Just ordered the last melon (Torus) - Page 17

Page 17 of 21 FirstFirst ... 714151617181920 ... LastLast
Results 321 to 340 of 403

Thread: Just ordered the last melon (Torus)

  1. #321
    Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    481
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default Re: Just ordered the last melon (Torus)

    One of the issues I ran into was that I was using endmills and drills and chamfer bits in the regular R8 collets, which are non-repeatable for tool length. And so whenever I changed tools I had to change the Z zero. What a pain in the rear.

    This set of Novakon-labeled TTS clone holders came with my mill. As you can see, this set only came with two endmill holders, a drill chuck, and only one ER20 collet chuck. And only 4 ER20 collets.

    Just ordered the last melon (Torus)-novakon-tts-clone-1-jpg



    And here is a pic of the 3/4" R8 TTS collet. That collet did not come looking like that from Novakon. I finally discovered in October 2019 that the R8 TTS collet from Novakon had too long of a nose that prevented the TTS tool holder from seating onto the spindle face.

    Just ordered the last melon (Torus)-novakon-tts-modified-collet-jpg



    First I did some rough grinding on the bench grinder. And then I used an air powered mini die grinder to do a seriously poor imitation of a cylindrical surface grinder.

    Just ordered the last melon (Torus)-tts-collet-grinding-1-jpg



    This worked. Sort of. The mini die grinder was very underpowered, and so it took a LOT of tiny passes to remove enough material for cleanup. I was taking a thou or less per pass and even that was close to stalling the die grinder. And you can see that the surface finish left by the mini die grinder was less than stellar.

    Just ordered the last melon (Torus)-tts-collet-grinding-2-jpg



    I used a set of micromesh sanding cloths on the kitchen counter top to eventually reach a mirror finish. The polishing of the collet was overkill since all that was needed was for the collet to have clearance.

    Just ordered the last melon (Torus)-tts-collet-polishing-1-jpgJust ordered the last melon (Torus)-tts-collet-polishing-2-jpg



    I need more TTS ER20 collet chucks so that I can build up a collection of preset tools. Since the inexpensive eBay TTS collets chucks all seem to be out of stock, I was forced to buy the expensive ones from Tormach at $45 each. Three Tormach collet chucks should arrive from Little Machine Shop by Thursday, plus a set of ER20 collets are also on their way.

    So my next challenge is figuring out how to measure tool length offsets and setup the tool table in UCCNC.



  2. #322
    Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    400
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default Re: Just ordered the last melon (Torus)

    "I am using the smallest nozzle and it puts out an impressive coolant stream even with being throttled down by the ball valve. On a recent part the nozzle got displaced by running into the part and so the cutter didn't have coolant being sprayed on it. It took less than 5 or 10 seconds for the HSS 1/4" endmill to have a serious aluminum chip weld occur and I had to hit the emergency stop on your old jog pendant."

    I did not know how to only quote part of your reply so I did a cut and paste.

    That is another reason why I use two nozzles. I use the middle size nozzle from the kit. My enclosure has no top on it. When I used the small one there was so much pressure it would blow coolant over the top. One should always be directing at least some coolant to the part. As for cheap collets you can find them on Amazon too. That is where I bought mine from. A whole set on amazon was about the same price as one name brand collet.Just ordered the last melon (Torus)-dsc_0282-jpg

    The photo is my current flood coolant setup.

    Have you ever seen a photo of the drain on the new type of novakon stand? you could dump coolant straight out of a 5 gallon bucket and not overwhelm it.



  3. #323

    Default Re: Just ordered the last melon (Torus)

    Quote Originally Posted by Titaniumboy View Post
    Thanks for that link. I didn't realize you could buy the coolant rings commercially. I may still machine my own just because I need the practice. I spend a stupid amount of time in CAD and CAM because I just haven't used them enough to get efficient.

    The drain is an issue, but I'm getting surprisingly good results in clearing away chips even with my neutered flood coolant.

    Are you getting 2000gph? I'm going to call a party foul on you because that would be a crazy 33 gallons per minute. Seriously though, I really should measure my throttled down flow rate. I'm guessing I am somewhere between 2 and 4 gpm.
    So my pump is a water feature pump (i think I am repeating myself but am too lazy to look), so it does volume well, pressure not so much. That said, you made me curious and instead of guessing I measured it. I didn't measure at the outlets, instead I measured from line that feeds coolant ring. So... I measured the volume I can feed the coolant ring, who knows what actually comes out.

    To do the test I used a gallon jug and timed how long it took to fill. I did this a few times, but all the results came in at right around 6 seconds. So that's 10 gallons per minute, and (60*10) 600gph. For the record, the pump I run claims 2650gph, but being a Chinese no-name thing that I paid almost nothing for I wouldn't be surprised if that number is vastly inflated.

    All of that said, it looks like you are getting great results. That wrench looks awesome! So keep on doing what you are doing!



  4. #324
    Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    481
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default Re: Just ordered the last melon (Torus)

    Quote Originally Posted by Titaniumboy
    Three Tormach Collet chucks should arrive from Little Machine Shop by Thursday.


    I have some good news and some bad news.

    The good news is that the Tormach ER20 Collet chucks arrived a day early from Little Machine Shop. Those guys are really great and I really should use them more often.

    The bad news is that the Tormach collet chucks are different from the Novakon collet chucks that I have. The Tormach holders have a much shallower undercut than does the Novakon holder, as shown in the second picture.

    Just ordered the last melon (Torus)-2aa1dde9-9bea-49a7-b17a-5037ae3bbfe1-jpg. Just ordered the last melon (Torus)-85a32fbf-b6c0-41aa-a1e9-bceb09f00ed3-jpg



    This means that the R8 holder that I had to grind down in order for the Novakon holders to seat against the spindle face will absolutely not work for the newly arrived Tormach holders. There is a good .050” that has to come off of the R8 holder, maybe even up to .090” or .100”.

    It just [censored] never ends...



  5. #325
    Gold Member MichaelHenry's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Chicago suburbs
    Posts
    3063
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default Re: Just ordered the last melon (Torus)

    Quote Originally Posted by Titaniumboy View Post
    I have some good news and some bad news.

    The good news is that the Tormach ER20 Collet chucks arrived a day early from Little Machine Shop. Those guys are really great and I really should use them more often.

    The bad news is that the Tormach collet chucks are different from the Novakon collet chucks that I have. The Tormach holders have a much shallower undercut than does the Novakon holder, as shown in the second picture.

    Just ordered the last melon (Torus)-2aa1dde9-9bea-49a7-b17a-5037ae3bbfe1-jpg. Just ordered the last melon (Torus)-85a32fbf-b6c0-41aa-a1e9-bceb09f00ed3-jpg



    This means that the R8 holder that I had to grind down in order for the Novakon holders to seat against the spindle face will absolutely not work for the newly arrived Tormach holders. There is a good .050” that has to come off of the R8 holder, maybe even up to .090” or .100”.

    It just [censored] never ends...
    Can you just order a master R-8 collet from Tormach? Or maybe face the collet you have now with a facing bit in a vise...



  6. #326
    Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    481
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default Re: Just ordered the last melon (Torus)

    Quote Originally Posted by MichaelHenry View Post
    Can you just order a master R-8 collet from Tormach?
    The Tormach TTS Adapter Collet is $40. Kind of spendy for a 3/4” R8 collet. I had ground down the Novakon adapter collet last October, so I figured that I could grind it down some more.

    Using a genuine Tormach TTS holder, I measured the gap between the Novakon collet and the spindle nose at about 0.071”. I will probably take off 0.090” or 0.100” to be sure.

    I checked this collet in my G0704 mill and also in a Bridgeport mill. The gap in both mills was less than on the Novakon mill, but still present. Apparently the spindle nose on my Novakon mill is a tad shorter than on other mills, and so the R8 collet sticks out a bit further. Again that is with using a Tormach TTS holder.


    Or maybe face the collet you have now with a facing bit in a vise..
    That sounds like a great idea, but aren’t R8 collets hardened? I would love to be able to machine the collet face in my lathe.

    Last edited by Titaniumboy; 09-18-2020 at 06:08 PM. Reason: Checked gap in other mills


  7. #327

    Default Re: Just ordered the last melon (Torus)

    I faced my Novakon collet in the spindle, tool held in the vise. I used a decent carbide insert lathe tool. It came out great.



  8. #328
    Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    400
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default Re: Just ordered the last melon (Torus)

    Quote Originally Posted by Titaniumboy View Post
    The Tormach TTS Adapter Collet is $40. Kind of spendy for a 3/4” R8 collet. I had ground down the Novakon adapter collet last October, so I figured that I could grind it down some more.

    Using a genuine Tormach TTS holder, I measured the gap between the Novakon collet and the spindle nose at about 0.071”. I will probably take off 0.090” or 0.100” to be sure.

    I checked this collet in my G0704 mill and also in a Bridgeport mill. The gap in both mills was less than on the Novakon mill, but still present. Apparently the spindle nose on my Novakon mill is a tad shorter than on other mills, and so the R8 collet sticks out a bit further. Again that is with using a Tormach TTS holder.




    That sounds like a great idea, but aren’t R8 collets hardened? I would love to be able to machine the collet face in my lathe.
    From the Tormach TTS manual:

    If you find these geometry issues on a machine that has an R8 spindle taper, the best solution is to use
    the Tormach TTS-R8 collet. This is a special variation of a precision R8 collet with the end of the collet
    ground flat and the overall length slightly less than the standard length. The TTS-R8 collet is included
    with each TTS kit, or it can be purchased separately.
    If your machine exhibits the geometry problems mentioned above and does not use R8, or if you wish
    to use your existing R8 collet, the solution is to modify the collet. Using a disk sander or bench grinder,
    a hardened collet can easily be shortened about 1/8”. Be sure to avoid overheating the collet by grinding
    lightly. Pause the grinding process occasionally and dunk the collet it in water to keep the temperature
    low. Grinding open the internal diameter is more time consuming, but not really more difficult. A small
    die grinder (Dremel tool or similar) with a long shank grinding wheel can be used, but be careful not to
    grind the precision section of the collet that will grasp the shank of the TTS holder.

    I was lucky with my collet I guess. I even bought a spare that is just a regular R8 and it works fine.

    Here is a link to the manual. Its worth downloading lots of information in there.

    https://littlemachineshop.com/images...ing_System.pdf



  9. #329
    Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    481
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default Re: Just ordered the last melon (Torus)

    Quote Originally Posted by CL_MotoTech
    All of that said, it looks like you are getting great results. That wrench looks awesome! So keep on doing what you are doing!

    Thanks! That means a lot coming from someone who has done as much machining as you have. I am constantly amazed by what you achieve on your G0704.


    Quote Originally Posted by upnorth
    From the Tormach TTS manual: [snip] Here is a link to the manual. Its worth downloading lots of information in there.

    By coincidence, I had downloaded that TTS manual the night before you posted this. But somehow I had skipped over the part where they discussed grinding the collet.


    Quote Originally Posted by CL_MotoTech
    I faced my Novakon collet in the spindle, tool held in the vise. I used a decent carbide insert lathe tool. It came out great.

    I don't have any decent carbide insert lathe tools as all that I have are cheapos from Banggood. But what the heck, let's give it a go. I centered up the lathe tool as best I could with a wiggler.

    Then I ran the calculations for RPM and feed. The results were surprising, at least to me. Using a Surface Speed of 100 and a diameter of 1.25" yielded an RPM of 320. This RPM and a 0.001" chipload per tooth per revolution gave a feed of 0.32" per minute. Wow, much slower than I would have guessed.


    Just ordered the last melon (Torus)-novakon-collet-milling-1-jpg


    Here is the first pass. Looking halfway decent so far.

    Just ordered the last melon (Torus)-novakon-collet-milling-2-jpg


    I took 0.015" on each pass. This was the last pass. These passes in the mill left some really nasty burrs, especially on the interior diameter. The collet now has the correct stickout so that the new Tormach TTS tool holders will work.

    Just ordered the last melon (Torus)-novakon-collet-last-pass-jpg



    And here is the finished Novakon collet. I ended up doing the chamfers in my G0602 lathe. My Banggood insert lathe tools didn't have very much clearance for the ID chamfer, so in desperation I tried chamfering with my HSS lathe tool. To my surprise the HSS cut the Novakon collet like butter. Very hard butter.

    Just ordered the last melon (Torus)-novakon-collet-finished-jpg



    I decided to take one of my no-name 3/4" collets and make a TTS collet adapter for my G0704 mill. This did not go nearly as well as the Novakon collet.

    Just ordered the last melon (Torus)-name-collet-milling-1-jpg



    Evidently the no-name collet was harder than the Novakon collet. I ended up destroying two carbide inserts getting it to this point. And I still have some small ID burrs. Whereas I was able to cut chamfers on the Novakon collet with HSS, this no-name collet chewed up my HSS tools for lunch.

    Just ordered the last melon (Torus)-name-collet-milling-2-jpg



    Next step is to setup the TTS holders with some tools, measure them on the surface plate, and enter the tool offsets into UCCNC. And then I have to measure my coolant pump flow rate for CL_MotoTech.



  10. #330
    Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Posts
    386
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default Re: Just ordered the last melon (Torus)

    Nice job mill turning. I picked up a few ER32 TTS Tool Holders, collets and a few lathe tools to try mill turning.



  11. #331

    Default Re: Just ordered the last melon (Torus)

    Quote Originally Posted by Titaniumboy View Post
    Thanks! That means a lot coming from someone who has done as much machining as you have. I am constantly amazed by what you achieve on your G0704.

    By coincidence, I had downloaded that TTS manual the night before you posted this. But somehow I had skipped over the part where they discussed grinding the collet.

    I don't have any decent carbide insert lathe tools as all that I have are cheapos from Banggood. But what the heck, let's give it a go. I centered up the lathe tool as best I could with a wiggler.

    Then I ran the calculations for RPM and feed. The results were surprising, at least to me. Using a Surface Speed of 100 and a diameter of 1.25" yielded an RPM of 320. This RPM and a 0.001" chipload per tooth per revolution gave a feed of 0.32" per minute. Wow, much slower than I would have guessed.


    Just ordered the last melon (Torus)-novakon-collet-milling-1-jpg


    Here is the first pass. Looking halfway decent so far.

    Just ordered the last melon (Torus)-novakon-collet-milling-2-jpg


    I took 0.015" on each pass. This was the last pass. These passes in the mill left some really nasty burrs, especially on the interior diameter. The collet now has the correct stickout so that the new Tormach TTS tool holders will work.

    Just ordered the last melon (Torus)-novakon-collet-last-pass-jpg


    And here is the finished Novakon collet. I ended up doing the chamfers in my G0602 lathe. My Banggood insert lathe tools didn't have very much clearance for the ID chamfer, so in desperation I tried chamfering with my HSS lathe tool. To my surprise the HSS cut the Novakon collet like butter. Very hard butter.

    Just ordered the last melon (Torus)-novakon-collet-finished-jpg


    I decided to take one of my no-name 3/4" collets and make a TTS collet adapter for my G0704 mill. This did not go nearly as well as the Novakon collet.

    Just ordered the last melon (Torus)-name-collet-milling-1-jpg


    Evidently the no-name collet was harder than the Novakon collet. I ended up destroying two carbide inserts getting it to this point. And I still have some small ID burrs. Whereas I was able to cut chamfers on the Novakon collet with HSS, this no-name collet chewed up my HSS tools for lunch.

    Just ordered the last melon (Torus)-name-collet-milling-2-jpg



    Next step is to setup the TTS holders with some tools, measure them on the surface plate, and enter the tool offsets into UCCNC. And then I have to measure my coolant pump flow rate for CL_MotoTech.
    These projects are hard. Keep up the great work! Thanks for the compliments, I'm an amateur at best, I'm just too dumb to quit.

    I know nothing of lathe feeds and speeds, all of my lathe experience is from manual use. I've never used a CNC lathe (though I am close to starting a build on one). When I did the mill turn work, I did it with the pendant, sort of manual mode. I found using step settings on the pendant to work rather well, but I was emulating manual operation. Mostly visual I guess, because feel doesn't apply. I bought a set of Accusize insert lathe tools on Amazon. Not great tools really, but better than what I grind... Something like $80 does the trick. I've since given them to my buddy who actually owns a lathe. He raves about them. We might have low expectations, I genuinely don't know.

    The Novakon R8 collet is soft-ish. I've damaged it on tool change crashes. I don't want to talk about that, but the collet is still in my spindle and working pretty great. I have contemplated cutting down my 3/4" Grizzly collet, as well as ordering a Tormach one. Who knows?

    You are getting really close! Keep pushing! Also, update UCCNC. It's worth it. The layout is just better, IMO.



  12. #332
    Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    481
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default Re: Just ordered the last melon (Torus)

    Quote Originally Posted by Steve303 View Post
    Nice job mill turning. I picked up a few ER32 TTS Tool Holders, collets and a few lathe tools to try mill turning.

    I'll be interested to see what you end up with. Didn't you construct a Hydraulic Booster at one point for your mill power drawbar?

    I was using the cnc mill in a very non-cnc way to mill these collet adapters. I used a wiggler to get the spindle centered over the end of the lathe tool, then moved the spindle a little to the right and then set X and Y to zero. I lowered the Z so that the lathe tool was just a whisker from touching the collet and set Z to zero. I then in MDI entered S320 and F0.3. Also entered G91 in MDI so that I was in Incremental mode. Turned the spindle to run CCW, and entered X-.35 in MDI. Then entered X.35 in MDI to put the lathe tool back in the original position.

    Each 0.35" move in X takes about a minute, so a minute to run the cutter into the spindle and another minute to run the cutter out of the spindle. Lower the Z by 0.015", lather, rinse, repeat.

    Kind of nerve wracking to have the lathe tool and vise to close to the mill spindle. I was also lucky to have not accidentally gone back into G90 Absolute mode at some point. I don't even want to think what an X-.35 MDI command would have done in absolute mode.



  13. #333
    Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    481
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default Re: Just ordered the last melon (Torus)

    Quote Originally Posted by CL_MotoTech
    These projects are hard. Keep up the great work! Thanks for the compliments, I'm an amateur at best, I'm just too dumb to quit
    I'm not very good at this stuff, but I make up for it by being really slow.

    By the way, how did you make my pictures so large? I always have to click on the pictures to make them large.



    The Novakon R8 collet is soft-ish. I've damaged it on tool change crashes. I don't want to talk about that, but the collet is still in my spindle and working pretty great. I have contemplated cutting down my 3/4" Grizzly collet, as well as ordering a Tormach one. Who knows?
    So how did a guy with a G0704 end up with a Novakon R8 collet? Was it less expensive than the genuine Tormach R8 collet? Bummer that Novakon has gone dark on us.

    I discovered that my Novakon R8 collet has a much shorter inside grip length than my no-name R8 collets. The Novakon collet only has 0.7" of inside grip length as compared to 1.2" of grip length on the generic R8 collet. Granted that my Novakon collet used to be about 0.2" longer at one point than it is now. It would be interesting to see how much grip length are on the genuine Tormach TTS collets.



    Also, update UCCNC. It's worth it. The layout is just better, IMO.
    This is the next planned upgrade after I get the tools measured and input into the Tools Offset screen. Remember the part where I'm really slow?


    I know nothing of lathe feeds and speeds, all of my lathe experience is from manual use. I've never used a CNC lathe (though I am close to starting a build on one). When I did the mill turn work, I did it with the pendant, sort of manual mode. I found using step settings on the pendant to work rather well, but I was emulating manual operation. Mostly visual I guess, because feel doesn't apply. I bought a set of Accusize insert lathe tools on Amazon. Not great tools really, but better than what I grind... Something like $80 does the trick. I've since given them to my buddy who actually owns a lathe. He raves about them. We might have low expectations, I genuinely don't know.
    CNC lathes seem to be a different beast than CNC mills, or at least that is what I learned at the community college where I took a bunch of CNC courses. For example, lathe tools don't just use the normal T01; rather you will see stuff like T0101 and T1020. And then there are U and W moves. Yikes.

    On my little collet project I tried to use the formulas I learned for mills and translate them to the lathe.

    For example, I usually first figure out RPM by using RPM = (4 * CS) / Diameter. So for my collet I guessed at a Cutting Speed of 100 and used the largest diameter of the collet at 1.25", which gave me a 320 RPM.

    Then I normally roll my RPM figure into the feed equation of F = (chipload per tooth per rev) * (# of teeth) * RPM. I guessed a chipload of 0.001" per tooth per rev, and my lathe tool only has one "tooth", so the equation gave me 0.32 in per min.



  14. #334
    Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    481
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default Re: Just ordered the last melon (Torus)

    Where did everybody go? It has only been 2-1/2 years since this thread was last updated. By the way, I am NOT impressed by the new management wanting so much personal data.

    The task today was to drain the old coolant from the coolant tank. Surprisingly, the coolant did not have any more unpleasant odors than normal after sitting completely abandoned for 30 months.

    Is it OK to just put in new coolant, or should I fill up the coolant tank with fresh water and flush the system first?



  15. #335
    Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2018
    Location
    on my feet
    Posts
    955
    Downloads
    1
    Uploads
    0

    Default Re: Just ordered the last melon (Torus)

    If the coolant wasn't a green monster after 30 months then you should be good to just fill er up . I'm guessing you had semi or full synthetic ?



  16. #336
    Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    481
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default Re: Just ordered the last melon (Torus)

    The coolant I'm currently using is Blasocut BC 20 SW. I'm not sure if it is semi or full synthetic. It has been hard finding information on this coolant which is made by Blaser Swisslube. My notes say that the concentration can range from 5-15% maximum, with general machining in the 5-8% range.

    Edit: I just found this technical data from Blaser.

    http://metalworkingfluid.com/mwf/Bla...cal%20Data.pdf


    Just ordered the last melon (Torus)-blaser-swisslube-technical-data-1-jpg

    Just ordered the last melon (Torus)-blaser-swisslube-technical-data-2-jpg

    Last edited by Titaniumboy; 02-13-2023 at 04:29 AM.


  17. #337
    Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    481
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default Re: Just ordered the last melon (Torus)

    I mixed up a new batch of Blasocut coolant tonight. I ended up going with 32 fl oz of coolant added to 4.25 gallons of tap water. If I did my math correctly, that is 32 fl oz of coolant into a total volume of 576 fl oz (544 fl oz of water plus 32 fl oz of coolant) for a 5.6% coolant strength.

    The factory paint on the coolant pump was in pretty bad shape after sitting in coolant for the last 30 months. I could scrape paint away with a fingernail. I'll leave it alone for now, but it gets added to the maintenance list.

    It was pretty gratifying to see the old girl come back to life after being neglected and sitting for so long. The computer booted up, UCCNC launched, and the coolant pump works. I was able to home the axis and jog around with the pendant. Even better, the one-shot lube didn't leak and I found new oil on the ways.

    I have the mill kind of in a corner right now and the poor access to the Main and Drive Switches (located on the left side of the electrical cabinet) and the Computer Start button (on the right side of the electrical cabinet) is getting old fast. Has anyone relocated any of these switches or button for easier operation?



  18. #338
    Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    481
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default Re: Just ordered the last melon (Torus)

    My mill currently has a 15 Amp 240 Volt 3-wire plug attached to a 14 AWG 3-wire cord. The mill (essentially an NM-145 with Pulsar electronics) only has 240 Volt loads inside the control cabinet. I want to eliminate the need for a separate 120 volt extension cord for the monitor.

    My first thought was to change the 3-wire plug and cord to 4-wire but keep the 14 gage size. This would allow me to continue feeding all of the existing 240 Volts loads while being able to add a 120 Volt receptacle (or two) for the monitor. Then I found out that 4-wire 15 Amp plugs, while listed in NEMA Plug Codes, do not really exist commercially. Even McMaster-Carr doesn't carry any 4-wire 15 Amp plugs.


    Just ordered the last melon (Torus)-nema-plug-chart-highlighted-jpg



    Jumping up to the next wire size of 12 Gage takes me to the NEMA 14-20 plug configuration and those are available all day long at reasonable prices. I even have some 12 Gage 4-wire cord sitting around.

    The downside is that I'm going to have to add a 15 Amp breaker inside the electrical cabinet to protect the existing mill wiring, plus add a new 2-pole 20 Amp breaker in my main house panel. Not to mention that the 12 Gage 4-wire cord that I have is just really massive at 0.664" diameter as compared to the existing 14 Gage 3-wire cord at .375" diameter.

    Am I missing a better or easier way to provide power to the monitor?

    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Just ordered the last melon (Torus)-nema-plug-chart-highlighted-jpg  


  19. #339
    Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    481
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default Re: Just ordered the last melon (Torus)

    This stupid thread was started so long ago that the original link disappeared, but here is the inspiration for the thread title.






  20. #340
    Community Moderator RaderSidetrack's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    East Tennessee
    Posts
    133
    Downloads
    1
    Uploads
    0

    Default Re: Just ordered the last melon (Torus)

    Quote Originally Posted by Titaniumboy View Post
    The downside is that I'm going to have to add a 15 Amp breaker inside the electrical cabinet to protect the existing mill wiring, plus add a new 2-pole 20 Amp breaker in my main house panel. Not to mention that the 12 Gage 4-wire cord that I have is just really massive at 0.664" diameter as compared to the existing 14 Gage 3-wire cord at .375" diameter.

    Am I missing a better or easier way to provide power to the monitor?
    Frankly, I would just leave the existing dual cord arrangement the same, but combine the two physical cords into one (more or less) by using cable ties or cord wrap etc to keep them together.

    But if you insist on only one cord, and you have spare watts/amps capacity in the existing cord & breaker setup, I don't see why you couldn't use a transformer to drop the incoming 240v to 120v for the monitor.

    I'm not promoting this particular product, just linking it to illustrate the concept:
    https://www.amazon.com/LVYUAN-Voltag...s%2C146&sr=8-4



Page 17 of 21 FirstFirst ... 714151617181920 ... LastLast

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  


About CNCzone.com

    We are the largest and most active discussion forum for manufacturing industry. The site is 100% free to join and use, so join today!

Follow us on


Our Brands

Just ordered the last melon (Torus)

Just ordered the last melon (Torus)