New CNC Mill on the horizon

[fvfdrums]

Thanks Dean I appreciate that :D although without yours and others assistance along the way I probably wouldn't have had half the machine I have now. Must not get ahead of myself still a way to go!

Yes agreed we both looked at the machine after wiring it and can see two potential spots for an additional e stop button - I used to have what I call e stop blindness when running the huge 3 axis lathe I used to have, when I got the odd decimal in the wrong place (all code was written in note pad none of this cam :/) and the machine would try and turn the chuck quite successfully I could never see the big red button for panic!!

[fvfdrums]

Any suggestions on chip control? and how to catch the little buggers? I have been looking at venturi vacuum systems etc but was not sure how much they will effectively collect? as I am pretty sure an industrial style wet vac with a cyclone separater would be fine for wood but have very little effect with aluminium chips? I could be wrong?

I was thinking of having a few air heads running off the compressor to a ring which can be mounted like a dust shoe near the spindle head with a couple of adjustable spouts to randomly blast short sharp bursts of air from different directions to try and clear the chips from the cut, might this work? combined with some sort of fogger system

[JAZZCNC]

Wood is easy just get a good vacuum on the job and it's sorted.! . . . BUT Aluminium is another story.!!!

Air works good for clearing but it blasts those little buggers all over the place. Fogger or Mister will choke you to death unless machines enclosed so I'd forget typical fogger system. What You need is Odour-Less Fogger that spits little droplets at the work and doesn't create mist, this works good.

BUT I'll warn you coolant (or indeed Air) don't mix well with wood. Coolant turns wood dust into very abrasive paste that is a twat to clean and wears machine like crazy.
If your planning on cutting wood and Ali then I'd stick with air for cutting Ali and don't use coolant.

[Boyan Silyavski]

With the risk of sounding a bit biased, cause right now i am designing and testing my own Fogless Mister Cooling, see post 5 there, i would say that to have such a system is Godsend thing.

Want only to blow away chips and cool by air? Then the perfect air stream will do the job, aluminum,brass,other metal or stone- let some liquid in the stream. Cheap to run, low on coolant per hour


I mean is one thing to blow air over the bit its another thing to blow a precise air stream.


PS. Dean, expect soon a free sample of the nozzle , cause i would not think that i have achieved it, without you saying that is ok and works under all possible scenarios.

[fvfdrums]

Ok,

so a bit more research, how about the cold air gun approach? I have a decent compressor with plenty CFM output. If the temp is right would the aluminium cut well with a cold air system? this would remove the need for coolant.

The machine will primarily be cutting ally plate I would imagine but it will be used to cut hardwoods as well and I know of the evil wood snot you speak of when mixing wood and coolant as I have had it before on my lathe! its worse than concrete.

[JAZZCNC]

Ok, so a bit more research, how about the cold air gun approach? I have a decent compressor with plenty CFM output. If the temp is right would the aluminium cut well with a cold air system? this would remove the need for coolant.

Never the twain Shall meet IMO but if you must cut wood then I wouldn't use coolant but instead plenty of Air and put up with the Mess and lesser quality finish.
Failing that then think about system that use's coolant that evaporates quickly like ethanol, good but expensive.!

One problem with coolant or should say small amounts of coolant is that it Can shock tooling and cause micro cracks in certain tool materials like Carbide. So it's often considered better to have No cooloing at all or Go large and have full flood cooling.

With Aluminium I find Air alone isn't enough and it needs just a small amount of lube to help with any hard Sticky spots and melting to tool, which happen often in lesser grade Ali like 5 series.
This is why I like the idea of John's system in the Mister thread because it would mean having full control of the squirting but mainly use air for clearing chips. This would work well if your mixing materials.!

One day I will get round to finishing a directional Air & coolant squarting ring around the base of spindle which follows the inverse of Axis movement and squirts air or coolant as required, Bit like Datron system does.! . . . . Just not enough hours in a life time.!!