Yes, Jeff. Whatever you say. I suspect the answer to this is going to be like your answer to 250IPM rapids for a Taig, but I am willing to play.
How much cutting force can it stand to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours?
How often do you lubricate the machine to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours?
What kind of lubricant do you use to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours?
What rapid speed, cutting speed, and acceleration do you set your machine at to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours?
What answer for all of the above questions at the same time allows you to stay within .001 for hundreds of hours?
And bear in mind I am not running that overweight chuck of lead Taig calls a spindle. I am running a spindle that turns 28000 RPM currently and making cuts in aluminum that a 28000 RPM spindle is capable of. Actually conservative cuts at that speed, but far above what the stock spindle is capable of.
If I could get the machine to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours (and not babying it at 10% of its "capacity") I would not even need backlash compensation.
Bear in mind that the roughing pass with much more aggressive (more cutting load) cuts seemed to cut beautifully, but the finish pass with very light cutting loads was the one that wandered out into left field.
In the long run if I continue to run this machine its going to get ball screws on all axis and probably a totally redesigned Z. The nuts, and screws have been recently replaced and were broken in from limit to limit for about 2 hours with grease (as recommended by Taig - the grease not the breakin). My typical job uses from 40-100% of the X and Y working envelope. Often parts use nearly 100% of both for the over all part, and about 60-90% for intensive machining. The gibbs are fine, and all the axis bearings were replaced when the screws were replaced. Since the axis bearings are just cheap Chinese skate bearings I am really impressed that you can keep your machine running at high rapids, and adjusted to under .001" for hundreds of hours just because of the bearings.
Yes, Jeff. Whatever you say. I suspect the answer to this is going to be like your answer to 250IPM rapids for a Taig, but I am willing to play.
How much cutting force can it stand to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours?
How often do you lubricate the machine to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours?
What kind of lubricant do you use to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours?
What rapid speed, cutting speed, and acceleration do you set your machine at to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours?
What answer for all of the above questions at the same time allows you to stay within .001 for hundreds of hours?
And bear in mind I am not running that overweight chuck of lead Taig calls a spindle. I am running a spindle that turns 28000 RPM currently and making cuts in aluminum that a 28000 RPM spindle is capable of. Actually conservative cuts at that speed, but far above what the stock spindle is capable of.
If I could get the machine to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours (and not babying it at 10% of its "capacity") I would not even need backlash compensation.
Bear in mind that the roughing pass with much more aggressive (more cutting load) cuts seemed to cut beautifully, but the finish pass with very light cutting loads was the one that wandered out into left field.
In the long run if I continue to run this machine its going to get ball screws on all axis and probably a totally redesigned Z. The nuts, and screws have been recently replaced and were broken in from limit to limit for about 2 hours with grease (as recommended by Taig - the grease not the breakin). My typical job uses from 40-100% of the X and Y working envelope. Often parts use nearly 100% of both for the over all part, and about 60-90% for intensive machining. The gibbs are fine, and all the axis bearings were replaced when the screws were replaced. Since the axis bearings are just cheap Chinese skate bearings I am really impressed that you can keep your machine running at high rapids, and adjusted to under .001" for hundreds of hours just because of the bearings.
Yes, Jeff. Whatever you say. I suspect the answer to this is going to be like your answer to 250IPM rapids for a Taig, but I am willing to play.
How much cutting force can it stand to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours?
How often do you lubricate the machine to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours?
What kind of lubricant do you use to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours?
What rapid speed, cutting speed, and acceleration do you set your machine at to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours?
What answer for all of the above questions at the same time allows you to stay within .001 for hundreds of hours?
And bear in mind I am not running that overweight chuck of lead Taig calls a spindle. I am running a spindle that turns 28000 RPM currently and making cuts in aluminum that a 28000 RPM spindle is capable of. Actually conservative cuts at that speed, but far above what the stock spindle is capable of.
If I could get the machine to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours (and not babying it at 10% of its "capacity") I would not even need backlash compensation.
Bear in mind that the roughing pass with much more aggressive (more cutting load) cuts seemed to cut beautifully, but the finish pass with very light cutting loads was the one that wandered out into left field.
In the long run if I continue to run this machine its going to get ball screws on all axis and probably a totally redesigned Z. The nuts, and screws have been recently replaced and were broken in from limit to limit for about 2 hours with grease (as recommended by Taig - the grease not the breakin). My typical job uses from 40-100% of the X and Y working envelope. Often parts use nearly 100% of both for the over all part, and about 60-90% for intensive machining. The gibbs are fine, and all the axis bearings were replaced when the screws were replaced. Since the axis bearings are just cheap Chinese skate bearings I am really impressed that you can keep your machine running at high rapids, and adjusted to under .001" for hundreds of hours just because of the bearings.
Yes, Jeff. Whatever you say. I suspect the answer to this is going to be like your answer to 250IPM rapids for a Taig, but I am willing to play.
How much cutting force can it stand to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours?
How often do you lubricate the machine to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours?
What kind of lubricant do you use to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours?
What rapid speed, cutting speed, and acceleration do you set your machine at to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours?
What answer for all of the above questions at the same time allows you to stay within .001 for hundreds of hours?
And bear in mind I am not running that overweight chuck of lead Taig calls a spindle. I am running a spindle that turns 28000 RPM currently and making cuts in aluminum that a 28000 RPM spindle is capable of. Actually conservative cuts at that speed, but far above what the stock spindle is capable of.
If I could get the machine to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours (and not babying it at 10% of its "capacity") I would not even need backlash compensation.
Bear in mind that the roughing pass with much more aggressive (more cutting load) cuts seemed to cut beautifully, but the finish pass with very light cutting loads was the one that wandered out into left field.
In the long run if I continue to run this machine its going to get ball screws on all axis and probably a totally redesigned Z. The nuts, and screws have been recently replaced and were broken in from limit to limit for about 2 hours with grease (as recommended by Taig - the grease not the breakin). My typical job uses from 40-100% of the X and Y working envelope. Often parts use nearly 100% of both for the over all part, and about 60-90% for intensive machining. The gibbs are fine, and all the axis bearings were replaced when the screws were replaced. Since the axis bearings are just cheap Chinese skate bearings I am really impressed that you can keep your machine running at high rapids, and adjusted to under .001" for hundreds of hours just because of the bearings.
Yes, Jeff. Whatever you say. I suspect the answer to this is going to be like your answer to 250IPM rapids for a Taig, but I am willing to play.
How much cutting force can it stand to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours?
How often do you lubricate the machine to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours?
What kind of lubricant do you use to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours?
What rapid speed, cutting speed, and acceleration do you set your machine at to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours?
What answer for all of the above questions at the same time allows you to stay within .001 for hundreds of hours?
And bear in mind I am not running that overweight chuck of lead Taig calls a spindle. I am running a spindle that turns 28000 RPM currently and making cuts in aluminum that a 28000 RPM spindle is capable of. Actually conservative cuts at that speed, but far above what the stock spindle is capable of.
If I could get the machine to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours (and not babying it at 10% of its "capacity") I would not even need backlash compensation.
Bear in mind that the roughing pass with much more aggressive (more cutting load) cuts seemed to cut beautifully, but the finish pass with very light cutting loads was the one that wandered out into left field.
In the long run if I continue to run this machine its going to get ball screws on all axis and probably a totally redesigned Z. The nuts, and screws have been recently replaced and were broken in from limit to limit for about 2 hours with grease (as recommended by Taig - the grease not the breakin). My typical job uses from 40-100% of the X and Y working envelope. Often parts use nearly 100% of both for the over all part, and about 60-90% for intensive machining. The gibbs are fine, and all the axis bearings were replaced when the screws were replaced. Since the axis bearings are just cheap Chinese skate bearings I am really impressed that you can keep your machine running at high rapids, and adjusted to under .001" for hundreds of hours just because of the bearings.
Yes, Jeff. Whatever you say. I suspect the answer to this is going to be like your answer to 250IPM rapids for a Taig, but I am willing to play.
How much cutting force can it stand to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours?
How often do you lubricate the machine to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours?
What kind of lubricant do you use to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours?
What rapid speed, cutting speed, and acceleration do you set your machine at to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours?
What answer for all of the above questions at the same time allows you to stay within .001 for hundreds of hours?
And bear in mind I am not running that overweight chuck of lead Taig calls a spindle. I am running a spindle that turns 28000 RPM currently and making cuts in aluminum that a 28000 RPM spindle is capable of. Actually conservative cuts at that speed, but far above what the stock spindle is capable of.
If I could get the machine to stay within .001" for hundreds of hours (and not babying it at 10% of its "capacity") I would not even need backlash compensation.
Bear in mind that the roughing pass with much more aggressive (more cutting load) cuts seemed to cut beautifully, but the finish pass with very light cutting loads was the one that wandered out into left field.
In the long run if I continue to run this machine its going to get ball screws on all axis and probably a totally redesigned Z. The nuts, and screws have been recently replaced and were broken in from limit to limit for about 2 hours with grease (as recommended by Taig - the grease not the breakin). My typical job uses from 40-100% of the X and Y working envelope. Often parts use nearly 100% of both for the over all part, and about 60-90% for intensive machining. The gibbs are fine, and all the axis bearings were replaced when the screws were replaced. Since the axis bearings are just cheap Chinese skate bearings I am really impressed that you can keep your machine running at high rapids, and adjusted to under .001" for hundreds of hours just because of the bearings.
As to backlash.... it wasn't just a matter of eliminating backlash by software, but the fact that the cut drifted and continued to drift on every cut pass. The net result would have been satisfactory if turning backlash compensation on had not caused the machine to drift out of position. Every single cut pass was off from the previous one by a small amount. The cumulative loss of position was pretty bad. With backlash compensation turned off this does not happen.