Building a big brother for my X2

[DogWood]

LOL thanks for the offer Michael :-) But I think I can pull an all nighter and clear some space :-)

hardest part is going to be moving it in the 8" of snow on the ground here, looking like a very merry and white Christmas

-Doug

[hoss2006]

LOL thanks for the offer Michael :-) But I think I can pull an all nighter and clear some space :-)

hardest part is going to be moving it in the 8" of snow on the ground here, looking like a very merry and white Christmas

-Doug

Sounds like what happened to me.
The crate slides real easy, 260 lbs isn't bad at all.
Hoss

[mhackney]

Wow! I'm up in Boston and we've had virtually no snow so far. Last year we were up to our navals. It is snowing lightly now.

It would make sliding the boxes around to my back bulkhead easier!

cheers,
Michael

[DogWood]

That's good to hear Hoss, don't want to use up my "neighbor" credits until I need to get it on the stand :-)

[Isplat]

I have a G0704 mill on order too.

When I get it, I'll open it to see if the controller is a KBIC.

I have several KBIC's running. One on an Atlas 618 and the other on a Taig lathe. They are/have been reliable for me though I'm running 1/2HP motors. Above 3/4 HP they are supposed to be heat sinked. A friend got a lot of 10 KBICs off ebay and 8 were bad. I repared all of them, even 1 where the traces had delaminated from the board. Looked like maybe lightning damage. To me they seem ok as a controller, and I like that I can readily repair them.

On the plus side, If it is a KBIC (or clone) controller, it's easy to add CNC4PC's C6 speed control board to allow Mach3 to controll the spindle speed. I'm guessing that the existing speed sensor could probably be piggybacked to make a speed feedback input to Mach3 to close the loop.

mhackney - do you plan on doing this for your CNC build?

Ian

[mhackney]

Ian, I do. I am going whole hog on this machine. I definitely want speed control on this machine. Haven't decided yet which path to go down - I have time

cheers,
Michael

[DogWood]

I bought a KBIC and C6 intended for my X2, finally installed the KBIC, but I've decided to use the C6 on the G0704

My wife had completely forgotten about the mill, she got a bit upset when the $1000 charge showed up on the card this month

Looks like I'll need to get the parts to CNC it slowly one part at a time LOL

might be the end of next year before it's done, luckily I have a PC to run EMC on already.

[mhackney]

As you probably see by my signature, I am an avid fly fisherman. There is a guy on the fly fishing forums who's signature says "my biggest fear is that when I die my wife will sell my equipment for what I told her I paid for it" No truer words were ever said!

I've been lucky in that my business now pays for all my "toys".

cheers,
Michael

[mhackney]

Still waiting... patiently. However, I do have a question. I read in the G0704 manual (online PDF at Grizzly) that they recommend 25" of clearance behind the machine. I was looking at this to determine where the best spot for my mill in my shop will be. Is 25" behind the machine really required? That seems excessive and will put the mill too far out in my shop. I was thinking something like 12".
cheers,
Michael

[photomankc]

I think that's for access with room to work. I've seen plenty with far less than 25" behind them being used.

BTW: You asked about bolting it down somewhere and I agree that bolting it is the way to go overall once you know it's going to be there for good. But if you need to be able to move it around at first a nice way to improve stability is to make some hockey puck feet. I made them by drilling through some pucks and running 1/2" bolts through them and then using nuts/washers to support the stand on the bolts. Also drill new holes in the four corners of the stand for these feet. That will improve it's free-standing stability a TON! I tried to use it with the feet on the provided bolt positions and it would have been easy to knock it over. On the feet spread out a bit it's greatly improved.

[mhackney]

Thanks for the info. I saw your post on the hockey puck feet and thought that was a good idea. Even if bolted to the floor, would a hockey puck help with sound and vibration dampening?

I've thought about welding an angle iron "platform" the same size as the tray that Hoss built and bolting the mill's stand to this. It would be freestanding with hockey puck feet under the mill and at each of the corners (8 pucks all together). This would provide outriggers for stability and I was thinking of boxing in the left side to put the electronics or use for tooling. Has anyone done anything like this?

regards,
Michael

[photomankc]

Sorry, I somehow completely forgot I had already mentioned that. I'm going to be like grandpa soon, telling people the same story ten times. Except I'm not 75 :/

I think that the basis of using a damper of some type between the the machine and the floor is sound when it's free standing but once you put a hard connection like a bolt between the two a lot of the damping is lost. It might help some against that sheet metal rattle that you get at times though. I hate when it when a tool hits just the right type of hum to make everything in the house seem to vibrate.

That's my grinder though

[diyengineer]

Anti Vibration Mounts - suspension mounts, wheels, leveling feet, bumpers, grommets, pads

check them out.

Thanks for the info. I saw your post on the hockey puck feet and thought that was a good idea. Even if bolted to the floor, would a hockey puck help with sound and vibration dampening?

I've thought about welding an angle iron "platform" the same size as the tray that Hoss built and bolting the mill's stand to this. It would be freestanding with hockey puck feet under the mill and at each of the corners (8 pucks all together). This would provide outriggers for stability and I was thinking of boxing in the left side to put the electronics or use for tooling. Has anyone done anything like this?

regards,
Michael

[mhackney]

I just got a shipping notice from Grizzly. I hoped it was the mill but turned out to be the G0602 lathe I also ordered! I'm good with that! Gives me a chance to set it up and maybe get the ball screws turned before the mill arrives. I was so busy with making reel kits before and during Christmas that it was probably good that the mill and lathe hadn't shown up yet! They would have sat in their boxes occupying valuable floor space!

cheers,
Michael

[DogWood]

man I wish I could get one of those lathes, really could use a bigger one.

ain't going to happen anytime soon thought I'm afraid.

[cobmachine]

Grizzly took the money out of the old check book for my mill on Friday…..then put it back in. I got a email that said “We have experienced a delay in receiving the machines at our warehouse. We currently expect to receive it on approximately February 25, 2011.”

The original email said it was going to be in January, I was really hoping to come next week……good things come to those who wait right?

[cornbinder23]

They told me that crap for the last 8 MONTHS on the G0602, finally I got the salesman's attention enough that they sold me a 11x26 off the showroom floor, Grizzly is THE BIGGEST JOKE as far as in stock items are concerned

MY2C

JTCUSTOMS

[mhackney]

Egads! That sucks.

Let's hope so, waiting requires too much patience!

cheers,
Michael

[LatheMaster]

That blows. But you have to look at the facts . We want cheap stuff and we have one country making all we consume . Bet you could get an american made one in 2 days if they we actually made one.

Well at least its only a month.

[mhackney]

Ok, I've ordered the electronics for my mill. Opted for Hoss' Heavy Duty recommendation:

2 KL-6050 stepper drivers
1 KL-8060 stepper driver
2 KL23H2100-50-4B dual shaft 570 oz-in steppers
1 KL34H295-43-8A 906 oz-in stepper
KL-600-48 48V/12.5A power supply

and I opted for the CNC4PC breakout board:

C35 Breakout
4 C34KL Rj45 to driver
4 A26 1' cat5 cables
(I got of of the later because I know I'll add a 4th axis so may as well have the parts)

I also picked up the BX2 CNC enclosure, it looks professional and the right size.

Now I can wait for the mill and the electronics! I need to order my ballscrews next. I'm still on the fence about whether to make them myself or have them made.

cheers,
Michael