Converting an AMAT25LV

[Lloyd Barnes]

Well chaps, she runs like a good un! Many thanks for the advice. The Z NEMA34 motor didn't work with 48V and direct drive as you suspected, was losing steps. Switched it out to a 2:1 belt drive and all sorted.
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Got Mach3 licenced today and ran a quick test part. Few screw ups here and there, didn't get the CAM quite right (Fusion 360) so the pocket bottoms didn't clean up, and like an idiot I managed to run the spindle in reverse for the first part of the chamfer op so that's a bit messy in parts, but that's just me being an idiot and easily fixed next time.
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The machine itself I'm generally pleased with. It ran the part in around 40 minutes, and with fresh end mills that are a little sharper I'm pretty sure I can be a bit more aggressive if I needed to be. Dimensionally it seems to be cutting to around 0.1 to 0.075mm accuracy which I'm hoping I can improve by tweaking the jam nuts on the ballscrews to take out any backlash etc. What sort of accuracy do you think its practical to get on a small machine like this? 0.1mm would be fine for many of my parts I'll be making, some however I'd need a little better, for example where I'm after a sliding or press fit between two parts. I didn't put a lot of time into this part, it was more to get myself going on the basics so I'm sure with time I can improve.
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Doubtless I'll have more dumb questions as I get the mill dialled in. For now though I'm planning on getting my tool library setup and sorted out in Fusion and get some parts through to get more comfortable with the CAM in particular. I'm still at the stage with Fusion CAM where I'm not 100% sure what I'm doing, particularly selecting the geometry to get it to do what I'm after but I'm sure it will get easier. Once again, thanks for the advice and encouragement. Much appreciated.
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