THE GRIZZ

[atomarc]

Titaniumboy,

Au contraire mon frère, Nick has the shop wired with security cameras and makes me wear a ankle bracelet. If I go anywhere withing 10 feet of the 'Grizz' a autodialer call the fuzzies! Doesn't really matter because I don't even know how to turn the silly thing ON...but I'm learning. This site has been a goldmine of information and positive strokes..we wouldn't be where we are now without all the folks here..thank you!

Stuart (&Nick)

[Titaniumboy]

Too funny! I am positive we could coach Stuart through some MDI code and get some chips generated.

On a serious note I have two questions, one quick and one maybe not so quick.

Quick Question: why the use of spherical washers for the vise hold downs?

Not So Quick Question:
Your very first posts showed that the linear rails had already been installed. How did you get the milled areas for the linear rails flat enough? Or does parallel and flatness come from adjustment after the rails are installed? What kind of accuracy were you aiming for on the linear rails, and what accuracy did you end up with?

I am just very unclear how one goes about installing linear ways.

Thanks!

[atomarc]

I'll attempt to answer coherently!

The vise hold-downs we made sit a hair higher where they contact the vise than where they rest/pivot on the table surface. This was done intentionally so when they are tensioned they will 'go flat'. The spherical washer setup allows the hold downs to squish and move if they want while at the same time allowing the bottom of the fastener to sit on a flat surface, regardless of the 'tilt' caused by the height difference. Clear as mud!

Regarding the linear rail installation..this was done first to the 'Z' axis, the column. Keep in mind I have a full size Bridgeport mill and this is where this operation was done..and this is how we did it. The column was clamped to the table, dovetails down, as the reference. Any twist or bow was shimmed out as they were clamped. This means they weren't tweaked during with the clamping process.

After they were secure, two light datum skims were taken on the back of the column, one near the top and one near the base. These would be the clamping reference surfaces when we flipped the column over to mill off the dovetails and make the seat for the linear rails. In essence, we were transferring the factory dovetail reference to the back of the column so we could turn it over and keep that reference...make sense.

Once laying on its new reference spots on the back, the column was dialed in to the spindle along the 'X' axis, the dovetails were machined off and the seats for the rails cut. The column wasn't disturbed during this operation which guaranteed the seat for the rails would be parallel to the column axis and parallel to themselves.

Linear rails...ours anyway, rely on their base to be true, flat and parallel, they have no actual adjustment built in so the machining of the column or whatever has to be perfect. We were after a smooth, effortless motion with zero wiggle/movement, something difficult to get with gibs and dovetails. We chose the bearing trucks that had a medium preload so there would be no movement. We achieved what we were after, effortless Z & X movement with no slop, no need for periodic gib adjustments and no need for constant one-shot oiling.

I could ramble on but if you go to the beginning of this thread you can see many of the operations I have tried to explain here laid out in picture form and they may make things a bit more clear. Attempting to do a good job machining for the installation of linear rails is almost impossible unless you have a large machine capable of doing the work in a single setup, guaranteeing parallelism and perpendicularity (?).

Wow..too much talk. Don't know if any of this makes sense to you or helps. Read the early posts..lots of good linear install pictures.

Stuart

[Turbo442]

I have been using that Valspar hardener you guys mentioned with the Rustoleum paint. It’s working out great in my shop. That stuff turns nice and hard in three days vs 2 months without it. Thanks for the tip!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[atomarc]

I have been using that Valspar hardener you guys mentioned with the Rustoleum paint. It’s working out great in my shop. That stuff turns nice and hard in three days vs 2 months without it. Thanks for the tip!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We're happy to share our experiences with others, glad you had good results. The hardener does work well and it's not that expensive..waiting for paint to dry is a real drag, sort of like watching grass grow.

Another little tip is to add several drops of Marson fish eye eliminator, commonly sold at automotive paint stores under the name "Smoothie". It really aids in flow out and gloss retention while stopping any fish eyes in their tracks...no one want's a fishy paint job!

Stuart

[Titaniumboy]

Stuart,

Thanks for the explanation on the spherical washers and the linear rail install.

Regarding the linear rail install I would have thought you might have one or two thou runout, even using the Bridgeport, in Y and/or Z given the 18 inches or so you had to mill. I guess I had always thought it would take the accuracy of a surface grinder to mill the pocket for linear rails.

How much runout did you guys measure on the linear rail pocket after milling?

[atomarc]

It doesn't take a surface grinder to prepare the seat for linear rails. The rails have a slight tolerance for misalignment which you can easily accommodate with milling. The rails themselves move slightly in the holes for the fasteners so after one rail is pushed over to the machined shoulder and tightened down, the bearing blocks can be installed, and using a tie-bar arrangement to the second rail and bearing block, it can be fastened down in perfect alignment to the first, or master rail.

We dialed the beds in on the Bridgeport but I don't honestly remember what the runout was...less than .001 end to end and between rails. Whatever error was created during machining was done to both rails together..so there would be no error between the two..as I understand it.

We didn't have a large enough surface plate when we did the column so it was never mapped. However it was mapped when it was on the table of the Bridgeport..post machining and that figure, on the long X axis was less than .001.

The table and knee on the Bridgeport are very tight and accurate..it doesn't sag much and the knee was always locked.

Does this answer your questions? This is how we did it and it seems to work perfectly.

Stuart

[Titaniumboy]

Stuart,

Thanks again. Your explanation makes perfect sense.

Perhaps someday I can upgrade the dovetails on my Novakon cnc mill to linear rails.

[lcvette]

Titaniumboy,

Au contraire mon frère, Nick has the shop wired with security cameras and makes me wear a ankle bracelet. If I go anywhere withing 10 feet of the 'Grizz' a autodialer call the fuzzies! Doesn't really matter because I don't even know how to turn the silly thing ON...but I'm learning. This site has been a goldmine of information and positive strokes..we wouldn't be where we are now without all the folks here..thank you!

Stuart (&Nick)

It's almost too pretty to make parts with... I'm sure Nick is just biding his time before the initial "soiling" away of the newness... Hahaha. It's funny with builds like this, you put so much effort into it you become stimied by the idea of actually using it and getting it dirty. But that will changes once you watch it making parts and the new drive becomes how to increase efficiency and part throughput. For instance, once you guys get comfortable with running it you'll probably find you want more power than that 1hp spindle motor to ramp up your feeds and speeds. Happens to all of us, once the magic of watching what you built move around making a part wears off, the mundaneness of how slow its cutting sets in and you tell yourself.. "This thing needs more powa!!".. so tell Nick not to worry.. consider this the first leg of the project and thatv there are plenty of fixes and upgrades left in it for future updates. Just the nature of a hobby mill... It never stops being a hobby even when it's used for business.

Chris

Sent from my QTAIR7 using Tapatalk

[Titaniumboy]

All I want for Christmas......


is to see metal chips on the Miller CNC !!




4-1/2 Days (and counting) to Christmas morning.

[atomarc]

You ain't the only one Mr. Don't know if it's going to happen..it's slow going diving into Mach4..and the Miller CNC had a little pre-Christmas snack, it ate a brand new Haimer 3D Taster, so we're in a state of mourning right now!

Stuart

[atomarc]

For the non youtube-ers.

[atomarc]

lol




The tormach collet after some "stoning" .....




Some after photos of the shake down "runs"









Some parts ready to ship to NASA...

[mountaindew]

Wow !
Followed this thread for long time.
Then bam a Hamier probe to find the sweet spot and away she goes!
Great work

[atomarc]

After getting over the inital "butt-hurt-ness" of smashing the Haimer, I (nick) bumbled up a few test tool paths in fusion. All things considered I was happy with the results. - Nick


"that good good"

[mountaindew]

Oh darn.
Setting here watching boring cam simulations and reading cnc threads. Watched video and found out you crashed the 700$ probe not the tip! I was going to say I have broke 3 75$ tips. one in the machine. one in the tool rack, and one when It slipped in my hand and dropped 2 inches to the top of the vise. Still need to be careful touching off. The body can run into your part on the side while your touching off an edge.

[Titaniumboy]

Guys, well done. I was beginning to fear you might miss the Christmas deadline.

Very very rewarding to see all of the aluminum chips everywhere.

Have you considered migrating to Tormachs PathPilot control system? There have been several installs on non-Tormach mills.

[atomarc]

Thanks..hope to have a video of some actual machining soon, still fussing with some bugs and learning how not to mash things that shouldn't be mashed. Mach4 has lots of features so I think we're going to stay with it until some other software looks more promising but we'll certainly take a look at PathPilot.

Hope everyone on the forum has a wonderful Christmas, and thanks for all the help getting our project to where it is now.

Stuart & Nick

[MiniSoCalCNC]

Kudos gents ... great build - shes a beaut! Christmas Chips - what a great present ..... Inspirational. Thanks for all the updates and posts - and sharing the good bad and ugly.

Maybe Santa has a Haimer in his bag for ya'll ....

Merry Christmas !

Thanks..hope to have a video of some actual machining soon, still fussing with some bugs and learning how not to mash things that shouldn't be mashed. Mach4 has lots of features so I think we're going to stay with it until some other software looks more promising but we'll certainly take a look at PathPilot.

Hope everyone on the forum has a wonderful Christmas, and thanks for all the help getting our project to where it is now.

Stuart & Nick

[atomarc]

MiniSoCal,

Thanks for the positive comments, they're appreciated...and just for the record, Santa did gently drop a new Haimer down the old chimney so Nick is back in business and should have some pictures or a video of metal munching coming up very soon. Santa also gave us a refractometer for Christmas which told us we were a million miles off on the coolant mix. Nick just ad-libbed it to get the machine 'wet' for a trial run so it's not a big surprise. We can now fine tune the ratio with the meter.

Stuart