication lines and also painted the foundation base a nice yellow and black striped pattern. They are also working on a platform around the machine for the operator. I'll have many pleasant surprises waiting for me when I get there.
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Looking good. :)
Brett
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Zafar..it was 5mm sag at support position. We have reinstalled the bed and checked the movement (we didn't alter the Velocity/acceleration parameters in Mach3)...the movement are pretty smooth..The middle support will enhance the life of the ball screw and overall integrity of machine...
Meanwhile we have fabricated the walkway platform and it is under sandblasting...hope when you come you see some more improvements.. Oops i forget, if you can check the availability of misc WARNING SIGNS in karachi..
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Build Thread (Update)
The bearing block at the far end of ball screw was too close to the table bottom. It's clearance is increased from 0.5mm to 3.0mm with this portable mill. Khalid has many cool tools and gadgets up his sleave.
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Build Thread (Update)
I am back in Sadiqabad again. Had the stainless steel sheets sheared and bended in Karachi and brought them with me here yesterday. Today we welded them together and assembled the set of guards ready to be installed on machine tomorrow. Khalid's team is going to screw in the sliding strips to SS sheets during the night and hopefull I'll get them ready to be installed on Y-axis slides by tomorrow morning. The structure for walkway around the machine is also ready. They are going to put it in place tomorrow too. I'll take a few final snaps of the machine when I leave Sadiqabad tomorrow night.
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Build Thread (Update)
It is second day at Sadiqabad. At breakfast table I receive SOS call from home. Chicken pox has erupted on kids, wife needs me home ASAP. I have already planned the job to be finished by the evening. So make plans to leave at night instead of next morning.
The sliding strips are screwed onto the guards outer edges. We prepare supports for the moving and stationary portions of the guards. Putting the flexible, sagging, 180 kg SS guards in place for alignment and fastening wasn't as simple as we had anticipated. Ended up consuming most of the day in putting them straight and levelling them with the machine structure. After 14 hours of work we finally accomplished installation of the guards on one side of Y-axis. Checked their movement against the limits of machine and at different speeds. Works perfectly as calculated. Another goal achieved. Now I know why all the fabricators charge those exorbitant charges for seemingly simple jobs. No job is simple with fabrication (I've learned the hard way :) ). Here is a short video of guards sliding with table movement.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4824743251181 (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4824743251181)
In the end I gave instructions for installation of the other end's guards. Their alignment was already done. They had to do drilling tapping and fastening (another 2 hours work). Left Sadiqabad that night and this morning I am back in Karachi. Khalid's team must have installed it by now. I am going to give him a call and inquire about it right after posting this update.
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Build Thread (Update)
Here are latest photos from Khalid. Paint job is complete on the machine. Nice inscriptions are painted onto it and the slide guards are all in place. Looking nice. They have a big job of drilling for complete heat exchanger set scheduled next month. Can't wait to see the pics and vids for that job.
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That looks excellent, also look forward to the videos :)
Great to see how an old machine can be brought back to life and end up doing much more than it could originally and not at massive expense :)
Was thinking the Y was backwards for a bit then realised that the control station is at the back.
Hood
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Looking good, looking good........... :)
Brett
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Looking good, looking good........... :)
Brett
Didnt know you had a stutter, thought it was just your redneck accent :D
Hood
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I only st udder when I get exci, excit, excite, excited. ;D
Brett
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That looks excellent, also look forward to the videos :)
Great to see how an old machine can be brought back to life and end up doing much more than it could originally and not at massive expense :)
Was thinking the Y was backwards for a bit then realised that the control station is at the back.
Hood
Actually it should be X here. They are going to repaint it :).
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NOW yu know why everyone else in the world was buying up ALL of our old machines. What we saw as junk they KNEW was just a refurbish away from being better than new iron again. It was all well seasoned.
(;-) TP
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NOW yu know why everyone else in the world was buying up ALL of our old machines. What we saw as junk they KNEW was just a refurbish away from being better than new iron again. It was all well seasoned.
(;-) TP
You are right. The castings around and before 80's were much better than the ones we get these days. For heavy structures we always head towards the local junkyards first. It sometimes becomes difficult to explain this to the customer though ;-)
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The X and Y axes alphabets has to be swapped ( These are Vnyle printed Letters)..That was my mistake .. been busy in a hectic turnaround in fertilizer industry... The Coolant drain system is very simple and innovatively designed.. Will soon post some more pictures in couple of days... The Video is 85Mb and still trying to shorten it....;)
Zafar you know my interdepartmental transfer was due last year but was not done due to this conversion.. I hope i will be in INSPECTION section(being there is my dream) of my fertilizer plant after this Turnaround.. I wish some jobs on this machine comes during the maintenance activities of plant and we do it timely, accurately and get the payback in the first ever CNC job on this machine...
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NOW yu know why everyone else in the world was buying up ALL of our old machines. What we saw as junk they KNEW was just a refurbish away from being better than new iron again. It was all well seasoned.
(;-) TP
You are right. The castings around and before 80's were much better than the ones we get these days. For heavy structures we always head towards the local junkyards first. It sometimes becomes difficult to explain this to the customer though ;-)
Zafar, you knew well the use of Planner bed for this machine was my IDEA..have you remember...;) and getting the BUTLER bed was your idea..i love Old European make machines... They made it strong and they put their best brains and mind in designing these machines...
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Zafar, you knew well the use of Planner bed for this machine was my IDEA..have you remember...;) and getting the BUTLER bed was your idea..i love Old European make machines... They made it strong and they put their best brains and mind in designing these machines...
Heheh. You are right Khalid. It was your idea. But we had to spend 4 weeks designing the new structure, getting quotes for castings, linear guides and all to justify that we can't beat a good old planar structure ;).
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I know your hardwork, devotion, dedication, innovation, and all the words that ends with..tion.... to this project.. I must say you are a real engineer... :) I am really proud of NED university of Engineering and Technology for giving such brilliant engineers to our country...
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I am really proud of NED university of Engineering and Technology for giving such brilliant engineers to our country...
Haha. You are also one of them ;). NED زندہ باد
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:)
Brett
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Zafar , Our Fertilizer Plant Annual Turnaround started. We have got lot of jobs including the two 90mm thick Carbon Steel blind flanges. 24 number of holes . The final hole size is 50mm. Holes being drill in 04 steps:
1- Centre Drill
2- 20mm Drill
3- 40mm drill
4- 50mm drill
The step one and two completed in 3hours... The third round in progress..I hope i will get all hole drilled in night shift.. I sent you zip file of videos and pictures.. i will post the final pictures of finished part tomorrow.
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Here are the pictures. Hope you will edit the videos and post..The flanges are 900mm diameter..
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That's exciting news Khalid. The machine we built is finally doing it's job. Did you get the video's compressed. If not then just copy them to a micro SD card and send it to me through courier. I'll be waiting for the videos.
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I emailed you;)
here is the download link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xn9pvshsca5stcw/CNC%20videos.rar (https://www.dropbox.com/s/xn9pvshsca5stcw/CNC%20videos.rar)
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I've downloaded the videos. What speeds and feeds are you using for each drill. Give us some details of the setup. What type of drills and also the steel grade of the drilled plate etc.
Your camera saved videos in uncompressed avi format last time when I used it. These videos are mpg. Did you convert the files to mpg or changed settings on the camera. Virtualdub can't handle mpg files.
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I converted the Videos using Hamster free video converter... The Feed for drill was 44mm/min to 22mm/min and Spindle speed 500RPM to 200RPM considering smaller to Larger drill. The plate material ASTM A 283 C - A 570 and we used HSS drills.
The second plate drilling in progress.
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Nice job. How do you compare the cycle time with your previous setup, including the time spent in marking the plate manually and punching centers on it. You can save time by overriding the rapid speed to the max. You'll have to make changes to config/general config menu and deselect "Lock Rapid FRO to Feed FRO". That way your rapid feed will remain at max. while you change the Machining FRO.
Converting videos to mpg doesn't compress them as much as you can with xvid. Did you try the virtualdub tutorial I sent to you. Still waiting for the coolant drain systm videos.
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Nice job. How do you compare the cycle time with your previous setup, including the time spent in marking the plate manually and punching centers on it.
Zafar... As you knew very well CNC saves time.. Who knows better than me, all my woodcarving design i have done by CNC i can't make 10% of them by hand in my whole life...
Centre marking may take atleast 2 Hours for these 24 holes by manually... I think we saved 24 Hours in CNC drilling for single flange...
You can save time by overriding the rapid speed to the max. You'll have to make changes to config/general config menu and deselect "Lock Rapid FRO to Feed FRO". That way your rapid feed will remain at max. while you change the Machining FRO.
Wow..thanks i shall do it right now.. This thread will be my guidance for any help in future for such embedded tricks..
Converting videos to mpg doesn't compress them as much as you can with xvid. Did you try the virtualdub tutorial I sent to you. Still waiting for the coolant drain system videos.
You are really master in tutorial writing.. I shall soon convert the videos with virtualdub and shall sent you..
Thank You Zafar Sahab for the generous help:)
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Centre marking may take atleast 2 Hours for these 24 holes by manually... I think we saved 24 Hours in CNC drilling for single flange...
I know 24 hours mean a lot for a plant turnaround. I wonder if this saved time will result in you getting some extra time to spend at home or more work load piled up at your shop to speed things up ;-)
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What's the total cycle time for these 24 holes in the flange. I believe these are the same flanges we used as test loads on the machine. These were 315 kg each.
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Nope...These flanges are 1meter diameter and 90mm thick...We changed the strategy for the second flange.. Instead the Deep Drill cycle we used Break Chip drill cycle.. And all the holes finalized within 04 Hours...This time also perform the chamfering...
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Some Pictures. We have two drums full of these chips/material shavings...
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Some Pictures. We have two drums full of these chips/material shavings...
Next retrofit upgrade ... A chip conveyor perhaps?
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Here is a short video link of chamfering operation
https://www.dropbox.com/s/p0ucupalz5tnpq1/MOV09713.MPG
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Video of the first drill job done on this machine. This is basically compilation of different videos captured by Khalid and a few snapshots.
click on the link below to view video
http://goo.gl/UiYGU (http://goo.gl/UiYGU)
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Very nice! That beats a scripe and a square and a manual drill press all day long. That thing makes it look easy.
Brett
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I had time to take some pictures during the annual turnaround of our plant. The pictures of 10mm CS plate on 2000mm x 1000mm for modification in turbine condenser. The holes diamter are 20mm and the slot length is 40mm. The Slot were done by drilling two holes and the remaining portions were taken away using plunge milling with 20mm carbide endmill.
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Khalid,
Impressive work. I bet this was not possible on your horizontal boring mill without manual job shifting. Don't forget to check the servo motor load with the end mills.
What was the cycle time for this one.
Zafar
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Okay.. Slot were not side milled. Slot length was 40mm so two 20mm drill at the end. The small area left between the drilled holes were vertically drilled using end mills. The same cycle of hydraulic lock and unlock for the carbide endmill with 2mm peck-drill tool path ;)
All is okay... Drilling took 2 Hours (IMHO) and the slot machining took 3 Hours...
PS:
We also made sealing labyrinth gaskets for our gas turbine air seals. The gasket were milled out of 3mm thick Aluminum plate (1meter x 2meter). The job took 6hours using 8mm end mill. Normally on vertical lathe the job takes more than 24hours. Unfortunately we have no pictures to show.
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Okay.. Slot were not side milled. Slot length was 40mm so two 20mm drill at the end. The small area left between the drilled holes were vertically drilled using end mills. The same cycle of hydraulic lock and unlock for the carbide endmill with 2mm peck-drill tool path ;)
All is okay... Drilling took 2 Hours (IMHO) and the slot machining took 3 Hours...
PS:
We also made sealing labyrinth gaskets for our gas turbine air seals. The gasket were milled out of 3mm thick Aluminum plate (1meter x 2meter). The job took 6hours using 8mm end mill. Normally on vertical lathe the job takes more than 24hours. Unfortunately we have no pictures to show.
So you are doing light milling work on it too :). Must be running it with the drill head unlocked. You'll get slightly greater backlash that way because of the head getting skewed vertically without the brakes. But that results in only 0.4 mm at the end of drill. I hope that won't be noticeable for the tolerances on that job. A photo of that gasket would have been nice.
Give me a call when you are through with the plant turn-around.
Zafar
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Material Aluminum
Thickness: 13mm
DOC: 1.5mm
Endmill: 6mm and 8mm (HSS)
Feed: 370mm/min
Flood coolant
Total machining time: 6Hrs
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Material Aluminum
Thickness: 13mm
DOC: 1.5mm
Endmill: 6mm and 8mm (HSS)
Feed: 370mm/min
Flood coolant
Total machining time: 6Hrs
Now you won't insist on calling it a CNC "Radial Drill". It's a mill. 1600 max rpm is too low for cutters this small. On which machine did you machine these parts before you got your CNC. You don't even have a copy mill in-house.
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yes we are limited in RPM i.e. spindle . I have machined the similar parts on wood ;)
Thats indeed a sturdy machine. Now we need special bits for milling Aluminum.
Some more pictures
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Some more work on Aluminum.
Dimension: 750 x550mm
Thickness= 15mm
Tool Used: 3mm Centre drill, 6.8mm drill, 9mm drill, 10mm HSS drill, 10mm HSco Dormer endmill
Attached pictures are the result of 8 Hrs continuous working of machine. We just stopped it and the remaining work shall be completed by tomorrow.
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Looks like you have a very versatile machine there, it certainly seems to be doing a decent job even though its not really designed for that kind of work :)
Hood
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yes we are limited in RPM i.e. spindle . I have machined the similar parts on wood ;)
Thats indeed a sturdy machine. Now we need special bits for milling Aluminum.
Some more pictures
I've seen your router. It's a MDF machine. Not only it's made to cut MDF, it's also made of MDF :). Cutting Aluminium on it is good achievement.
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Some more work on Aluminum.
Dimension: 750 x550mm
Thickness= 15mm
Tool Used: 3mm Centre drill, 6.8mm drill, 9mm drill, 10mm HSS drill, 10mm HSco Dormer endmill
Attached pictures are the result of 8 Hrs continuous working of machine. We just stopped it and the remaining work shall be completed by tomorrow.
This one looks like the ER-40 collet holder I sent to you. Did you install it with adapter sleeve in your machine?
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@Hood: Thank you but all credit goes to Zafar Salam.
@ Zafar Bhae.. This machine is your converted Radial Drill Machine. ;) I shall soon post some more picture as the milling on the Radial drill is now in progress.
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@ Zafar Bhae.. This machine is your converted Radial Drill Machine. ;) I shall soon post some more picture as the milling on the Radial drill is now in progress.
Khalid,
Send a sample G-code file which you use for drilling. I'll modify the drilling wizzard according to it and send it back to you.
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Hi ,
Some finish product out of CNC machine. We have some chattering issues on the edges but overall the quality is good.
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Hi ,
Some finish product out of CNC machine. We have some chattering issues on the edges but overall the quality is good.
Impressive work. Good productivity. Have you trained more operators for the machine yet or Mustafa is the only one operating it.
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Khalid,
have you tried doing a finish pass to get rid of that chatter, maybe something like 0.2 or 0.5 left for a finish pass on the profile will allow it to give you a nice clean finish.
Hood
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Khalid,
have you tried doing a finish pass to get rid of that chatter, maybe something like 0.2 or 0.5 left for a finish pass on the profile will allow it to give you a nice clean finish.
Hood
Hood thank you for the suggestion. The clamping was very poor. However, i have to left some stock to do final finish machining. Thanks Hood for the great tip. I shall remember whenever i do Aluminum or any other material machining again.
Regards
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:)
Brett
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Another visit to Sadiqabad last week. This time it was to hand over the Visualmill software to them (I happen to be it's reseller in Pakistan). And also to meet the new incharge of the machine shops. Khalid is transferred to another department and the new incharge is Mr. Shuja, another nice engineer. Took a few photos this time, especially of their coolant drain system and discussed a few more prospects with them. Let's see what finalizes in the months to come.
Zafar
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Hi Zafar,
My congratulations sir, I have really enjoyed following this build and looking at your excellent photo's.
Thank you for posting all the details of the construction etc. it has been a real learning experience for me.
I look forward to hearing about your next great project.
Tweakie.
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Hi Zafar,
My congratulations sir, I have really enjoyed following this build and looking at your excellent photo's.
Thank you for posting all the details of the construction etc. it has been a real learning experience for me.
I look forward to hearing about your next great project.
Tweakie.
Hi Tweakie,
Thanks for the compliments. I envy your projects. Your laser machine is a real gem. Wish I could build something like this sometime.
Zafar
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Very nice topic all around Zafar. You have done a great job on the machine and this topic. I also really like the fact that you are following up with the customer. That proves to me that your not just after the money and are truly interested in their satisfaction. Bravo Zafar!
Brett
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Very nice topic all around Zafar. You have done a great job on the machine and this topic. I also really like the fact that you are following up with the customer. That proves to me that your not just after the money and are truly interested in their satisfaction. Bravo Zafar!
Brett
Brett,
Machines and automation are my passion. It would hurt a lot if they don't utilize this useful conversion to it's fullest. Khalid is very innovative in the use of his machines. I am sure Shuja too won't waste this asset. This is what I wanted to make sure in my visit there. Thanks for the compliments though :)
Zafar
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Visited the customer for another project. Saw the radial drill in operation and captured a short video. Customer seams quite happy with his machine. Here's the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKeZeCwIXBA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKeZeCwIXBA)
Here is the baffle plate with 2300 center drills.