CNC Router Taper Machine

[hadjcues]

Hello guys, I'm new here and as the name suggests... I'm into cuebuilding.

I'm interested in making a router taper machine. I do tapers on my engine lathe with a taper bar and I plan to build a dedicated set-up for the job.

The machine I had in mind is something similar to a cnc router table design. There will be a fixed chuck/spindle/tailstock on the table holding the workpiece between centers just like a lathe.

The X axis will have an approx. travel of 33-35" and the Y= 0-3" max
It's just a simple design where the taper is produced by variations in the Y axis. The X more or less goes in just one cutting direction.

I guess taper turning is easy for any CNC router but I just want to make use of these XY. The Z axis could be manually set with a milling attachment, so not much of problem. The cutter I plan to use is a porter cable trim router, the machine aluminum based with linear slide bearings/pillow blocks with 3/4, 5/8 shafts and lead screws.

Thanks for the help guys...

Hadj

[buscht]

Here's some links for examples.

http://www.alignritetool.com/cnc_router_poolcue.htm
http://www.techno-isel.com/Education...F/H870P080.pdf

I'm positive a CNC would work well, but don't know if you need it for just cutting tapers. I think it shines for the inlay work.

Don't know much more than that.

Good luck!

[hadjcues]

Originally Posted by buscht Here's some links for examples. http://www.alignritetool.com/cnc_router_poolcue.htm http://www.techno-isel.com/Education...F/H870P080.pdf I'm positive a CNC would work well, but don't know if you need it for just cutting tapers. I think it shines for the inlay work. Don't know much more than that. Good luck!

Sir, thanks fore the reply... I've seen those examples before. I'm leaning towards a router table format. Cutting tapers for it would allow me to experiment with parabolic slopes and angles used for producing different tapers instead of a taper bar on a lathe... which would require different taper bars for each kind of taper.

I need a good recommendation for what kind of stepper motors would be best suited for the task... no hi-speed movement here, slow feedrate with lots of torque/power is what I prefer... just for 3 axes... also controllers, drivers etc. sort of like a kit... I'm new to this thing and maybe a low cost kit would be great for me to start with... anything thast would make this thing run

Any help and insight would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks,

Hadj

[chuckknigh]

What resources do you have avaialble in the Philippines? I don't know if you have a Radio Shack (or similar electronics components store) where you live. Would you have to rely on mail order?

On one extreme, driver boards can be purchased ready-made. Mariss Freimanis makes the Gecko drivers, and he is a wonderful person to deal with...lots of support from him, so you actually get your machine working. Other companies also make pre-built driver boards...Geckos just seem to be setting the standards at the moment.

On the other extreme, you can build your own. Of course, a sophisticated driver circuit is rather complex, and would be difficult to build if you don't have some skills in electronics. The simplest possible driver is just some large transistors and some diodes...the complexity goes up sharply from there, as the sophistication and efficiency improve.

As far as the motors, they're commonly available on the surplus market. Does anyone where you live ever junk LASER printers? The old HP LaserJET I, II, and III printers all have a single stepper motor in them...100 oz in, which is pretty decent. Alternately, keep an eye open on eBay for some cheap motors. They do show up on a regular basis.

-- Chuck Knight

[hadjcues]

Chuck,

I got word from a friend here about availability of stepper motors. I have and old HP printer... I'll check it out. As for those surplus things, we have them here. I just don't know what to get, specs etc.

No problem of getting stuff via mail order. Most of the stuff I use in my shop I order from the US...

Tryin to look for an inexpensive kit that would work for cutting and doing inlays prolly... The machine frame, prolly aluminum, I could make here and have the fixtures to my specs... it's the CNC hardware side that I'm lacking in knowledge and struggling to get by... need all the help out there...

Thanks,

Hadj

[mklb]

Hadjcues

I Have Built The Very Machine That You Are Talking About.

I Use A Taig Based Lathe With A Bed From Chris Hightower (cueman Billiards). It Has A Dc Motor With A Speed Control To Turn The Spindle Nice And Slow.

As Far As The Mechanism Goes, It Is Pretty Simple. I Bought Two 42" Thk And Two 12" Hsk Slides On Ebay, And Use 1/2 X 10 Acme Threaded Rod For The Lead Screw. The Nuts Are Delrin, And Give Almost No Backlash.

I Bought A 3 Axis Xylotex Board And Use Pacific Scientific Powermax 2 Motors. With Only 116 Oz Motors, I Can Rapid At Over 75" Min Without Losing Steps. I Use A 24 Volt Power Supply That I Have Cranked Up To 28 Volts.

Buscht Is Absolutely Right, It Does Fantastic Inlay Work. I Currently Only Have 2 Axis Of Movement, But I Ordered The 4 Axis Xylotex Board, And Will Soon Use A Stepper For The Spindle Motor As Well As The Z. That Way I Can Control The Speed Exactly for turning shafts, And Then Also Use It As An Angular Controlled Rotory Positioner for inlay work.

Mach2 Makes Everything Run Real Smooth.

Email Me If You Have Any Questions.

Royce

[hadjcues]

Royce,

Glad to see a cuemaker on board...
You could mail me at hadjcues@yahoo.com... can't see your mail addy here...
Yeah I believe with the very minimal power requirement and load stress induced by the workpiece your set up would be adequate for the job.

Just wondering though if the leadscrew configuration ( 1/2-10) would be uniform for all the 3 axes.... if I would use a 5/8 what TPI would it be? I plan to use linear bushing instead of rails with a 5/8 or 3/4 for shafts...

Thanks,

hadj

[mklb]

Hdjcues

If You Are Going To Use Shafting, You Must Come Up With A Way To Support The Shafts. You Will Need At Least 40" To 42" Shafts To Get The Travel That You Need, And Unsupported Shafts Will Bow In The Center. At First Thought This Would Not Be That Big Of A Deal For Turning, In Actuality It Is. The Bowing Leads To Vibration, Which Is The Biggest Issue With Turning Shafts. I First Started With 5/8" Precision Linear Shafting With Nyliner Type Bushings. I Was Not Happy With The Bowing So I Scrapped The Idea, And Went With The Thk Rails.

As For The Lead Screw, I Use The 1/2 X 10 With The X And The Y. I Do Not Have The Z Finished Yet, But It Is Actually Just The Carriage Slide From The Taig Lathe I Had, So It Is Actually 1/4 X 20, I Believe. Using Different Lead Screw Pitches For Each Axis Is Not An Issue, Because The Software Lets You Set Up Each Axis Indepentantly.


You Should Download The Manual From Artsoft.com (mach2), And Maybe Even The Software And Play With It. I Learned A Great Deal From Reading Both This Manual And The One For Turbocnc. Both Are Great Software Packages.

If You Are On A Limited Budget, I Would Definately Recommend The Xylotex Board And Mach2 Software. I Have Absolutely No Complaints. If I Had More Budget, I Would Have Gone With Geckos, Bigger Motors And Ball Screws, But My Machine Works Great As It Is.

Royce

[hadjcues]

Royce,

Thanks for the reply and the info man. Do you think having a much wider base for the carriage and maybe triple bearing on each shaft would ease up the vibration? What about using 3/4" to 1" shafting?

Do you have a full sized router as your cutter or just a Porter Cable spindle?
I would appreciate it very much if you could post pics of it or mail the pics at hadjcues@yahoo.com

Any site where I could view your work?

I'll check out those downloadble links you told me about... Yeah the budget is kinda limited and I guess I'll be doin' it piece per piece so I wanna make sure that everything would be usable when I get to put them together.

Thanks,

Hadj