The made in America project.

[Lance_Wallen]

well, I sorta figured out how to jimmy rig the code to get what I need, going to still have to break it into multiple operations but I think I can machine it. which is good, cause the local machine shop I called wanted 150 bucks per piece to machine this part for me ><

I just got 2 big boxes of doodads and material from McMaster in the mail, gonna go start working on the rba. Taking vacation tomorrow from work so I can stay home and really focus on making this thing. Maybe I'll have some pictures this weekend.

 

[Switched]

well, I sorta figured out how to jimmy rig the code to get what I need, going to still have to break it into multiple operations but I think I can machine it. which is good, cause the local machine shop I called wanted 150 bucks per piece to machine this part for me ><

I just got 2 big boxes of doodads and material from McMaster in the mail, gonna go start working on the RBA. Taking vacation tomorrow from work so I can stay home and really focus on making this thing. Maybe I'll have some pictures this weekend.

Hey, it's made in America

Unless you are in the hundreds and thousands you are not about to drop that price much. Capitalism at its best

 

[robertt81]

Sounds good.

 

[Lance_Wallen]

the reasoning the guy gave me for the price was stupid. I'll just do my own thing.

 

[zoiDman]

RANT ALERT

So I got all excited about a hobby license for some CAM software that supports "multi axis and full 4th axis machining" listed with full continous 4th axis and indexed 4th axis machining capabilities. Knowing this I went ahead and modeled one of my parts assuming I could do that.

fast forward to last night when I start trying to generate tool paths... apparently when my software programs "rotational" or "continuous" 4th axis it no longer has any capability for Y axis movement. How is it 4 axis machining if you're just sacrificing Y for A? that's still 3 @#$% axis! The only way to get all 4 axis is if I run indexed and then I can't do turning cuts for things like o-ring grooves, etc. I'm very cranky this morning.

Gonna have to tweek my design or run multiple operations to get my part cut now which is just going to make it take that much longer to produce ><

If you are Rotating around the X-Axis, why do you need Y to move?

 

[Lance_Wallen]

effeciency, theres a pocket on what I suppose would be the 'face' of one section of the round part. it' dbe faster to cut that like a standard 2.5d operation.

Either way, the software and my machine don't like each other. It was setting the A axis to .001 degree increments then rounding and it made a really weird pattern. then it just ignored part of the material that should have been cut out and plowed through it at jog speed and snapped my bit.

I'm going to try to manually mill it tomorrow with keyboard commands while I wait for any bites on my RFQ on CNC Zone Hopefully I can get something A LOT cheaper than 150 a part from some one so I can keep going. If manually milling it takes a real long time I might re-design again. I'm having issues with the glass anyway since apparently 19mm ID with a 2.5+mm wall is hard to come by.

 

[Lance_Wallen]

it's apparent the mod gods hate me I'm not giving up though. I've never 'machined' things outside of turning some tank caps and drip tips on my little jewelers lathe so I guess I'm not doing too bad for a month or two of experience. Either way, this things getting made and it's going to be professional quality if it kills me.

I havn't even gotten to the wiring or component install, all this time has been spent on physical design and trying to machine crap myself lol.

 

[Lance_Wallen]

blarg... failed at hand machining. Was tryin to hog out too much material and it started to creep and yanked my block of delrin out of the chuck. hopefully one of the machine shops I've got the part RFQed to will come back with a number I can swallow, otherwise it's redesign time! ><

 

[zoiDman]

blarg... failed at hand machining. Was tryin to hog out too much material and it started to creep and yanked my block of delrin out of the chuck. hopefully one of the machine shops I've got the part RFQed to will come back with a number I can swallow, otherwise it's redesign time! ><

Don't throw in the towel just because you made one bad cut.

Shake it Off. Check you Clamping. Do a Test Cut Taking less per pass on a piece of REM. And then Rough it out again.

What kind of Speeds and Feeds are using for what Endmill?

 

[zoiDman]

BTW - How are you Calculating your Speeds and Feeds?

 

[MXBNW]

Slow and steady with these types of tools. Lathes and Mills do not like to be rushed.

My Mill and Lathe have tough me patience that is for sure.

If you have photos of your set up some of us may be able to help.

 

[zoiDman]

...

If you have photos of your set up some of us may be able to help.

A 3D DXF or .igs file would be Nice Also.

 

[MXBNW]

If he is setting up manually it would be good to see how he has it set in the chuck and the position of the tool post. Or is he on the Mill. Ether way I have messed up more parts on the set up then any thing. LOL

A 3D DXF or .igs file would be Nice Also.

 

[zoiDman]

If he is setting up manually it would be good to see how he has it set in the chuck and the position of the tool post. Or is he on the Mill. Ether way I have messed up more parts on the set up then any thing. LOL

Absolutely.

Any time a part comes out of a Vise, the first thing I would review is the Setup. I've found that if the Set-Up is Bomb Proof, that the Cutter will usualy break Before the Part Moves.

I haven't Lost anything is awhile. But when I do, 80% of the time it is doing Code Edits on the Control versus in the Computer.

Like not lifting the Cutter when Moving between C-Bores.

This was done with a 3/4 Endmill @ S4400/F300.

 

[MXBNW]

Yep, set up is 75% of the work IMO.

My Dad is an old time machinist and is a stickler when it comes to set up.

 

[zoiDman]

Yep, set up is 75% of the work IMO.

My Dad is an old time machinist and is a stickler when it comes to set up.

At Least 75% !

Anyone can Push the Green Button or Turn the Handle. And Many can write Code. But Very Few have Mastery when it comes to doing Set-Ups.

 

[MXBNW]

I am all manual here, but hope to go CNC down the road. I love my tools

Set up was the first thing my Dad drove in to my head.

Nice work by the way

At Least 75% !

Anyone can Push the Green Button or Turn the Handle. And Many can write Code. But Very Few have Mastery when it comes to doing Set-Ups.

 

[zoiDman]

It was a Nice Die Plate.

And we had about 36 Hours in it when I Scrapped it Out.

I told the Owner that the Good News was the Setup Didn't Move and the Cutter Didn't Break. And that now he had a Very Cool Door Stop for His Office.

 

[Lance_Wallen]

I'm not calculating my speeds and feeds I'm going slow then working up. The last screw up was because I tried to hog out too much material and the chuck isn't designed for this. It's my little jewelers lathe chuck that I made a quick adapter to fit it on my rotary table for the A axis stuff since my rotary table didn't come with any method of holding material (...?). I've ordered the appropriate chuck for the rotary table but I won't have it until next week and I'm impatient

I just took the stock I've got and put it on the lathe and removed the majority of the excess material since most of the part is round and the 1 square part can have rounded sides (25mm x 19mm) I turned one segment down to 25mm, the rest down to 19. Now I'm gonna put it back on the CNC and manually flatten the sides that are supposed to be square and cut my pockets and o-ring grooves. It'll be a lot less material to remove now and mostly 3d operations so I can take it nice and slow and move the mill with the keyboard by pre-defined increments. We'll see how this one goes

 

[Lance_Wallen]

I know I'm mostly talking to myself but I wanted a build thread another hobby of mine has a forum specifically for build threads and people use it as a sort of project diary, ask questions, folks interact and discuss the build and follow each others projects. I don't see a lot of that here, but a lot of modders are probably just taking pre-existing parts and fitting them together in interesting ways as opposed to fabricating a lot. Breaktru, Scuba, and the super awesome guys being the obvious exceptions lol.