Chip Tray Finished

Finally finished my steel chip tray.

Took the mill apart and started building an enclosure today.  The rest of the needed steel should arrive Tuesday.

General Update

Hi Followers,

It's been a length of time since you have last seen me combine letters on a keyboard.  Well i'm here to tell you the mill learning operation going well.  I pocketed, contoured, chamfered, drilled and tapped my first actual part.  I also broke an end-mill by smacking a clamp, good times.

Here is a video of my first ever drilled holes.

Here is a picture of my first ever part.

Eventually these skills will be applied to building a working model roller coaster. Woohoo.

Prototype!

Just finished making my first ever CNC part.

Soon I will cut this out of aluminum to produce the final product.

Turner's Cube and New Band-Saw

Got to milling a turner's cube last night.  Still learning the basics of G-code and whatnot, but I think it turned out quite well.

Picked up this cheap harbor freight China crap band-saw.  It does the job. Not well.  But it does the job of making something long much shorter for as cheap a price as possible.   I'm all about cheap and functional. To improve it's performance I added flood coolant system using a 5 dollar aquarium pump, polyline and a cheap lock-line orifice.  Video of the band-saw is below.

Also picked up a Harbor Freight tool cart for cheap.  I'll finally be able to organize my tools.

Flood Coolant Stepper Covers

Flood coolant is fully operational without leaks.

I was able to produce some stepper motor covers using left over acrylic from the chip tray.  By heating the plastic to melting temperature and bending it over a 4x4 I found lying in the corner I created some also wholesome covers. Sweet.

G0704 First Part!

Got my flood control working last night.

Tested my MasterCAM skills on some pine.  Got daring and tried my first run at 6061 aluminum.  Here are the results,

And here is a video of the first test cut,

These will be filter mounting brackets for a friends Ford Bronco Engine build.  Far from a model coaster, but i'm leaning.  Learning how to be a machinist is similar to learning a new language.  Learn the basics.  Then learn how to compile the basics into masterful skills.

One problem with the first test part is that the dimensions are not accurate.  I called for a 2.000" opening.  I received a 1.960" opening for both the wood and aluminum test piece.

I must recheck head tram for more accurate machining.  If that does not fix the problem, I'm clueless. As I should be. Noob. Gosh I hate newbs.  It's possible the stepper motors are skipping steps.  I might play with the settings to see if they make a difference.

MJ

Chip Tray!

My morning was full of excitement.  I spent a couple hours planning and mocking up a chip tray to catch the flood and chips.   I'm going to use some kind of Lexan, Plexiglas, or acrylic structure.  I'm looking to keep the tray completely transparent so I can always monitor what is going on.

In other news, I made my first cuts under CNC control!  Started messing around with some wood.  It's cheap and if I crash it I doubt it would be as bad as a steel or aluminum roadblock

Later dudes.

Flood Coolant 2

Got the basic components of my flood coolant system rigged up tonight.  Sweet.  The next step requires design of an enclosure to capture the flood.  I would like to build the chip tray out of clear acrylic.  That would look badass.

G0704 Motor Spindle Control

Busted out the multi-meter and started poking around the inner workings of the G0704 DC motor drive.  

I was able to identify three pins called P1, P2 and P3 that can be tapped to control spindle speed from Mach3 using the MX3660 breakout board.

Basically I need to pull power from pin P3, ground P1 and reference P2.  The reference voltage supplied at P2 from the variable range output 0 to 10volts (or max supplied voltage) of the MX3660 is what controls the speed of the spindle.  The monster is alive! 

To control this spindle to be on or off I need to use a relay.  Since the MX3660 has 4 outputs each supplying 24volts at a max of 70ma of power I decided to order this already assembled relay board.  Free trial of amazon prime? Yes please.  Three dollar next day shipping? Yes please.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IRU0NUC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

more to come later dudes

Ordering Metals

Hey Y'all-

   It has been a while since I made a blog post.  This morning I ordered some 6061 aluminum to begin milling my first parts.  I got a request from a friend to produce some hose clamps for a Ford Bronco engine build.

FYI these two distributors are the best I've ordered from;

www.midwestmetalwarehouse.com or www.speedymetals.com

Midwest metal is slightly cheaper.  Check the ebay store for drops.  Sometimes you can find a steal.

Pictures to come.  After learning the operations of MasterCAM, intricacies of the Mach3 controller and cutting limitation of my G0704 mill I should be well equipped to begin designing a tiny coaster car!

Additionally I've been shopping for a 70 1/2" fine tooth band saw blade to upgrade my crappy craftsman band saw.  10 TPI should suffice.

Matt

MasterCam V6

It's been a while since I made a blog post.  Work has been crazy, but tonight I was able to get my hands on a copy of MasterCAM V6.  I hope to start learning the basics of G code to start controlling my machine.

Today I learned some code lines...let's test my memory:

Line number: N00
Homing: G28
Spindle On: M3
Absolute Coordinates: G90
Relative Coordinates: G91
Rapid Move: G00 X Y Z
Linear Line Move: G01 X Y Z F (feed rate)
Clockwise Arc: G02 X Y I J F
Counterclockwise Arc: G03 X Y I J F

hmmm thats all I can recall.  Much more learning to do. Stay tuned.

Backlash and First Part

I checked the X-axis backlash.  From my measurements I am getting .002 on the X-axis.  I have set this value in Mach3 for backlash compensation.  I;m quite impressed how accurate Mach3 compensates for the slop.  Below is a photo of my backlash testing setup.

I continued to tram the mill and made my first part.  Boy was it awful.  I threw it away. But I've learned many lessons in that short hour of mistakes.  The piece was supposed to be a mount for my X-axis limit and home switch.  It turns out it will not meet my needs.  Having the limit switch mounted horizontal proved to hinder the movement of the trigger arm in both direction because it hit the table.  I was able to turn the trigger arm around to face the back of the switch by loosening the four top screws.  By mounting the switch vertical I was able to achieve my goal of having one switch for both limits of X-axis travel.

I now have homing capability on the X-axis. Tomorrow I will tackle creating a mount for the Z-axis home.  Y will be the most difficult, i'm not looking forward to that.

Motion!

Today was a pretty exciting day.  I moved my computer and controller equipment out into the shop and wired everything up.

Motion now happens on the X and Y axis!  I'm waiting on a coupling from Mcmastercarr to finish the Z-axis assembly.

I've also began experimenting with my limit and home switch setup.  I have the switches arranged in parallel using the normally open (NO) circuitry option.  This allows activation of the limit stop in Mach3 no matter which limit switch is activated.  More importantly this wiring option only uses 1 input of the MX3660.  Which is advantageous because later on those extra inputs could be useful for other operations such as probing or an automatic tool changer.

I noticed the ball screw steel block on the original mill is a perfect size to adapted into a mount for the X-axis limit switch.  When the first chips are produced, this will be the first stock the G0704 biting.

Flood Coolant

Picked up a small 12volt utility water pump from Harbor Freight, $39 on sale.  A bucket test has proven promising for decent flood coolant flow rate.  From what I've read you want flood coolant to surge with enough pressure to wash the chips free from the cutter.  I've got some idea's for coolant collection, I believe a late-night trip to Walmart is brewing.

50psi and 300gph should absolutely do the trick.. Great buy.

I've also got my X and Y stepper motors going mounted and ready to be wired.  Unfortunately I mistakenly ordered Oldham style couplings that came up too short for the stepper shaft length.  I did some improvising with parts I had lying around.  The connection is very transitionally stiff. I do not see the extra extension affecting my backlash numbers, if at all.

Cleaned the shop floor tonight also.  It's looking shiny.

CNC Stepper Mounts

Tonight I spent some time installing the BDtools conversion mounts to each axis.  I placed an order for oldham style couplers from McMastercar earlier this morning. I needed 2 - 3/8" shaft connectors for the Nema 23 motors and 1 - 1/2" connector for the z-axis Nema 34. The part number at McMaster is 59985K3. I chose the acetal disc versus the nylon option for additional rotational stiffness. Hopefully this will pay off with reduced backlash numbers.

Below is a photo of the mill waiting patiently for it's steppers.

Grizzly's lawyers will hate me, but this shield had to go.  It wasn't much of a mystery to disable this "safety feature". Remove the shield and jump the blue and brown wires. Bingo.

I'm contemplating removing the quill for additional z-axis rigidity.  With full mobility in the z-axis by stepper control, I do not see a need for the quill anymore.

Stepper Motors

I was able to get my stepper motors turning today.  Ordering some couplings tonight, they should be on the mill soon.

I will be using Nema 23 570 oz steppers for the X and Y.  The z axis will be a Nema 34 906 oz.  All motors were purchased from automation technologies.

I also put some work into mounting the X and Y axis ballscrews.  Below are some photos of the operation.  Took quite a bit more grinding than I expected to get the X axis not to bind up.  I had to remove some casting bumps from the bottom of the deck which was unexpected.  But considering the casting was made in China.....what should I expect. Go USA!

Mill laid to Rest

Cranked the tunes and cleaned up the 'to be shop' a bit tonight.  It was a challenge moving the mill into its new home.  Below is a photo of the mill in its final resting place.  3/8" expansion anchors now hold it to the concrete pad.

Another box from Amazon came today.  The final pieces needed for the CNC conversion have arrived. Also, my Tormach Super Fly cutter also arrived by USPS.

Parallel Port

After countless minutes of researching I have decided to take a chance on downgrading my old desktop machine to run on windows XP.  Mach3 (CNC) the industry standard controller software appears to be most supported (by forum users) and stable running XP.

My original plan was to purchase a USB smooth stepper to control the MX3660 stepper motor drivers.  Budget is tight, so I'm taking a chance with this a PCI to LP1 card.  On cnczone it seems like a crap-shoot if it is going to work or not.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815124004

More Boxes

USA 2 Ghana 1, O yea.

Today UPS delivered some more boxes.  What's in the boxes;

• 4" Vise from Glacern Machine Tools
• new 16mm ball screws for the X and Y axis
• new 20mm ball screw for the Z axis
• CNC mounting kit from BDtools for the G0704
• 2 - Nema 23 Stepper Motors
• 1 - Nema 34 Stepper Motor
• Digital MX3660 driver
• Power supply

I need to look into cabling and a PCI LP1 card.  Gosh can you even find a computer with a parallel port anymore....grrrrrr.

New Box

A shipment from MSC was on my step today. Woo!

Look like I got some end mills, taps and things that turn. Since I will only be milling aluminum and wood I opted for HSS type end mills.  At this moment I ordered a basic R8 collet set to get me started machining.  In the future I hope to lathe my own TTS style holders.

Coaster Cars

This morning I have begun thinking about the design of the coaster cars.  My overall vision is to produce a lifelike replica using aluminum for the frame and general structure outline.  Roller bearings will be used for the wheels.  Again aluminum will be used for the chassis.

I plan to use SolidWorks to model the cars in 3D before starting construction.  Without plans how will I know how to build them?  I've ridden plenty of coasters to understand the working mechanics of a wooden coaster car, but scaling the pieces without physically measuring each piece is going to be a challenge.  The best solution to this problem is to collect as many photos of actual coaster cars as possible.  Ideally I need a shot of a wooden car from the side, elevation view.  I've found some perfect photos randomly online, Bingo!

I will assume the gutter depth in the above photo is 5 1/2".  From this assumption I can scale relatively the dimensions of everything else to real-life measurements.

From these photos I will be able to scale off relative dimensions of the coaster car to reasonable accuracy. I'm sure my creative mind will add a bit of design beauty and originality to my model car.

Past Photos - Year 2000!

Tonight I uncovered some photos out of a dusty box.  This was my first attempt at building a working model coaster.  Go ahead. Laugh it up. Ha.

I believe I started by creating a huge sheet of paper from a shit ton of 8 1/2 x 11 sheets taped together.  I know, genius. I traced out my track design by what felt good, then the build began!

Creation of the train station.

I believe I was using HO scale model railroad brass for rails.  If I remember correctly I had challenges of bending the track to match my needed curves and dips.

Haha. Anyone remember the first K'nex roller-coaster......again Genius!

Looks like I was more interested in painting the structure than I was finishing it or having it work!

Nice bents.  Not sure why there is a drumstick on the table.

Gosh I'm glad this got torn down. It's horrid!