And yet another first router

[lsfoils]

Heres the pic of the new bridge mount. Several hours were devoted to cutting, welding and aligning the bridge to an acceptable (to me at least) position. And now, the bridge has been filled with the high tensil strength concrete. Brought the flex in @ .002" with the same force as described above. I am satisfied with that.

As an aside: I was setting up the Z bracket in the mill/drill I have, and using a high resolution test indicator to adjust plane when I reached up to rest my hand on the belt cover. Guess what. .002" indicated movement with very little force applied . Crapola! But then again, wow! I've been getting pretty fair finishes in aluminum and steel with this machine for 17+ years and it flexes like that! Well, I'll just have to adjust my expectations! Or maybe study the situation a little longer. I have become wary of gift horses and things that seem too easy or simple. Hmm, must be the project, huh?

[Bloy2004]

Did you lose some of your y-axis travel with this modification? Maybe 2 inches or so?

[lsfoils]

Actually, I set the bridge back a little so I gained. Worked out, as I'd set it a little too far forward in the first place.

[Bloy2004]

Oh yah...I see from comparison now that it is closer to the frame corner. Your Y-axis is the longer movement then? I'm a little fuzzy here....
That's going to be quite a router when completed...hope you keep the update pictures coming....

[lsfoils]

well, this pic is a couple of weeks old. Kind of a frontal view. Yesterday, I attached the box that houses the drives and before that, some extra bracing for the birdge. I started to pick it up to move it from the shop to my garage and had to stop. I had placed slings on either end of the main frame and used a wrecking bar in between the slings. I started to lift it with an engine hoist when I got real nervous. The wrecking bar was bent a good inch and a half so I chickened out. Actually, my buddy who is Mr. daredevil himself, advised me to stop and wait until he could bring his trailer up from his farm. (this way we don't have to lift it very high)I was so shocked at his suggestion that even now, the thing is still in the shop. Thats ok. Once I get it home things should happen faster. At least then I can devote time to endevors such as limit switches, home and a Z refernce block. At some point, I still have to produce a router clamp. Uh, at some point, I still have to come up with a router. 'sOK. Its coming along...

[turmite]

Isfoils what size router are you planning to use? Porter Cable
3 1/4 hp maybe? Just curious cause that is one impressive looking machine!

Mike

[lsfoils]

Thanks Mike,

I have a Ryobi that I have used for wood working. It has a plastic case that would not hold up well. I'll probably haunt the pawn shops and look for a get-by for now. Eventually, I'd like to have 2 spindles. One for wood, aluminum and foam and a slower one for steel.

Doug

[lsfoils]

Here is a quick update for those who'd like to know:

Moved the machine into my garage, hooked up all the motors and a computer. Spent a weekend trying to get things dialed in and moving. Still no router but I did manage to write this and after a few tries, got a nice print from a pen attached to Z. Still having to do some tuning, but I have watched the meter hit 184 ipms on the y rapid. Man, thats nice! Gotta keep an eye on it with only 24" of travel

[lsfoils]

Well, at last I've got something cut. Spent a little time last weekend making a mount for the hand peice for the Sears version flex shaft grinder I've had for 8 years. Spent most of my spare time trying to figure out how fast I could run it. Thanks to the trial version of MeshCam, I got this part made. 2 hours: 2 roughing d.o.c.'s of .1" and a finish of .068". Step-overs were .030" and .010" respectively. Material is gray pvc. Can't wait to have a real router! Oh, yeah, 1/8" ball nose carbide dremel cutter. Not even a real router bit, ugh!

[gmfoster]

That looks very nice.
Garry

[lsfoils]

Been almost a year since I actually started this machine. But at least it can cut. Found a 1 1/2 HP Sears router in a hock shop for $34. Bearings are in great shape and !/4" collet holds the bits tight. Finally got a chance to do something for fun so here it is: Approx. 2 inch on the side, 25 ipms, .02 doc and the thing finished to pretty near square! Its not really Engine Turned. (Close approximation done with a 1/4" end mill) But it gives you the same effect. I'm saving my pennys for cam software and have been practicing writing code in the mean time. So, here is a pattern of holes with really short spacing.

When I have the software I'm going to make a mandrel to mount the leather disk to and do some real Engine Turning. I'm sure this will dress things up!