Not your usual other things we make.

[mredburn]

I realize this is pretty far out there as the category "other things we make" goes but this has kept me busy amoungst the other projects I'm working on for the last month or so. I have a small Taig cnc mill but decided I needed something a little more ridged and larger. So I used the Taig to cut the parts needed to build this one.

The side rails are 27 inches tall and the bottom rails are 24inches long. It will have a work area it will cut in at about 9x12.5. and 12 inches tall. The Taig is a great machine but it has its limits and I have hit them. Some of the cutters I use are .010 of a mm. (.003) I built this with a supported roller bar underneath the mill spindle that I will shim to support the work table after everything is Trammed.

Because I used 27in long 80/20 extruded aluminum rails for the table I wanted to make sure it wouldn't sag in the center under the cutter. The side rails that support the work table are 24in apart.

I have plumbed and squared everything to within .005 that I could. Now it is time to take out a Dial indicator and start the final lock down trying to get it within .0005. the Ball screws will give me zero back lash. and I still need to add grease zerks to the linear bearings. I'm having a controller built and it should be here in a week. it uses a 1 hp Ac/dc 10,000 rpm motor to drive the spindle. All in all its been a great challenge and a fun project. My Taig mill will only cut 11.5 inches in the x direction and the side rails for the z column are 27 inches long. I had to cut and slide and cut and slide each rail it took about a day apiece to cut the rails. They are within .0025 over 27inches.

Hope you enjoyed looking.

Mike

 

[Fred]

Looks like a massive project to have undertaken at home. Now that you have built IT, what is IT going to build for you?

 

[Dalecamino]

GEE! I just made a kitless pen:redface: That's awesome Mike.

 

[ctubbs]

I came, I saw, I am in AWE! Skiprat watch out, here comes Mike!

Beautiful work Mike, that should serve you for years.
Charles

 

[mredburn]

Fred, My dad wants to build wooden clock gears, I make parts like you see on the end of the pen in my signature. I sometimes make parts for other people. Im working on several thing now.

Chuck, you are off to a great start and we all have to start somewhere. Where it leads well........ one never knows.

 

[Edward Cypher]

WOW amazing. Thanks for sharing.

 

[bluwolf]

When we talked about it the other day you did mention a lot of those details. But I still didn't imagine it was that far along. Man, that looks terrific! I can't wait to see it in action.

Mike

 

[altaciii]

that looks like a whole lot of machine to make a pen. WOW, what a project. How many actual man hours did it take to complete?

 

[mredburn]

I don't have a total on man hours but its a bunch. Part of the time goes into the design of how to build it and how to cut the parts. The Taig cnc mill once its set and started pretty much runs by itself. You do have to keep an eye on it for tool cutter changes and to make sure you didn't screw up the cutting paths and depth of cut. That allows me to work on other things while the machine is running. Some of it I had to stand there and work by hand. This was the first time I have attempted to do this kind of project and I would sometimes have to back up and make something differently than i anticipated. Sometimes I had to wait until I got the parts in hand to be able to accurately place them in the machine. For instance I had to wait for the bearings to arrive to physically measure them so that I could cut the proper seats for them. I bought a lot of stuff off Ebay and made it fit. Some of the stuff that went into making it I already had.

Mike