That is awesome. It looks like both would be easy to make. I have a Taig spindle (hollow lathe type) on my mill so it is very possible to also make one that has the telescoping spring section on the rear so that it sits up inside the bearing block when mounted. This way the bit doesn't protrude any farther than normal and keeps the TIR down.
Glad to see the basic concept is proven. I hate starting from first principles. I made my first test piece tonight using that hobby store brass model tubing and rod I had laying about, just brazed together and using the spring from a disposable lighter. Fragile as hell and unusable for real work, but surprisingly it did quite well for a mock-up, and using an old chipped 1/8" shank 80 degree half-round vee bit I engraved a pretty decent test piece. Now on to turning a more solid one from stainless stock tomorrow!
I still would like to see how the gun manufacturers do it with the scanning probe moving just ahead of the bit. Easy to setup physically, but the software to alter the G-code for Z in the look-ahead buffer in real-time would be a nightmare chore to code for anyone who doesn't already work in that field and have source code for something like Mach or DeskCNC.  |