X2 cnc finished for now maybe

[cyclestart]

Originally Posted by hoss2006 It's been argued ad nauseam about which will give the best results. Unless someone opens a lab and documents the results of every combination of machines, motors, drivers, power supplies, leadscrews and coupling mechanisms. That could take years.

Apologies, the questions were a bit unfair. When the new setup is running I'll repeat the bathroom scale test. The closest thing to 'laboratory' equipment I've got

The only time the spindle has let me down was at break through drilling deep 3/8 holes in aluminum. My fault for allowing the drill getting to warm no doubt. I have drilled 3/8 holes in mild steel without problems. Sometimes it would be nice to have a quill like an X3 allowing the option of sensitive drilling.

In any case the Gecko with 48v is likely to transform this machine after surviving 1+ years with the Xylotex. Or should I say the Xylotex surviving 1+ years of my abuse?

[hoss2006]

1+ years and the Xylotex still works, your doing much better than I did
The 48V will be the biggest change you'll notice.
Better than redbull
Hoss

[cyclestart]

Originally Posted by hoss2006 1+ years and the Xylotex still works, your doing much better than I did

Maybe a bit better. Survived 1+ years, then blew an axis. It's going onto a lathe now. You really have to keep a careful eye on the cables and connections with the X brand.

[hoss2006]

Interested in how the size of your mill compares to others?
I have collected pics of several of the popular benchtop mills available with
either another mill side by side or with a person nearby.
Gives some perspective.
Took a while, people don't seem to like to get in their photos.
Hoss

[alexccmeister]

I really like the picture with the X2 sitting in the IH mill. I can't believe how big it is. And how small the sherline is.

[hoss2006]

Finally got around to this project, using the 4th axis for endmill sharpening.
The program I made worked great but the Dremel points are crap.
They wouldn't last for more than a couple endmills.
May try some diamond points but probably not.
I need to make an adapter for a cup wheel to mount in the spindle.
Need it to sharpen the ends, so I might as well just use it for sharpening it all.
The Darex we use at work uses a cup wheel. Get one for only about $1500 on Ebay.
My tilting head will make cutting the primary and secondary angles easy.
Had plans to make my own setup like the Darex with this fixture and a bench grinder
but oh well.
Maybe sometime.

Check out the little video.

Endmill Sharpening with 4th Axis

Endmill Sharpening with 4th Axis

[tikka308]

Hoss - Love it! Just curious - how are you zeroing your rotary axis w/r/t the flutes on the end mill? I would think it's critical to get this as close to perfect as possible for fear of over-grinding the edge...

[hoss2006]

Originally Posted by tikka308 Hoss - Love it! Just curious - how are you zeroing your rotary axis w/r/t the flutes on the end mill? I would think it's critical to get this as close to perfect as possible for fear of over-grinding the edge...

It wasn't too hard for the endmills I have.
Started by making sure the 4th axis was parallel with the X axis with a piece of drill rod and the indicator.
The endmill I used has the Lead printed on it.
Lead - The axial advance of a helical cutting edge in one revolution.
This particular .750 endmill had a lead of 4.064. (the cutting edge would be 4.064 inches per 1 rev.)
It obviously isn't that long so it's just a little math to get the A axis rev. for say 2 inches of X axis.
Each endmill has a different Lead.
This only works if you know the Lead so I may make the Darex clone so I can resharpen any endmill.
This was just an experiment.
Hoss

[SpeedsCustom]

Hoss, fantastic work! Wow, that is great.

-Jason

[The Blight]

Looks great Hoss! I will have to try that some day. Took a look at the Darex E-90, and I wish I had one of those. Might be a fun project some time.

Hoss as far as I can remember, you have one of those cameras you can mount in the spindle of the mill. You can calculate the pitch of one of these endmills by zeroing on the edge at the tip of the endmill, then move 1" along the flute, and rotate it until you have zeroed in on the edge again. This way you can read the angle of the flutes. Should work fine for all kinds of endmills.

Edit: And by rotating, I mean using the rotary table.

[hoss2006]

Good idea, I didn't think about the camera, was just going to use the test indicator.
The camera would be easier.
Thanks Hoss

[BobWarfield]

That is so cool!

A couple of thoughts for you Hoss:

Since you've become an accomplished Mach3 macro writer (hey, don't play dumb, I saw that toolchanger action!), you may want some screens aimed at tool sharpening. Maybe you can think of a way to do a "wizard" with the camera setup where it tells the operator step by step how to line up the camera, measure the angle, yada yada. Enter a few figures such as the helix angle and the number of flutes, (what else?), and the wizard would generate g-code.

Next, you'll want the wizard to finish by using the camera or your touch probe to measure the endmill's new diameter (for your toolchanger table, no doubt) after sharpening.

A question:

You mention a cup wheel. Will you be using your surface grinder attachment for that, or some other approach?

Great project. I wound up writing you up over on my cnccookbook blog.

Cheers,

BW