New VMC build - industrial CNC

My build is nearing functionality .. at some level.

Where should I post this ?

It is a VMC approx equal to a HAAS VF5 in workpiece size, 1600 x 500 mm table size.
ISO30 spindle, auto toolchanger capacity, etc.
Single microns resolution tbd based on proven measurements, probably about 0,5-1-3 microns resolution.

Maybe spent 17.000 work hours at it, and 100k€+ in current value tooling.

I do not know what is the optimal way to showcase this -- nor the best way to go forward commercially.
Any ideas and experiences are very welcome.

Fwiw..
Z axis needs back mounts on z axis to be fabbed,
the spindle mount to be fixed to the ram,
the spindle drive motor to be fixed. Spindle mount is made for 10-20 kW power.
A spindle drive of some kind.

Here is fine, cant wait :-)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hanermo2

Maybe spent 17.000 work hours at it, and 100k€+ in current value tooling.

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That's 10 man-years of effort!, piccies!!

Sounds amazing. You can post in 'machines > milling machines' which is close enough

Pictures, video, design sketches, thought processes all welcome. I know you've made lots of machines over the years so have some good experiences to share. Maybe some things of interest that could trickle down to us home brewers?

Do you want to commercialise this machine? I'd guess it's a crowded market out there and some well established brands. Anything different on your design to make it stand out? Maybe get a stand at a show?

Further worked on the new yoke for lathe x axis.
7 hours.
Good day today .. yoke is now finish-machined re: ballscrew.

This is what I did:
First picked the screw, a 500 mm 32x5 mm ballscrew from what I have (about 5 25-32 mm D screws).

Start-bored the counterbore for the nut body to 2 mm undersize for chip clearance, better visibility, lighten the workpiece.
48 D x 42.6 mm.

Then bored the through clearance hole for a 32 mm screw to 34 mm.
I had previously drilled it to 24.6 mm +/-.

So deep-bored to 61 mm deep, at 60/12 = 5:1 D/L ratio, in tool steel, on a heavy slightly eccentric workpiece.
Using about 74-76 mm long boring bar of 12 mm diameter with ccmt inserts, 21.51 size.
Had about 2-3 mm clearance on the toolmount-workpiece face.

About 0.1 mm depth of cuts, diameter increasing 0.2/pass.
Went from == 10 m/min css to 60 min/min and 60 mm/min feed from 7-10 m/min feed.
And 120 rpm to == 320 rpm on the spindle.

So one pass took about 24 secs at the end, with 1500 mm/min feed on fast moves, only about 2 secs end-end per pass on the G0 rapids.
Around 44-46 passes iirc, 25.x == 34 mm x 0.2 mm D each.
(I keep rapids dialled way down for now.)

Bored the ballnut hole- needed 4 re-set-ups in the 4 jaw chuck !
The factory ballnut must have an eccentricity or oval or bulge somewhere around 20 mm deep .. or a taper ..
The ballnut simply would not go into the bore with a solid "stop" each time trying to mount it.
Yes, I did it 5 times.
Took about 3 hours of work time.

And I was mostly expanding the bore about 0.02 - 0.04 mm each time, since this always worked in the past 10+ times.
Not this time.
So I did it 4 times, each time lugging the yoke, heavy, about 10 kg, lathe to table to lathe -- 4 jaw -- bore very carefully -- repeat ..

It is hard to do, because the piece is big and I need to use a small bar of 12 mm .. on a hole of 50.00 mm D nominal.
42 mm deep for 2 mm clearance bore at the end.
The ballnut mount hole is 50 mm D or ø and 40 mm deep, so I leave 1-2 mm extra bore at the end.
But a 12 mm tool at 42 mm deep + 2 mm clearance = 44 mm / 12 = 3.6 overhang and it really wants to chatter and has high moment arm.

Then mounted screw, marked first 5 holes (one covered by the clamp), drilled 5 mm + 7 mm, + tapped 8 mm --
fit, all 5 screws, marked last hole, drilled and tapped.
Test fit.

Tapping raises the edges of the holes a bit for around == 2 mm from the edge of the hole in M8 size.
Just a bit, a few hundredths of 0.01 mm up from the flat plane.
I will probably use a random orbital sander and low grit to flatten the surface from the tapped holes.
This leaves a nice random scratchy surface that is flat, and wont round the edges, ime.
Bosch green industrial sander 80 grit or so, 1-2-3 minutes.

I have about 30 hours work into the yoke at this time.
Some minimal finishing, perhaps fast disc-sanding since it is not for sale.
Then finish.
Finish with degrease (twice), boil, blacken, boil, hot-oil to seal, steam/boil, done.
(For this use I might just ghetto-finish it and paint it).

My goal was to illustrate a bit what and how and why some bigger commercial stuff is made in workshops ..
and why it is either slow to do or rather expensive.

I believe a yoke like mine will retail 500-1500$ as a spare part for common industrial cnc machine tools in the 25 kw or 40 hp power area.
Except they are standardised parts unlike my one-off.

I plan to do a pic of the yoke tomorrow - as a sample - and post it here.

Need pics .....

:-)