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Thread: Luthier CNC

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  1. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by cropwell View Post
    Hi Bluesking,

    I don't know if you are aware of Nottingham Hackspace, but there is a Bridgeport there. I am a member, but haven't been there for a long time as they were located principally up stairs and I can't negotiate stairs and carry anything. They were in the process of opening up a downstairs workshop for the heavy machines.

    https://hms.nottinghack.org.uk

    Cheers,

    Rob-T
    Thanks Rob,
    Yes, that is the very Bridgeport I'm referring to. Still waiting for an induction on it - I've never used a mill before!

    I was there a few days ago and the metalworking stuff is still upstairs. Theres lots of setup work going on in the downstairs area but its far from complete by the looks.

  2. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by Voicecoil View Post
    If you can't get access don't worry. You'd be suprised at how accurately you can place holes "the old fashioned way" using a surface plate, height gauge and optical centre punch.
    Interesting, I don't understand what method you are referring to - can you describe a little more or point to a vid? What are the surface plate and height gauge used for?

    If I can't use the mill I was just going to print some templates - stick them on the stock - punch the hole centres - and drill them out on my drill press. This is basically the same as what I do for making guitar templates - a job I thoroughly hate, mainly because I can only print A4 and have to tile my printouts.

  3. #23
    So a short update on my build. Things are going slower than I would like. I have gathered almost all of the components I need but am still waiting on a few key things.

    Last few days I have been working on the various end plates and spacers for the machine.

    I produced a technical drawing containing all the plates from my fusion 360 model. Using the fine-line-style setting when exporting to PDF was important to produce the most accurate output. All fits on a single sheet of A0, cost about £3 to print at a local printing shop:
    Click image for larger version. 

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    Cut everything out and used spray contact adhesive to glue to the plates. Every time I use this stuff with paper I regret it. Horrible to clean up and unnecessarily strong.

    The design of the my CNC means the actual plate dimensions are not critical. You can see all my plates are cut about 2mm too big from the supplier but this doesn't matter - the key thing is that all the holes are precisely located relative to each other. There are only 2 critical plate dimensions - and these only on one edge, corresponding to the 2 butt joints in the design. Paying attention and gluing the corresponding templates right up to the butting edge should be good enough.

    Heres all the plates with their templates applied:
    Click image for larger version. 

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    Thanks to reading Voicecoil's posts, I bought myself an optical centre punch and had a bit of fun using it. Its fun playing with the scope, pretending you're a CNC sniper, hahaha.
    Click image for larger version. 

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    Silliness aside, the end results look well worth it - best punching accuracy I've ever had, should have got one ages ago:
    Click image for larger version. 

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    Last edited by bluesking; 18-05-2019 at 11:44 AM.

  4. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by bluesking View Post
    - Relies on low-risk mature technologies (parallel port, Mach3)
    Mach3 is obsolete, and imo should never even be considered for a new machines. And trying to use parallel ports on PC's these days is far more problematic than it was when Mach3 was created.

    Consider UCCNC, which is very similar to Mach3, but far superior in most ways. For the same cost as a Mach3 license, you can get a UCCNC license plus an AXBB motion controller. This will be far superior to Mach3 and a parallel port, with superior performance, and much greater reliability.
    Gerry
    ______________________________________________
    UCCNC 2022 Screenset

    Mach3 2010 Screenset

    JointCAM - CAM for Woodworking Joints

  5. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by Ger21 View Post
    Mach3 is obsolete, and imo should never even be considered for a new machines. And trying to use parallel ports on PC's these days is far more problematic than it was when Mach3 was created.

    Consider UCCNC, which is very similar to Mach3, but far superior in most ways. For the same cost as a Mach3 license, you can get a UCCNC license plus an AXBB motion controller. This will be far superior to Mach3 and a parallel port, with superior performance, and much greater reliability.
    Thanks Gerry. Clive also pointed this out. When I started planning things out in more details I quickly realised you guys were right.

    Since then I've got a UC400ETH. Didn't know about the AXBB at that time but I already have a parallel BoB that brings the VFD and charge pump features so I think it'll work out functionally similar.

    I intend to use UCCNC.
    Last edited by bluesking; 18-05-2019 at 10:12 PM.

  6. #26
    Following on from my plate design work, yesterday I drilled the various holes:

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Everything seemed to go well. I have a mixture of M5, M6 and M12 bolts to accommodate. Many of the holes don't need tapping so I created mostly 5.5, 6.5 & 13mm holes to accommodate the screws.

    I also have a bunch of M5 holes that needed tapping. Here I made a bit of a mistake. Really didn't think it would make a difference so I just used a 4mm drill bit I had laying around. Drilling went well, but as soon as I started to tap this happened:

    Click image for larger version. 

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    My lack of metalworking experience takes it's first casualty! Today I re-drilled all the offending holes and I think I got away with it overall.

    Here's what I have learned:
    1) If you want to use a M5 tap, you need a 4.2mm hole. No getting around this. Maybe 4.5mm would also work, but I didn't even try this as 4.2 worked perfectly.
    2) If you break a tap in a hole there really isn't any way to recover. You try to drill it out, but because aluminium is so much softer than hardened steel, the drill bit wanders around the tap creating a bit of a disaster.
    3) Cutting oil is a mixed blessing. Makes all the work super messy but I think improves results. If doing again I'd drill all the holes dry and use cutting oil just to do the tapping work.

    The one hole I messed up was meant to attach to one of my z-axis HIWIN carriages. I'm hoping I can get away with using only 3 out of the 4 holes to mount this. I think this will be fine so I'm not going to bother buying/making a whole new plate for now.

  7. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by bluesking View Post
    Here's what I have learned:
    Been there. I think most of us have.

  8. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by bluesking View Post
    I bought myself an optical centre punch and had a bit of fun using it.Click image for larger version. 

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    If you bought it online, please could I have the link?

  9. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by AndyGuid View Post
    If you bought it online, please could I have the link?
    I got mine from Axminster:
    https://www.axminster.co.uk/axminste...e-punch-100244

    On mine, the crosshair optic is out of alignment :( but the circle/dot optic is perfect :)

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  11. #30
    mekanik's Avatar
    Lives in Barrow in Furness, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 23 Hours Ago Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 786. Received thanks 96 times, giving thanks to others 176 times.
    Hi Bluesking
    Broken drills/taps in non ferous materials can be dissolved using Alum solution.
    https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...9aX0rtzdbxJhZP
    Also when tapping go with the recommended size from your Zeus book ie 4.2mm but use a solid(no flute's) spiral tap.
    Regards
    Mike
    Last edited by mekanik; 19-05-2019 at 09:30 AM.

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