1.7*0.74*0.4m Mill / Router building...

[Jonathan]

Quick update. I've ordered the steel for the frame and it should be ready Thursday or Friday. I've now started dismantling the machine ready for the conversion. I'll post more here with pictures as it happens...

heres the place jon,http://www.aluminium-profile.co.uk/ i think it was 90mmx45mm i used.

Thanks for the link. I'm tempted to use it for the sides, but if I did I can't weld it. I think I will weld some steel sheet on to the ends of the box section to strengthen it.

[Jonathan]

Frame clamped together then tack welded:



Some welding, then rotate it...


A weld:


Done!

[Jonathan]

i,ll have to have one of those spindle mounts off you soon,when i get round to changing my z plates.

Excellent ... I'm hoping I'll be able to mill them on the router when it's done as that should be quicker, or at least easier, than milling them. I would still bore the 80mm hole on the lathe. I will also round off the two corners that look a bit thin.





I've just drilled fixing holes in the 100x60 box section for the bed jacking screw mounts. I just need to drill some more holes for the X axis ballscrew mounts and chamfer quite a few of the ends then the main frame is ready to weld.

[Jonathan]

I've started welding it at last!
I clamped everything together with M12 studs and G clamps:



First weld was fine:



Didn't need the hammer to get the slag off...the wind did that for me!



Some tacking:



Then I got worse...

[Jonathan]

thats looking good ,when will it be finished?

Thank you..... as soon as possible! I've just moved the frame up into the workshop since I decided it's best to weld it in there. I'm going to get it clamped together now (just stopped for a tea break!) and weld tonight.
I think realistically another two weeks to get it running, and some more for it to actually be finished. When the frame is done I still have quite a few parts to make to mount the X and Y-axis ballscrews and rotating ballnuts.

[Jonathan]

1000th post

So here's a video showing my router doing 1000mm/s (2362ipm) on the Y-axis:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3MG7...=youtube_gdata

All I did was change the pulley to 42T so the pitch of the screw is effectively 35mm. It's well above the critical speed of the screw, but interestingly it seems fine.

The video also shows the rotating ballnuts going happily at 15000mm/min.

[Jonathan]

I had a request for some more photos, so here they are in no particular order:

[WandrinAndy]

Jonathan,

A quick question about your "box" type Y-carriage in this pic please... Particularly about the position in which the horizontal plates are bolted to the vertical plates....

The top plate is bolted slightly above the top of the vertical plates and the bottom plate is bolted slightly below the bottom of the vertical plates... If that makes sense.

Did you do this for a specific reason such as making the initial DIY build/squaring easier?

Cheers,
Andy

[Jonathan]

Did you do this for a specific reason such as making the initial DIY build/squaring easier?

Yeah I ordered the wrong size aluminium plate!

To make it easier to square you should mill a shallow slot into the back of the Y-carriage plate which holds the Z-axis bearings. This can then align to one of the smaller plates on the Y-axis to get Z perpendicular to Y. You can just about see what I mean in this picture, circled in red:



Which reminds me I never posted the pictures from when I changed the Z round rails to linear guides:

Using the indicator made aligning the rails properly and getting it to run smoothly trivial. Fitting everything in the small available space was less trivial. Hard to say how much difference it made to the performance of the machine, since at the time the MDF bed was the limiting factor and I think my spindle might be on it's last elbows...

[Jonathan]

Very, VERY impressive.

Not really, anyone can put a big pulley on the stepper motor and lower the acceleration to get a high feedrate at the expense of resolution. Such a high feedrate would only make a negligible difference to machining time on a router used mainly for cutting metals. It's just for show...