Cutting Wing Rib Forms #118 - Oklahoma USA

[lonestaral]

Necessity is the mother of invention.
Well done.
I hope to join the Chinese spindle owners club sometime this year.
Must join the dust extraction club soon.
Keep the solutions flowing.

[dbinokc]

Not as much progress as I would have liked this weekend. While tapping my spindle mount block, I accidentally used my fine threaded metric tap instead of the coarse one. So I can't mount the spindle until I get the fine threaded version of the socket screws in.
I did wire up the VFD and it is coming up just fine.

After much debating, I finally decided to go with an on gantry cpu water type for the spindle. It will be similar to what Tom has done.

The week after next I am off for a week. So that will give me nine straight days to start making chips. I think it will be doable.

[dbinokc]

Where are people buying bits at?

While I have a selection of milling cutters, I am not sure if they are best in the spindle. The primary cutting will be 3/4" plywood forms for various airplane parts forms and also cutting aluminum sheet(.063 and below). It has been mentioned that downward cutting bits help keep thin sheets pinned down.

[pblackburn]

The milling cutter you have are what? That encompasses a look of bits.

I buy from the place that has the best quality bit I am looking for at the best price. I, for the most part, buy only solid carbide bit, second would be brazed in carbide. Specialized bits usually come the source, other places are Amazon, RouterbitWorld, MSC and a few others. Most are 2 sided or fluted but I have 3 and 4 sided as well.

[dbinokc]

I have several HSS 2 and 4 flute endmills for my bridgeport and my small taig cnc mill. I am thinking for what I primarily want to do, I would want bits sizes sizes of 1/16,3/32 and 1/8 inch.
For initial testing I am sure I can use what I currently have, but I am looking for recommendations. I will probably try some of the router bits from drillbitcity.com that I have mentioned to you before.

[dbinokc]

Since I could not work on the spindle, I decided to do some more tuning of my mach3 configuration. I set the steps per mm (about 123) and adjusted the speed of motion to 1500mm/min.

I crudely mounted a permanent marker to do a test plot of one of the ribs for my airplane. The pen lost contact with the aluminum a few times. The pic is below. This rib is from the horizontal stabilizer. The X-direction of the plot came out not too bad, but the Y-direction of the plot came out a little long. Some more configuration is needed. Still for a first crude test, I am happy with the result.

If all I could use is a pen plotter and not have a spindle, it would save me a lot of time in building my plane. Being able to cut parts helps all the more.

[pblackburn]

The best way I think to fine tune the steps per inch is to have it travel close to the maximum distance of the the axis you are working on. For example I ran my X for 102" and and Y 52" then fine adjusted it to a only a measuring tape with a V bit for a indicator set to the 1" mark on the tape. This will reduce the largest amount of error. Then you can use a dial indicator to fine adjust if you wish.

I used it as a plotter to layout the pieces for my cyclone build. Helps a lot if the spoilboard is surfaced first.

[dbinokc]

I just did a quick and dirty tuning using my dial indicator over 10mm. I have a 2 meter long "meter stick" that I will use for final calibration. That will give me a more precise indication of my steps per mm. I will not get too much into fine tuning steps until everything is mounted, leveled and torqued down.

[dbinokc]

What have people been using for sealing the threaded water connection going into the spindle. Pipe dope, silicone sealant, rubber gasket?

[pblackburn]

Not needed. It is basically a compression connector

[pblackburn]

The tubing slips over the port and ring and the nut will compress the flexible tubing against the ring creating the seal. Sealant would be pointless and possibly weaken the flexible tubing.

[dbinokc]

I am not referring to the side that the tubing slips on to, but the side that screws into the spindle.

[KenC]

Teflon tape , standard stuff for pipe.

[dbinokc]

Got my water pump installed for the spindle and it does not work!
It is the same type that Tom bought. Contacted the seller, hopefully I can get him to send me a quick replacement. I may also check some of the local computer stores to see if they have a cpu water pump with a built in reservoir.

I did get the spindle mounted.

[Tom Ayres]

Sorry I recommended the pump. Questioning whether mine will last, may need a secondary. Have you had a chance to run some tests on your spindle yet?

[dbinokc]

It is not your fault. It seemed like a good idea to me as well.

After thinking about it some more, I am going to go back to using an aquarium pump. I had already bought one and I did a quick test. If I need a replacement fast, I can go to any pet store. I have some small tupperware containers that the pump will fit into quite nicely and sit on the gantry. I wanted to use a mason jar, but it was not quite big enough.

No spindle tests until the water is running. There is a good chance I will be able to do that tomorrow if there are no other surprises.

[KenC]

aquarium pump is not reliable for this job.
Tried the Tupperware on the gantry, not a good solution. when you are doing intricate carving you can see the water sloshing around like mad.
Ended up with a coolant pump & tank for lathe & milling machine use. using pneumatic tubing as water hose in the cable chain & the tank sitting under the table.

[dbinokc]

Not sure the aquarium can be much worse than a DOA CPU coolant pump. Good point on the sloshing around though.

[KenC]

Think rodeo ride.

[pblackburn]

I use an aquarium pump but you have to account for the head pressure and lift when purchasing. It will work fine if you have it sized appropriately.

[pblackburn]

I have a coolant tank on the floor with the pump.

[KenC]

Aquarium pump may not be the most economical solution... surely not the most reliable vs coolant pump.

[pblackburn]

Agreed

[Tom Ayres]

Db I ran mine long enough to cut the 'road runner' sample in mach. it suts in 48 seconds or something like that, not long enough to get hot or even warm for that matter.

[IMMark]

Would a pump like this one work, assuming you would use with a tank under the machine?
Thanks for any thoughts.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Little-Giant...item19eaf200e0

Mark

[pblackburn]

You require for a 2.2kW spindle 24GPH of flow.

The newer model is the CP1-230 for 230V and CP1-115 for the 115VAC model. Reference Here at page numbered 11 or page 13 of the pdf. At 5ft of lift it will have 213GPH. You may have to add a relief to the line to lower the GPH so you are not forcing too much water through the unit that will cause condensation to form. Little Giant makes some good pumps. We use them in our cut off saws however I have never used this model of pump. This would be the smallest of this style pump being 1/70HP.

I hope that helps.

New ones are between $30 to $48 USD depending on where you buy. Beckett makes good pumps as well.

[ger21]

Someone at CNC Zone just did a test with a 300GPH pump.

He measured the time it took for 1 gallon of water to flow through the spindle. It took 2 minutes, 54 seconds, or about 20.6GPH.

Basically, you can't force too much water through the spindle, as it's too restrictive internally.

[dbinokc]

Just got the spindle turning for the first time. Just a quick off and on. No issues there. I did have the aquarium pump pushing water from a bucket sitting on the table.

So I can spin the motor or move the axis. Now I just need to get things going where I can do both!

I also need to take a little time to study the manual so I can make sure the rpms are getting set right so I can do a proper run-in of the bearings.

[pblackburn]

Thanks Ger. Good info as always from you.

[pblackburn]

Don't be afraid to run the spindle without water for a few minutes with no load. Just don't run it a low rpm for too long. With a VFD, that is the biggest heat generator for a motor.