Messages

151

General Mach Discussion / Re: High speed spindle recommendations

« on: August 12, 2010, 05:46:05 PM »

I'm considering using a router (with speed reduction pullies) to drive a precision hand piece myself.  The only issue I have with the handpiece spindles is they bog down on a heavy cut. 

152

General Mach Discussion / Re: High speed spindle recommendations

« on: August 12, 2010, 04:39:08 PM »

That's the Ebay guy I was thinking of. 

Hi Hood,

You might want to take a look at Wolfgang Engineering on eBay.

http://shop.ebay.com/wolfgang314/m.html?_nkw=tb&_sacat=0&_odkw=&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3911.c0.m270.l1313

Sounds like just what you're looking for.

153

General Mach Discussion / Re: High speed spindle recommendations

« on: August 12, 2010, 03:01:01 PM »

12 pounds plus 30%.  WOW! 

154

General Mach Discussion / Re: High speed spindle recommendations

« on: August 12, 2010, 11:29:30 AM »

Are import duties and wait times that bad in the UK?  I bought some fishing tackle from a Chinese company in Hong Kong a couple years ago and it seemed to arrive a lot faster than I expected. I'm in the USA. 

155

General Mach Discussion / Re: High Priority Under XP (anybody know for sure if it helps)

« on: August 11, 2010, 07:11:25 PM »

I do have the LPT port set as EPP.  Not sure what ACPI is, but I will look. 

156

General Mach Discussion / Re: High speed spindle recommendations

« on: August 11, 2010, 07:07:29 PM »

Side play and runout can be a much bigger issue when using smaller bits.  That looks almost like lithograph type work there.  I think I would be tempted to go with the Fordom 25 with one of their motors.  It only claims 1/5 HP, but its a true 1/5 HP and it turns 18,000 rpm.  Either that or there is a guy selling a high speed spindle and motor on ebay that claims very low runout and side play.  He claims people are using it with bits and mills so small you might break one just looking at it.  

Do not get a Foredom 44T or 43T handpiece thinking to save a few bucks and compromise.  They are intended strictly as a hand carving tool holder and they have looser tolerances and looser bearings to reduce heat build up.  I know.  I already tried them and I was unhappy with them for a spindle on my machine.  Go with the 25 if you go that way.  If you want to go cheap the HF ones are tighter tolerance than the 44 or 43, and yes they do build up some heat at full speed.  

Also, the Foredom 25 comes with self centering collets instead fo a chuck.  Slightly better consistency that way. 

157

General Mach Discussion / Re: High speed spindle recommendations

« on: August 11, 2010, 06:45:07 PM »

For engraving?  For straight line engraving I use a non spinning spring loaded engraving point.  There are several on Ebay.  Used to be there was only one for about $179 USD, but there is now another cheaper one.  I got mine from one of the guys on the Zone.  Now that I have seen his I could make one on my lathe easily enough.  The hard part is finding just the right spring.  Depending on the point chosen (or made) it works on a variety of things.  I have even used it to engrave the curved side of relatively large sockets to see how far I could push it.  

What are you engraving?  I found this type worked very well with a sharp carbide point on steel or hard aluminum, but for plastics a rounded point worked better and "pressed" or embossed in the marks.  You can also get diamond tips for engraving really hard stuff like glass.  

If you are routing out you can get a Harbor Freight flex shaft tool with a handpiece with chuck that will handle .125 shaft bits for about $50 USD and it only has a couple thousandths side play.  I can't feel it in mine.  It free spins about 15,000 rpm, but if you load it down with deep passes it slows down.  I have two of them and I sometimes use them in my mill with a home made bracket that holds two of them so I can destroy two work pieces at a time.  I hang the motor on the wall and clamp in the handpieces.  They actually have less sideplay than the $50 Foredom (no motor included) hand pieces, but for a lot of work the $135-$150 Foredom 25 continuous duty handpiece would be better because it has bigger bearings and sideplay down around .0015.  

If you are hogging out larger lettering in wood then the cheapest thing that's halfway decent is probably a Makita Router and your own mounting bracket.  Thei trim router turns about 28,000 RPM.

158

General Mach Discussion / High Priority Under XP (anybody know for sure if it helps)

« on: August 11, 2010, 06:25:22 PM »

I have done a couple thing since, but this did seem to help yesterday before I made several other changes.  

Execute Mach 3 with High Priorty instead of Normal Priority under Windows XP.  

With Mach 3 running:
You can open the task manager right click Mach 3 and select go to process.  Then right click the process and select prioty then high.  I was cautioned against selecting real time as it may take over the system resources to the point it may be slow or even fail to accept input from devices like the keyboard.  

To load Mach 3 with High Priority Automatically:
Right click the shortcut you use to Mach 3 and select properties.  In the Target field insert "cmd.exe /c start /high " infront of the rest of what you already have in that field.  

Now I plan to run Mach this way for a while to see how it performs, but I also just did a successful downgrade from SP3 to SP2 which I was told ran Mach 3 better with fewer problems.  I actually had an old copy of SP1 that I no longer have installed on any working computers.  Then I downloaded SP2 and upgraded, so don't go asking me about any magic tricks for downgrading.  I'ld have to Google it just like you would.  

If I still can't run 80K lines of code without a major walkabout in the wrong direction I'll be putting a non-integrated video card in next. 

159

General Mach Discussion / Re: Non-integrated Video Card with 32MB RAM

« on: August 11, 2010, 11:42:23 AM »

Ok thanks.  This machine is SP3.  I'll have to look into how how I can downgrade it to SP2.  Its getting harder and harder to find old original OSs like that legally. 

160

General Mach Discussion / Re: Non-integrated Video Card with 32MB RAM

« on: August 11, 2010, 11:19:39 AM »

Speaking of driver tests...  do you mean the program where you set the kernel speed 25K 35k etc and it shows a performance bar and a scope like graph?  When I do that on almost any speed when it first starts it says too slow or too fast, and then goes to green right in the middle of the scale.  Same on a speed change with it running.