Modding CNC mill conversion

check out this mill: http://www.northwaysmachinery.com/p...op Fox M1007 Mill Drill Metal Working Machine

 

talladega- thats a round column. pretty much a no-no for cnc conversions. you want a dovetail column z axis.

cheapskate- People are playing with a underpowered nema 34 and geared for more torque then acceleration and using the g540. Im sure the performance difference would be very small.

No it won't have manual control, becuase of mach 3 (or emc2 i think(free btw and runs on linux)) you can jog the axes around using the keyboard. one could do it pretty easily and cheapily. however pressing a keyboard button is easier, and you get a better finish since your cutting at the same speed rather then cycling up and down in speed because humans are not robots.

Yes harborfreight blows.

I hear you- its a lot of money up front. One idea could be buying a x2 or x3 or similar used on craigslist/ebay and use it a lot- if its for you keep it if not you could re-sell it for +- $100 or so of what you purchased it for.

Cheers

 

Robots usually don't move at a constant speed. They ramp up and down to keep the torques and forces tolerable.

This looks interesting. I'll keep on watching. Have you considered a Tormach?

 

No i havn't considered the tormach because completely un-tooled its $8,000 after shipping. Im only 17 years old and don't have a job! they sure are nice machines though

 

@Talledega - They had this mugger with free shipping a while back. I should have grabbed it then...
I don't need to pay a few hundred bucks for a stand either. After that last hurricane, I became a 6foot 4x4 post tycoon.

@Teyber- That will work. As long as you have some kind of control. If you lose an electric component, yer f-d though...

 

cheapy that mill is a round column... its not impossible but close to it to cnc them. even if you are just looking at a mill its nice to know you could cnc later down the road.
about the manual motion- the problem is the table can slide around with ballscrews. they are very low friction. Because of this you need to lock the tables down, et cetera its just a PITA. however if there is power in the steppers they have a lot of holding torque- this is why most people don't really attatch handwheels on. it can be done but using a MPG or just jogging it around is a lot more convinient. If you look at any cnc conversion log everybody at first wants manual and cnc but nobody really does it...



O and if everybody is wondering why am i gaping so much and not working i am away from home on my spring break right now. it was actually quite productive- i found 2 different isoteric parts that were holding me up and purchased my cad/cam software so

 

Wow Teyber this is impresive! Good work

 

thank you sir!


Guys great news!
1) i fired up the electronics for the first time and no black smoke!
2) The z axis isn't assembled, but the motors turn! the table is jogging around and the z axis motor is chillin on my bench and it moves

so excited! it works! now lots of tuning and stuff, along with re- assembling my z axis after confirming my gib is "good enough"

ill try to get a camera vid sometime

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYbw-l1FAGQ

It probably doesn't work yet- still processing i assume. and sorry for the bad quality video my real camcorder broke! and it wasnt a cheap one
sorted the crunching of the x but still no luck with the z- its not working atm i think its just a little technicality in the software i am overlooking.

cheers!

p.s. how to i get embedded videos?

 

Awesome project sir.


I forgot that they probably don't let us do this around here. Hmm. Ask a mod?

 

It's OK, there's a computer involved . BT still has love for robots and killdozers.

 

cheapy i think hes talking about the embedding-

btw i made the video pretty much for you just to show how you don't really need manual control. If you want a specific video just LMK as i figured out a way to just tape then upload to youtube for simple videos which saves a lot of time.

cheers!

 

[ youtube ] lYbw-l1FAGQ [ /youtube ]

 

thanks pedro!

 

Hey, can you lay out the difference between the X2 and the X3 again? Is it mostly size? Accuracy? Power? In my mind's eye, I'm seeing a small desktop machine, with the full CNC Fusion ballscrew gear, capable of working on a piece the size of standard computer PSU, or thereabouts. Mostly for work in aluminium, a bit in copper, very occasionally in steel but I don't really care how long it takes as long as I don't have to make the passes myself... What led you to pick the X3 over the X2? Sorry, I'm interested, but also broke

EDIT: Also, can you explain the concept of 'rigidity'? Is it literally just how resistant the machine itself is to flex?

 

sure thing mate- i will as soon as i get home today. if i forget send me a pm as a reminder

there is a great picture of a x2 next to a x3 and its amazing the size difference. Basically its rigidity, work envolope, et cetera. nothing night and day but its a lot bigger

 

That pretty much sums up your question

edit: not my pic

 

Thanks! It looks like when I win the lottery it'll be an X2, with the full CNC-Fusion, and whatever anti-backlash bits I can get...

How long is it until Christmas again?

 

http://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/xmas_cnt.htm

john

 

www.hossmachine.info

hes got full x2 plans on his site which will be a lot cheaper then the fusion kit...

cheers