New Member, New Machinist, New G0704 Mill, New Build, Old Questions

[metaphysics]

Darn, my first post and I put it in the wrong place...


Hello All,

First of all THANKS(!!!) to all of you for the resource that you all make possible with your very informative contributions.

By way of introduction, I'm a physicist and I've been designing and building high-end optical, semiconductor and biotech instrumentation/automation for 20 years. I specialize in prototype instrument development. I work as an independent consultant and have sent out 1,000s of drawings over the years. I've never personally used any metalworking machine more complex than a drill press and have always left the chip making to the pros like you guys. I'm not a pointy head CAD jockey. It's just that, in general, it isn't cost effective for me to do my own machining.

That said, a couple of weeks ago, I needed some counterbores on a Saturday night for a Monday AM acceptance test by guys flying in from Japan. This mess was enough impetus for me to start looking for a simple milling machine to add to my shop.

Well, being a geek, I started poking around here and decided that I *needed* to have a CNC mill in my workshop. Since I don't want to spend more than $4k with tooling for an occasionally used toy, I have to have the fun of building my own. I'll still send my parts to the pros but I figure I can teach my 11yr old to use it and after a few years he may be good enough that he can earn some money and I may save some on my simpler parts. Nearly everything I build is a one-off and smaller than a brick or a 1ft square panel.

I've already ordered a Grizzly G0704 and, when it ships, I plan to get Hoss's (BIG THANKS to HOSS) directions and buy the parts as kits from the guys selling here and on ebay, i.e., another lazy man's G704 CNC build.

On to the questions:

1. I do all my design work in SolidWorks and am looking for the "best" CAM software to go along with it. I say "best" because it also has to fit within my build budget. I've spoken to the SALESpeople at BobCAM (and suspect I will again) and am also looking at Visual Mill for Solidworks. Is there anything else in the sub-$1k range that I should be looking at?
   
   
2. I have some high end Parker stepper and servo drivers and Galil motion controllers from previous projects. I could use those for my build but think it MIGHT be easier from a "support" standpoint to just use the same Keling or Gecko stuff that everyone else here uses and has already debugged. Thoughts?
   
   
3. Grizzly is giving a bundle deal on their 4" G7156 vise for $90 with the G0704. Is it worth the extra $130 for the Glacern version? It looks very similar and may be made in the same factory.
   
   
4. I do nearly all my work in metric. Do the inch colletts hold metric mills? I believe the TTS holds metric sizes. Does anyone know if the Grizzly version holds them? Is there a better solution?
   

There will be more questions but these will get me started. Once again thanks for the valuable resource that is CNCzone.com.

metaphysics

[hoss2006]

Welcome aboard!
1. avoid bobcad/cam, their software is ok but the salesfolks will hound you to death to buy more.
Cambam, Meshcam, Dolphin Partmaster, Vectric are all quite good and won't break the bank,
try them first and see what works for you.
2. If you have them, might as well give them a try.
3.glacern are nice looking and you're sure they are quality, the grizzly may be good
but may be off a couple thou here or there.
4.The collets have some give but if you only plan to use metric tooling go with metric collets,
ER collets are more common.
Hoss

[metaphysics]

Welcome aboard!
1. avoid bobcad/cam, their software is ok but the salesfolks will hound you to death to buy more.
Cambam, Meshcam, Dolphin Partmaster, Vectric are all quite good and won't break the bank,
try them first and see what works for you.
2. If you have them, might as well give them a try.
3.glacern are nice looking and you're sure they are quality, the grizzly may be good
but may be off a couple thou here or there.
4.The collets have some give but if you only plan to use metric tooling go with metric collets,
ER collets are more common.
Hoss

Hi Hoss,
Thanks for the reply. I was primarily looking at bobcam and pagemill because they integrate directly into Solidworks. Is this a real advantage or just a perceived one? The bobcam people are such BSers that I can't tell what the real advantage of integration.

The reason I am hesitant with the parker and galil stuff is that I could use them for another project and basically get my money back for them while the Gecko/Keling stuff is a lot less costly. If there were an advantage to the high end stuff then it might make sense, but if the cheaper stuff works, it works.

Looking forward to this process.

Best,
metaphysics

[eartaker]

metaphysics,

To what tolerances are you looking to have? +/- .001"? Also will you be doing a lot of PCB milling?

There are many CAM programs that will use your Solidworks models and if they wont accept the native file then you can always save it as another file format that can be imported. Another CAD/CAM to look at is Alibre CAM - Affordable Integrated CAM Software for CNC machining of Alibre models they offer a demo.

[metaphysics]

metaphysics,

To what tolerances are you looking to have? +/- .001"? Also will you be doing a lot of PCB milling?

There are many CAM programs that will use your Solidworks models and if they wont accept the native file then you can always save it as another file format that can be imported. Another CAD/CAM to look at is Alibre CAM - Affordable Integrated CAM Software for CNC machining of Alibre models they offer a demo.

+/-0.001 would be fine, Why do you ask? Even +/.005 would be OK for most of the stuff I need to do on this machine. Like I mentioned, I leave the hard stuff to the pros.

No PCB milling. All 6061.

metaphysics

[hoss2006]

Integration wouldn't be something I'd worry about, you can save your CAD drawing and open or import
it into many CAM programs.
You can get excellent performance from the cheaper setups, the digital packages I have
laid out kick butt.
G0704 Electronics
Hoss