CNC Knee mill and some tooling for $10k can it be done?

[John Lorbiecki]

Hi all!!

New to the site....But, for the money you are talking about, take a look at CNCMasters Supra mill. I bought one a year ago and have nothing but good things to say about their deal. If you look at their website (www.cncmasters.com ), you will see the stuff they offer. I bought the machine with their remote and have been using it alot and she has been real nice. I use the Visualmill software package with it and have been very please (if you look at the site and go to the Supra link you will see some parts I made- it happens to be a billet oil filter for our hemi powered front engine dragster!). The people have been very helpful and the day I recieved the mill I wqas making parts...Highly recommend it!!

[Martin 007]

Hey John, I just bought the same mill. Very happy so far but I haven't made anything as of yet. I just got it all plugged in and ran some of the sample stuff. I purchased the Bob Cad v-21 software and although they have that thread here, maybe we should start one for the Supra. I would think it should fall under Knee mill here? As far as the price and quality of product and service I am very happy.

As the Supra seems to be a beginner model from price, I would think it's own thread would also serve those new to CNC as well as Machineing in general. And I could use all the help I can get....
Well as this is an old post I hope your still out there and reading...
Thanks
Doug

[John Lorbiecki]

Hi Doug....

Well, welcome to the group.....I found that CNC Masters has been very helpful (I always talk to Omar) and they have done everything they can to make the experience good. The only problem I have had in about 2 years is with the motor controler on the Z axis and Omar has been very good in getting it fixed. If you talk to Omar tell him John from Wisconsin sez hello (I am part of GE Healthcare)...

I probably run the machine an average of 6 days a week, with some days running it 5-8 hours. It has been quite good. You will learn some tricks when ya use it, as far as the programming, etc. I found that once you have a machine like this, you tend to change all your designs to more "complicated" designs, with curves and radii that you commonly would not do on a standard machine. I would hate to go back to a manual machine.....Would be lost...

I did add the pnuematic draw bar opener thatI made from drawing by this guy... http://home.insightbb.com/~joevicar3/cheap_drawbar.htm

Hope that link works....It is one of the best things I added to that machine- It makes tool changing a breeze, particularly if you are short (I am not, at 6'5" tall but still a pain!).

So, have fun with the machine!!

John

[Martin 007]

Thanks john and yes I talk with Omar. I purchased the Quick change option, and although I havent used it much, It looks like a good option for tool changes. I am going to make the thread here under Knee Mills. Should I call it CNC Masters Supra help or just Supra?

[John Lorbiecki]

I would think that "CNC Masters Supra" would be the way to go....That way people know what it is...

The last coupla days I have been running the machine about 10 hours a day with nary a wimper. For the cost I think it is pretty good.

One "problem" if you want to call it that is that the machine has no feedback on absolute location. ie, it counts steps on the stepper. I was doing a job where I was really pushing the y axis and accidently bumped the end stop. Of course, when this happened, the part was turned into junk (This part had a y movement of about 10.8"). So, if you get near the limits, watch out!. I run the machine without the rear way cover and can get more travel bny doing that.

So, looking forward to seeing other comments and ideas. BTW, how do you like the quick change collets? I was thinking of that but have found that the homemade pnuematic draw bar release works very well....

John

[Martin 007]

Well I havent had the opertunity to use them in job form. but I can say they are very tight, as I have fitted some of the mills and played a bit. The quick part will be just that. Just push the button and out she comes. Repeatable hight looks good as the mill is locked by a set screw.

[Martin 007]

Hey John, I had a thought for your problem with the stops. If you have a job that is close or too big, couldnt you cut your tool path in half. Mark three "zero" points so that when you rotate the material you would first center on those marks to insure the material and the machine knows where it is and then it would rapid from there to the cut start.
I started the thread for the Supra. It's under this topic area. "Knee vertical Mills"