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141

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: AL54b (lathe) project from New Zealand

« on: November 08, 2010, 03:34:21 AM »

One really good thing about the AL54b is that it has Tee slots in the slide, this is for the optional milling vice, tool goes in the spindle vice gives you an Y axis and away you go. I've quickly grown tires of using the cruddy 12mm tooling inspite of only having used the lathe 3 or 4 times so i decided to build an adapter plate for my giant sized 20mm quick change tool post.



The black block comes with the tool post it has only one hole in the center for the main shaft.
Another shot:




I figured that now was as good a time as any to begin the process of replacing the lead screw with a ball screw. The one in the machine is 12mm the one I have is 16mm as well as the nut being id say twice the size, its going to take a bit of work but I think if i can mill a little out of the slide as well as grind the nut i should be able to fit it in there.

142

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: AL54b (lathe) project from New Zealand

« on: November 07, 2010, 04:55:31 PM »

Thanks JH, your machine is awesome, I cant wait to get one!

So after much consideration I have decided to use steppers, The mill I retro'd uses servos they are fast powerful but expensive, I have never used steppers before and i am keen to have a play, I also have a considerable size restriction on my X axis so the smaller footprint of the steppers should help with this. I guess no self respecting lathe tinkerer could sleep soundly at night with out a tool turret so again step motors due to size would be used, I figure i may as well make em all step motors.

I'm a huge fan of the G100 Grex by Gecko it was a pretty major flop due to as I understand it how hard it is to make the initial connection (its not that hard to be honest), anyways I already own two of them and they run great i came really close to ordering a third for this project but after many sleepless nights finally settled on a C32 (www.cnc4pc.com) and smooth stepper (www.warp9td.com) combo. I hate the idea of using anything with a parallel port as in my professional opinion it should be punishable with death to have manufactured a computer with a parallel port in the last 10 years.
The reason i settled on this combo came down to support, both boards carry excellent support both from the manufacturers as well as users that an people are always finding new ways to make them sing, the Grex as good as it is is just not being used by anyone who's writing online about it.
G201
Drivers: I own a bunch of G320's they work great, the G251's are cheap and if they are half as good as the G201's are then its a no brainer. I have ordered 5 of them again more spare parts for other projects.

143

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: AL54b (lathe) project from New Zealand

« on: November 07, 2010, 02:26:54 PM »

Thanks hood.

Here is another view from the front, you can see that i have 3 pulley sizes to choose from. That is the new mill stand on the side there, figured i may as well do two of everything to save me a bit of money.



This is the problem with a working machine the project slows down so that you can use it to finnish other projects, "nice pile o crap you got there" .
Note the quick change 200l post on the ply, i am already sick of the dinky litlle 12mm tooling, although im thinking i might have got a little carried away with the new BIGGER tool post.

144

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: AL54b (lathe) project from New Zealand

« on: November 07, 2010, 06:12:46 AM »

I have I hope come up with a suitable solution for the chip bin:



Now guys a couple of things yes the bin is warped from the heat of welding - its a bin so it don't matter. Yes i would have preferred that it wasn't warped but i have never worked with sheet metal before and i didn't know that it would warp that easy.
I have used slide rails to attach it to the underside of the coolant try so it slides in and out beautifully and comes to a stop right under the coolant try. The rails have catches on the sides so that you can take the bin right out of the machine to empty it, ill bolt on a rear handle to assist with this as well.

Re; coolant extraction, i have simply put a drain hole in the corner and tig'd some mesh which holds a piece of  scotch bright in there the idea being that this will separate the bulk of the chips and other solids from the coolant, the coolant tank will also have a finer screen to get out any of the fines that make it through.

just above the 3 jaw you can see the edge of the coolant tank, i decided to keep the tank i had but extended it to firstly increase the amount of fluid available (i plan on pouring the stuff on) and second i ant never going back there for anything so i may as well use the space up with something.

Colour choice (NZ spelling), i decided to go with an off white inspired by JHChoppers build http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,13365.0.html as well as Dave Decaussins little lathe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UubzocrQ1ew&feature=player_embedded#! found his link through www.cnccookbook.com - your the man Bob!
Obviously its still early days but i absolutely love the colour, im thinking some dark blue pin stripes and logos will really set the thing off.

You may also notice I have the bottom and an internal wall (you can't see it) in the cabinet as well, I'm thinking a set of 4 or 5 draws on the size for the chucks and tooling.
I had the main power switch on my mill towards the back and boy is it a pain to have to reach back there to shut things off this time i got things up close and smack bang in the center if the thing its much better.

I have only used the lathe a few times but I feel like it should have a lot more toque than it does for such a big motor. My tooling is only the standard crappy 12mm stuff (1/2" for the metric impaired) but I am only able to take .5mm cuts before i feel like i will stall the machine i want to be taking 5mm not .5mm passes. 

145

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: AL54b (lathe) project from New Zealand

« on: November 07, 2010, 05:40:04 AM »

Good news the VSDs have arrived, I ordered 2x 3hp single phase to 3ph Hyundai N50 from driveswarehouse.com sesorless vector drives $250 US each (one for the mill one for the lathe) i figured one day i might like to go to a 3hp motor and for the few extra dollars it cost to go to the 3hp driver why not.
I have to say i am very happy with the drivers, they are more like computers than PLC's or at least the ones i worked on in the past. The go up to 400hz the guys recommend a maximum of 80hz for my motor (240v 50hz is NZ standard). I have one all wired up an spinning that little machine silly.

I do have 415v 3 phase power in the workshop but wanted the vsd for spindle control and ordered it in single phase as I am likely to move into a new place soon and will not likely have 3ph power.

Very happy, time to make chips!

146

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: AL54b (lathe) project from New Zealand

« on: November 07, 2010, 05:27:03 AM »

I've made really good progress, I had my brother back over for dinner (can you give me a hand to move something) and so have the lathe re mounted, also have 3 of the 4 sides covered, the front and rear doors cut and folded  and i also got a coolant try folded up for the mill as well (see it there in the back of the pic, a ZAY45 mill was my first cnc project).

The 19" rack system:
I worked as a roadie for 15 years and really came to appreciate having a standardized modular system. Now that I work in computers I appreciate the same 19" rack mounting system that has been scaled out for servers. id have to say the computer guys have an even better way of dealing with the masses of cables than the roadies do.
Anyway I built the cabinet on the same 19" rack mount system, i don't yet know if this was a good or bad thing but time will tell.

Below: the rear rack door folded and positioned ready to figure out if my hinging system is going to work out the way i thought it would. Also shows a good view of the new motor

147

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: AL54b (lathe) project from New Zealand

« on: November 07, 2010, 05:04:40 AM »

So you went to bed last night having a quick look on the forums before bed (like a good addict) and today wham a new machine build and boy is he fast!
Not quite I've been working on this machine for id say 3 months, I run my own business (that has nothing to do with metal anything) and have four children with the oldest being 5 so there is not a lot of time for CNC projects. I didnt want to start the blog until i had a fair bit done that way it wouldn't be another one of those fly by night new machine builds. Anyway enjoy.

148

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: AL54b (lathe) project from New Zealand

« on: November 07, 2010, 04:58:47 AM »

Another thing id do different is to build the frame around the sheet rather than the sheet around the frame, the sheet is all cut on a laser so its dead square this would have really helped along the way with the frame assembling.

149

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: AL54b (lathe) project from New Zealand

« on: November 07, 2010, 04:56:32 AM »

So it seems that I'm going to fully enclose both the top and the bottom of the machine thanks to Bobs blog  (www.cnccookbook.com) staring Dave Decaussin from fadal, both of his machines are oh so sexy!

Pictures with both the back and one of the ends on, you can also see part of the coolant tank.







You'll see that i have also put holes in the sheet metal this was to assist with spot welding the sheet metal to the frame, in hind sight im not sure this was worth the trouble. The idea was that i would have no weld marks when i was done but welding it from the inside out would have achieved the same thing, live an learn.

150

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: AL54b (lathe) project from New Zealand

« on: November 07, 2010, 04:36:30 AM »

Wheels on machines is essential if you don't have forks especially if you run any woodworking equipment as the dust just goes every ware. i have learned however that you need to have wind down feed to both level the machine properly as well as have more of a stable footprint. I'm not sure where the feet will end up but they will be in there some ware.