Messages

491

General Mach Discussion / Re: Should I scrap Vista for XP?

« on: May 29, 2008, 03:37:50 AM »

Hood the laptop i bought HAS 2 gig ram Intel duel core CPU, with vista about as fast as a snail.

I bought it as refurbished, but it was brand new sold at a lower price due to having Vista as the OS

Another tip on a different note is a program called NLIGHT "Free Download" it made a new WinXP boot disk with slipstreamed SP3 all the drivers for the laptop and worked perfectly The laptop has a sata HD, no floppy so i couldn't have done it without NLIGHT well i could but it would have been a headache

I am going to put a multi boot system on it and try out ubuntu and see what all the fuss is about

Phil_H

492

General Mach Discussion / Re: Should I scrap Vista for XP?

« on: May 28, 2008, 06:00:01 PM »

The question is is anyone successfully using it for anything. It has been dubbed the New Millennium.

Microbloat are ditching it for Windows 7

I myself have just bought a new laptop NOT for Mach it came pre installed with Vista so i did try it but it was just so slow.

Put on XP, which i can start up, check email, then shut down faster than Vista will boot, total rubbish, albeit pretty.

Phil_H

493

General Mach Discussion / Re: Motor Tuning - Mach3

« on: May 27, 2008, 02:56:07 AM »

Stick with it you will get there in the end.

In my case i first started with one motor off the machine connected lying on the floor in a nice comfy room.

I had read what others were getting in terms of speed but when i tried my motors stalled "Loud Screeching"

This was the fact that the power supply voltage was too low 24v the same as your setup.

I changed drivers and power supply "64v" and now it's as sweet as a nut.

The motors seem a bit on the flimsy side power wise. What is the size of the machine ?

Phil_H

494

General Mach Discussion / Re: mitherin paid off

« on: May 19, 2008, 05:39:13 PM »

Oh you mean crap teams. 

Phil_H

495

General Mach Discussion / Re: mitherin paid off

« on: May 19, 2008, 12:26:10 PM »

Hi Drut excellent site only spoiled by the flash movie at the beginning 

What engraving software are you using. ?

I didn't notice any crapper covers what the hell are they ?

Phil_H

496

General Mach Discussion / Re: Manual to cnc lathe retrofit? feaseable?

« on: May 19, 2008, 04:18:36 AM »

Go for it, much more fun doing it yourself 

Phil_H

497

General Mach Discussion / Re: Surface grinding?

« on: May 16, 2008, 05:11:44 AM »

It would be in the realms of possibility to make your own press tool by CNC SG forget the reeds.

I'm not sure what you mean by that. What's a press tool? Can it squish spring steel into these profiles: http://home.comcast.net/~r-morse/BBox/images/reeds-e-a.gif

-- Rich --

Yes that's what a press tool does but in your case it would be a form tool.

You could go to a press tool shop and get some of your stock material shaped it doesn't have to be the shape you want any shape to get a feel of what could be achieved with a form tool this would be far cheaper than investing in a cnc grinder that you don't know is going to work

As to grinders my own experience is mainly with the "Jones & Shipman" range i do have a model 540 with optical dresser made by "Precision Grinding" "Optidress"

If you do an ebay search for "Jones & Shipman 540" you will see lots of them

My Own machine is used dry with vacuum dust extraction. Production machines are normally WET

Now comes the awkward bit my own machine tables are operated hydraulically and am sure this is the norm this will not be easy to convert

Phil_H

498

General Mach Discussion / Re: Surface grinding?

« on: May 15, 2008, 05:44:45 PM »

Rich,

It would be in the realms of possibility to make your own press tool by CNC SG forget the reeds.

Its initial cost will be repaid in speed of manufacture of parts.

Virtually all springs are made by forming of one sort or another.

I have even made my own springs "Coil Compression" on a lathe with no CNC when i was an apprentice. Hell CNC wasn't even invented then.

As to their tonal quality after stamping, i don't know you would need to speak to a metallurgist.

But there are various heat treatments that maybe could help tonal quality.

More trial and error as always.

Phil_H

499

General Mach Discussion / Re: Surface grinding?

« on: May 15, 2008, 04:49:30 PM »

Well I'm glad I'm not making them.

I think we can safely say that if a professional cnc grinder cannot do the job them a home built machine is out of the question.

Have you thought of wire EDM ?

Maybe forming them on a press "Would Be A Lot Quicker" then grind to width.

HTH
Phil_H

500

General Mach Discussion / Re: Surface grinding?

« on: May 15, 2008, 05:13:56 AM »

The machine at the top of my consideration list is the Syil U2 http://www.syilamerica.com/product_u2.asp which is the least expensive and smallest CNC surface grinder I could find. The maker says that it's compatible with many software packages though acknowledges that the ones to run it in the surface grinding configuration need to be totally 3D.

The machine at the top of your list is a milling machine ?

I've looked around quite a bit and haven't found any small mills that can surface grind Rc55 springsteel to +/- .0002" tolerance over 5". Besides, everyone I've talked to says that mills don't that the correct speeds and bearings to do surface grinding.
-- Rich --

Correct a milling machine spindle would not be suitable for grinding. But did you notice i said use a GRINDING SPINDLE which guess what, is suitable for grinding.

I am an engineer, i looked at that machine and had to laugh at the coolant nozzle when used for grinding the coolant tank would be empty in no time and the coolant would be on the floor, up the walls, all over the place. 

There are no guards around the table to keep the coolant in check.

As you may not know you cannot do milling on a router the bigger the router the less accuracy due to flexing.

On my own milling machine i milled a 12.5 mm slot x 165mm long the length of an aluminium billet i made 50 items the tolerance i achieved was .005mm max


Phil_H