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  1. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by cyclestart View Post
    If "finish all works" means this mill is fully operational in 3 months it would be a great achievement. Building this machine is currently your main activity ?
    Thanks cyclestart. This building will take about half of my time during the term. I also have other more important machine project go together now. I've prepared this small project for long time, so the finishing time will mostly depend on the machining process. Thank you for your comment.



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    I'm surprised you're not building the plugs with a cnc router. Seems like that maybe your next project! With one you could, of course, mill the necessary radii & tapers for easy release from the mold. You would still have to do the final finish step for any voids in the wood (unless you went to a machinable plastic).

    Will the plugs be for production, or do you make a mold of them and use them as a 'master'?

    They look very uniform in color, I'm assuming you completely sealed them with something?

    Looking forward to the casting process, would also like to know about the sand and furnace!



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    Quote Originally Posted by rocketflier View Post
    I'm surprised you're not building the plugs with a cnc router. Seems like that maybe your next project! With one you could, of course, mill the necessary radii & tapers for easy release from the mold. You would still have to do the final finish step for any voids in the wood (unless you went to a machinable plastic).

    Will the plugs be for production, or do you make a mold of them and use them as a 'master'?

    They look very uniform in color, I'm assuming you completely sealed them with something?

    Looking forward to the casting process, would also like to know about the sand and furnace!

    Thanks rocketflier. I did the building without any router or mill. I just had to split them into wood pieces that can be build with simple tools. Then I glued them together with white latex to take shape. Of course, it will need careful planing and grounding works to fit the size. So the latex has filled the voids and that's why it looks like a whole thing.

    Yes I do have a plan to build a cnc wood router sometime. That will make the building faster and easier to set the radii and tapers. The current woods actually has tapers already, I just wire lines on the woods and planed or grounded the radii and tapers. Next I will do the necessory painting and then the molds are usable.

    I think even for production, the current wood mold will be fine. But because wood is easy to transform under hot and wet conditions in casting workroom, wood molds can only support around decades of castings. It's life also depending on wood material and frame stifness, glue stifness, paining seals etc. I don't know if I would sell many of this machine. If necessory, I will turn to aluminium molds for long term production. And you are right, wood ones are the "master".

    The color looks uniform because the surfaces have been carefully grounded and all small voids have white latex or putty to fill in. they have similiar color, so it looks like a whole white thing.

    Thank you for your comments again. I will introduce some sand and furnace items when casting.

    Regards



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    No personal offense, but:
    I fear you are going to early from drawing to a cast:
    I mostly see straight wooden plates and too few taper angles as you mentioned.
    Apparently, you tilted the plates, but the internal ribs look like straight plates.
    It will be quite difficult to implement all the internal radii with filler.
    In some areas the material is much thicker than in others, which will likely cause distortion in the cast. Consider beefing up the ribs to make them as thick as the walls.
    The weight of the head doesn’t appear to be a match for the z-motor size. Have you done calculations or tests? Keep in mind, most data you get is the holding torque of a stepper, not the dynamic load. Do you have the efficiency data of Z lead screw?
    I can’t detect any wiring of motors and limit switches in the drawing. If not implemented in the design, than you may need a hole here and there where there isn’t.
    You mentioned coolant later to be added. So you’ll need skirts and covers for your linear bearings and ball screws. If not already implemented in the design, I fear, it will either not look pretty or skirts will leak against the iron cast.
    There are no fasteners in your design, so I do assume you'll drill and tap holes later. I find this quite risky as you may oversee one or the other screw head can't be reached or needed to be counter sunk.



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    Quote Originally Posted by stewi View Post
    No personal offense, but:
    I fear you are going to early from drawing to a cast:
    I mostly see straight wooden plates and too few taper angles as you mentioned.
    Apparently, you tilted the plates, but the internal ribs look like straight plates.
    It will be quite difficult to implement all the internal radii with filler.
    In some areas the material is much thicker than in others, which will likely cause distortion in the cast. Consider beefing up the ribs to make them as thick as the walls.
    The weight of the head doesn’t appear to be a match for the z-motor size. Have you done calculations or tests? Keep in mind, most data you get is the holding torque of a stepper, not the dynamic load. Do you have the efficiency data of Z lead screw?
    I can’t detect any wiring of motors and limit switches in the drawing. If not implemented in the design, than you may need a hole here and there where there isn’t.
    You mentioned coolant later to be added. So you’ll need skirts and covers for your linear bearings and ball screws. If not already implemented in the design, I fear, it will either not look pretty or skirts will leak against the iron cast.
    There are no fasteners in your design, so I do assume you'll drill and tap holes later. I find this quite risky as you may oversee one or the other screw head can't be reached or needed to be counter sunk.
    Hi Stewi. Thank you for further comments.

    a. I do have place tappers for every side wall of the molds. and the tapers are not of the same angle. for some walls not too deep or apperant surface, using smaller angles, and for larger and machining surface, and especially inner ribs, use bigger angle. within the range of 1-5 degree. I think maybe the photos don't show the angles clearly. I will try to show the angles in photo after painting works.

    b. I made the inner ribs seperatelly with tapper and glued them inside the frame. so It's easy work to make the ribs with angle. so no fllers will be needed.

    c. Yes. The molds are not of the same thickness many places. It’s just the part need machining in future. After machining the slots and grooves etc, the thickness will have nearly same size so cause no dissortion. And, in formal manufacture, all castings need ageing treatment to eleminate inner stress to prevent it.

    d. The head weight & Z motor torque issue is a important item. I agree with your opinions on motor torque issue and ballscrew efficiency issue. Both of them need to consider the dynamic spec. but not of the static ones. The motor size shown in the drawings are just use the same motor model with X, Y axis in PTC. The Z motor should be bigger than X,Y ones. And, there are also other way to solve this iss in industrial machines like balance weight method or N2 strut. I will test this during assembling and testing progress. All of the motor and ballscrew data are avaliable from supplier side and of course need to refer to the data sheet.

    e. Yes I didn’t draw the wires and holes etc in the design and the fasteners also. I just have no much time to do so many detailed works. But they will be shown in CAD sketches that I also have finished now.

    f. About the covers etc. You are correct that they must be added on the machine. I didn’t show them in the design because I have had many experience on similar machines and not a big problem for me. I promise you will see on finished machine.

    And thank you for your detailed comments again. I think your comments are very helpful for building a machine. I’m sure you have many experiences in building machines. I’m very happy to discuss with you on further details.

    Regards



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    The painting works are under going now. I think can update photos tomorrow.



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    Well, it appears that we are technical quite on the same level, but cultural we are worlds apart. My master in Germany would have likely expelled me from school, if I had told him, that the screws are on another sketch and not in the main drawing.
    As you may know Germans are quite casual and friendly, when they have a beer or two, but not when it comes to design disciplines, diligence and accuracy.

    Regards,
    Stefan



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    Quote Originally Posted by stewi View Post
    Well, it appears that we are technical quite on the same level, but cultural we are worlds apart. My master in Germany would have likely expelled me from school, if I had told him, that the screws are on another sketch and not in the main drawing.
    As you may know Germans are quite casual and friendly, when they have a beer or two, but not when it comes to design disciplines, diligence and accuracy.

    Regards,
    Stefan
    Hi, Stewi. I can understand Germany style and they are very serious in technical works. Any nonstandard process will drive them crazy. I really admire this style. I'd like to place every detail in the design and make it look complete and beautiful if I have more time. Afterall, It's a step showing works. If I will put it into formal production one day, every part will have it's very detailed sketch including tolerance, roughness and have a total process guide line for every step machining and assembling, testing etc.

    Regards



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    I have done some pait works now. I sparied bottom paint with polyurethane pait firstly. I had learned this kind of paint has good adhesion and dry faster than normal paint. The paint is okey after spray. But I did it too rush so the pain didn't look smooth. Actually, the paint should be applied at least 2-3 times to make better surface but will take about a whole day. I did this personally, and obviously, my paint skill is suck.







    Any way, we will need some ground works after first paint to make the surface smoother and many small voids you can't observe clearly before painting. After clearing any tear drops and ground off any higher place on surface. So after these steps, the molds still look rough.









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    Quote Originally Posted by elvistaylor View Post
    Mainly this parts works for what? What type of machine is used to created this structure?

    I am freshers about cnc machine to know that uses and process..


    I am working for the cnc machine shop site as a search engine optimizer. so i need to know the process and uses of cnc machine ..

    Houston cnc machine shop.
    Hi elvistalor, Thank you for your questions. These parts are the wooden molds to cast iron parts to build the machine structure. Normally we will need wood CNC routers to creat the molds but I don't have one. So I'm just making them manually.

    I'm glad to talk with you on the CNC items. I hope can help you some if I know. Hope you can enjoy your work~



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    Very nice design and cool that you will let us see how its done..!!
    Could you also in time tell us a little bit about the cost of the casting and curing in the oven?



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    Default wonderful work so far

    hello friend,
    You are working really great. From the wooden molds, i can see that the resulting machine is going to be a piece of art.

    I looked at the cad of your machine and its looks very good. The one thing i am worrying about is the height of your Z and the size of the piller. Are you sure that you can make decent cuts in mild steel or high chrome with that machine? If i was there i would like to put some more meat on the Z pillar.
    a weak Z may chatter or defllect while drilling or using some big face cutters. Even strong lm guides cannot help you in such case. But if you are building it for aluminium or wood works then it is strong enough.

    BTW i am also planning to build a Mill like you having same machining area. So i will be watching your build. Good work so far and best of luck.
    regards,
    jasminder singh

    It is better to die for something than to live for nothing.


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    Quote Originally Posted by veteq View Post
    Very nice design and cool that you will let us see how its done..!!
    Could you also in time tell us a little bit about the cost of the casting and curing in the oven?
    Thanks veteq. I'm glad you like the design. And surely I can tell you the casting price. It's around 1.4USD/KG in China now. but it will also depend on the quality and material level.

    Regards,



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    Quote Originally Posted by jasminder View Post
    hello friend,
    You are working really great. From the wooden molds, i can see that the resulting machine is going to be a piece of art.

    I looked at the cad of your machine and its looks very good. The one thing i am worrying about is the height of your Z and the size of the piller. Are you sure that you can make decent cuts in mild steel or high chrome with that machine? If i was there i would like to put some more meat on the Z pillar.
    a weak Z may chatter or defllect while drilling or using some big face cutters. Even strong lm guides cannot help you in such case. But if you are building it for aluminium or wood works then it is strong enough.

    BTW i am also planning to build a Mill like you having same machining area. So i will be watching your build. Good work so far and best of luck.
    regards,
    jasminder singh
    Hi jasminder, Thank you. I think it's a very good question. the column design is a key point for stiffness under heavy cutting. I've thought of a pillar with a wide base and thick walls, even more crossed ribs inside. But it's a point need many balanced thinking.

    a, the small machine should only work on small workpieces with small tools. big tools can not be used on such a small machine.

    b, I think it's a CNC engraving and milling machine with electric spindle of upto24000RPM. so the cutting torque should be small. Another word, if I use a normal mill spindle system with 500-2000RPM, the cutting torque will be much bigger for this machine. So, for high speed engraving, the siffness should be okey.

    c, It's also a balanced thinking of the mold building. Strongger Z pillar not just mean more thickness, but mostly the more complex structure design. This will make the mold much more complex as well. because this is a manual work. so I would not make it so complex.

    And I agree, strongger linear guides has no help to the stifness.

    Thanks for your attention again. I would like to see your works if you can put it in forum.

    Regards



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    If I read that right, you used a spray can? Start with a very light mist, let that tack. Then hit it with a good coat, allow to almost dry (within whatever the recoat time is on the can), then apply additional coats.

    I suck at it, not steady enough and way too impatient.

    Also for rockets we'll use a high fill primer like Dupli-color auto primer or Kiltz spray stain blocker to fill the tube spirals and balsa grain.



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    Quote Originally Posted by rocketflier View Post
    If I read that right, you used a spray can? Start with a very light mist, let that tack. Then hit it with a good coat, allow to almost dry (within whatever the recoat time is on the can), then apply additional coats.

    I suck at it, not steady enough and way too impatient.

    Also for rockets we'll use a high fill primer like Dupli-color auto primer or Kiltz spray stain blocker to fill the tube spirals and balsa grain.
    Hi rocketflier. Yes. I used a spray can for the painting. I just pained too rush because of short of time. If spary thinner and perform more times, it will be better. I have done the second paint after grounding. I've never contacted such higher end paints as you mentioned. I think it will be much much better than I did.

    Regards,



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    Hi guys. I finished the second painting now. The molds look more smooth now. I wanted to use the noral green pain, but the paint shop sent me two cans of shining green pain. So the molds look a little shining now.. but I really don't like this color. So the molds are almost ready now. I will do no more fixing works on the molds and will send to casting factory for iron parts soon. So I think it will take at least one week for samples. And I will take some picuture of casting process if possible. Thanks everyone.











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    And I stacked them together for a photo too. Does it look like a real machine now? That will be the machine frame as the drawing shows.





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    Quote Originally Posted by elvistaylor View Post
    Hi.,,Skyfire

    thank your cute reply to me.. Mainly cnc machine is used to design a wood whatever design we need.. What programming language is used in this machine..

    How its work.. Its any computer work on it..

    regards..

    Texas cnc machine shop..
    Hi, elvistaylor. You are welcome. I think we can learn more about CNC in the forums. Viewing threads will be much helpful to understand CNC.

    Regards,



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    Hi Skyfire,
    it is going to be a sand cast, so you don't need to win a beauty contest in your paint job.
    I'm more concerned about where you depart the mold plug from the top and bottom sand box. Currently, it appears to depart on the top edge, which will create quite some flashes on these edges.
    To my humble experience it is better to make the departing line in the middle of the bottom flange at a vertical surface and than taper that flange to both sides up and downwards.
    However, happy casting!

    Regards,
    Stefan



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Show how to build a CNC machine from the very beginning to the end

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