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Thread: Devastator's Ongoing Solsylva Build

  1. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by louieatienza View Post
    Looks real cool... I've used a wire brush myself in my machine to effect an "engine turned" look.
    Thanks! Just an update on the feed and speed on the 3003 al.....I tried turning down the rpm with bad results. I was @ 75 IPM, 18,000 RPM with decent results, tried 15,000 RPM and got melting. Then I turned it up to 22,000 RPM and it machined even cleaner! It seems 3003 likes extremely low chip loads. Probably really hard on the cutter, but surprisingly it is still sharp. Try to take too big a bite and it gums up real bad.

    [edit] Totally wrong on that last account. My problem was that I wasn't turning down the RPM enough. I was trying to cut it like 6061 and lowered it a little bit and still got melting. I had to lower it a lot! I ended up finally getting chips @ 75 IPM 11,500 RPM with a two flute cutter. [end edit]

    I got a quote for water jet cutting. Might do it as a last resort, very expensive. As long as I can keep up with orders with the Solsylva I'll keep cranking them out. It is doing a very clean and accurate job as long as I don't push it too hard.

    My Z is the biggest source of flex. Probably be rebuilding that real soon. The chrome pipes have some give to them when the Z is extended. Probably keep the same design, but go with solid rod rails and replace all wood with aluminum. The alumiinum angle bearing mounts will be swapped for steel. That will be the fourth rebuild/upgrade on that part. That was always the plan once the machine was good enough to make some parts for itself.

    Last edited by Devastator; 04-11-2013 at 01:03 PM. Reason: Added content


  2. #22
    Member revwarguy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Devastator View Post
    I do have an issue with my zeroing procedure that I have to work out. I'm running Mach 3 with the blue screen mod. It works perfectly most of the time
    Hi Devastator,

    I built a Solsylva three years ago now and its still running strong. I had an issue with the blue screen zeroing, and found out the original VB script you can download had bugs in it. After going after this problem myself, I posted a script that worked correctly and never had an inadvertent plunge after that.

    That's one of the problems with the Mach add-ons - there is no central place to get the latest working version, and the older buggy versions seem to hang out there indefinitely.

    I posted the script here:

    http://www.cnczone.com/forums/diy-cn...is_setter.html

    Then I started using Ger's 2010 screenset with its own much more interesting zeroing capabilities and never looked back.

    If you want a look at my machine, Snailworks CNC Builder Log is where the build log is. Hope this helps,

    "72.6 per cent of all statistics are made up on the spot." - Steven Wright


  3. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by revwarguy View Post
    I posted the script here:

    http://www.cnczone.com/forums/diy-cn...is_setter.html

    Then I started using Ger's 2010 screenset with its own much more interesting zeroing capabilities and never looked back.

    If you want a look at my machine, Snailworks CNC Builder Log is where the build log is. Hope this helps,
    Yes, that helps a lot! I kept thinking I was doing something wrong, or overlooking a setting in Mach. I need to get the 2010 screenset. I could have already paid for it in the price of broken cutters caused by the buggy code!

    Your build log was my inspiration to buy the Solsylva planset BTW. I stumbled upon it about two years ago before deciding which machine to build.



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    Member revwarguy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Devastator View Post
    Your build log was my inspiration to buy the Solsylva planset BTW.
    I hope that's a good thing!

    I must admit I have done a lot of things with this table, including aluminum, plastics, and wood. There have been several of us here who started with a Solsylva - C1, Louie, etc. and I have had thoughts of upgrading, but it always seems there is another job I want to do with it before I can bring myself to tear it apart to make a different one, perhaps using Ahren's rails, R&P, etc. Getting a metal mill helped me to defer some of the work I would have otherwise wanted to CNC with a beefed up table. But one of these days!

    Anyway, once you get to making things with it, you'll really enjoy all the work you've done and the frustration with getting it going will be long forgotten.

    "72.6 per cent of all statistics are made up on the spot." - Steven Wright


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    Just a quick update. The Y mods are holding up well. I ran a six hour file yesterday and everything held together just fine. Still waiting on home switch parts from China. Been about six weeks.

    I need to flip the AB nut on the Z axis. I got that part off of my original CNC and it is from Kerk Motion. It has a spring in it. It matters which direction you intend to use it on the Z, because during plunge, the spring gives a shock absorber action. Not solid at all. I may just make a new one. The ones I made for the other axes are working perfectly. I'm not sure if all of the AB nuts that use springs on them act this way, if so I'm not impressed with that at all.

    Might be my last update on this thread. New forum is very slow on my browser and had to do two resets just to post this. 20 minutes to update a thread is just not worth it. Hopefully it will get better. I'll keep my fingers crossed.



  6. #26
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    Using Firefox on a 7 year old PC and I find the new forum update is actually a bit faster. Posting is actually a lot faster.

    Gerry

    UCCNC 2017 Screenset
    [URL]http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2017.html[/URL]

    Mach3 2010 Screenset
    [URL]http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html[/URL]

    JointCAM - CNC Dovetails & Box Joints
    [URL]http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html[/URL]

    (Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)


  7. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by ger21 View Post
    Using Firefox on a 7 year old PC and I find the new forum update is actually a bit faster. Posting is actually a lot faster.
    Seems to be faster tonight although still slower loading than before the changes.

    Getting ready to tool up to make a female two piece rocket nosecone mold from MDF. The MDF will be a test mold and I'll do the real one from corian. Never done anything like this so I'm just guessing on tooling. Planning on 1/4" for roughing and 1/8" long reach ball endmill for finishing. Unless anybody else has recommendations on tooling and stepovers.



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    Default Solsylva gets a mister

    It's been awhile since an update. After waiting three months on homing switch sensors, they still haven't shown up. The seller is sending more. So, maybe another few months, who knows. Running unreferenced really sucks if you lose position.

    I've been machining a lot of aluminum sheet and got tired of standing there with a can of lube, so I added a misting head. I wired the solenoid to a relay controlled by Mach. Does anybody know of an easier way of shutting the mister off during rapids than editing code by hand? I'd like to optimize all of my code so that the mister only runs when cutting.

    I've also set up the PWM to the SuperPID. The RPM does not translate very well to actual and I've tried a whole bunch of different pulley settings. Don't know if this is typical.

    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Devastator's Ongoing Solsylva Build-solsylva-011-jpg   Devastator's Ongoing Solsylva Build-solsylva-012-jpg  


  9. #29
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    First large pieces made. It took the full 24x48 travel on these. Cut @ 135 IPM, 14,500 RPM, .10 DOC. Took 75 min.

    Used some of the empty waste sections to experiment with my "poor man's pillow block bearing". The bearing was a tight press fit, so I must have done something right.

    Is it normal to be really scared before hitting the start button every time? Hopefully that will fade with time, because I don't need the extra adreneline rush every time I run a file.

    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Devastator's Ongoing Solsylva Build-solsylva-015-jpg   Devastator's Ongoing Solsylva Build-solsylva-014-jpg  


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    Looks great. Hopefully you can experiment and a get deeper passes without significant deflection.



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    Quote Originally Posted by jckstrthmghty View Post
    Looks great. Hopefully you can experiment and a get deeper passes without significant deflection.
    Thanks! I think I'd be ok on deflection. My biggest concern is the amount of torque required may overwhelm my single 291 oz in motor on the X. Getting the itch to go dual motors on the X, but then I'd need a new driver too. I may just order a bigger motor for my X for now.

    Not sure what a reasonable DOC is for birch ply, I just guessed on a conservative estimate.



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    I hope the rush never goes away ... but the fear is reduced if you religiously check the limits of the loaded file before pressing go, every time.

    Paul Rowntree
    Vectric Gadgets, WarpDriver, StandingWave and Topo available at PaulRowntree.weebly.com


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    Re the adrenaline rush - I tend to test my files first with a higher z-depth offset, so the bit doesn't cut into the workpiece. I also switch off the router to be more neighbour-friendly. Then if I'm happy with that, I go for the proper run. Still scares me though, big red stop button always nearby!



  14. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by Richster View Post
    Re the adrenaline rush - I tend to test my files first with a higher z-depth offset, so the bit doesn't cut into the workpiece. I also switch off the router to be more neighbour-friendly. Then if I'm happy with that, I go for the proper run. Still scares me though, big red stop button always nearby!
    I've been doing that on small files, it really helps. I think once i get some home switches on my machine that will help too. In the past five months I've ordered parts for my DIY home switches twice, and some proximity switches, all from China from different vendors. Don't know if the long wait is typical, but nothing has shown up yet. Beware of ordering from China to save money if you are in a hurry. Luckily I'm not, but it sure would be nice to not be running unreferenced because it sure sucks if the machine loses position in the middle of a file.

    I had a problem last week with dust on the X rails building up and getting compacted on the bearing. It eventually bound up and trashed my part, so a dust shoe and dust collector is in my near future. In the meantime, I think putting some sweepers on the gantry ends to brush the debris off would be a help.

    The tops of the X rails are sure getting flattened from the bearings traveling over them, it probably doesn't help that my gantry is way heavier than a stock build.

    Very happy with the wood parts coming off. Not so much with aluminum. I'm getting a bit of chatter on angular moves and drilling gives a slightly oval hole due to springyness in the Z. It feeds down, wanders a bit then punches through. Similar to a dull bit, but these are brand new drill bits from drillman. There's a number of factors I'm dealing with, the spring on the AB nut, flex in the Z pipes when it is extended, flex in the wood sides of the Z that hold the bearing carriages. Twist of the gantry is the least factor, probably due to the steel I added to the laminated beam. I've been drilling undersize and doing a secondary operation on the drill press to clean it up.



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    Default First 3D File! :)

    So after teaching myself Solidworks, figuring out the math for a Von Karmen profile nosecone and using the 3D mold generator, it looks like I got pretty good results on my first 3D parts.

    It is a rocket nosecone mold out of MDF. I will be sealing it and polishing it before using a rotocasting resin. I have to finish up my rotocaster while I wait for the resin and release to get here. I've never done anything like this, so we'll see how it turns out. I suspect that I will have to adjust the size bigger, so this one is just for practice. Not sure what the longevity or stability will be on a MDF mold, but I'm fixing to find out.

    Just a few grooves to massage out before putting on the sealer. My Solsylva machine seems to be plenty accurate but we'll see how the registration is after the first one comes out of the mold.

    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Devastator's Ongoing Solsylva Build-cone-molds-001-jpg   Devastator's Ongoing Solsylva Build-cone-molds-002-jpg  


  16. #36
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    Seal the MDF on all sides so that moisture isn't absorbed over time and it will last a long time. I made my first MDF molds for the stabilator of an experimental aircraft (the R/C model flight test version) early this year. Recently I was told that the R/C model version has been flown and it performed as expected.

    You should be able to make multiple copies from your mold as long as it is prepped properly and use a good parting wax. We used Part-All from Aircraft Spruce & Supply. Just remove the parts carefully. MDF damages easily. There is a spray-on film that we used and I can't remember the name of it at the moment.

    CarveOne
    http://www.carveonecncwoodcraft.com


  17. #37
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    Quote Originally Posted by CarveOne View Post

    You should be able to make multiple copies from your mold as long as it is prepped properly and use a good parting wax.
    Thanks for the tips. I just ordered some mold wax. I have some release spray for urethane coming along with the ten gallons of urethane. I'll keep track of how many cones I can get out of one mold. Destruction testing is my specialty.



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    The molds I used to make fiberglass/carbon layups from were machined from RenShape 440 mold material. It's expensive stuff but not as expensive as aluminum molds. I did that work for 5 years before retiring. If you want production molds consider using aluminum. Sometimes we damaged the Renshape getting parts out that had deep cuts and the release spray and wax were too thin. We repaired it with Bondo and sanded it when cured. When I was doing that work I had no idea that I would ever have the knowledge, software, and a CNC machine to make the molds myself.

    CarveOne
    http://www.carveonecncwoodcraft.com


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    Quote Originally Posted by CarveOne View Post
    If you want production molds consider using aluminum.
    I was planning on using aluminum until I priced it. $300 for the metal to do one of our 4" cones and we'd need at least four of them in rotation to get any decent production rate. Otherwise we'd have down time waiting for urethane to cure. We have some smaller cones that wouldn't price out too bad in aluminum. I suppose that is still cheap since we got a quote of $20,000 for just one mold many years ago. That was from a USA company. I've since gotten quotes from China for 25% of that.

    Thanks for the lead on the RenShape 440. I'll do the prototypes in MDF to check fit and then order some RenShape. Cones are pretty simple parts with ample draft. so I'm hoping to not stress the molds too bad. If I can dial in the mdf mold, I'll keep a tally and run it until it fails. I'm wondering if soaking the insides in thin CA would be much better than just the lacquer sanding sealer.

    Thanks for the expertise.



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    Renshape comes in different densities, lengths, and thicknesses. 440 is moderate density I think. It's pink. The brown color I have seen is denser. Both are very heavy. Online search will find info, data sheets, and suppliers. You will need very a good dust collection system for the finishing passes. You can work it just like wood.

    For low cost and low parts count MDF will work though. West Systems laminating epoxy sucks right into MDF and the lamination joints can separate. When I laminate any more MDF for molds I'll use 30 or 60 minute epoxy that has a higher viscosity. Or coat with West Systems and let it cure before adding a second coat and then clamping/weighting it.

    CarveOne
    http://www.carveonecncwoodcraft.com


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