Half of the divider redone !
 

Had to redo this part of divider as the old one was not approved ;)
Attachment 8481

beautiful

Beautiful. But, I thought the other one was beautiful as well.:D

How about some close-ups of the cuts so we can see the cut quality?

More pics
 

John, I knew you would be the first one to ask for closeups ;), other one was also good but my customer (you know who !!) is more demanding :)

Attachment 8482
Some manual cleaning of back side needed, i think again because I haven't surfaced the table yet.

Attachment 8483
Attachment 8484
Attachment 8485

And below is the cutout part from the center of divider.
Attachment 8486

Great job. I love seeing your screens. I must say that surfacing your table will dramatically improve your quality of parts produced. When you are able you should definitely make it a priority to do so as you will reap the benefits of it. Keep up the great work and make the "Boss".... happy..

James

Anil what is the thickness of your mdf? as the thinner your board gets the more difficult it is to get a good cut as there is a lot of flex in the board itself.Try cutting a full sheet of 3mm mdf compared to 16 mm thick.

Very nice. Very clean. I don't see any chatter marks. Congratulations.:)

I think we can declare your DIY Drives and BoB a wonderful SUCCESS!:)

Really nice work - inspiring for a slow one still in the info
gathering stage.
Anil, what motors are you using, and how
much did they cost? I think you got used ones?

Nice & smooth cut, good job!

Anil,

I reread this thread, and found the pic of your motor
in post 41.

http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showt...5&postcount=41

Thanks
Prasad

prasad see last pic on this one

http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showt...&postcount=105

Thank you all for the appreciation.

Prasad, I used the motor as you saw i pic in post 41, but later changed x motors to smaller ones because I wanted to cut the space on both side of machine due to space problem.

On Z-axis i am still running the bigger (and old) motor with no problem. so you can get the old motors and they will work without problem.

I changed the motors not because of any problem but due to more space they were taking.

Yes I was cutting a puzzle for kids from 2.75mm mdf and noticed that bit was garbing the board and it lifted from table while cutting. I guess as suggested somewhere I need to use special (upcut spiral) bit.
By the way this board used for screens is 8mm and there was some lifting in the center where there was no clamps.

Sure I wanted to but my die grinder can take only 6mm bits, so waiting for the spindle. I may surface this weekend as I am getting the spindle soon :)

The opposite - you want downcut spiral bits to push the board down.

I see, what I have now are "upcut" and need "downcut" bits.
I thought the terminology is somehow opposite :) Thanks

Anil, if you cut thin boards get some of the double sided tape that one uses for packaging it holds your project flat and reduce your cutting speed, it works for me specially when I cut small letters.

Hennie, I'll try using double tape next time.
I used double tape for PCB but not for mdf as I was concerned about it sticking on cutting bit ! Is that fine bit cutting through tape ?

Anil,
I also use double sided tape to keep my jobs flush with the cutting table. The 1/8"(3.175mm) and the 1/4" (6.35mm) bits have no problems with the tape.
I almost always use upcut bits but if the job lifts off the table then I will be forced to use downcut bits. You will have to reduce your cut speed with the downcut bit as it forces the chips down into the cut area as opposed to upcut bits which eject them upwards.
Sorry for any confusion

Jason

Spindle Installed :)
 

Jason, Till I get downcut bits I will try double tape as suggested.

Got my spindle and made mounting plates for it.
Attachment 8558
Label says, GDZ-23, 80x215, 2.2KW
220V 8A, 24000 rpm, 400Hz

Attachment 8559
Bolting together top and bottom plates for machning.
Attachment 8560
Bore and attachment side are machined in one operation, and then cleaning other faces and drilling is done.

Attachment 8561
Mounted on MM and tested with Fuji VFD. Next week's agenda is to finish the cooling system and surfacing the table (finally :) )

Spindle working without any issues now, there was noise problem but installing common mode filter at VFD output solved the issue.
Attachment 8662
Attachment 8663

Anil, what is the green wire, how is it connected and where does it go?

I think it is for earthing, just a guess.

Yes, Its ground wire, spindle power wire shield is grounded at both ends.

First cut with spindle :), Spindle seems to cut through effortlessly compared to my die grinder and a lot quieter as well.
Attachment 8680
size is approx 15"x20", took 3 hours and spindle was not even warm.

That looks great!

Anil,

Again, excellent work.:)

So is your spindle one of the ones referred to as a "Chinese" spindle?
Also, what water pump did you use and what does your heat exchanger look like?

Nice work, Anil. Are you going to varnish ?

Thanks you all for looking in :)
Claus, I have no clue what can be done for finishing as I am new to the world of wood/MDF etc etc, need to look around a bit.

John, yes its a "Chinese" spindle, connected to small submersible pump similar to fish tank pump. There is no radiator or heat exchanger, water just recirculates from a bucket, will post a pic if you want, but nothing fancy.

Thinking of adding a float switch, just in case pump stops in unattended usage.

Thanks, Anil.

Yeah, I figured the "heat exchanger" was something like a bucket of water and that the pump was something like a submersible fish tank pump. I've noted that some people have used a pump with "stronger" specifications than the every-day variety of fish tank pump and I was wondering what you were doing regarding the pump.

As for finishing your relief carving, I like the MinWax stain products. One of the biggest problems in staining, is to get even coverage (no blotching). Also, depending on the wood species and stain product, you may have problems with grain raising.

Somebody mentioned that before you do final cut, spray surface with mist of water and then do final cut. Spraying will raise grain, and you will cut it in your final cut.

Good work Anil .I think you should put some shellac or varnish on your carving before staining so the wood wont absorb all the stain at once .Then you could whipe the excess on the high part of the sculpture and the stain will remain in the crack and low spot .

Some 3d cuts for this weekend, before anyone ask http://cnc3dart.narod.ru/free.html is where I got the files, I think this link is mentioned somewhere in the forum already :)

Total 7 Hours with 4mm ball nose in 25mm thick mdf with no roughing pass.

Attachment 8720
Attachment 8721
Attachment 8722
Attachment 8715
Attachment 8716
Attachment 8717
Attachment 8718
Attachment 8719

Still not sure about staining/finishing as these are cut just for fun and not to be used anywhere!!

beautiful - you are having fun with MM!

Sure Irfan, Its fun :)

Normand, tried as you suggested but stainer seems to dry very quickly, I think there is something I am missing, may be not using the correct type of stainer.

I used sealer (as its called locally) and mixed some color powder to it. Last step I coated with a layer of PU clear-coat to give it shine.

Attachment 8731

Hi Anil It look better ,try again with the dark stain .Apply a generous coat and whipe out the excess on the high spots ,it will leave reveal the detail with more contrast. Sinse it is already varnish the stain wont soak in where you dont want. Let dry and repeat until you are satisfied . Depending on the stain you use you might have to varnish again so it does not come off. I see some vertical lines are they from the design or glue up plank or missing step?

Sure, It is going to take few tries :)

Those vertical lines are from applying clamps while machining was on the way :(, the material left after 3d machining was very little (may be 1 mm) and the as the cut progressed it started to wrap and lift up, I tried to correct it by applying additional clamps, not thinking of that these will leave marks on the end product :o

More fun :)
Attachment 8743

Next logical step is to do something about dust, so planning to use my vac. For sure this weekend project !

hi anil
congrats for ur build, sorry i followed late.

Thank you Singh, By the way whats you plan about building MM ? you started it yet or not ? If yes then I am waiting to see some shots of your build :)

Another one :)
 

Oops, I said next is dust foot :D but kids wanted something to play !!
Attachment 8788