heh-heh. Sad thing for me, is most of my projects never take a final form, hence the piles that I have to sort through every so often.

I'd be happy with "functional"

 

My project completion rate is dismal. I sometimes work on things for years b4 they get completed or they get replaced by other projects.

 

If this is a club i'm a lifetime member by far with half completed projects.
Maybe I just get bored too easy, no no it's I run out of money then time, yup there is always time for another bier.
.....=o&o>.....

 

I have two garage bays of unfinished projects, and more scattered throughout the yard, the overflowing tool shed out back, and now the driveway.

I have so little room left, I actually have a 3000 mile pantera engine sitting outside. Sad, no?

Anyway, made great progress on the CNC machine... got the X and Y axis done, then discovered the X axis is slightly wobbly due to the span, so I made a truss out of angle iron. Drilled, and started tapping, and SNAP broke a tap in one of the saddles.

The advantage of making the saddles out of four 1/2" square bar stock, is I only have to make one more piece, rather than the entire saddle. I tried removing the tap, however after a few minutes I realized it was going to be less work to just make another one. Of course I could just turn it around 180 degrees and drill new holes to break another tap

Got tired of working with oily metal, so this evening I soldered together the cable to connect the parallel port (IDC header connector) to the fan-outs for the three axis controllers I purchased, and the one homemade "plasma on" relay driver board, and tested the wiring and it's all AOK. Steppers spin, relay to turn on the plasma cutter clicks on demand, looking good.

The timing pulleys and belts arrived today... and I was all excited until I realize I ordered the belts 2" too short on all three axis. Why? I didn't take into consideration the diameter of the pulleys. Doh!

 

Check out the 335 series forum and the 434 stroker Tim Myers made for a Pantera recently. Remember Murphy says that you will expand your "collection" to fill all available space.

Sounds like my kind of luck. Be careful with the taps. It has been a while since I have broken one. I can't afford broken tools.

I get my son to do most of my soldering nowadays. I don't know what I will do when he is not available to help.

-Ahhhh been there, done that...

 

Will do!

Me either. Or broken parts with pieces of tap stuck in them. Just stinks because my tap set is black oxide and I've not been able to replace the taps locally. HD, Lowes and Ace seem to only have regular taps which I've bought in the past and snap them fairly quick.

Though it's my own fault. The black oxide tap I broke says on the side it requires a #7 drill bit, which I don't have, so the last time I was in HD I looked at their taps, and the same size tap comes with a 11/64" drill bit, so I drilled the hole to 11/64 and broke the tap. I *should* have gone up a size, to compensate for the black oxide coating. *sigh*.

I used to really enjoy soldering. Made many wiring harnesses for vehicles over the years, piece of cake. However, over the winter I was wiring up the patch bays in my recording studio, and now I hate soldering. Why? 22 patch bays, 48 jacks a piece, 3 solder connections per jack, totaling 3168 solder joints, behind a rack, in a tight space, while lying on my side through the rack next to it.

I think today I'll flip the bar around and redrill, after buying a new tap and see how that lines up. If not to good, I'll make another bar and call it a day. Just annoying because I could have finished assembling the Z axis today, and start making leadscrew bearing mounts.

Which I think I have figured out... I found in my scrap pile a 6" long chuck of 7/8" rod, a hair larger than the OD of the bearings, and will turn that down slightly (really just a skim), try to locate a hole at one end in the center of the rod, and make a roller-tool to stick into my lathe's tool post. Then I'll cut out a thin piece of steel in a circle about an inch larger in diameter than the rod, and bolt it to the end of the rod, and chuck that and try to "metal spin" it into a cup for the bearing. The weld that cup to the leadscrew supports and put the bearing in.

Unfortunately the bearings wiggle in a 7/8" hole, whether I drill them with an ordinary, but large bit or use one of my fancy unibits. Apparently drill bit sizing is only approximate.

I could also hack off a 1/2" section of 1" square tubing, and use four set screws if I had to, but that looks uglier than a formed cup.


-Ahhhh been there, done that... [/QUOTE]

 

Do you have a tap and drill size chart?
http://www.motionnet.com/cgi-bin/sea...howlink&no=560
11/64 is way small for a 1/4-20 tap. A 3/16" (undersize) or 13/64" (oversize) would have been a better choice.
-No wonder you break taps... The black oxide coating should not make a difference. I have many "plain" taps and they work well. The secret to taps is not to force them and never put sideways pressure on them. Lubricate them well with cutting oil, -not regular oil. I have used taps thousands of times and can count the number of broken taps on one hand, and those were my fault. Usually from sideways loading.

A lot of neat stuff here that may help:
http://www.motionnet.com/
http://www.eng-tips.com/index.cfm?CF...TOKEN=48826336
http://www.unitsconverter.net/
http://www.1728.com/index.htm/
http://www.qualitytool.com/design_primer.htm/
ACAD files: http://www.cadresource.com/library/symbols.html
http://www.engineersedge.com/directory.shtml
http://www.nationaltbucketalliance.c...bolt_chart.asp
http://www.ieee.org/portal/site/main...sp?&pName=home
http://www.bearings.machinedesign.com/
http://www.airpartsinc.com/
http://www.parker.com/o-ring/Literature/00-5700.pdf
http://efunda.com/designstandards/design_home.cfm

Hmmm, I have assembled some TV studio control panels etc but I always tried to design my cable runs etc so that all the soldering could be done in the "open" then fold the cables neatly to mount the panel.


Drill bits usually drill a hole oversize by 0.003-0.010" but they are made very accurately. To accurately size a hole drill it undersize then use a reamer or boring bar.

 

One came with the tap set, which I put on the side of my floor standing drill press with a magnet.... though it and the magnet seems to have disappeared. Anyway, I do now, thank you for the link. It just printed, and I have another magnet right here

Starting taps straight (by hand) has always been a challenge, and lately I've had better luck by chucking them into the drill press, clamping the work underneath, and flipping the top open and turning the drill press's spindle nut with a ratchet, while applying a downward force. This way I'm still turning it slowly, but using the squareness of the drill press to get the tap started correctly. They don't break in the drill press. They break when I take it out and start turning them by hand. Like you said, probably from side-loading. MSC sent me a sale catalog a few months ago with a hand tapping station, basically a mini drill press with no motor, but instead a large crank on top. It also had three fittings (collets?) for the basic sizes of the square end of the taps. I was going to buy that for $75 figuring with what I've spent in the last year replacing taps... but by the time I got around to trying to order one, seems MSC sold out of them. Was a special/blow out type of deal. Enco has them as well:
http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?P...&PMPXNO=953101

I have a metal collar that's supposed to help start the tap straight, but I've still broken taps with it. Anyway, thanks for the tips/chart - both should give me a reduction in broken tools.

That was the intention, and there was enough slack (so I thought) to do solder the bays out of the rack and push them in. However, once I ran the cabling through the floor, I discovered the joists went across the width of the room, which forced me to surface mount the wiring in the garage (since the ceiling is plastered) rather than go down the length of space between joists. With all the 24-pair snake cable that I was running, I wasn't going to bore 6" diameter holes in the ceiling joists. Would weaken the garage structure as well as require tearing out long strips of ceiling. So that made the snake cables "shorter", which was still doable as far as soldering outside the rack. When I got to the front of the garage, and started to snake things through, everything got stuck. I tore some of the ceiling apart to find a huge steel I-beam. *sigh*. So I had to go around that, which reduced the available slack even more. So, one side I soldered out of the racks, the other side I had to solder in the racks. Trying to shove the snake cables backwards through the hangers started to be a lot of work so I decided just to lie on my side and solder and complain about it instead

Boring bar I have, and boring bar holder I have, but there's apparently a spacer that goes over the boring bar that I'm missing. Also, I haven't figured out how to take the end of the boring bar apart to get the broken carbide tip out of there to see what size it is and replace it. The guy who sold it to me pointed this out, and offered to take it apart for me to show me, but it looked easy so I passed and figured I'd do it when I get home and set the lathe up. I should have taken him up on his offer, as it turned out to be less obvious than I thought! I was worried about losing small screws and parts and such, so I wanted to keep it together for the journey home.

Here is some of the tooling that came with the lathe:

http://frederic.midimonkey.com/yard/...m-DSC00344.JPG

Left to right:
Adjustable saddle stop
chuck key for 4-jaw chuck
BXA tool holder
small boring bar (the one that doesn't fit into the boring bar holder just yet)
large boring bar (the one that has a carbide tip stuck in it)
boring bar holder with an insert.
and four bxa tool holders of different types. I use the one with the carbide triangle cutter a lot, as well as the last one in the picture which has the tool steel cutter mounted. I replaced that cutter with a parts seperator cutter, which my cousin got me - it's 1/16" wide, and was easy to shape. Though the first two shape attempts I blued it with the grinder. I solved that by pulling out an old motor controller and putting on an outlet, and slowed the grinder way down, and pull the cutter away from the grinding wheel for longer periods of time than actual grinding. This prevents overheating and bluing. They make special grinders for this - water cooled and 3" wheels, but I'm running out of cash for tooling.

The MT2 live center arrived yesterday, as did an MT2 end with some kind of very fine threads on the end that faces the chuck. I *thought* it was the same thread as smaller hole saws, but apparently not. The threads are also too large for the two or three spare chucks I have lying around. Oh well!

As a b-day present my wife ordered me a bull-nose MT2 live center, which I can use for metal spinning when I get to that point of ability with the lathe. That actually brings this post back on topic, as I want to try making a metal-spun "cup" for the leadscrew bearings. They have a 7/8" OD and I have a chunk of 7/8" steel rod, which I figured I could put in the lathe chuck and "pin" a thin piece of metal, and cut it round as well as "fold" it over the end of the 7/8" rod via a wheel mounted on a bar, in one of the BXA tool holders. If it's thin enough, the metal should reshape fairly easily. Then I can trim that with the parts seperator tool so the top of the cut is flush with the bearing, weld it onto the supports after aligning it, and make 11 more lol.

Broken Tap:
http://frederic.midimonkey.com/cnc2/IM001805.JPG

Backbone installed and aligned:
http://frederic.midimonkey.com/cnc2/IM001806.JPG

Side Profile:
http://frederic.midimonkey.com/cnc2/IM001807.JPG

 

Your having way too much fun!
All one needs is time and money, seems both never come together at once, then there's the War Department to contend with.

.....=o&o>.....

 

There are even better tapping fluids than cutting oil. I seem to have more luck w/ the thick ones, but I tap tool steel all day, which is pretty tough stuff. I couldn't see the picture of the boring bar well enough to tell you how to get it apart. Using a drill press is a good way to start a tap straight. You can also make a 'tapping block', which is just a chunk of thick steel with various sized straight holes for the different taps. It can be tricky holding it straight, however. Various taps are more prone to break than others. #6-32 being one of the worst. Large drill bits are more prone to cut oversize, particularly if they aren't sharpened perfectly. I would stop one size shy and bore it to fit, particularly for a bearing. Any slop in a bearing bore negates the purpose of the bearing. This may seem like a dumb question, but did you check to see if the bearing is precisely 7/8" (.875)? Many bearings are metric. BTW, when machining aluminum, WD-40 makes a great lubricant. Aluminum is very gummy. I'm jealous; I had to sell off all of my home shop, and won't have another until after I move in few years. Have fun!

 

The boring bar is probably just a cam lock. Stick an allen wrench in the hole and find out. It looks like a very good set of tooling. Better than I have.

WD-40 or kerosene for cutting aluminum.

The tapping block is a good tool to have. Putting equal torque on a tap handle is a good thing. Any time you force one side more than the other you stand a chance of breaking the tap.

Green Locktite bearing retainer can be used for sloppy bearing bores but it is better to use a slight press fit. You will have to learn how to machine those tho.

Make sure you bookmark those other links I listed.

Wire is cheap, buy plenty, compared to crawling around under machines or panels cussing the "Engineer"...

 

After some futzing, I got the boring bar's cutter out of the end of the boring bar. There was some dirt in the allen bolt hole, which is why I think I didn't realize there was an allen bolt in there.

It's a round HSS cutter... interesting... haven't seen that type before!

I did book all the lines, thank you for sharing them.

And I had enough wire... I just had to change the design on the fly due to an unexpected I-Beam where I wanted to run the wires. An I-Beam that isn't on the diagram of my house!

Well, started building the Z-axis. Here is what I want it to look like more or less:
http://frederic.midimonkey.com/cnc2/IM001808.JPG


I clamped the four pieces together, and clamped a smaller speed square to the tall back plate, then drilled and tapped the holes top and bottom for the back plate. Then, I moved the speed square to the tall front, recessed plate, and did the same. Now I have the basic structure of the Z-axis. The bottom plate will attach to the saddles, and in the space of the assembly (right of picture) I'll be installing rails for the z-axis plate to side up and down. I'll mount the stepper motor on top, and the leadscrew down in front of the recessed plate, between the two rails. More or less I hope you're not looking at the four holes (two top, two bottom) I mismarked and drilled in the wrong place. Wouldn't have been a big deal, except if I mounted the tall plate there it would have interfered with the backbone of the X axis, preventing consistant movement.
http://frederic.midimonkey.com/cnc2/IM001809.JPG


The machine torch:
http://frederic.midimonkey.com/cnc2/torch.jpg


Drilling out the bottom plate so I can mount a saddle:
http://frederic.midimonkey.com/cnc2/IM001811.JPG

I ended up using a forester bit to make indentations where the bearings rubbed ever so slightly.


And, the final mounting of the z-axis structure onto two saddles, able to slide left and right, forward and back (by hand).
http://frederic.midimonkey.com/cnc2/IM001812.JPG


Now to locate the rails on the z-axis, as precisely as I can.

 

Round HSS or Carbide? Very little modern tooling uses HSS except cut off tools and even then many are carbide.

I have seen so much residential construction I can usually guess what is inside a wall/ceiling/floor fairly accurately. Unfortunately I have seen houses that were missing the proper structure also. Even some that were passed by inspectors that caused problems later.

Are you going to suspend the cables and hoses from the ceiling with a spring to allow movement without binding?

 

The wiring is already done... snaked, soldered, and in use

I made a bunch of low-profile hangers, so the snake cables would lie next to each other along the ceiling, leaving room for the front garage door to open without interference or binding (or damage to the cabling):
http://frederic.midimonkey.com/studio/IM001418.JPG

http://frederic.midimonkey.com/studio/IM001424.JPG

Control cables installed:
http://frederic.midimonkey.com/studio/IM001444.JPG

Control and some audio cable instaleld:
http://frederic.midimonkey.com/studio/IM001468.JPG

Had I known the I-beam was there, I would have planned on routing the cabling another way, but since the i-beam wasn't in the diagram I got from town hall, it created a quagmire for me. So the 2' of slack on each end got used up traveling down to the surface of the ceiling below, and back up at the other end. The joists of the garage ceiling/studio floor, are 2x16"s. And really 2"x16" too, unlike modern wood measurements.

It worked out.... just requires some dress up on the ceiling in the garage at some point.



In regards to the boring bar cutter - it's round, has two ground edges and a curved grinding for the chips to slide into and fall off, and I'm fairly sure it's HSS steel, only because its the same color and feel of a drill bit, though shaped a bit differently. It's got that shiny, tool steel look to it as well.

 

Sorry, I was talking about the cables and hoses for your CNC here.

Good luck with the boring bar, I have never seen anything quite like that but then I have not seen a lot of things. Can you get round carbide inserts for it?