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I will probably add some anti-freeze when winter arrives. It was baltic up here last year ( had about 150mm thick ice on top of my pond ) and my workshop is only heated when I'm in it. I have some good anti-freeze somewhere that doesnt attack copper or aluminium or nylon/plastic tubing.
Ian
Is CH water pump any good for coolant?
I assume coolant is filtrated and free from magnetic metal bits. There is no brushes in a motor so it should last ages I suppose.
Use Distilled water with a Good quality anti freeze and you wont have any trouble. It was -12 in my workshop last year and my 25ltr barrel of water didn't feeze and it's sat directly on the concrete floor.Quote:
Originally Posted by Web Goblin
Thou must say I pritty much used it every day (YES worked thru it. .Tough breed up here.!!! ) so the water was never left undisturbed for long periods, So if your not going to use it for weeks on end then I'd recommend you drain the system just in case we have another artic winter. . . . . . Oh and the water is the same original water I started with 3+ years ago with no nasty's or funny smells, the fact It's distilled water and it's a sealed dark container that no direct sun light can get to helps (No windows in my shop).
Not sure how good a central heating pump would be. You would be reducing its normal flow rate down alot but most of them have adjustable speeds so you could slow it down a bit.
Jazzcnc. I am using distilled water. Normal water just causes too many problems.
"No windows in your shop" Does it have bars where the door should be?:lol:
Ian
Yes and my overalls have nice stripes on them. .:whistling:Quote:
Originally Posted by Web Goblin
Seriously thou I do have a great big steel door with no windows. . . And even that doesn't stop the scum bags.
A few months ago my workshop was broken into but thank fully we caught one of them.! . . wont go into details but lets just say we got the stuff back and real justice was served. .:mad:
I compensated for that by putting the tank of water on a shelf at about the same height as the spindle.Quote:
Originally Posted by JAZZCNC
I think Luke meant 1000 litres per hour...Quote:
Originally Posted by Web Goblin
I don't think distilled (or more likely de-ionised) water is required if, as you have done, you don't change the water. Once the water has deposited the calcium carbonate there is nothing more to deposit - it's essentially de-ionised. That does to an extent depend on the volume of water you are using (and where you live) as clearly if you have a 1000 litre tank there are a lot of ions it there to start with, and vice versa.Quote:
Originally Posted by JAZZCNC
I take it you signed the relevant petition then recently.Quote:
Originally Posted by JAZZCNC
Nope.!!. . . but I dont know what petition you mean anyway. Thou would a petition really stop the scum bags .?? Me thinks not.!Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonathan
Jazzcnc,
I hope they learned their lesson.
Jonathan,
the problem with using water is that bacteria can grow in it quite well. Distilled water is a better option for long term. I have been to several factories in the past where they were too tight to buy distilled water or the correct coolant for their machines and eventually the bacteria hard grown into a type of algae or fungus and it blocks up the pipework. This usually meant an expensive repair for the customer.
We use distilled water for coolant on our Co2 Laser at work but we also add 1ltr of an anti bacteria agent to kill anything that might decide to grow in the coolant. This amounts to a 1% mix and the whoile system is drained and refilled with new coolant once a year.
A few years ago I miscalculated the amount of antifreeze required for the system and put in too much. Not quite sure what chemical reaction took place but the coolant mix started to turn to a gel. Right PITA is was to clean out. Now we go for about a 15% mix in winter time.
I didn't mean just use tap water - that would be rather silly. I meant tap water plus some anti bacteria stuff/antifreeze.Quote:
Originally Posted by Web Goblin
Sorry Jonathan. I thought your were talking about normal water.
Ian
After a few weeks of going backwards I now have a working coolant pump.:toot:
The flow switch works well and the interlock for preventing the spindle from running without coolant is working as well.
Now for some well deserved lubricant:smile:
Ian
Congrats.!!. . .sounds like you have earned a few squirts of lubricant. :beer:
Here are a couple of pictures of the cooler unit.
Attachment 4443Attachment 4442
Just to add this will probably hold around 25 litres and not 10 like I said in an earlier post. Got my sums a bit wrong.
I have made a little control unit with a couple of switches, an estop and a pot for controlling the speed of the spindle. I need to have a read through the VFD manual now to see what to set up for it to take an external input for start/stop and speed control.
Ian
Looks good. I could do with a box like that to put a coolant pump I acquired in.
Should be able to do it with the input the pot uses. Substitute the pot for the parallel port pin and use PWM output in mach. I'd put a capacitor (and possibly resistor in parallel) at the VFD from that pin to ground to smooth the PWM. It's all in the manual... you can do it with digital inputs but you probably wont have enough I/O on the parallel port to do that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Web Goblin
Jonathan,
I am using USBCNC which does have a pwm output as well but at the moment I prefer to have a manual adjustment via a pot. Maybe later on when I get more used to USBCNC I will connect it to the pwm output. Looking at the manual I have 4 or 5 settings to change to get the vfd to work on an external input. I might get a chance to give this a try tomorrow night.
Ian
I did buy once a new tank and pump for my lath and I'm sure that would work very well
only because the one that came with the machine didn't work and at the time it was cheaper to buy a separate unit
James
James,
a lathe coolant system will work perfectly well for your spindle.
Jonathan,
have you wired up a seperate start switch for your vfd such as via a relay or switch rather than using the controls on the front of the vfd?
I was trying to get the multi function inputs to work fpr direction selection and start function. I have linked DCM to REV and wired DCM to FOR via a relay. Set PD001 to 1 for external control, PD044 to 2 or 3 for direction. The VFD wont accept the start command and also wont change direction regardless of setting 2 or 3 in PD044. I get the feeling I have missed something.
Ian
Yep, but if it was me I'd use it to provide coolant for what I'm cutting on the router as I mainly use the router for aluminium. The annoying bit is how to make a coolant tray which includes a sacrificial bed? I guess I need to find a metal tray with decent height sides and maybe a suitably impervious bed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Web Goblin
I just use the controls on the front.Quote:
Originally Posted by Web Goblin
Have you checked the voltage on the relevant signal terminals?
This is the manual I used, might be different to yours:
http://www.jinlantrade.com/ebay/invertermanual.pdf
Jonathan,
I have been off reading a rather long thread on Huanyang vfds on a woodworking forum. I think what I have setup should be working. I do need to change a few more parameters to get full speed from my 10K pot though.
Ian
Managed to get full speed control via my speed pot on my control box up to 400Hz.
Attachment 4457
I needed to alter another setting on the vfd. I also have start/stop control working via USBCNC now as well. All I need to do is manually select the Coolant flow icon on USBCNC first then the program will start and stop the VFD.:dance:
What I need to do now is calibrate the travel distance of my Z axis and then I should be ready for a test cut.
Ian
I bet you can't wait
James
HE can't wait? What about the rest of us! :rofl:Quote:
Originally Posted by luke11cnc
I know 9 month build. But looking at the build log it does look a excellent build
James
I know it has taken a long time but I have had a few other jobs to do along the way and I am still doing yet another job in the garden. Sometimes there just arent enough hours in the day!!
Ian
Right I have managed to sort out a problem with creating cutting files with the help of Adcnc, many thanks Adam, and have actually done two cuts tonight!!.
The material was standard 18mm thick plywood and a standard 12mm vee cut router bit, I didnt want to trash any good stuff to start with.
Attachment 4525Attachment 4524
Cut quality wasnt the best by any means but the machine functioned properly. First cut was at 2mm depth and 20mm/sec feed rate and the second one at 4mm depth and 40mm/s feed. I did attempt to video the second cut on my HTC Desire HD but the wife phoned and the end of cutting the first letter and knackered the video so I will try it again later in the week.
I think I deserve some tea and biscuits now:smile:
Ian
looking good Ian I'm so jealous
I've been in the garage just looking at mine.
Progress has stalled or that's what it feels like waiting for ballscrews supported rails and bits and bobs
but I will take a photo of my bits tomorrow
James and Luke
Thanks. I really want to try some aluminium. I am going to see if I can get some tomorrow and have a go at it at the weekend.
I know how you feel about waiting on stuff. I had a few problems with getting my ballscrews. Lost a good few weeks waiting on them. Hopefully you will get them soon.
Ian
Walk before you run.Quote:
Originally Posted by Web Goblin
Admittedly the second thing I tried on my machine after the major rebuild was aluminium.
If you wanted you could edit the code and put something like this in at the beginning..Quote:
Originally Posted by Web Goblin
M8
G4 P5000
(P5000 donates the dwell in milliseconds so here would be 5 second pause while your spindle spools up)
Then at the end just before M30 command insert M9 to turn off the coolant (in your case spindle that is if you have set your spindle up under the flood coolant and not the mist, if you have set the on/off under mist then just replace the M8 with a M7 )
I have made up a tool height setter. Its a bit rough but I will make a better one when I get more time.
Attachment 4543
The basic parts. The centre of the top section was a bit off so doesnt look quite right.
Attachment 4544
Hole drilled and tapped to PG7 to accept the cable gland.
Attachment 4545
The block was cleaned up a bit on the lathe and the inner edge recessed to accept the switch locking nut.
Attachment 4542
The finished parts before assembly.
I have also set up the block in USBCNC and calibrated and tested it. Working fine it is.
Regards
Ian
I have posted a video of it in action on youtube. Link attached.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbBjttEyDQw
Nice that Ian, are you going to change the script to touch down faster.?
I've set mine up so does a double touch 300mm/min first then retracts few mill's, can't remember what I set it at without checking, then does slow 75mm/min for accurate touch off in case over shoot. . . . . Works very good and one of the best things I've added to machine.
Nice indeed. Can you link me to the switch you used? I had not considered using a switch, only measuring resistance. I thought at one point of using a piece of PCB as the contact as then if something goes wrong the PCB is weak (as long as it's not FR4) and will break instead of the cutter.
Have you checked the repeatability?
Your spindle mount looks a tad flimsy to me ... only one support.
Jonathan PCB works great thats what I use for quick top surface setting, very easy very quick and super accurate. . . . Doesn't even leave a mark on the cooper. You won't belive how sensitive it is.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonathan
Brilliant when combined with edge,corner and centre probing routines save hours of setting up time. Just the top of surface alone is worth the effort. . . All 5 mins it takes to make. . .:tup:
That's mildly surprising. Maybe the electrons tunnel across the gap :heehee:Quote:
Originally Posted by JAZZCNC
If I put an op-amp in between it could be incredibly sensitive, though that may not be a good thing. Combine it with averaging of the readings ... assuming the difference is actually greater than the resolution.
Jonathan,
the link to the switch is : http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/push-b...tches/7082967/ Its a bit expensive but I chose it to take a bit of punisment.
I checked the switch a few times with my digital vernier and repeatability is within 0.3mm so its not too bad. I had also looked at making a voltage touch probe like Jazzcnc is talking about, that might be version 2 if I can get my hands on some solid clear perspex square bar or similar. The spindle mount is 25mm thick alu so its stronger than it looks but I have started on making another two to replace that one to strengthen it up.
The head comes down quickly until 20mm above the estimated tool block, depending on the guess value you input into the tool database, then slows down to touch speed.
Ian
Quote:
Originally Posted by Web Goblin
That wouldn't do for me.!! . . . 0.3mm is far too much for my liking.! . . . I would want 0.1 at the very very least.
My first thought when seen you where using a switch was it wouldn't be quick enough and your measurements backs that up.
Try pcb and you'll see what I mean by super sensitive, accurate and repeatable.
I am going to try the tool measurement routine a few times and see what it says. It might come out better than that. If not I can always make a voltage touch one.
Right I decided that I had to have a go at aluminium, just couldnt resist the urge!.
I made up a dxf through autocad for a box drilling jig for some welding test boxes that I make.
The material is 10mm thick alu and I used a 3/16 end mill, didnt have a 5mm one, I need to build up my cutting tool supplies.
Attachment 4557Attachment 4556Attachment 4555
Admittedly I did forget about the top face of the jig, at the moment I am still too used to programming for profile cutting. This would have looked better with a bit of a clean up.
Attachment 4558Attachment 4559
The box lid to be drilled and it fits snugly inside the jig.
All in all I am quite pleased with my first alu job. For using an old cutter and for a first attempt I'm a happy chappy.
I have also done a bit of video for parts of the cut and hopefully after my little gilrs 5th birthday party this afternoon I might get it loaded up to youtube.
Regards
Ian
Links to some video of the first alu job.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABNmolGdUJ0
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3agFg5x53JY
Regards
Ian