Here's You Sign #98 - Pennsylvania USA

[pblackburn]

The design does allow for almost 1/4" of travel of the marker before bottoming out in the spindle. The next option would be to make a holder to mount on the front of the clamp mount to hold larger pens. However the form of the marker needs to be as cylindrical as possible to hold accuracy for the movement up and down. That is if we stayed with the spring design.

[IMMark]

Interesting, did you build the instructables as per design or did you make any changes?
Is the only limiting factor the "pen" diameter? I guess in theory, a smaller diameter pen, could be put in a enlarging collet first

[pblackburn]

I followed the theory of construction but used a little different components. I drilled and bored out steel for the chamber and lock ring. I used an smaller diameter spring and rewound it around a 1/2" rod to make the spring then cut to length. The closest Lowes or Home Depot to me is 50 miles away. Sometimes it is more convenient to make the part as to buy it.

As far as the limiting factor being the pen diameter, not really, but is does need to fit in the 1/2" collet. The cylindrical shape is the more important part. If your holder was mounted elsewhere on the Z, it would not matter if it was 1-1/2" as long as when the marker is true the length it is in the tube to limit the amount of variance at the point of contact of the tip.

[IMMark]

My Depot is right down the road Will have to check it out.
I'll give it some thought...and sleep on it
Thanks again for the info. Have a good night.
Mark

[smreish]

http://www.rockcliffmachine.com/foru...iy-plotter-pen

this cute little gem allows for the plotter pen to caster about the pen point while being dragged along.
the nice part, albeit crude...it's cheap and you can have all sorts of pen diameters and colors at the ready.

[pblackburn]

That is a nice find Sean. I may have to try that when I get the machine back up and running. I had a mishap that damaged one of the bearings inside the spindle. I have already disassembled it to see what was involved. Had to make some custom wrenches to ease the process. The bearings inside are sealed which was a little surprising considering the speed. I will contact SKF and Timken tomorrow to see what they have to offer. I used a dial indicator after reassembling it and it was dead on. But the audible noise is most definitely a bearing.

[Fox]

https://www.rockcliffmachine.com/pro...nc-pen-holder/

[smreish]

I forgot they actually sell the unit they have up on the forum.
Thanks Fox!

[Fox]

When I saw your link I remembered seeing that somewhere and saving the link for future ref a while ago. Was thinking of building it someday. I reminded me of a drag knife, and I was thinking of combining the two, as in one tool multipurpose .. Drag knife, pen, crease wheel in one kinda extravaganza.. Mm

[smreish]

...I have seen a similar fixture that had a pounce wheel on it for garment pattern tracing too.

[Fox]

Added to the list, it's going to be a CNC leatherman tool .
Another one; I could also add a rubber wheel, as anti lift device, and add a bracket to mount it next to the spindle instead of into.
Glass cutter wheel.. etc etc.
Oh well... too many ideas too little time...

[KenC]

Put a extruder & you will have a 3D printer.
A laser power source & you have a laser cnc
add water jet & you'll have a water jet cnc.... hey, the list goes on & on & on...

[Fox]

Although those could be done, I think it they are far more complex, require additional electronics and the mm is less capable of meeting the demands those designations require, however a plotter, a creaser, a cutter are well within spec of an mm.

[pblackburn]

While I am waiting for the parts to repair the spindle, I am working on Halloween silhouettes, a treasure chest for the kids, playing with Rhino and thinking of a exterior mounted spring loaded pen holder for sharpie pens. My mind is like the cartoon character that tried to run in every direction at once and is sprung back to the beginning. Working right now on modeling a skull and bones for the chest.

[pblackburn]

This is the start of the skull and bones. I cannot take credit for the models, I found free models and cleaned up what was needed. I try to utilize free stuff whenever it is feasible to save time. I used Rhino to better position the three objects, imported into Aspire and sculpted. I then made a model from the toolpath preview and exported as a wavefront object. Opened the obj in Blender and rendered the model. This is the computer rendered result of the toolpath preview model.

[IMMark]

That looks nice Pete.....what is that walnut
Please keep us updated on that sharpie holder too!
Mark

[pblackburn]

The material for the render was Mahogany but it does have a Walnut look about it. I have a fair amount of Sapele left over that I thought I could cut that out of. It would be that color.

[Fox]

I you need help with Rhino3d let me know, I am pretty familiar with it.

[pblackburn]

Thanks Fox. I am just trying to familiarize myself with it to see if it is worth the purchase. I still have 80 days left to make a decision.

[Fox]

I think it offers the most bang for the bucks as 3d cad software. It has it's quirks, but so do the rest which cost more money. Support is good.

[pblackburn]

I think the hardest part is it is another piece of software to learn. I am fairly descent with Autocad, but I also have to use Solidworks, NX at work but mostly Autocad. Then I use Aspire at home with some modeling in Blender. Now playing with Rhino. My head literally hurts. But I do like the limited stuff I have done with the tutorials.

[Fox]

Exactly, it takes a while to get used to and then it's like a marriage, once you learn the bad habits you learn to live with them .

I use Rhino (and Solidworks for the little things that don't work with rhino). Have worked with autocad, microstation, inventor in the past. Plus point for Rhino is that it open almost all other cad programs.

[pblackburn]

Spindle bearings replaced. Nice and quiet again.

[KenC]

Spindle bearings are expensive.... not a lot cheaper than a new spindle...

[danilom]

Ken you cheapskate :P I replaced my bearings too. Bearings were around 1/3 price of a spindle with shipping and were better quality than originals. But the main thing is, bearings can be replaced in a day lot faster than the new spindle can be shipped.
p.s. better way should be to keep a spare spindle and mount it, while you change the bearings on the old one and keep that one as a spare

Pete, did you put the spindle armature in the freezer? I found that method to be the easiest to put new bearings on, they just slip on with a hand.

[Fox]

Pete,
forgot to mention for rhino switch on the command help. It shows you in details what a command does when you click an icon.. with videos text and images, all integrated in Rhino. ( right menu bar)

[pblackburn]

Danilo,
I did not put it in the freezer, an arbor press. The arrangement of the bearing is strange. Not the way I am used to seeing a spindle bearing orientation. Freezer works and so does a CO2 extinguisher.

[Hans]

Pete, Danilo,
Where did you buy replacement bearings?

[pblackburn]

I found a place that rebuilt spindles and sold parts to the public. Ebay had them also.

[Fox]

Pete,

I am building my dust-suction-device-thingie for the MM at the moment.
I need to purchase flex hoses and would like to know (those are expensive) if you
could you elaborate on how long your flex lines are, and how thick ?

I've seen in your thread you did quite some testing and smaller made higher CFM.
I think you stated to start with smaller straight pipe, then smaller flex hose to your inline Thien, then the bigger to Grizzly ?

But on your videos, it 'seems' your running 4" all the way instead of 6" ?