Nice thing with it being all flexy is that it doesn't overcut, so going back over with a grinder/file/sandpaper/etc can get you back to the desired shape. Once the gantry risers are done it should be a night and day difference in rigidity.
I know the feeling of a CNC gruelling through the material due to too much compliance in the whole system. My old CNC (Aluminium extrusion similar to the OpenBuilds Ox) heaved and hoe'd through 20mm thick aluminium plate (steel would've been so much worse) for a new improved CNC. The new one still had some compliance but I fixed most of it by putting a square tube on the gantry for extra torsional stiffness. Now it can as easy mill mild steel as aluminium! I think most of the compliance on yours is due to the printed parts. Hopefully with the new parts most of the compliance is gone.
One thing that will speed up creating a large hole in the future is to predrill a 1/2 or so diameter hole to start the pocket. Predrill as in on your drill press. LIke the never quit mentality. Mark
@@BryanHoward Oh I understand that. I'm talking for the sake of speed. There's a few tricks like that I have learned over the years. Same for using a hole saw for such a hole, a properly placed drilled hole near the perimeter of the hole saw cut will aid in chip removal as the saw turns. Speeds up the sawing. Is your TIG torch water cooled? Mark
Yeah for sure and this was with all the plastic and wood parts still on the machine. You could probably cut through steel parts this size on a MPCNC it would take you much longer due to the much lighter feeds/speeds. Here's a more current representation on milling steel after many more upgrades ruclips.net/video/8v-yXavlFhU/видео.htmlsi=uFhKBjlV8FgutZRM
Dang brother those flat Stones actually look really good for what they are. May not be perfect but by rubbing them each together with the other two like that at least you're averaging out any inaccuracies. Which could be orders of magnitude better and it's a great idea! I might try that if I've got some old surface grinding wheels... Or I may just try picking up some decent cheap stones and going from there. I often thought about impregnating them with resin. Just like when stabilizing wood. Obviously they would have to be flattened us somewhat after that but then they would be impervious to a lot of things like thermal, moisture in and out, etc. Just don't put them bad boys back on the grinder. 😂 We were always told that as kids and one of my buddies decided to bring some aluminum on a wheel and then put it back on the grinder and start grinding steel. It exploded and hit him in the chest and broke one of his ribs. Which is not uncommon... Just glad he was the size of refrigerator and he ended up being okay other than the broken bone
Certainly not as good as precision ground but like I can see the shyness of them so I know that that area is flat. It doesn't matter the grit size either.
Yeah I should have said something about that. Mill scale is tough to cut through and it just trashes the endmills when you cut through it. I changed my mind midway through and just decided to face off both sides of the plates. Originally I wasn’t going to but later when I was thinking of the steps on welding, I wouldn’t have any good way of comparing the 90 degree angle on the bearing block surface to the surface that attaches to the back of the z assembly. Making both sides flat and parallel to each simplified things by just having to clamp it all to a big angle plate.
It's an Evolution cold cut saw. They use carbide tooth blades. If you get one, be sure to use dry saw lube (it's a wax) to keep the life of the blade long, they're quite expensive.
Yup, Evolution saw. I haven’t tried wax for lub. I use a drip of tap magic that runs down the area to be cut. I find the carbide in the evolution saw chips and breaks off too easily. When I finally replace the blade I’m thinking of putting in a Diablo Steel Demon. I have one of those on my circular saw that I used to cut stainless steel. It doesn’t chip like evolution does in mild steel.
@@BryanHoward Steel demons are pretty good. I use a BruteLube XLUB-STIK which is basically a life supply for $20. Unless I screw up pressure or I try cutting something I shouldn't, I get amazing blade life.
I don't know if I understand the rationale behind using servos. Wouldn't it be better to use the money to buy some time from a real VMC to machine level your bearing surfaces? I don't think that the benefit of servos can be realised on such a light duty machine where rigidity would be a confining factor before motor power.
Tell me about it! At the end I was just seeing how much I could push it before it broke with the longest flute 6mm I had. Single flute is certainly not the correct cutter but I didn’t want to break out the nicer multi flutes when the machine was still squishy with the wood and plastic parts.
Seems to me like you are trying to surface raw hot rolled steel parts on a machine with the rails mounted to raw hot rolled steel parts and think they are going to come out flatter than they were before? Not being a hater, I am quite impressed the machine can surface the steel at all, and I do quite like your videos - it just doesn't seem like you're achieving much other than removing the mill scale.
The thing you gotta remember is that the spoilboard has been faced by the cnc which pretty much nulls out everything. I’ve measured the X axis (gantry) and I’ve got 0.3mm deviation over the entire span ~3ft. A piece of flat bar can be out by as much as 0.5mm over it’s width of 4”. Most of the things I cut on the machine are small like 6” so it’s not much of a concern for me. I might shim and epoxy and get everything perfectly flat in the future but for now it’s not something high on the list.
Dude, it’s fine. Also considering he made the CNC, repairing any damage caused by pushing his machine should be easy for him. Not everyone can have a Tormach.
@@BadPractices tormach is a low grade chinese mill at that. Cnc machines are overpriced as far as im concerned. Especially the used market. Considering what you van charge hourly to run your 4 axis cnc mill, the investment is far too much. Imho
@@Nicholas-im8bd What? Proper used CNC mills are cheap as dirt. Moving them, getting a floor to support them properly and then providing the proper power are all the high dollar items. People pay a premium for the "chinese" tormach because it requires none of these things other than a harbor freight engine hoist.
Even with that spongy X and Z axis, the steel parts came out really good. Can't wait to see this machines performance when upgraded 💥😎👌🏻
Nice thing with it being all flexy is that it doesn't overcut, so going back over with a grinder/file/sandpaper/etc can get you back to the desired shape.
Once the gantry risers are done it should be a night and day difference in rigidity.
I know the feeling of a CNC gruelling through the material due to too much compliance in the whole system. My old CNC (Aluminium extrusion similar to the OpenBuilds Ox) heaved and hoe'd through 20mm thick aluminium plate (steel would've been so much worse) for a new improved CNC. The new one still had some compliance but I fixed most of it by putting a square tube on the gantry for extra torsional stiffness. Now it can as easy mill mild steel as aluminium!
I think most of the compliance on yours is due to the printed parts. Hopefully with the new parts most of the compliance is gone.
You're an absolute madman and I love it
One thing that will speed up creating a large hole in the future is to predrill a 1/2 or so diameter hole to start the pocket. Predrill as in on your drill press. LIke the never quit mentality.
Mark
A lot of these early videos I was cutting steel when the CNC machine still had a wooden Z assembly and overall a lot less rigid.
@@BryanHoward Oh I understand that. I'm talking for the sake of speed. There's a few tricks like that I have learned over the years. Same for using a hole saw for such a hole, a properly placed drilled hole near the perimeter of the hole saw cut will aid in chip removal as the saw turns. Speeds up the sawing. Is your TIG torch water cooled?
Mark
Impressive what it can cut even with that much flex. all the people that claim you can’t cut steel without a bridgeport are dead wrong.
Yeah for sure and this was with all the plastic and wood parts still on the machine. You could probably cut through steel parts this size on a MPCNC it would take you much longer due to the much lighter feeds/speeds. Here's a more current representation on milling steel after many more upgrades ruclips.net/video/8v-yXavlFhU/видео.htmlsi=uFhKBjlV8FgutZRM
Dang brother those flat Stones actually look really good for what they are. May not be perfect but by rubbing them each together with the other two like that at least you're averaging out any inaccuracies. Which could be orders of magnitude better and it's a great idea! I might try that if I've got some old surface grinding wheels... Or I may just try picking up some decent cheap stones and going from there. I often thought about impregnating them with resin. Just like when stabilizing wood. Obviously they would have to be flattened us somewhat after that but then they would be impervious to a lot of things like thermal, moisture in and out, etc.
Just don't put them bad boys back on the grinder. 😂 We were always told that as kids and one of my buddies decided to bring some aluminum on a wheel and then put it back on the grinder and start grinding steel. It exploded and hit him in the chest and broke one of his ribs. Which is not uncommon... Just glad he was the size of refrigerator and he ended up being okay other than the broken bone
Certainly not as good as precision ground but like I can see the shyness of them so I know that that area is flat. It doesn't matter the grit size either.
What is the white disc on the spindle?
Collet fan. Works better than the air compressor. www.printables.com/model/287185-collet-fan
Is that a fan on the spindle collet? Is it 3D printed? How do you keep it on? what is it for?
wait so why did you remove the mill scale if you were going to end up facing the plates anyway?
Yeah I should have said something about that. Mill scale is tough to cut through and it just trashes the endmills when you cut through it. I changed my mind midway through and just decided to face off both sides of the plates.
Originally I wasn’t going to but later when I was thinking of the steps on welding, I wouldn’t have any good way of comparing the 90 degree angle on the bearing block surface to the surface that attaches to the back of the z assembly. Making both sides flat and parallel to each simplified things by just having to clamp it all to a big angle plate.
power of spindle?
What blade are you using to cut steel on your drop saw? My drop saw just has an abrasive cut off wheel which is not accurate
It's an Evolution cold cut saw. They use carbide tooth blades. If you get one, be sure to use dry saw lube (it's a wax) to keep the life of the blade long, they're quite expensive.
@@jarjarbingbong bandsaw is probably the best option for those types of cuts if cost is an issue.
Yup, Evolution saw. I haven’t tried wax for lub. I use a drip of tap magic that runs down the area to be cut. I find the carbide in the evolution saw chips and breaks off too easily. When I finally replace the blade I’m thinking of putting in a Diablo Steel Demon. I have one of those on my circular saw that I used to cut stainless steel. It doesn’t chip like evolution does in mild steel.
@@BryanHoward Steel demons are pretty good. I use a BruteLube XLUB-STIK which is basically a life supply for $20. Unless I screw up pressure or I try cutting something I shouldn't, I get amazing blade life.
@@jarjarbingbong Cool, I'll try that stuff out
I don't know if I understand the rationale behind using servos. Wouldn't it be better to use the money to buy some time from a real VMC to machine level your bearing surfaces? I don't think that the benefit of servos can be realised on such a light duty machine where rigidity would be a confining factor before motor power.
There are a lot more benefits besides power with using servos.
@@BryanHoward Sure, you just can't realise them because you are limited by the machine construction.
That's was difficult to listen to that single flute on mild steel with that much stick out
Tell me about it! At the end I was just seeing how much I could push it before it broke with the longest flute 6mm I had. Single flute is certainly not the correct cutter but I didn’t want to break out the nicer multi flutes when the machine was still squishy with the wood and plastic parts.
Seems to me like you are trying to surface raw hot rolled steel parts on a machine with the rails mounted to raw hot rolled steel parts and think they are going to come out flatter than they were before? Not being a hater, I am quite impressed the machine can surface the steel at all, and I do quite like your videos - it just doesn't seem like you're achieving much other than removing the mill scale.
The thing you gotta remember is that the spoilboard has been faced by the cnc which pretty much nulls out everything. I’ve measured the X axis (gantry) and I’ve got 0.3mm deviation over the entire span ~3ft. A piece of flat bar can be out by as much as 0.5mm over it’s width of 4”.
Most of the things I cut on the machine are small like 6” so it’s not much of a concern for me. I might shim and epoxy and get everything perfectly flat in the future but for now it’s not something high on the list.
Звучит очень плохо!!!((
Haha for sure! I was just happy I was able to cut (grind) through it. I've made a lot of improvements to the machine and steel is not so bad anymore.
@@BryanHoward It must have been painful to watch the machine suffer. I think it's over now)
Bro, vibration are really high, you are asking too much at this little machine, it will destroy fast.. bye😉
Hater..
Dude, it’s fine. Also considering he made the CNC, repairing any damage caused by pushing his machine should be easy for him. Not everyone can have a Tormach.
@@BadPractices tormach is a low grade chinese mill at that.
Cnc machines are overpriced as far as im concerned. Especially the used market. Considering what you van charge hourly to run your 4 axis cnc mill, the investment is far too much. Imho
@@Nicholas-im8bd What?
Proper used CNC mills are cheap as dirt. Moving them, getting a floor to support them properly and then providing the proper power are all the high dollar items.
People pay a premium for the "chinese" tormach because it requires none of these things other than a harbor freight engine hoist.