Mounting Three Water Cooled VFD Spindles on large CNC Routers!

[widgitmaster]

My best friend has a thriving business which uses large CNC routers to make it's products! The problem is the length of time it takes to cut a full 4'x8' sheet of products! So I agreed to help him by custom designing all the mounting brackets to and up to five spindles on one machine! One of the criteria in which he insisted on, was the tight spacing between spindles! So after a few days in CAD, I created a design which placed the spindles 3.65" apart!
After he approved my design, I ordered a large block of aluminum 4"x4"x26" and a 1"x4"x26"

First thing I did was to put ink on the large block, scribe lines, and push the bar through the bandsaw using lots of wax! Now I have three pieces of from the large block, and the one smaller piece. One of the pieces from the large block is 3/4"x4"x26, and will not be used!

Now I plan on making the two T-Slot plates, using the 1"x4"x26" bars. So I put two vises on the mill table and dialed them in. Next I milled the edges of both plates to exactly 4", so they can be held in soft-jaws. Now I can remove the hard steel jaws from both vises, and install the long set of soft-jaws. Next I milled a step in both jaws, while a plate was clamped on the vise floor.

Using a large 5" diam face mill, I cut both sides of each plate to exactly 1" thick.

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[widgitmaster]

Now I have to mill a 1/2" wide, 1/8" deep slot down the length of each plate's center. This will be for the key which will align each of the spindle mounts. Next I milled two slots, for the T-Slot cutter. The T-Slots are for 5/15-18 UNC T-Nuts.

[widgitmaster]

Now It's time to start on the mounting brackets for the spindles! So I put ink on the large bar, and divided it into 6-equal pieces. The little bandsaw chopped them off quickly, as I squared up the cubes in the mill. The cubes are not the same dimension on all sides, so I marked them with a Sharpie to indicate the TOP surface!

[widgitmaster]

Next I milled a slot in the center of one side for the alignment key, and drilled the 4x mounting holes. The holes are only 1/2" deep, as material will be removed from the exit side. Now I can mill pockets between the holes, and the depth is equal the fillet-radius under the holes.

[widgitmaster]

With the back side finished, I started milling the fillet radius under the holes, creating the mounting feet. Next I bandsawed a chunk of material off each cube, and used a fly-cutter with a nice radius bit to blend the flat surface to the fillet radius!

[widgitmaster]

After repeating the process on the opposite side, I used a jig-borer endmill to put a spot-face in the fillet for each mounting hole. Next I milled the fillet radius for the clamping ears on the front side of the blocks. Then I used a large 2-flute endmill to remove the excess material.

Now I can mill & drill the 6x stainless keys, and countersink them for a #6 flat head screw. Using a stainless key will keep the blocks from gaulling in the slot, like aluminum on aluminum would do!

[ViperTX]

Eric, nice work!

What sort of a mister are you using and which coolant.

Thanks,
Paul

[widgitmaster]

Thanks Paul!
It's nothing more than the cheapo stuff from Use-Enco.com
Widgit

[TOTALLYRC]

Just what I need, another project from Widgit to remind me how much work I have to do to get caught up. Thanks. LOL

[widgitmaster]

Get to work RC

Was a busy day today, and I didn't get into the shop till 3:30 PM! But I did manage to setup the mill with a 3" hole-saw, just to remove the bulk of the bores in one chunk! It took me an hour to cut three parts from both sides, resulting in a 2" deep hole! The saw worked fine at 70-RPM, and the spray-mist put enough juice to keep the saw wet!

[TOTALLYRC]

Nice thing about the hole saw is you now have some nice round blanks instead of a huge pile o-chips.

Mike

[hjl4]

Widgit, you know that Stainless key? Bad choice in Aluminum. High galvanic corrosion potential. Stainless and AL don't like each other. You are better off with mild steel painted with copper anti seize.

Other than that, it's a very interesting build.'
Nice piece of AL you got there.

[widgitmaster]

Widgit, you know that Stainless key? Bad choice in Aluminum. High galvanic corrosion potential. Stainless and AL don't like each other. You are better off with mild steel painted with copper anti seize.

Other than that, it's a very interesting build.'
Nice piece of AL you got there.

Every CNC router I've built has stainless screws & dowels, and I've never noticed any oxidation when dismantling them! I think the missing component is salt water, and there is none of that in a dusty wood shop
Widgit

[widgitmaster]

This morning I setup the mill with a 90-deg head, so I could bore the 80mm diam holes in the spindle clamps! First I roughed out the bore, leaving .010" of material. Then I made two finishing passes to bring the bore to size!

Next I'll drill & tap the three holes for clamping, followed by milling a 1/8" slot on top!

[hjl4]

Every CNC router I've built has stainless screws & dowels, and I've never noticed any oxidation when dismantling them! I think the missing component is salt water, and there is none of that in a dusty wood shop
Widgit

Oooops. Forgot about the last ingredient to bad corrosion mix. LOL.

That angle boring head must of set you back a few $$$$. But wow, what a beautiful job it does.

[widgitmaster]

This morning I drilled, tapped & counter bored the three holes for the clamping screws. I decided on #10-24 UNC screws, as their coarse threads go deeper into the soft aluminum!

[widgitmaster]

Next I bandsawed the bulk material off the two corners, and started to make a rotary-table fixture to mill the radius on the outside of the parts. So I clamped the Rotary-Table on the mill, and found a piece of scrap aluminum to use as a fixture plate. In order to attach the block to the r-tab, I need to drill & c-bore two holes. Then I put a center point in the middle of the plate. Using a pair of small t-nuts, I positioned the plate in the center, using a 60 deg point in the drill chuck.
Next I milled an 80mm diam boss in the center of the block .150" deep. Now I need to mill out a chunk of the block, o the two mounting feet on the clamps will hang down. Now that the parts nest on the fixture, I need to drill & tap a 3/8-16 UNC thread in the center. But I will need a plate to clamp the parts down, so I drilled a 3/8" hole in another piece of scrap. With the plate bolted to the fixture, I calculated the offset (80mm + .500" cutter + .500 overhang) /2
Now I can position each part on the fixture and clamp it securely for milling.

[widgitmaster]

Milling the radius was a quick process, so I deburred all the parts and now I can relax!
All that's left on these parts is milling a slot in top!

[tauntdesigns]

Beautiful work and nice tools

Cheers,

[nlancaster]

Never expect anything less from widgitmaster when he is machining.

Beautiful work as always.