CNC bound
finally was able to order the steppers and controllers to CNC my Mini Mill, just going to do 3 axis for now (hope to do 4 then 5 in the future)
Also ordered a copy of Howard Buckley’s book, hope to see that in a couple weeks.
Already have some good software, just need to learn how to use it 😳
once I get the mill setup and also get up to speed on the software I hope to make next gen version of my stock as well as a full air rifle 😯
(don’t really need CNC to make the air rifle, will be a nice exercise though)
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Hey Cygnus X, I’m actually down in SOuth San Jose, Blossom hill area, probably closer to 20 minutes 😀
there is a really steep learning curve, but I think it’s well worth it.
I will be able to create some rather interesting design that would be just about impossible to do manually (especially for a hobby machinist)
The mechanical part is not what puts me off. It is all the cables and programming stuff. I can already see it taking me 10 hours to get it set up to turn a 20 minute part 😆
i knew it….its not just installing the hardware….that is just the start of the headache 🙂
just noticed you in san jose…that like 5 minutes from here ok city limites anyway…im in milpitas…
great following your project…i wanted to do the same…but i know there would be alot of problems, so i dropped it.
2 main reasons, I liked having the steppers out of the way. with the X on the left and the Y tucked away on the side, also I liked the simplicity of the Z setup.
However since using it I’ve come to the conclusion its too slow that way(z axis that is), plus it stalls rather easily (doesn’t play on the steppers strengths)
I have since bought the Fignoggle CNC conversion plans, mainly for the Z axis, I like how its setup, you don’t loose any Z height that you do with some of the others.
with my stock screws I am getting 42 IPM rapids on the X, 36 IPM on the Y but only 6 IPM on the Z, was running 12 IPM, but it stalled and dropped steps way to often, not a good thing.
part of the problem is the gearing, I think I have it geared to low.
I just finished lapping my ways, hoping that will allow it to go back to 12 IPM reliably haven’t had a chance to check it yet.
Video’s are neat ! Is there any reason why you went with this CNC conversion over the stirling ?
I only knew about the Stirling and CNC Fusion kits… I guess I need go to the CNC forums at some point – just not looking forware to the learning curve.
😀 Jokes aside that is an extremely nice piece of equipment and you must have a very functional brain to put that together!
Unless thats a stock! 😀
LOL, nope not a stock, just safer for the initial run, moved on to aluminum
I have a stock designed on solidworks, it will be Aluminum, once I get there that is
why are you working on a piece of wood and not a Talon/talon ss/condor? 😀
Unless thats a stock! 😀
Keep up the fight. When you are done with all the hard work you can tell us everything on how to do it….lol
well the post processor has been a bit harder than I had thought/hoped.
got a lot of reading/learning to do before I can get my solidworks/camworks combo working with my mill.
In the mean time I found a couple of cam packages the run on linux and work with EMC right out of the box (or web as the case may be)
I have since created and milled a part for my RC heli, I think I have some rather imprecise screws (what? on a chinese mill? no way!) I have the back lash accounted for but and I’m getting nice consistency, but the cuts are off.
the table moves more than it should in the X axis and less than it should in the Y, both are supposed to be 16 TPI screws. 🙄
If I can keep the wife from killing me I’m going to order a cncfusion ballscrew kit from them.
in the mean time I’m going to go over everything again. 👿
slowly coming along, figured out enough g-code to run a small test
was able to create a post processor so my CAM tool creates g-code that works with my controller, now I just need to learn more about how to use the CAM tool.
I think I still need to do a bit of fine tuning one the mill setup, but its real close
I can’t wait to see the cool stuff you make with it.
sounds like R2d2 😆 nice machine you got there.
awesome !!!! i want one too
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Very nice work. I have also transformed my mill/drill Grizzly 1005 into a cnc machine using Keling package 400oz-in size steppers. I use mach3 and Cut3d together with solidworks.
I love your videos.