Messages

71

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

« on: December 16, 2010, 02:09:08 AM »

Got the draw fronts folded up today, isnt this project really starting to come along?
Why is the middle one missing, was just to tight, need to spend a bit more time making it fit.

72

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: 1987 Bridgeport Production Center Interact 412 to Mach3 Conversion

« on: December 15, 2010, 02:41:09 PM »

And he even post's the code, spectacular!

73

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

« on: December 15, 2010, 02:28:40 PM »

4000RPM is max for my machine, according to the documentation 0.02-0.08 (mm/rev) is does suggest a S speed of between 5000-20000 RPM, what do you run yours at?

74

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

« on: December 14, 2010, 06:38:57 AM »

I got my Nine9 Engraving tool in the mail about a week back, my mill has been out of auction so i havnt had the change to have a play.

Here is the tool:



My first time engraving so ran it real slow and easy:

F100 X&Y F50 Z



got sick of waiting for it, F200 X&Y F100 Z



lessons learned:
Work must be perfectly flat, not easy on super thin material, any lifting causes the cutter to got a little to deep and the lines get thick fast.
Must use lube! i just gave this a blast with CRC it really helped.

Problems:
The carbide has chipped (red arrows) ( $50US per insert) and i don't know why, there are wear marks on the shaft (white) and i dont know why. i watched the entire job and the shaft and cutter never cam in contact with anything, its got me puzzled.

75

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

« on: December 14, 2010, 12:22:01 AM »

My ball screws turned up the short one 350mm is only 15.2mm not the described 16mm so the nut that i ground for the x slide don't fit

Nothing quite like waiting 4 weeks for a part that don't fit.

Ive had a hard couple of days at work so haven't had time to work on the lathe, hoping to get more time on Thursday.

76

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

« on: December 10, 2010, 10:54:01 PM »

Progress, this is a cover just to hide the chip bin and Vector drive etc, shes a real tight fit:





The rest of the day was spent fitting the draws:



I love the way the sliders extend the draws way out:



I still have the top two to fit, i will have to order 2 more sliders though as i added one extra draw.

77

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

« on: December 10, 2010, 05:30:21 AM »

You know ginsu's knives were crap, How about something with Vortex in it?

78

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

« on: December 10, 2010, 04:09:59 AM »

Spent the day folding and welding my draws up, this sort of thing is really easy to get wrong, 2mm to wide and the draw wont fit, 2mm to small and it wont roll on the slides nicely, time will tell if I have it right.





I dont want to cut, fold and attach the fronts untill i know exactly what size to make them. Its Saturday tomorrow (here) my goal is to get all six draws on the rails and rolling ready to measure up the fronts.

Update:
Electronics, almost all done.
Motor mounts, not happy with them, am going to redo them.
Ball screws, have not turned up yet

I'm trying to think up a good name / model number or something for the machine as i'm going to get some blue pin stripes and logos cut from vinyl, any suggestions are welcome. i was thinking something like HMC-2000 (horizontal machining center) and the 2000 comes from the world famous ginsu knives that can cut through a lead pipe and a shoe!

79

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

« on: December 08, 2010, 03:26:55 AM »

I spent another day working on the control box, i have been resisting writing this post however as it is a blog if my opinion changes i will just post again.

The C32 Board from CNC4PC $186
http://www.cnc4pc.com/Store/osc/product_info.php?products_id=255
combined with Smooth Stepper $165
http://www.cnc4pc.com/Store/osc/product_info.php?cPath=51&products_id=185

Don't forget there was a lot of contemplation over this choice versus the Gecko G100 Grex (dont even bother looking for it on Geckos site it is a discontinued model only available to people who already own em).

G100:
Ethernet connection
full 6 axis control
16 digital inputs
4 analogue inputs
16 digital outputs
4 analogue outputs
Built in watch dog/charge pump
Price $399

Pros: Very clear layout, IP addressable
Cons: No longer supported, difficult to firmware flash (for most) 

C32
USB (via the SS board)
Full 4 axis control with partial 6 axis control
1 analogue output with scalable voltage control (spindle)
3 on board relays
16 inputs
10 outputs (plus an additional 8 used for axis control in 4 axis mode 2 per axis)
smart circut for Geckos
Pendant connection
Built in watch dog/charge pump
Thorough opto isolation
Price $351 (inc SS)

Pros: Simple on board RJ45 connectors, plug and play pendant,
Cons: Complex to wire for power but thorough, no analogue inputs

Would i buy one again......well thats the $25M question, I would have to say that if the G100 was still being developed there would be no question about it i would buy the Grex, however it is not.........the Jury is still out, ill let you know once i have wired all of the I/O's

Finally i can say that Arturo (CNC4PC) provides excellent email support and that for me is a good reason to continue to buy his other products.

80

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

« on: December 08, 2010, 02:49:46 AM »

I have the resistors in place thanks Dan, its my first time using steppers, my servo machine doesn't get hot at all.