Nice features TP !
This saw will primarily be for tubing/round stock.
The clamps will accept material 0.125" to 1.25" dia. X 5.5" wide (flat group of rounds) with no modification. All products fall within this range. The "Part Width" would not change here as all "groups" are nearly the same.
The feed mechanism HAS to be within +/- 0.001". Thats why I chose the ballscrew.
ROller feed, I understand but seems it would only work well cutting individual rounds with contoured rolls for each product, of which there are possibly 100. Not sure of the precision achieveable with the roller type feed either. ? ? Could it maintain this tolerance ?
My minds eye can not see how a R&P set up is continuous (like a roller). Please explain.
Part lengths vary from 0.500" to 30.000" of which there are well over 100. I like the tool table idea !
Keep in mind, some of the material is thin walled and quite fragile, clamp pressures are carefully adjusted for each run.
Could two horizontally mounted, vertically opposed feed rollers consistantly and accurately feen a flat group ? It would be EXCELLENT if this would work well WITHOUT having to change feed rolls for each stock OD. Rubber, or urethane covered rolls might be OK but they will be exposed to cutting fluid so they might become slick. Accel and decell is always an issue, especially whith heavier, longer stock.
The reason I wanted to retract the feed screw fully, then feed short parts incrementally was to wear the screw evenly from end to end.
Otherwise, several hundred thousand cycles in one spot ....you know.
I also think I have Mach3 and a PLC working together (in sim) with 1 macro and an OEM trigger. More on that later, maybe.
Thanks T,
Russ