SMW Shop / My NEW Hobby

[BigSki]

Your CNC conversion has turned the mill into a single tool turning center!

[rob_b]

It will certainly be nice to have rotary options with the mill now.

The bottom of a CLEAN carriage! Just like bolting a stock set of bergs together, needs some upgrades to bring out it's full potential.




Z axis is very smoooooth...

[rob_b]

Just noticed the that's is been almost 11 years since I tried to pull a wheelie out of a hot tub in Moab. Didn't fare to well, I kept the only straight-ish panel. Lol, how time flies.

[C*H*U*D]

Originally Posted by rob_b

The bottom of a CLEAN carriage! Just like bolting a stock set of bergs together, needs some upgrades to bring out it's full potential.

This is what I've been waiting for

[Ammo Troop]

Rob, That's amazing. As a newbie, I'm just trying to figure how to put the stock parts together. I'm looking forward to following the fabrication post. You do need a bigger shop. The house next door has a huge shop.

Ammo Troop

[rob_b]

Merry Christmas! I got myself a working lathe. All the motions are very nice for a first build.




Close up of the carriage hand controls that I can't wait to get rid of.




Got some polished carbide inserts for alum. They have been working great on the mills fly cutter.




One bummer and its a big one. The quick change tool holder places the tool 1mm above spindle CL at its lowest possible setting. Not a big deal once it's cnc'ed as the compound will be replaced with a solid spacer of proper thickness. It does complicate using the lathe manually to make the cnc conversion parts though. I don't like shims...

[rob_b]

My wife is awesome! Condenser and drier on board plus it's super quiet. You can carry on a normal conversation standing right next to it. Just need to change the plug over to the twist lock. Now it's time to implement that misting system...

[rob_b]

CNC'ed Cast Iron for the first time to modify the lathes compound allowing the quick change tool holders to sit a little lower. It was milled at a 29.5° angle for threading ops. No need for adjustment as once it's CNC'ed as well it will be deleted anyways.






Video link...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mvT...e_gdata_player

...didn't get the start as I was hovering over the e-stop just incase of an explosion.

Edit: looks like my parallels were way to tall!

[Ty]

Looks good man, you have a great home setup. How come you are taking depth cuts with the high speed paths? Love the videos too. Ty

[rob_b]

Because I was scared.

[Ty]

I can totally understand that!! Just asking man. This stuff is expensive. Ty

[rob_b]

I'm definitely starting to trust the tool paths. Other than that I've just been winging it. Fixturing has been one on the bigger hurdles as it seems I learn something not to do every time I fire it up.

[Crawling Calvin]

Looking good! Sometimes all these machines need is a nice cleaning of the gummy grease they come with and they work nicely. Sometimes its more than that but hey its all the fun of it

Can't wait to see it when its all CNC'd and operating. Having a good platform to start with is key... if it isn't working right to begin with it will never perform to its true potential in life.

Just out of curiosity what fly cutter are you using? I looked at the Tormach Superfly but for the moment I can't justify the $130 cost of it... not when I have a few fly cutter bodies laying around and I can hone a dead sharp HSS bit anyways

[rob_b]

Thanks. Ran the lathe for a half hour or so last night and it was eating up some 1.5" diameter hot roll @0.040" DOC. The surface finish was OK, but I just went with the yeah that looks about right feeds and speeds. I plan on using the lathe to make some of the conversion parts so I should get a good idea where its weak points are and will try and address them.

Yeah, I have the SuperFly with the alum cutting inserts. I mainly got it to fit in with the rest of my tool holders that offer the easy repeatable height feature.

[rob_b]

Played with the lathe a bit more last night. I never knew how spoiled I was having infinitely variable spindle speed on my last lathe. Changing belts to face, turn then part off is already getting old and I haven't even made anything yet! The compound might get deleted sooner than later as it tends to nod when the cut gets heavy.
Anyways...

Initial tooling that should see me through the conversion process is now temporarily "organized".




Surface finish on 6061 is nice and it can remove material in a hurry!




Just screwing around, started as 5/8" 6061 and 3/8" 4130




Another random thought, it's time to plumb air to the mill and lathe. Stretching the blow gun all around the shop seems a bit silly.

[Crawling Calvin]

Looks good. May want to check your tool height on the steel parts. It really shows on stuff like steel. Also consider a simple air blast on a loc-line right at the cutting edge of the tool. Helps break chips and keep the edge cool which is a must

What kind of power does your spindle have? Mine has ~500W peak at the motor but due to speeding the spindle speed up ive lost some HP (not sure how much now) and there is a little friction with a belt rubbing but I know how fast bigger tools can eat up machine HP

[rob_b]

Looking at the nipple on the end of the 4130 part it looks like I was a touch low with that tool. Surface speed probably wasn't ideal either. It's funny how shitty a part looks in macro mode!

Motor is a 110V AC rated @ 1HP. It needs upgraded.

[Crawling Calvin]

Originally Posted by rob_b

Looking at the nipple on the end of the 4130 part it looks like I was a touch low with that tool. Surface speed probably wasn't ideal either. It's funny how shitty a part looks in macro mode!

Motor is a 110V AC rated @ 1HP. It needs upgraded.

We had a nice optical measuring machine at the shop before it split and what you thought was nice looked pretty bad! 4130 can leave a decent finish it's just all in the tool you use and the setup for the mill. If your inserts have a SFM chart peek that over. It usually has good guidelines. In the worse case just use the numbers for a non-coated tool and move up.

[rob_b]

Long time no see... stupid life getting in the way of your hobbies

Managed to make some parts with the lathe to get a feel for it. Overall I think it will be an acceptable victim for CNC'ing.

J-Profile pulleys for the mill. Hoping to quite her down a bit. Started as 4" and 3.5" 6061 round stock.




Parts for work. Managed to hold +/-.002" on all dim's pretty easily. Started life as 2" 6061 round stock.




Skids I've made or want to make since becoming SMW. Left to right; CDW Shafty, CDW RT, Y-Town Villan, Y-Town DA, The Wet Dream, The Concept.

[rob_b]

Finally got a DIY FogBuster built and running...





Finish straight off the machine...



Some expert camera work...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-c1...e_gdata_player