Adapter plate done

With some help from the CNC mill, I pilot drilled this hole pattern and finished the drilling/countersink with the manual mill. 

 Once mounted, the plate/chuck assembly was centered by checking runout with a dial indicator ±0.001

 Meanwhile, Daniel is cranking out dinosaurs!

 Anyway, back to 4 axis machine testing! Almooooost there! Got the first program up and running after some more alignment of the rotary table.

Bleh, got this far and realized the rotary table motor is up to 230° Farenheit! Usually should not exceed 180°F. Probably just needs a lower amperage setting on the Gecko drive.

More to come soon!

Practice practice!

The past six weeks have been filled mostly with repetition and progression of existing projects. The 4th axis is progressing nicely, almost finished with the final step of making a custom adapter plate for a 3 jaw chuck. I mostly plan to use round stock material on the 4th axis so a self-centering chuck is needed for a quick and accurate part change out.

The Bridgeport mill has been getting some good ol' fashion trial and error practice making parts. After 7 attempts I finally have an "acceptable" quality part for a custom racecar project. Each piece was an experiment with different cutting strategies. There is much to learn!

 The bad news is I ruined 1 drill bit and 3 new end mills trying, but the good news is I learned ALOT!

It's quite a satisfying feeling to see the mess that a running machine makes! You may notice the coolant spray that has been added to the machine :-) Once the cutting begins there's alot of heat generated! That's how the above picture has melted aluminum in the teeth of the cutter...

Not a huge pile of swarf, but hopefully a sign of bigger ones to come!

Bringing up the wall!

The intense heat here in Schertz, TX is what's keeping me from happily sitting in my shop for hours on end, which is required to program my machines. The solution is a fancy wall to keep in the A/C!

And finally, the cold air machine! Wahooo!

A new 4th [axis] on the 4th

The 4th axis project kicked into high gear this week. I found a good deal on this 6" cnc rotary table and tailstock, so about $400 and my eBay account made this happen in about 2 weeks!

I had this motor controller laying around, but after hooking everything up I realize that it's not compatible in a few different ways so it's coming out and another red one will be in the mail soon :-)

In honor of Shark Week, I have decided to test my new 4 axis CNC with this fun project. A little teaser for my readers!

 Some older pics of things from the past few weeks.

Bridgeport CNC Mill First Cut

Enjoy!

Flying together

As of Monday the Bridgeport CNC mill has been 100% complete, but that depends on what "complete" means. For now it's a functioning 3 axis mill with computer actuated spindle direction and speed with an automatic air brake for tool changing. Things on the list to come are a digital encoder to track spindle position which enables rigid tapping, a fourth axis CNC rotary table/lathe , a servo to power the knee up and down, and possibly a trunion table for 5 axis machining. For now I'll be pursuing production of custom race car components which may have a market with FormulaSAE racing. More to come on that.


Custom limit switch hook ups using CAT5e cables, stepper motor wiring needed to be reconfigured

Brake resistor which emits all the heat from electronic braking of the spindle. A healthy dose of thermal paste as usual.

 Variable speed drive being reassembled. I plan to replace this with a one-to-one belt drive, but for now I'll put up with the flappy noise it makes.

I had to lay the head over to get the extra long drawbar in. This thing is really tall!

Now, more importantly, check out this sweet eagle on a globe.

Alamo Aviation

Here at Alamo CNC we can cut big designs out of foam. Like this drone airplane fuselage. I'm just really glad I bought the blue foam and not the pink. Huge mess.

Now for the video. I know, you just can't wait ;-)

Thanks for reading!