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

[Nickhofen]

You are a bad guy!!! I have lathe envy now!

[routercnc]

You are a bad guy!!! I have lathe envy now!

I waited a long time before I bought my lathe as I wasn't sure I'd make good use of it. Now I couldn't be without it! Along side a mill / router, and a pillar drill there isn't much you can't make.

Zeeflyboy - more great work there with a nice finish to the parts. One thing to bare in mind is adding thumb wheels or other discs adds to the rotational inertia and knocks a bit of performance off the stepper. Not a big deal on yours as the diameter is quite small and for most work the Z is not flying up and down. Just thought I'd mention it in case you were adding some to the X and Y.

[Desertboy]

there isn't much you can't make.

I saw Pacififc Rim the other night and thought one of those 400 foot robots could come in handy for shopping and the like any chance of making me one of them?

[Lee Roberts]

Here is an idea for your lathe to-do list's:



A pen type die grinder or dremel like tool may be less involved for smaller stuff, chuck/collet size being the issue.

[Zeeflyboy]

Oh that's pretty neat! I can add it to the long list of projects lol...

Enough of this manual lathe nonsense, today I fired up the CNC at last and made the top plate for the new Z-axis.

First fixture:




Roughing pass (6mm 3 flute roughing bit, 8mm depth of cut with 1mm axial engagement, 12,000rpm and 1,500mm/min




Finished top side (3 flute, full depth pass 16mm skimming 0.1mm off each pass with a repeat finish pass, 12,000rpm 1000mm/min and a chamfer pass):




Then I drilled two holes for 6mm dowels to align with machine axis, and probed for zero:




Backside ops done:




Finished part with seals and bearing:

[Zeeflyboy]

Guys, has anyone got any experience or knowledge of these spindles I stumbled across?

They are 80mm body and 220v/2.2kw/400hz so should be a straight drop in/drop out replacement (ideal as it makes it relatively easy to switch to 24,000rpm spindle if needed for composites etc). The difference is that they are 1,500-12,000rpm which would be a lot more suitable RPM range for milling plastics, foams, metals etc and opens up the potential to look at thread mills, reamers and makes drilling more viable.

Only downside is they are significantly more expensive than the 24,000rpm garden variety... which makes it less appealing to take a punt!

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Low-...460.0.0.rut9B3

[Desertboy]

Guys, has anyone got any experience or knowledge of these spindles I stumbled across?

They are 80mm body and 220v/2.2kw/400hz so should be a straight drop in/drop out replacement (ideal as it makes it relatively easy to switch to 24,000rpm spindle if needed for composites etc). The difference is that they are 1,500-12,000rpm which would be a lot more suitable RPM range for milling plastics, foams, metals etc and opens up the potential to look at thread mills, reamers and makes drilling more viable.

Only downside is they are significantly more expensive than the 24,000rpm garden variety... which makes it less appealing to take a punt!

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Low-...460.0.0.rut9B3

Good find

[TadasM]

Guys, has anyone got any experience or knowledge of these spindles I stumbled across?

They are 80mm body and 220v/2.2kw/400hz so should be a straight drop in/drop out replacement (ideal as it makes it relatively easy to switch to 24,000rpm spindle if needed for composites etc). The difference is that they are 1,500-12,000rpm which would be a lot more suitable RPM range for milling plastics, foams, metals etc and opens up the potential to look at thread mills, reamers and makes drilling more viable.

Only downside is they are significantly more expensive than the 24,000rpm garden variety... which makes it less appealing to take a punt!

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Low-...460.0.0.rut9B3

Zeeflyboy, I'm also in search for new spindle and maybe this, permanent torque spindle, will look interesting for you too :)

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/High...999.262.d7v80G

p.s. great build !