El Beast - Initial design phase, comments and critique welcomed!

Great build. Looking forward to seeing the end results.

What CAD software do you use out of interest?

Also, where did you get the foam from? I'm thinking of doing the same for my garage / setup.

Thanks

Cheers,

Using Fusion 360, foam was from www.efoam.co.uk and I got the downcut router bits from www.cncroutershop.com

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zeeflyboy

Cheers,

Using Fusion 360, foam was from www.efoam.co.uk and I got the downcut router bits from www.cncroutershop.com

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Many thanks. I assume you use a single flute or similar for the foam? What speeds / feeds please?

Thanks

I found the best cutters to be single flute down cut (I used cutters by Belin), up cut gives you a crappy top edge. Had good results from 3000mm/min and 18-24,000rpm depending on bit diameter. You must use conventional milling too, climb milling gives an awful edge....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zeeflyboy

I found the best cutters to be single flute down cut (I used cutters by Belin), up cut gives you a crappy top edge. Had good results from 3000mm/min and 18-24,000rpm depending on bit diameter. You must use conventional milling too, climb milling gives an awful edge....

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Thanks. Which of the foam option did you take? The 'firm' one?
I had found this whilst googling ...

http://www.polyformes.co.uk/azote_fo...densities.html

LD33, pretty middle of the road in density.

So been busy with work and doing stuff in the garden, but I have had time to re-do my coolant system... the previous was a bit ramshackle and I only had air cooling as I hadn't got around to re-installing the coolant side. It's now built into the table so I figured it was worth getting sorted before I did any serious machining as it works for both the current machine and the new one.

I'm using a sil-air compressor & tank, two electronic solenoids for air/coolant control, a pool filter for the coolant reservoir (with it's own regulator) and an air gun for free hand chip clearing and clean up.

I run the air at 20psi and the coolant is just pressurised to around 2psi as that's all that's needed to get it flowing out the end of the nozzle. Coolant wise I got some kool mist #77 which I'm looking forward to having a go with.


http://i.imgur.com/0r1QWHU.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/uCwaTVY.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/gpurtN0.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/7tfafDv.jpg

Right, finally a proper bit of machining to show... I did a small re-design on the face plates as they still weren't quite going to fit on my machine and I wanted a slightly wider stance. In order to keep the structural part as a single piece, I made the main piece slightly shorter and then added removable "wings" for the extension.

I've left the wings uncoloured to make them easier to see:

http://i.imgur.com/mYZSdkr.png

Made the front main face plate today:

Started with a jig plate made from SRBP - nothing fancy, just a plate I could machine flat and put some screw threads into, and a slab of 20mm eco-cast plate.

http://i.imgur.com/Rcy7bqW.jpg


After interior roughing, contouring and drilling ops:

http://i.imgur.com/12zJDwl.jpg


I drilled though the m8 screw holes with a 6.8mm into the jig plate and tapped them to allow me to then fix the plate down through those, which then allowed me to the remove the clamps and run the exterior ops:

http://i.imgur.com/XxUgbWy.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/mE37ZFO.jpg


Top side finished:

http://i.imgur.com/zEyLVN2.jpg


Then flipped it over and re-fastened to run the rear chamfer:

http://i.imgur.com/MiXXvKH.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/I93tOvm.jpg


And done:

http://i.imgur.com/2U4EsnG.jpg

Nice work. Looks like it will be a great machine.

I keep meaning to add a finish chamfer on my parts. But when all the other ops are done I end up with a quick run around with a deburing tool because I want to move onto the next part.
Anyway watching with interest.

Cheers, I certainly hope so!

Yeah I like a nice chamfer to finish things off, I don't find it adds a significant amount of time overall but then I am just doing this for fun so I can certainly afford the little extra time.

So whipped out the rear plate today... very similar so it's pretty much a wash, rinse, repeat job just with a few tweaks, so I won't bore you with lots of photos:

top side done:

http://i.imgur.com/d4gNHjX.jpg


Bottom side done:

http://i.imgur.com/o1bB8Qh.jpg


Fitted:

http://i.imgur.com/9bfo0oK.jpg


Bonus points:

mmmm, pointy confetti....

http://i.imgur.com/N716ox6.jpg

Very nice.
What type of material is SRBP?

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

Very nice work. I enjoy following your progress and the quality work you are doing.

Cheers, slow progress but progress none the less!

I'm a bit worried that my bearings in the spindle are on the way out, which is a bummer as its not that old. Can't feel any play but just towards the end of the second piece it makes some very unpleasant noises when cutting until you tweak the rpm out of what I assume is a resonance band. Wasn't doing it before.... I might have to delay the purchase of more materials next month to put the money into a new spindle instead :fatigue: and I had just spent hours getting the tram perfect!

Looking at this combo on ebay at the moment, I guess I could do with a new VFD either for the new machine or to sell with the old one. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/260626018545

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 1Jumper10

Very nice.
What type of material is SRBP?

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

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Synthetic-resin-bonded-paper - phenolic resin boards, basically a generic name for tufnol kite type material. In larger sizes it's not exactly cheap (that 300x600x8mm sheet was about £30 iirc) but it's got good machining characteristics, is very dimensionally stable, accepts a thread nicely and has very low water absorption which is a plus when using coolant.

Quote:

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Looking at this combo on ebay at the moment, I guess I could do with a new VFD either for the new machine or to sell with the old one. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/260626018545

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Yes that show the difference between the crap vfd and the good one with the two pics side by side

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zeeflyboy

Cheers, slow progress but progress none the less!

I'm a bit worried that my bearings in the spindle are on the way out, which is a bummer as its not that old. Can't feel any play but just towards the end of the second piece it makes some very unpleasant noises when cutting until you tweak the rpm out of what I assume is a resonance band. Wasn't doing it before.... I might have to delay the purchase of more materials next month to put the money into a new spindle instead :fatigue: and I had just spent hours getting the tram perfect!

Looking at this combo on ebay at the moment, I guess I could do with a new VFD either for the new machine or to sell with the old one. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/260626018545

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I bought my spindle from the same seller. Note that the spindle earth is not connected, at least in mine it was not. Also, I went for a quality VFD instead of buying that Hy. I am using Modbus and the Hy, while they call it Modbus, does not talk Modbus. If I were you, I'd buy the motor, but would get a different VFD, something of a real brand.

Here is a bunch of 2.2kW VFD sold by the same shop I bought mine from.

https://inverterdrive.com/group/AC-I...al&StockOnly=1

I was interested in modbus actually, not that I know much about it at the moment other than it gives better rpm control - which of those models did you go for in the end? Cheers for the link.

Little more work today, I need to tidy things up a bit in the man cave so good excuse to get the motor mount plates made - allows me to install the screws and motor mounts to start getting things off my desk!

10mm eco-cast plate, done in much the same way as the other parts so far:

First fix:

http://i.imgur.com/cYwaGp1.jpg


Drilled and countersunk:

http://i.imgur.com/lUP8xxI.jpg


Second fix, finished:

http://i.imgur.com/HzSFSF3.jpg


Haven't got all the fixings I need (e.g. no countersunk screws long enough etc) but good enough for a test fit, motors are also placeholders. Motor mounts have 6mm dowel pins for alignment purposes:

http://i.imgur.com/qfiVIIu.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Ncc2y7c.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/9LsdQ8k.jpg

SBRP - that's the first time I've heard that name for phenolic. Got it. Thanks.
Your build is phenomenal. Well done.

Concerning a new VFD and MODBUS: I just recently set up a Hitachi WJ200 on the bench. I initially used 0-10v analog signal to control speed but the RPM drifted around somewhat due to electrical noise. It wasn't bad but I wanted to experiment with a digital solution. I was leaning towards MODBUS but not with much enthusiasm; Lots of configuring, several different components, driver's etc. Fortunately the Hitachi has a pulse stream input for speed control. I set up my spindle control in UCCNC to use step and direction output, connected the pulse stream input of the VFD to an axis output on my BOB and a little tuning later had it working very well. 2 wires, no driver's, no adapters and no RPM drift. Just a suggestion.

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Thanks, I'll see if I can find out whether or not the pokeys57cnc can do that... certainly a good option to consider.

great work very nice , what motor mounts are you using?

Cheers. They are MBA12-C mounts with FK12 bearing blocks and matching FF12 at the other end.

Well, wasn't needed at work today so thought I'd be productive!

Machined one set of wings:

Initial setup for drilling/milling

http://i.imgur.com/Sjvdmhp.jpg


Fastened down with m6 bolts:

http://i.imgur.com/zZfTesR.jpg


I totally love adaptive clearing on fusion 360:

http://i.imgur.com/gQ6DDaJ.jpg


flipped over and machined on second side:

http://i.imgur.com/nC5NjL2.jpg


finished parts:

http://i.imgur.com/VVTS1On.jpg


And some fitted pics:

http://i.imgur.com/Fx7nbDg.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/z4vxcjn.jpg


I've ordered a new spindle, mine is definitely not quite happy and I'm concerned that soon it may start causing actual problems. There goes next months budget :numbness:

Looking good there, keep it up.

I'm also getting into F360 and it has not disappointed me yet. I can't see myself going back to Vectric Cut2D, unless some very simple job comes up.

When you flip the part to machine the other side how are you aligning it? Looks like you are using the profile witness mark in the sacrificial board and aligning by eye?

tah!

Yeah I love fusion, it's absolutely brilliant to me - the modelling is fantastic but the machining side is extremely powerful and well-featured imo, and being able to jump straight from modelling into machining, back again to tweak something and then just having to re-generate the tool path to get the updated tool path is brill.

Flipping the parts varies between the parts, I use dowel pins or the bolt holes, and yes the interior witness line is very useful for checking everything is perfect when just using the bolt holes for alignment if you are careful.

So last bit of work for a while as I'm now pretty much out of alu stock. just whipped out the second pair of face plate wings today.

http://i.imgur.com/zxv0hJQ.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/w4vmmLe.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/nc3E6kf.jpg


I like the stance, it's looking purposeful :) extremely happy with how solid the whole thing is feeling so far.

New spindle arrived already... looks/sounds good spinning up, but as per camera's experience it wasn't earthed at all.

Swapped over the connector while I was at it, added an earth and made sure I had continuity to the main body too.

http://i.imgur.com/o0NG0px.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/RwvrvVF.jpg


Fingers crossed the spindle was actually the problem!

So managed to find a bit of 20mm plate that was big enough to make another part from, not for the lower frame which I had intended to build first - this is the Z-axis mounting plate but given that I don't have the plate to make any other parts at the moment I thought I may as well crack on!

Few little design tweaks before I made it, I've added a fillet to the risers in order to help fold the brush strip out of the way in a controlled fashion, and I've made one bolt on each of the carriages into a DIN7 shoulder bolt so that the thing should have no choice but to be aligned square with the rails.

forgot to take a setup pic, so here it is getting started after the first drilling ops:

http://i.imgur.com/Hd9wgeo.jpg

Top side done:

http://i.imgur.com/jt9vlQp.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/VqF5jHe.jpg


Drilled and inserted some dowel pins to align for rear machining, it just needs a pocket to clear the motor mounts cleanly and while I was there a threw a little chamfer around the contour:

http://i.imgur.com/QrsYL4t.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/lJuOzkf.jpg


Finished part:

http://i.imgur.com/DCc64Ot.jpg

Lovely ----------

very nice indeed!

No news on the CNC front, apart from that I've just ordered a big fat stack of aluminium, which is enough to do pretty much all of the remaining parts (just the spindle mount and the extrusion for the gantry missing). Hopefully that'll arrive sometime towards the end of the week.

However I haven't been totally idle, I have just installed my newest toy which is going to be a bit of a distraction! I haven't used a lathe in many moons, probably not since I was 16 at school, and I have pretty much no idea what I'm doing so it's going to take a bit of time to learn it all. Intentions are to get to grips with using it manually then think about a conversion to CNC.


Wabeco D4000 with DRO's:

http://i.imgur.com/GIHzbJH.jpg


Playing with some test scrap:

http://i.imgur.com/dwHzKPh.jpg


Mmmmm... complicated....

http://i.imgur.com/XBt3SEC.jpg


Anyway, hope to have the aluminium by the end of the week and apart from finishing off the BBQ project, carrying on the new router is top of my list so should see some progress soon.

Lathe looks really nice, well done. Colour scheme matches your decor !

I was in the same place as you - hadn't used one since school and had plans for a CNC conversion. But I've been running the lathe for a while now, and made some nice parts, and most operations are pretty intuitive and you can get up to speed with the general stuff quickly. DROs are so handy, I have a colleague who still uses the dials on his lathe and is happy, but I couldn't go back to that system now.

So what I would say is use it for a while before thinking about CNC. I've found that it is pretty quick to make the parts 'by hand' if they are one-offs, and for me at least the CNC conversion idea is now on hold. If I do ever go CNC then I'd look to keep the handles in similar places as MPGs and have the easy option of semi auto operation.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zeeflyboy

No news on the CNC front, apart from that I've just ordered a big fat stack of aluminium, which is enough to do pretty much all of the remaining parts (just the spindle mount and the extrusion for the gantry missing). Hopefully that'll arrive sometime towards the end of the week.

However I haven't been totally idle, I have just installed my newest toy which is going to be a bit of a distraction! I haven't used a lathe in many moons, probably not since I was 16 at school, and I have pretty much no idea what I'm doing so it's going to take a bit of time to learn it all. Intentions are to get to grips with using it manually then think about a conversion to CNC.


Wabeco D4000 with DRO's:


Playing with some test scrap:


Mmmmm... complicated....


Anyway, hope to have the aluminium by the end of the week and apart from finishing off the BBQ project, carrying on the new router is top of my list so should see some progress soon.

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Could this end machine ballscrews?

routercnc - Haha yeah it does go rather nicely doesn't it! Happy accident!

Yeah it has occurred to me that certain jobs are much quicker and easier to do manually, but I think threading and complex shapes like balls/curves are certainly going to be easier on a cnc'd version, especially for someone of questionable skill such as myself... Ideally I would be able to use it both manually and automatically, which I suppose should be possible with a nice pendant. Definitely intend to use it manually for the foreseeable though so we shall see how things go.

Desertboy - In theory, the bore is 20mm so it can certainly physically accept a 16mm ball screw for machining. I believe machining them is a bit of an art though. Probably somewhat depends on the screw and how hardened it is. I think everything I have seen suggests that you need to grind off the case hardening before trying to end machine them.

So been a bit busy with work, but this afternoon I had a bit of a play with the lathe.

Trying to make some nice snug shoulder screws for the alignment of the X-Axis mounting plate. I've just been getting the hang of it all really so only made the one so far.... Think I need a slitting saw to make the slot on the top.

I've tried both brass and stainless steel. Brass is certainly easier to work, but not sure what to go with.

http://i.imgur.com/A34Xu7X.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/xqXe9GU.jpg


Test fit:

http://i.imgur.com/XO6Yfal.jpg

Figured out this threading thing... seems it would be much easier to do this sort of operation if it was CNC'd up. The change gears are a bit of a faff.

http://i.imgur.com/HifYGKC.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/3yREI1Y.jpg


Fits nicely:

http://i.imgur.com/LysCgIE.jpg

Good looking machine and nice work with the machining. It's handy to have another cnc that can do the machining, I had do all my stuff by hand and using templates sometimes.

Hi
I know stainless can be a pain to machine but i would still use it in your application, think there would be a problem with brass in ally(electrolosis) if its exposed to moisture.
How are you cutting the thread ? i use single point tool (easy to grind) and set the topslide over to half the included angle so you only cut on one flank.
Machine looks great
Regards
Mike

I'm using a carbide insert threading tool.


http://i.imgur.com/4FKJQca.jpg


The actual cutting of the thread seems fine, just a bit of a faff setting up change gears if one wants to change between different thread pitches or go back to a longitudinal feed.

Both brass and stainless can cause galvanic corrosion with aluminium, not sure if brass is significantly worse or not. Was probably going to use a smidge of anti seize compound whatever material I end up using...

Do you have a good source of Info for final outer diameter and depth of cut for threading?

Edit - so I found this resource http://www.roymech.co.uk/Useful_Tabl...hread_tol.html

So if I understand correctly, for example with this m5x0.8 thread I need here:

- Turn the portion to be threaded to 5mm.

- Thread with 0.8mm pitch until a depth of 0.69mm

- Skim across to reduce the outer diameter to say 4.8mm

Is that the correct process?

I always reduce the OD before screw cutting(H/8 in that link) then touch the tool on the OD, zero the dials and cut as mentioned earlier using the ofset topslide for infeed, if i have a lot to do i will usually knock up a gauge(of sorts) by tapping some stock with the taps i am using to make the matting holes, for anything large i have a couple of sets of thread parallels and some ovee's for some of the smallish stuff as well and just screw down till you get the effective dia in the ball park.
regards
Mike

Cheers for the info.

So, first things first - big delivery of eco-cast plate! Enough to keep me going for a couple of months I'm sure.

Managed to have the big bugger (the bed tool plate) fall over on my foot as I was moving the packages around. That hurt...

http://i.imgur.com/5yuzBZu.jpg


I also finished off a couple more shoulder screws for the X-axis slider plate, full set now... just waiting for a 1.5mm end mill to arrive to machine the slots in the top.

http://i.imgur.com/AW4xwfV.jpg


And I've designed this little setup for stop/limit switch on the Y-axis using hall effect proximity switches. The brass dial is threaded m6x1 to give 1mm movement fore-aft per rotation for simplicity's sake when setting up, and has a small magnet embedded in the face for the hall effect sensor. Small spring provides tension on the thread.

The mounts themselves will be 3d printed.

http://i.imgur.com/wyNh3ZR.png


And they just tuck in behind the rail mount plates here (both front and back, only the back one shown).


http://i.imgur.com/uUcx0sg.png