Swath, The struts are already back on the mill. But, they were pretty stiff. Easily in the 40 to 50 lb. area. I don't have any problem moving my Z. There isn't a hint of strain or hesitation.
Btw, that is one nice motor you got there
That is definitely a nice looking motor. After I read that you bought one on ebay I did a little searching and found pretty much what I was looking for:
Picked it up new w/encoder for $200 (it is $1200 from automation direct, y551-a772). Now I just have to figure everything else out.
Pete,
Since you have your gas struts off, can you figure out what the weight of each one is? I figure with the increased weight it may be necessary to beef these up.
Swath, The struts are already back on the mill. But, they were pretty stiff. Easily in the 40 to 50 lb. area. I don't have any problem moving my Z. There isn't a hint of strain or hesitation.
Btw, that is one nice motor you got there
pete
Well, the mill is finally back in running order....yeeeeessss. I'll try to take a video of it running. I'm pretty happy with the spindle motor. I cut some parts at 6500 rpm and it cut like butter. I also tried out a new 2" face mill to see how good the tram came out. All I can say is wow
The new steppers and drives made a ton of difference in the way all the axis run. Everything is so smooth. I don't hear that resonance sound when making a circular interpolating cut. I goofed on some G-code making my new control panel. Using a .250" end mill to make a .610" hole, I punched in 50 in/min feed and a cut dept of .260" by mistake. The machine made the cut so smoothly!!! I couldn't believe it...scared me a bit...lol. I admit, I chickened out and changed it to a more comfortable setting.
Next on the improvement list ... repack or change the spindle bearings. Nothing is wrong with them, just playing it safe.
Here's my new control panel, it's my first attempt at this kind of stuff.....
I powder coated a piece of aluminum and then did the engraving.
I'll be using an I-pac II keyboard emulator .... The I-PAC ...to control the buttons and such
Some thoughts of the entire process. If I had the time, I would have gone the servo route for the spindle. But, i needed a working machine to keep my customers happy and getting a servo setup would have taken a bit of time. Installing the AC motor is great for my needs, as I only cut aluminum.
The total cost of this adventure was...
Spindle motor and Drive - $240.00
Stepper Motors and drives- $680.00
Smoothstepper ESS - $190.00
PMDX 126 breakout board - $175.00
Pmdx 107 Spindle control - $57.00
All the little things about - $150.00
Total - $1492.00
As I was cutting parts for some customers, i actually felt comfortable walking away from the machine I couldn't do that with the old electronics. This gives me a chance to work on the servo drives I have.....
pete
Awesome, Pete! Great job on the wiring too; I tried to be as neat as possible with my wiring, and label what I could, but it doesn't look as nice as your machine.
I had some time today to take some video of the mill. Excuse the lousy editing Anyway, I am pleased as can be with all the upgrades.
Some of the benefits are...I have cut down on the time it use to take to machine my parts. The inside of the machining area looks cleaner without all the extra wire conduit dangling about. It's actually a pleasure to work with the mill again.
Here's a picture of a set of brackets just off the mill.....
take care
pete
Wow, you did a lot of work there! I can't believe you left the "1610L" stick on it! You are at more like a 3854Z in the controls and spindle changeover you did!!!! All you have left are the castings and linear bearings, right?!?
CAD, CAM, Scanning, Modelling, Machining...
Yea, I have to come up with a different name. You mentioned castings. I thought about epoxy filling the castings, but, decided that would be to much work.
I don't think I will be doing anymore major modifications to this machine. Just some maintenance issues when they come up, like spindle bearings. If the urge to try servos comes up, I'll just look for a Haas Mini Mill
pete
Holy crap Pete you have taken the Mikini Mods to a whole new level, nice work and great looking parts too. So is everything working out the way you had hoped with your product?
Allen, it needed to be done or I wasted a ton of money buying this machine. As for the product I'm making, it's like anything else in business...you have your ups and you have your downs. Right now the product has payed for all the modifications and is paying off the machines and my new garage. I think once they are paid for... I'm retiring. I just want to walk out my backdoor...walk 17 feet to my garage and work on my 57 Volkswagen
pete
Hello folks, I had some time last night to look into the issues with my control board. It looks like I didn't install a driver, supplied in the software package that pokeys supplied. This created the quirkiness that I had with the board. Here's a video of the board in action........
If anyone is interested in using pokeys, Rod over at Woodworkers forum has a detailed post on it's setup.
Console the Key Emulator Method - Page 2
enjoy....
pete