Very Nice Kobus!!!... All those wires you chucked were extra :0

Kobus, were you afraid to bring camera closer to the machine? :D

Hi Kobus

Maybe you could call it a Wadkin with a Mechamate heart (transplant).
Great stuff and loved the vid of the of the old machine working again.

Regards
Ross

Kobus,
So when are moving her to your house? :) It should be a little closer to you.

Thank's guys... But it is up for sale as it will not fit in my workshop.

http://youtu.be/sjYJEoDPjTU

The original Wadkin was basically a PLUNGE router. You will bring the Z-axis towards the work and then a air piston will plunge it into the workpiece via a foot operated switch.

I had to make a new Z-axis and this is what I came up with.

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You just need a bigger shop Kobus!

Maybe somebody can explain to me how to go about setting my Z = 0 to the bottom or centre of my 4th axis.
I always work from the top of my workpiece...I know it is more accurate setting Z=0 to the spoilboard or the centre of the rotational axis....but I have never done it before because when I get my X and Y in position, the Z want's to dig into the workpiece.

Let me explain how I go about cutting something.....

As I have no limit switches or HOME positions I do the following.
I draw up my piece in CAD and make sure my start position is 0,0,0 (X,Y) the last 0 being TOP of the workpiece.
I chuck the wood on the table, bring the cutter to the 0,0,0 position, and hit REF ALL on Mach. Now Mach start executing the g-code from this position.
I do it this way because I work mostly with small pieces of REAL wood that I put on the table where I want and not rely on my table 0,0.
The problem I have when trying to zero Z on the spoilboard is that I zero Z then move the cutter to the X and Y Zero. When it get's to this position, the Z want's to dig into the wood to go to the Z=0 that is the spoilboard.
After 4 years I still have a lot to learn.
Thank's but please explain SLOWLY as I am not that bright.:o

Hi Kobus,

It sounds to me you just want to check your zero's right? Try moving your spindle up to a safe Z level, then go to MDI and type the following commands AFTER you set your zero's. Type- G0G54G90X0Y0 and hit enter. Machine will rapid to your x,y zero. For Z say you have a 4.0" diameter work in your 4th axis, If using Hieght offsets you can type G0G43H1Z2.0 and the spindle tool will go right to the top of your part. I think this is what your wanting to do, hope this helps.

Travis

Thank's Travis, I am currently on a callout at work and cannot try it.
Still not sure about everything....
So you say I can do a X,Y =0 and Zero Z on centre of workpiece. If I then click REF-All so that DRO's show 0,0,0 do the following.
Then move Z up to safe height and execute those commands ?

Yes, That is correct. Just make sure your tool number is set to tool one in the mach3 standard screen, then those commands will work like a charm, then you can check it out before you hit cycle start. I've been machining for 20years now and still use these commands everyday. If it looks right, chances are, it is right. If it looks off, then chances are it is.....

Slow your rapid down and watch the machine move into position. For the 4th axis, I may want to suggest you have a known refeance point on the table and set your z from there rather than you material. say you figure your center of your 4th axis is 6.0" from your spoil board. Set your tool at Z-6.0" in your DRO, then the control will know where Z zero is.

Thank's will try it tomorrow morning...if I get home...Somebody cut our fibre optic systems down in Gerald's area and now the technicians are trying to find the spot and repair...could be a long night....again. I hate standby it interferes with my hobby...:mad:

Time for some useful information from my side.

As most of you know, I have an old lathe for my indexer. I modified the shaft to accept a 120 tooth gear that can be driven by the stepper motor, as wel as my electric motor to spin the workpiece when I want to sand the piece.

Last week another member at my woodworking club asked if I could do some 750mm long turnings. They are building a Pub for some aviation club and these pieces should resemble a propeller. He brought the wood and the DXF file.

Firstly I did not want to do it as I know 3D take for ages to do on the indexer where the stepper drives the workpiece. I have experemented previously to do turning with the electric motor, but did not have a huge success.

This time I decided to get it going.
For reference, I did a propeller leg with the indexer and it took about 3.5 hours to do.

This method I turned a complete 750mm leg in 18 minutes.

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HENNIE where is your broom... I need help !!!!!!!!!!!!

That is soo cool, cant wait to get my indexer running (if I could only get a gap from from all the orders on hand :) )

What tool did you use to do the cutting?

What wood is that?

Kobus,
Did you think about launching the lathe-mill version of Mach? It's included in the original package. It lets you do exactly what you did by isolating the the y and z to make it a 2 axis lathe operation. Just a thought to see if you have tried it or not.

Best,
Sean

My broom got used for my dust extraction.If you invite me for coffee I can bring you one.Those legs look sick!!! nice going there.

Alan, it is Kiaat and I used a 1/4 straigt cutter. It does break the small radius profiles.
Will experiment with a round nose after the job is done.

Sean, I know Mach LATHE is included, but I have not looked at it. The main exercise here was to get the profile into G-Code and with this method in Aspire it is as easy as pie. Will look at LATHE again to see if I get any benefit out of it.

Hennie, you need to come visit for a LONG time, the workshop is looking terrible !!!

I will wait till you build the new shop:D

Hi Kobus

Had to read that explanation a few times, then I realised you might not like sweeping but you are smart !!
The use of the offsets is very cluey as it sure speeds up the machining.

Nice to see you back into the woodworking after the latest CNC project.
I suspect the ball nose might be kinder to the profile as you say.

Regards
Ross

About the sweeping you are correct....about the smart ??? not so sure,,,just a practical guy trying to find an answer for a problem and to solve it with the tools at hand.

My lathe is also not the best as described earlier. I need a nice SOLID cast iron bed not these 2 pipe rubbish that I have at the moment.

So if anybody in SA know where I can find a nice 1.5 meter lathe bed or an complete old lathe for a fair price, please let me know.

Hi Kobus
I set the Z0 to the center of my work on the 4th axis ( I make use of the Z0 touch plate) I use the top of the tailstock as the reference surface and added the height from the live-center to the top of the tailstock into the offset of the gauge block height.
If I did not had the Z0 touch plate I would do it as follow,
measure the height from the live-center of the tailstock to a known surface, (lets say the live-center of the tailstock is 50mm below the top of the tailstock)
zero on a known surface, jog to a safe clearance area,
enter into MDI G0z-50, that moves the cutter Z down to the level of the live-center Re-zero Z
In Aspire: (Wrapped rotary)material setup- set Z at the center (bottom) of material and at the bottom of the window will you need to make sure the safe Z is adequate distance for the cutter to clear the material, if the distance you enter in is not safe then Aspire will give a warning and reset that height, you need to make sure it is safe distance or to much to prevent Z runs up all the way against the Z hard stop
Regarding the Z0 on the spoil board, I always Z0 on the top of the material when I do 3d and other cut but only recently started to Z0 on the surface of the spoil board for the final cutout – guess what – no more deep cuts into the spoil board and always cut through the material because of this post

http://www.vectric.com/forum/viewtop...=13721&start=0

Pointers to keep in mind,
Aspire again or shall I say Vectric software: tool setup at the top of material for all sorts of cuts and 3D carving
For the final cutout i change the cutter Z0 to the bottom of the material and reset the Z0 to the spoil board, make sure that the safe Z is higher than the material height REMEMBER to rise the cutter above the material before jogging over to the material

Kobus,

Excellent solution on cutting the legs.

Kobus that is a magic method of turning, I will try it, thank you for show and tell
K

Isn't that the standard way of CNC turning? See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcGHtI9Lql4

Excellent information!

You just manually over-write Aspire's cutting strategy!

I seconded Ross's notion, Kubos is smart, very smart.

I agree Gerald, but with Aspire.... and I think other CAM programs, the way 'turning' is done is very time consuming. I was looking at a QUICK way to do turnings the same way as conventional turning. Generating the G-code had to be sorted and I think this way is the answer. Many ways to skin the cat, but I found this to help me in what I want to achieve.
When I do 3D carvings or flutes etc on legs I will still have to do it the SLOW way, but NORMAL leg turnings is now possible for me in a very short time.
One point I must mention in the process:
When you do a REPLACE x to Z, you might find a line with an extra Z. Those I just delete and all worked out fine.

Ah, this is about getting Aspire to do simple 2D turning. Maybe a simpler, cheaper program is needed for this....:)

Sure, You can even write own G-code, but I have the program, it can do a lot PLUS this ;)

Jeepers Creepers but this winter was cold. I did not get to my beloved MechMate the BBB this winter.
Two reasons:
1. Cold winter ... no heating in workshop
2. Bought a new Motorbike.

Well for the first reason , I DID not HAVE to do anything as this is my hobby.
On the second issue, riding a motorbike in our winter period is bliss..... cold but no rain.

My son of 23 and myself did a quick round South Africa trip. I on the BMW 1150 RT and he on his 1980 Suzuki GS 1000 G shaft.

We were riding and discussing the drawbacks of road bikes. We saw so many nice turn off's , but due to the condition of the gravel roads, could not go there.
We discussed this EVERY night on the trip and decided that we NEED Dual Purpoe bikes.
When we got to the Transkei, we met a chap with a Yamaha 1200 Super Tenere. The bike looked awsome, and we decided to go and have a look.
When we got to Durban, we visited the Yamaha dealer and took the bike for a test drive.
Well after riding the BMW, the Honda and the Tuimph, the Yamaha won the battle.
Two weeks later a flew to Durban and picked up our new bikes. Francois my son on the blue and myself a new white one.
We took off from Durban and went up Sani Pass. For those that know , Sani is one of the most difficult gravel passes in South Africa, but these fantastic bikes took us to the top.

Then my friend that works in Kenya bought himself a new Truimph 1200 Explorer. As the bike was delivered while he was away, he asked me to run the bike in and have the first service done, so that when he arrives in SA, the bike is ready for a long trip.
Therefore I had to ride 2 bikes and CNC was not on my mind.
With Spring approaching, and the Yamaha on 6000 km and the Truimph on 1300 km, I decided to start up ol BBB.
I had 2 pine tree slabs fro a 78 year old tree that we cut at an angle to give us a nice BIG slice. These came out to be about 1700 mm x 850 mm.
As with solid wood it WILL move and crack, but this was fixed with 2 butterfly inserts.

Happy with the result.

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The finished BUTTERFLIES and the table.

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