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Author Topic: X-Axis Peck Drill in Turn?  (Read 5331 times)

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X-Axis Peck Drill in Turn?
« on: April 20, 2015, 02:32:16 PM »
I'm in the thinking phase of cobbling up a QC toolholder with drill motor for cross-drilling 4 #57 holes in some small parts I make from time to time on my ORAC.

Presently I do the lathe ops, mount the part in a square collet block & drill the holes using the mill at the highest speed.  If I can rig a small high speed motor in the QCTP & manually index/lock the spindle the drilling could be done under CNC control.

Is there a way to make the X-axis do peck drilling without a computer science degree?
Milton from Tennessee ya'll.

Offline Hood

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Re: X-Axis Peck Drill in Turn?
« Reply #1 on: April 20, 2015, 04:22:09 PM »
Don't think Turn supports pecking in X, should be easy enough to hand code though, write the first few lines of code then copy and paste with new X values.
Hood
Re: X-Axis Peck Drill in Turn?
« Reply #2 on: April 20, 2015, 05:18:12 PM »
I did some searching & found an old post with ref to a macro by "melee" that did X pecking in turn but was way over my head and I think it was for multiple locations??  I confuse myself very easily.

When I do these parts, it's usually multiples of one part design so a bit of hand coding will do fine.  As always, thanks for the input. ;D
Milton from Tennessee ya'll.

Offline BR549

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Re: X-Axis Peck Drill in Turn?
« Reply #3 on: April 20, 2015, 06:31:36 PM »
Sub programming is the way to go.  Let me know if I can be of help.

(;-) TP

Offline RICH

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Re: X-Axis Peck Drill in Turn?
« Reply #4 on: April 20, 2015, 06:41:05 PM »
DICKEYBIRD,

Here is a link to the lathe macro. One is for the mill and one is for lathe.
There is a read me file for each and just take your time as it is not that difficult to do.
 http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,15205.msg101682.html#msg101682

I have used the lathe macro to peck drill small holes ( like 0.013") on the lathe so I know it works. The macro also allows one to drill holes offset from the lathe center line. Of course you need to use live tooling. Now if you have a band on the holding device, my chuck has a band providing indexing to 5 MOA, the you can drill all kinds of patterns on the face of the work.If you want to drill in the X direction then you need to play with the gcode by manipulating the x &Z axis using an editor. You also need to lock the spindle from turning.

Is nice for small parts where accuracy is required along with no need to re-setup on a mill to drill holes.
Same goes for milling small slots or what ever on the turned part while still mounted in the lathe.

RICH
Re: X-Axis Peck Drill in Turn?
« Reply #5 on: April 20, 2015, 09:15:52 PM »
Thanks gentlemen for the info & offer to help.  I'm still in the rummaging around phase at the moment; for both parts & knowledge.  Thanks to ya'll, the knowledge part is taken care of; the rest is up to me.

I found a brand new Astro Cobalt 020 motor left over from my r/c airplane days.  Pretty hot stuff way back before lipos & brushless motors.  It's got a machined aluminum can and endbells with good quality ball-bearings on both ends.  It has adjustable timing & will do the 18K I need with ease & should last forever doing the short run times I'd use it for.  Should be able to mount it on an AXA holder, spend some time getting it dead on center & the offsets saved in the tool table.  Should be able to machine an adapter reamed on one end to fit the 1/8" motor shaft (setscrew to hold it on) and drilled on the other end with the drill loctited in place.  With a quality #53 drill & the correct speed & feed programmed, it should last longer than I'll ever need.  That's assuming I don't drop it!
Milton from Tennessee ya'll.

Offline RICH

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Re: X-Axis Peck Drill in Turn?
« Reply #6 on: April 20, 2015, 09:31:56 PM »
Just some things I made over time to use with the small lathe. May want to have a look at reply #32 in the link:

http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,12484.msg82289.html#msg82289

You can buy hand pieces for flex shaft grinders. I bought two, one with chuck and another with collets for  Grizzly
18,000 rpm flex grinder. They can be taken apart and any play can be removed rather easily. Having play when using small drills is not good at the high speeds as you can't peck right or dwell to let the drill spot itself. The handles were a lot less
than say Foredom and frankly think they were better. Good grief I have a collection of them.... ::)

Just a tip...don't buy cheap small drills ie; #60 to #90.
FWIW,
RICH
« Last Edit: April 20, 2015, 09:34:54 PM by RICH »

Offline BR549

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Re: X-Axis Peck Drill in Turn?
« Reply #7 on: April 20, 2015, 10:32:12 PM »
With a little trickery you COULD use the Canned drill cycles .

 ;D

Just a thought, (;-) TP
Re: X-Axis Peck Drill in Turn?
« Reply #8 on: April 24, 2015, 04:19:36 PM »
Woke up thinking about this today...I know, I know; things usually go tango uniform when I think too much.

The "OD Groove" wizard in the standard Lathe Turning Wizards page already has all the pecking, depths, etc. needed for X-axis drilling but the "Groove Width, "Tool Width" & "Stepover %" input boxes screw things up.  I tried but wasn't able to cheat the box inputs to get it to work.  Would it be a huge VB editing job to kill those boxes and still have the needed inputs working?  Like my Pappy used to say: "Shouldn't be a hill for a stepper, son."
Milton from Tennessee ya'll.

Offline BR549

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Re: X-Axis Peck Drill in Turn?
« Reply #9 on: April 24, 2015, 05:54:12 PM »
Here you do it (;-)

Open the wizard.

Open Edit button script

select the flashing button "Post Code"

Comment out these lines.

'If Width < CheckSize Then
'setTicker 20, "****** Tool too big for width ******"
'Exit Sub
'End If


'If Clearance = 0 Then
'    setTicker 20, "**************Clearance = 0*************"
'Exit Sub
'End If


'If FinishCut = 0 Then
   ' setTicker 20, "************** Finish Cut = 0 *************"
'Exit Sub
'End If

'If FinishFeed = 0 Then
   ' setTicker 20, "************** Finish Feed = 0 *************"
'Exit Sub
'End If

Save the File then restart the wizard.  It should do what you want. Double check the code.

(;-) TP