Member postings for Nigel K

Many thanks - I will give it a go!

Welcome!

You can't go far wrong with the Myford Super 7B. However, this is expensive.

A friend of mine produces superb models with a Warco who have a premises you can visit at Chiddingfold. Lots of goodies there.

I have two injectors whose steam cones stubbornly refuse to come out. I have searched in vain on the Internet for guidance on this subject but cannot find any help. Any ideas? I assume that the cones on small model injectors are supposed to come out for maintenance or are some of them fixed in place?

My injectors look sort of like this only with the cones still in!  (Photo credit: Paul Lousick)

Edited By Nigel K on 06/05/2022 20:11:52

Edited By Nigel K on 06/05/2022 20:12:57

Edited By Nigel K on 06/05/2022 20:13:27

Toolchangers are not compulsory on CNC machines

mgnbuk I would say that you are absolutely correct. However, with model engineering (and sometimes when you own your own company) there is also the element of fun and the enjoyment of learning to be considered. I admit to feeling a bit of a fraud ordering an ATC with my CNC milling machine - I am quite certain I could get on without it - but I'm not only interested in economic efficiency, I want to learn how to use it and enjoy the fact that the machine is running by itself. If you're paying someone to operate a milling machine then perhaps in certain circumstances an ATC is counter-productive in the sense that you probably want that person to be keeping an eye on everything.

I love this idea of using the mill as a lathe. It will make up for all the hassles I've had over the years using the lathe as a mill (with a vertical slide).

Murphy's Law has a strong grip on my workshop. Every time I want to use the lathe for a turning operation the vertical slide is mounted and visa versa.

I look forward to getting my new mill!

Thanks - useful advice.

This was the method I had assumed I'd use - unless someone has other advice...

Thanks all,

And yes, you are quite right, I hadn't noticed the fact that one can adjust the Haimer itself.

Is this any use?

Many thanks!

I am looking for a TTS gauge holder and see that Tormach make one that might suit my purposes (10mm TTS Gauge Holder).

However, the shaft of the gauge is secured with a set screw. Wouldn't this be liable to create some small eccentricity between the axis of the collet and the axis of the gauge? (I was looking for a way to hold a Haimer 3D sensor.)

Nigel

Very helpful Bob, many thanks!

I can feel a bullet-biting moment approaching

As a matter of interest, do you know what electrical regulations they don't conform to? Perhaps not CE marked?

Edited By Nigel K on 02/04/2021 16:02:51

A braver man than me in that video!

To Jack Hobson's comment, yes, the Pocket NC does look attractive and may be useful for some applications but it's very limited on the size of things that it can cut and very expensive. I have to say also that a training video that I saw online didn't give me the confidence that I was a 5-axis sort of guy!

In my search for a suitable CNC mill my favourite wavers - and I clearly need to do more research - but my gut feeling is that the Tormach is a good bet. Yes, it's expensive, but the company gives the impression of being 'sorted'. Detailed product information is available, lots of videos and there is clearly a large amateur/SMB user base (which is a good sign). The other manufacturers of CNC equipment could learn a lot from their marketing. If I have any criticism it's that when you google 'Tormach' from this country (the UK) you are taken to a static page which, on the one hand, claims "United Kingdom Wide Coverage; Our delivery and customer support services are available to customers across the UK" but doesn't give any clue what this means or any addresses - just a web form. Anyway, I'll contact them and see what they say.

Turning to CAM software, I may have mentioned that I have been using FreeCAD for some time. This most definitely has its faults but I like the no-strings-attached nature of this open source application. I decided to find out whether there was a good CAM package to go with it and after a short browse on the Internet I realised that my very small brain had missed the fact that FreeCAD contains a tool path generation facility. For anyone who's interested, you might be interested in the following video because it shows, in very short order (about 17 minutes) how to both draw a part in FreeCAD and then to create the G-code to cut it on a CNC mill:
 

Edited By Nigel K on 02/04/2021 14:56:03

Edited By Nigel K on 02/04/2021 14:56:43

Thanks again to all for this information - all very useful.

As I type I am downloading Solid Edge 2020 Community Edition so I'll take a look at that.

mgnbuk - great tip - thanks - and JasonB I will take a look at that Webeco website - I hadn't seen it before.

Thanks John, very interesting.

Regarding CNC4YOU, I did contact them and they said they'd email me with details but never got back to me. But yes, they are certainly worth looking into.

Interesting what you say about hand wheel and encoders - a useful tip.

If you look at the professional cabinets they have controllers which do the same job as PCs. Did you look to see whether it might be worth buying one of these instead of using a PC? Because I don't need to go fast I suspect I could get away without using servos BUT I am worried about PCs' predisposition for carrying out housekeeping when they feel like it which I imagine could cause problems with steppers. I know that the PC-based CNC community get very good at running 'clean' versions of Windows but I'm wondering whether I should simply bite the bullet and get a 'proper' controller.

I love the 'Nigel, how do your operators know what the part looks like' comment. This can be so true - not so much in my case because I'm the one who will be doing the designing but...

When I was working in historic motorsport I would sometimes be handed a bundle of drawings for an old racing car and asked to make it. With precious few photos of the prototype his was like trying to figure out how to assemble a 3D jigsaw. Often I didn't know what I was looking at, so yes, it certainly helps if the maker knows what they are trying to make. We used to ask permission to visit motoring museums and use the exhibits to try to figure out what was what.

One of my fabricator friends told me the story that he was handed a drawing for a sheet of metal that required hundreds of holes to be made in a sheet of metal to fantastic precision. He did what he was being asked to do and reamed out each hole carefully to the required diameter. Once he had made it he found out that it was a part of a ventilation system and that the holes were simply to allow the air to pass through. The draftsman had incorrectly left the tolerances from a previous job on the drawing which my friend had unwittingly followed. An expensive air duct!

I am extremely grateful for all these interesting replies - thank you all.

Listening to everyone I get the impression that the support issue is the most likely reason why CNC is so seldom added to hobbyist machines. Sadly model engineering is seen as an old man's game but perhaps this will change when younger people, more familiar with IT take over the reins.

I use a 3D printer a lot and use FreeCAD as the design tool. Yes, there are lots of others, and FreeCAD can be a real nuisance for various reasons, but there are aspects of that system which particularly suit me - the fact that it is free being one of them! How I would love to go back to using SolidWorks if only there was a cheaper 'lite' version without all the amazing but unnecessary and hugely expensive features you get with that system.

I am interested by CNC because of its capacity to do repetitive tasks. If I want 200 tiny but equally spaced holed in a piece of metal then CNC will do that without getting distracted! It also offers the chance to learn something new. A 3D printer is an absolutely fantastic resource and I use it every day. For example, I bought an SDR radio from eBay which arrived yesterday. I was frustrated because it won't sit at an angle so that I can see the screen. It took me perhaps 5 minutes to draw up a little stand and about 35 minutes to print it. Fantastic! I guess I'm hoping to have the same creative experience with a CNC mill although I'm under no illusions about the increased difficulties involved - not to mention the weight!

Ian Johnson mentions Amadeal. I enquired there about the Syil machines but it seems that they are no longer the dealer for that manufacturer so I am nervous about buying from them. But I do like the Syil X5. When you look at pictures of it on the web it looks like the sort of colossal beast that you'd find in a factory. However, inside the large cabinet is in fact a smallish, bench-top-mountable unit that might work. It is definitely a contender.

Finally, in answer to Martin Connelly's comment about the use of handles and MDI (Manual Data Input) mode, I would like to investigate this. I like the idea of having rotary encoders wired up in a way that I could use them to work the machine by hand if required. Since I am 'into' electronics this might not be such a difficult thing to rig up.

I will continue to give this some thought and watch out for the interesting comments...

Does anyone know why there are there comparitively so few hobby CNC mill offerings out there from the likes of Warco, Axminster and Chester? Is there some regulatory reason perhaps? Lots of people build their own but ready-made options seem to be thin in the ground.