Dave,
Thanks for sharing. I am pondering over how much stress is enough to keep the flexible host & Y-car happy.
My MM is cutting & squared. Have not face the spoil board yet due to foreseeable mess by the dust, will do facing once the DC is in operation.
Getting the decal on is harder then building MM... So no number yet but that really doesn't matter to me... Anyhow, I may just resort to cutting a few wooden sign & stick them on...
can't devote much time to work on it lately as work has to get in the way. Moreover, time were chewed up by the CAM software learning curve...

Hi Chopper, good to see you back. Did you ever get that roots vac hold down working? I got mine up and running on a 10 HP setup. Not perfect, but for the money spent, one would say it's perfect. Very usable. Anyway, Good to see you back.

Dust foot done and finally surfaced the table
 

Well I finally made my dust foot, machined on MM S/N 25 and installed on MM S/N 52. Here are a couple pics.

Oh, and a quick video of the table surfacing at 500 ipm, probably could have went faster but I wasnt in a hurry and it was my first time surfacing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaDNLK2ndis

Looks great Dave....fits the router nicely.

New 2.2K water cooled spindle
 

Here are a cpl vids of my new 2.2 Chinese spindle. Just got it hooked up tonight, not on the machine yet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urXTQ5yKpDI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-govrhvEqMA
Having a friend make a mounting bracket for it, going with 3/4" alum and machined to fit the z-stage, quoted my $40 USD, not bad.

Nice and quite.....much better then the router :)

Vintage phonograph cover
 

My dad had an old phonograph and the front decorative grate was broken and missing parts. I scaned in the part of the grate that I had and drew around the good 1/4 that I had left, then mirrored it both ways to get symetrical. Here are a cpl pics, before and finished. I cut it out of 1/4" plywood.

Nicely done Dave !
May you detail what cutting tools you used to make this happened, especially for those inside end point in the volutes ??
Robert ;)

Looks Great !!

Nice Work! :)

Nice!
What is the size of the work?

Can you please let me know where did you get this spindle ?

hi gorantec
from this site you can buy your spindle
http://www.kelinginc.net/CNCSpindleandController.html

or from this site
http://www.motiontek.ca/Spindle.html

Sorry for the delay guys, havent checked my email in awhile.
Robert: I used a 1/8 upcut endmill. Wanted to use a straight but dont have one so I cut it upside down to minimize lifting of the plys.
Ken: It is 11" x 14.25"
Gorantec: I bought it off Ebay from LovesHappyShopping, around $525 USD total with shipping and received it in less then a week, Very happy with it so far.

Thanks Dave ;)

Robert,

Here is a 3kw air cooled version I got off of ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/3KW-AIR-COOLED-S...item3cb098a68f

I have been running it on the bench for a few days and am fixing to install it.

So fare so good. Got it in 4 days. Seems to run very well.

hint: if you want one offer him 450

Kenneth

Ken,
Does this unit have a fan or is it fed with shop air?

The fan is mounted to the top of the spindle shaft and blows air down through cooling ports when the motor is running.

I ran it 10 hrs straight yesterday on the bench. It got warm, but not to hot to hold.

The vfd comes with a chinese manual, but the guy selling it will email you an english pdf version.

OH MY....I want one....off to ebay!

I went with a liquid cooled spindle, way less noise. The only thing I hear is the bit in the wood and the steppers. I can actually hold a conversation while cutting!

With my dust collector and everything else running in my shop, noise it not really an issue. It is about half the volume of my old PC router.

I have been told not to use the pump that comes with the water cooled spindles though. When the pump goes out the spindle dies. The folks I know running them are using pumps for small ponds.

Just FYI.

I hope you have good luck with yours.

Ken

I am using spindle from Deitech 2.2kW watercooled, even if the water pump die it would not overheat in a second and die. And it costed 300EUR with shipping. No rust at all on the spindle body like some received their from ebay.

Mine didnt come with a pump, but I am using a small pond pump, seems to work well. Like danilo said it doesnt overheat rapidly, and actually I think it would run quite awhile with just the water in the lines but I am planning on getting a flow meter and hook up an alarm just in case. Speaking of rust, I was told to run a little anti-freeze in the water for corrosion/rust inhibit, what do you guys think?

Does anyone know what the guys in colder climates (like Canada :) ) would need to do in the winter months? Antifreeze instead of water is a given, but what about running the spindle when the shop is in the 30's? Preheat the coolant?

Heath,
Im in Minnesota so it gets cold here too. I keep my shop at 50F when im not using it but I was also thinking about using a aqurium (sp?) heater to keep the bearings at operating temp, just not sure what the op temp is for the chinese spindles. Anyone know?

Etching a Mirror
 

I did a test on etching a old mirror I had laying around. It was a real cheap mirror and only about 1/8th in thick. Broke the first one using too much tape to hold it down.

Dave, can we get some more detail on how you did the etching? Looks Interesting! :)

Heath,
I used a 60 degree solid carbide bit from Rockler (US) with a .005 depth, 60 IPM @ 17K RPM. I didnt have a big enough piece to make the text look good, the piece is about 2" x 3". I am going to try the wife's good mirror (1/4 thick") this week HOPEFULLY with good results. If you noticed, the etch down the right side is when you dont start the spindle and bring it to x-y zero and not lift the z, no broken miror or bit. I will post pics of the good mirror if it turns out good and she doesnt kill me lol.

P.S. Anyone notice the font?

Nice! The next step is to make a edge lit sign out of it.
Use a multi-color LED for fall colors all year long!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Edge-Lit-Displays/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Awes...top-Nameplate/

Fish Cribbage Board
 

Messing around with some ideas for x-mas presents.

Is that a walleye or cribbage fish? LOL
Nicely done!

Hey, I bet that's my Christmas gift :) (for those that don't know...Dave is my brother)

Finally a control box cover
 

Finally got around to cutting out my control box cover. Trying inlay for the first time using ArtCam (couldnt let RadRacer show me up :D) Couple chipping issues but all I used was plywood.

Dave,
Are you doing your inlays with a straight bit or V bit? Was wondering which method was easier.

Just a straight bit, heard about using a v-bit but this was my first try at it.

Dave,

Your gonna be blown away with what you can do with the inlays.

The 60 degree V-bit will give all the detail needed.

Have fun. :)

Wow, over a year since my last post. Time flies when you are MMing. Been making a few signs here and there, mostly nightlights which you can see here www.craftworksmn.com started a web site showing off what the MM and my other tools can do. Check it out and let me know what you think. I still enjoy coming on here and watching the new builds coming thru also some of the incredible work done by the other members here. Have a great 2012 everyone.

Hey Dave,
Can I get a whole bunch of those FREE cnc carved signs? :) I also need a lot of the FREE laser engraved signs too.

I do like your pens. :)