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Adam,
Glad you found a solution. Work is really busy so hadn't had a chance to think about your problem.
What are you using as CAM software?
Mark
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Well, great news.
My machine works, it actually works does all the right things X and Y moves with absolute grace, as does the Z.
Machine jogs around beautifully, and then hit the home button and axis by axis returns to home!
What I did, if you've been following the previous posts, I put a 560 ohm resistor in parallel with the original 470 ohm on the "A" axis for test purposes hooked it all up and hit the jog button and WHALA movement! New ohmage = 254.
Glorious, smooth movement!!!! at speeds right up to 750mm per minute with steppers, and on not so high quality trapeziodial screws(machine standard) mind you.
With the new resistor value has allowed the the opto to turn definately "on" when "hi", and not in digital limbo as previous, and staying within the mA rating of the opto LED.
So with the "A" axis test done I replicated the procedure to the other 3 axis and have gotten the machine to work in harmony.
All thats left to do is calibrate, tidy some wiring and start designing and machining.
Now all I got to do is get out of work somehow, because my minds not on the job, lol.
Will try to post some pics and vids of some action in the next few days.
Cheers,
Adam.
Adam,
Glad you found a solution. Work is really busy so hadn't had a chance to think about your problem.
What are you using as CAM software?
Mark
Hi Mark,
I use MasterCAM X3, and SolidWorks for the Concept and Design.
Cheers,
Adam.
Hey Adam,
I just came across your post. I also have a HM35 I plan to CNC shortly and a Hafco AL320G lathe from Fiora that needs CNC treatment as well. Oddly enough at present I make customised low cost CNC machines for a living using these two manual machines!! I also use Solidworks for my mech design so we have a few things in common.
Would love to see how your HM35 turned out.
Regards
Doug, Kingsley WA
MZ3
Hi Dmenz,Originally Posted by dmenz
Great to hear from another local, and yes sounds like we do have a lot in common. My machine is operational but not "finished" as such we'll at least appearance wise. Already paid for itself.
Here are some photo's,
Pics - Click Here
Hi Adam,
Thanks for your fast reply and the pics. Very nice job, the mounting brackets look great - did you make these all yourself before you had the CNC capability? Also just wondering have you machined much in mild steel and if you have, how have you gone with speeds, feeds, depths of cut and tolerances?
Regards Doug
Hi Doug,
The whole mounting unit I had modelled up in Solidworks for each axis to determine pulley sizes, belt length's and belt path then designed the brackets to suit. Then to my advantage I had the brackets Laser cut by my brother-in-law out of 6mm 304SS "overkill" but it aint going to move.
So far I have only machined Non-ferrous materials as im not setup for coolant at this stage not needed to or at least avoided having to. Max Spindle speed is only 1600rpm which lowers any higher feed rate for aluminium currently max speed with a 2 flute end mill is 200mm per minute, rapids are at 750mm but I keep it down to 600mm just for minimizing the chance of lost steps.
Depth of cuts I find for the given spindle speed and feed rate I haven't gone over about 1.2mm per pass for ali, cutting holes and profiles I use a ramp program rather than step mainly for finish on cut faces, over leadin/out that is.
Tolerances are good enough but can be improved at the moment if I program a 13mm hole for instance I get a 13mm hole by caliper(quick measure) or 13.1by bore gauge. Still orginal leads and nuts haven't adjusted them since new but about due for a calibration since nut and screws should be well on there way to being bed in. I plan in the future to convert to ball screws and loaded nuts.
Im planning to make the angular 4th axis soon, and a spindle conversion need to up that spindle speed, the gearbox noise gets a bit annoying during long runs.
Hope this helps, sounds like we may have to catch up
Cheers,
Adam
Hi Adam,
Thanks again for sharing that information. I use my HM-35 manually at present for some heftyish cuts always in mild steel ie facing with a 75mm cutter and 20mm slot drill and slots from 4-16mm in up to 10mm. Even manually, ramping is definitely the key and a CNC conversion would help a lot here. From work projects I have some offcuts from ball screws 20x5 and 20x10 (happy to machine the ends for you if you don't have a lathe). You could have these if they suit and I can get reputable ball nuts at a decent price on my next order if you are interested. Do you have a lathe as I am interested if anyone has CNC'd a Hafco AL-320G lathe or similar?
Bit the same here with time have just had 4 projects running concurrently at work but only one running for the next 6 weeks so time to do some capital upgrading
My contact details if you are ever NOR, if you can email me a contact number I will give you a call.
Regards
Doug
Hi, I have a very similar machine (RF40 in the UK) I wore the original Brassy/Bronzy nuts out in no time flat
Keith
Hey Doug,Hi Adam,
Thanks again for sharing that information. I use my HM-35 manually at present for some heftyish cuts always in mild steel ie facing with a 75mm cutter and 20mm slot drill and slots from 4-16mm in up to 10mm. Even manually, ramping is definitely the key and a CNC conversion would help a lot here. From work projects I have some offcuts from ball screws 20x5 and 20x10 (happy to machine the ends for you if you don't have a lathe). You could have these if they suit and I can get reputable ball nuts at a decent price on my next order if you are interested. Do you have a lathe as I am interested if anyone has CNC'd a Hafco AL-320G lathe or similar?
Bit the same here with time have just had 4 projects running concurrently at work but only one running for the next 6 weeks so time to do some capital upgrading
My contact details if you are ever NOR, if you can email me a contact number I will give you a call.
Regards
Doug
Ball screw offcuts sweet, I'll keep that one in mind when I do go ahead with the upgrade at the moment thou the machine is good for now, pretty big job to convert. I have a steady stream of work for it so I can't really afford to take it offline as yet.
Haven't got a lathe...yet I plan to down the track but most likely the 4th axis on the mill may suit my needs but I will see after its done, don't have much call for lathe work but I like the fact if I need somthing spun up I can just do it.
My contact details are on my website www.xasertech.com.
Kipper,Hi, I have a very similar machine (RF40 in the UK) I wore the original Brassy/Bronzy nuts out in no time flat
Awesome mount so neat and finished, I'll be putting covers on mine to keep swarf and what not out of the belts and pulleys.
That's just the bling you've got right there
Hi Adam and Kipper,
I agree with Adam on the quality of Kipper's enclosed mounts - great work. Adam good point about having the mounts covered as I guess swarf and coolant would become an issue in the end. Sounds from you both that ballscrews will be essential eventually for long life and high accuracy so I will head this way. What ball screw pitch and diameter do you gents suggest based on your experiences? Also what sort of machining were you doing Kipper to wear out your ACME screws and nuts as I will be machining mild steel mainly? What motors do you guys use as in brands, torque and achieveable RPM and what drives? I have used Ability Systems G Code controller previously for a 4 axis 3D profiler but unfortunately it only supported 2 axis G02 and G03 commands so I had to code 3 axis moves directly into the Indexer engine. However it does support using multiple parallel ports very well. I have an unused, so far, copy of Mach3 which looks promising. I have also started looking at EMC^2 for its multi port capability but on Linux which may have better timing control than Windows. Multi ports and therefore more axes will be useful for multi axes machines and even Robot arms or just for more inputs like Ability Do you guys have any comments or suggestions on software? Hopefully at the end of this project I will know a lot more and have a light duty for steel but useful 3 axis CNC mill and drill of course.
Regards
dmenz
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