Newest Milltronics owner saying hello

[One of Many]

Nicely done! What core business, relative to speed of sound do you offer?

The first part I did on my EZ-trak was my Wifes name in aluminum........just to show what its capability was without a lot of technical terms. I guess that worked, since she is letting me bring home a 1999 Milltronics VK3. That was supposed to happen in October, now delayed until January. It is paid for, but its replacement has not come in yet.

Cutting plastic won't become as much of an issue with the quill lowered. Heavy cuts in aluminum and steel can. Between chatter and deflection, it will become more evident as you push the machine harder. Just as with the mini-mill, you will learn to live within the new found limtations, but this is on a grander scale.

Congrat's to you both for getting this far in a short amount of time. Upward and onward!

DC

[speedofsound]

It's easier to explain our core business if I just point you to our website: www.speedofsoundllc.com

The CNC operation for our gauge holder product is a 3D relief which allows our injection molded "bullet" to recess into the pillar cover. To present, we've farmed this work out, with its fair share of frustrations. This new mill brings with it a freedom from dependence on others for such a critical step in our mfg. process.

Beyond the gauge pillars, we've developed several other interior components which we'll make short production runs on. Here's a nitrous oxide control panel for the 2005-present Ford Mustang (cut on our Taig):



Rigidity certainly wasn't an issue with the acrylic. It was hard not to laugh as we watched the mill power through the piece, taking cuts that would likely destroy our Taig mill. LOL

6061 will likely be the toughest material this mill will see. Mike and I will just need to determine what a "heavy" cut actually is with this machine. Couldn't take more than a few thousandths at a time with alum. on the mini mill. This nitrous bottle bracket is representative of what we'll be cutting (this part was farmed out, cut on a Milltronics RH20):



Your comment about living within the box is dead on. We're happy to have moved into a big one! 12 x 6 x 6 (barely) was getting old...

Onward and upward is right, but we're going to keep the steps (literal and figurative) small for a while.

Alan

[mikesos1]

Thanks Again for the help guys, it's nice to have a resource like this around, what did we do before the internet? HaHa.

I found one of those Quill DRO units on Ebay for 70 bucks, so I got that. That should allow me to accuratly position the quill down where I need it to cut, then raise it back to do a tool change, right? That way I could do tool changes in the middle of a program without losing the tool offsets?

Also is there a good resource that you know of explaing tool and work offsets that might be easier to understand than the Centurion manual. I haven't quite got my mind around this concept yet. I get it at a basic level but not sure how to translate that to programming and running the machine.

Thanks again, you guys rule!

Mike

[One of Many]

Originally Posted by mikesos1 I found one of those Quill DRO units on Ebay for 70 bucks, so I got that. That should allow me to accuratly position the quill down where I need it to cut, then raise it back to do a tool change, right? That way I could do tool changes in the middle of a program without losing the tool offsets?Mike

I have seen a few on Ebay, but do not know the quality. Mitutoyo's are decent quality and mount easy. So, if you found one of those at $70 you did good.

The reader head is coupled to the quill via the quill lug ring that moves with the quill on the quill stop assy. For the sake of repeatability, the coupling method needs to have little or no dead zone(free play with no motion).

A weak mount can also contribute a dead zone if flex is a result of too much drag on the reader head slide or change in direction spring. You can check its repeatability against an indicator. +/- .001 would be a minimum to shoot for after each tool change. Provided the power draw bar has a consistant pull.

Once your quill is locked, Z-tool is set, then reset Zero button on the quill DRO. You can set the quill stop for production benefits to return to the stop check the DRO until you return to the 0.0000 position. It is convenient to compensate for slight Z depth adjustments on the fly too.

DC