Saturday 16 September 2006

Project - CNC Mill Final Assembly Part III

Part three of the final assembly - some of this will be familiar from the trial assembly.


In Part 2 we left off having the base assembled. Here we have installed the column, bolted on the rails and the head assembly along with the Z-Axis ballscrew.


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This shot shows the neoprene Gortite bellows fitted to the fore and aft of the table. You can also see some of the wiring done as well.


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Here we are starting to fit the Gortite belows to the Z-Axis.


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Here is a shot from underneath the table looking at the carriage. There will be a rail installed to carry the cables here an tidy this area up somewhat.


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Here is the finished machine without the spindle attached. The cowling over the top of the Z-Axis is 2mm thick aluminium sheeting and angle.


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Wednesday 23 August 2006

Project - CNC Mill Final Assembly Part II

Part two of the final assembly - some of this will be familiar from the trial assembly.


I want the machine enclosed and I don't want to have to pull it apart again if I can avoid it so I have machined some feet from steel and attached them to the bed. I have put bolt down holes only at the front since I do want to twist the bed when I bolt it down.


I brought the plastic tub from Bunnings (Oz equivalent of Home Depot) and cut out the front to clear the various bits. The intention is to build on this tub, it is quite stout, and enclose the mill later on down the track.


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Bed in position. You'll notice that I have primed this as well and given it a topcoat of machinery grey.


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Column base mounted. As mentioned before, the 3 cap screws (10mm) can be loosened to allow the part to tilt forward and back thereby allowing me to align the colum to the table.


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X-Y assembly mounted with the aid of about a million M4x16mm SHCS. The chuck on the Y-Axis screw allows me to turn it by hand.


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The addition of the motor mounts concludes this part of the assembly.


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Thursday 1 June 2006

Project - CNC Mill Final Assembly Part I

Part one of the final assembly - some of this will be familiar from the trial assembly.



I have primed the non critical surfaces with red-oxide metal primer to protect them from rust - here we see the carriage ready to have the rails re-mounted.


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Carriage with the rails mounted ready to be mounted and aligned to the table. Notice the 3 holes in the front of the carriage for attaching the way covers.


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Carriage mounted and aligned.


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X-Y assembly almost complete. I still have to make the passive bearing for the X leadscrew, but it is non-critical and will be one of the first projects made on the mill.


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Monday 20 March 2006

Project - CNC Mill Full Trial Assembly

This is the full trial assembly of the mill to date. A few things to note:



  • I still have machining to do, for example the holes for mounting the swarf guarding and limit switches need to be drilled and tapped. I need to disassemble to perform this machining because I don't want cast iron dust in the linear guides or ballscrews.


  • I intend to paint all the bare cast iron, as you can see from some of the shots on this page, there is already a red tinge to some of the parts.


  • The motors are all wired in to the controller and everything moves - I have not done much in the way of tuning yet (I will post a video as soon as I have one)


  • I have also done no serious work on alignment or testing accuracy I will do this on final assembly


Here is the current the progress shot. You can see:



  • The plates for mounting the swarf guarding in the process of being cut


  • The GoreTex swarf guarding itself sitting on the table


  • The motors are all connected and working


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My #1 helper giving directions :-)


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Close-up of X/Y carriage plate showing motor/bearing arrangement


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Another close-up showing X and Y motor mounts.


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Close-up of Z axis spindle mounting plate. You can see the red tinge blooming even after brushing on a coat of oil every so often. Fresh ground cast iron and oxygen don't mix.


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Sunday 19 March 2006

Project - Ball Turning Tool

A bit like a boring head, this ball turner goes in the QCTP on the lathe.


http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5139/5541856287_e5cbdd2e76.jpg

Saturday 18 March 2006

Seig X3 Mill Evolutions

Some updated pics of my Sieg X3 Mill.


Front view showing DRO mounted and neoprene rubber swarf guarding. I bought the DRO to do the CNC Mill project - once you are used to using a DRO you never want to go back.


http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5096/5541849215_069e710489.jpg


Side view showing mount for DRO readout.


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Under the table view showing swarf shields for X and Y axis scales.


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Rear view showing swarf guards. You can also see the shims used to bring the column into truth.


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7x14 MiniLathe Evolutions

....(or "from a sow's ear comes a silk purse...")


Picture from the rear showing:



  • The taper attachment - the bronze block rides on the shaft and the slotted plate is attached to the crossslide. The screw feed on the crossslide is disengaged and as the carriage moves so does the crossslide according to the angle set.

  • The cam-lock tailstock mod that I did

  • The 3 T-slots at the rear of the new crosslide


http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5131/5541844117_73401f52dd.jpg


Top view of the new crossslide showing:



    T-Slots
  • New compound slide

  • the lever (between the bed shears) for the cam carriage lock

  • The dial indicator attachement for reading out crossslide travel

  • Quick Change tool post

  • Carriage stop


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View from the other side showing tool holder for QCTP.


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Friday 10 March 2006

Project - Offset Boring Head

This is an offset boring head (half finished). It is 1 1/2 inches in diameter and made of steel. It has a 3/4-16 thread and register to fit the Taig spindle, and a 40 TPI feed screw.
I still need to drill and bore the bottom half for the boring bits and graduate the feed screw dial.


You can see a screw missing from the keep plate on the front - I broke a tap behind the hole and have since repaired it by grinding and driving out the remains of the tap and plugging the hole with a piece of stock press fit into the body. This will be drilled and tapped later on.


http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5177/5541854289_2f1662e5f0.jpg