keeping the spindle from hitting the table

[Cruiser]

Pete, You will find that you will be running your aluminum at 5800 most of the time ! When I cut my alum stuff I run at full speed and adj feed to the comfort zone. Most of my cutter usage is 1/4" & 1/2" and chips FLY !

[pete from TN]

That is what I am hoping to find. I machine a lot of aluminum parts and the higher spindle speed will hopefully make this machine a lot more productive and allow for shorter run times. Again I am not finished with the cnc conversion just yet. I hope to be testing the machine this weekend as I am just getting the control unit buttoned up. Then I have a few items to adjust on the one shot oiler system and it will be ready to run. Once I get that finished I intend to build a nice enclosure with sheet steel probably and plexi. The work you did on your machine especially the belt drive conversion was the inspiration for my rebuild and belt drive. can't wait to be machining with this machine again....peace

[BlackMoon]

pete: Any pics/websites/urls you could share with us on this belt conversion?
Kinda seems sad to throw out all those nice gears. even if they are noisy at over 1000rpm.. but im slowly starting to see why you would want to.

[pete from TN]

I would love to direct you to a website but unfortunately there isn't one. This belt drive conversion is something I came up with and built myself with the help and advice of forum members, Specifically Art Eckstein aka country bubba . It is chronicled on the thread " lathemaster/rf45 Belt drive conversion" and is not even a proven entity yet. I have hooked it to my sensorless vector drive and run the spindle on the bench for some time and adjusted the drives parameters and such but I have not actually cut anything with it just yet. The system seems to run very quiet and I have as I said a two speed pulley setup for a decent low range torque as well as a modest high speed. Keep posted here and I will let you guys know how it works since I should be testing the cnc system hopefully this weekend... Peace

[HimyKabibble]

Originally Posted by pete from TN Glad I was misunderstanding the post, the written word leaves much to be desired sometimes. sorry.... Anyways, my new EXTERIOR belt drive conversion is running with a three phase 1720 rpm motor and a TECO sensorless Vector drive. I have built a two tier pulley setup atop the millhead and on the low speed I can go as slow as 140 rpm with seemingly good torque and as fast as around 1200 rpm. On the High speed pulley position I can go as slow as 1100 rpm and as fast as I have adjusted the vfd so far to show 5800 rpm on my digital tachometer. The machine is very quiet and while I have yet to machine anything with it as the cnc conversion is still undergoing the finishing stages I am hopeful it will be adequate for my needs. The high speed will certainly come in handy for the aluminum and the low speed should be very torquey with the reduction pulleys. I am not 100% sure about it but I understand the electric brakes available actually work as the last poster described. They have a spring loaded brake of some sort and the power essentially trips a solenoid or something and that disengages the brake allowing movement. The drive should not suffer any faults. I know of two persons using them right now and have no problems with them. I was hoping I did not have to purchase one just because I am forced to be cheap but if I must I will... You fellows are welcome to check out my threads about my conversion and the belt drive...." Finally getting started" on the benchtop forum and "Lathemaster RF45 belt drive conversion" on the same benchtop forum... Peace....

Pete,

I expect you'll find once you get the hang of operating that machine, you'll never have need of the low speed belt setting. My mill has 4 pulleys, and a two speed motor. When I started out, it was a real PITA always changing belts and motor speed. Now, I can't even remember the last time I had the pulley on any setting other than the highest, and I only occassionally flip the motor to low speed. 99% of my work is done between 5K and 8K RPM. I'll drop the motor to low speed to run my face mill at 2K RPM, and drilling larger holes is done at low motor speed, but that's about it. I never change pulleys any more.

How much spindle power you got on that bad boy? You'll need every bit of 2HP, probably more, to really push that machine to its limits. I'm typically up around 2-1/2HP when roughing.

Regards,
Ray L.

[pete from TN]

That is pretty much what I am expecting to find once the machine is running. I am mostly doing aluminum parts altho I occasionally do steel parts as well. The higher speeds will surely come in handy once it is working. Still have a few bugs to work out in the controller such as the spindle control adjustment and I cannot seem to get the Z axis to lock down for some odd reason. I am using a 3hp 3phase 56c motor and the Teco sensorless vector drive and it seems to be very powerful so far. I am hoping to be able to make some test cuts this weekend assuming I can figure out the bugs I am having. Damn limit switches sure look good tho..... wish I had another one....haha peace....