NEW: Shark HD (Blue) 80mm Spindle Mount Plate

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Rando
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NEW: Shark HD (Blue) 80mm Spindle Mount Plate

Post by Rando »

All:

A friend in the local CNC club asked me to help him mount a new 80mm-diameter, water-cooled spindle into his HD. What he didn't tell me what it was an un-reinforced blue model, still even with the HDPE back-plate. Oh well, not my place to judge. In the process of helping him out, I've designed (Thanks to Fusion 360!) a replacement plate for the HD. It takes the place of both original plates, and includes a 1.35" tall nearly-circumferential clamping surface, and can even be trammed up to 2.5 degrees, to help compensate for system sag. I'll be cutting this out of aluminum, so I'll post pix of those as they come out cut. Attached is an annotated image of the proposed item:
SSMP-80 Shark Spindle Mount Plate - 80mm, annotated
SSMP-80 Shark Spindle Mount Plate - 80mm, annotated
In case you're wondering, I'm using BobCAD v29 to do the CAM part, exchanging STEP-format solid-models from AutoDesk Fusion 360 into BobCAD, much like Vectric allows for STL and other solid-model imports.

I suppose if there's any interest I could be persuaded to make more, and making ones for the smaller diameter spindle bodies would also be pretty easy. Might be a while, however ;-).

Thom
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ThomR.com Creative tools and photographic art
A proud member of the Pacific Northwest CNC Club (now on Facebook)

ChubbyRooster
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Re: NEW: Shark HD (Blue) 80mm Spindle Mount Plate

Post by ChubbyRooster »

How do you like Fusion360?

Rando
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Re: NEW: Shark HD (Blue) 80mm Spindle Mount Plate

Post by Rando »

ChubbyRooster wrote:How do you like Fusion360?
WAY! I use it for all my 3D modeling, but I typically use BobCAD or Vectric for the CAM part, and slicers of various forms for the 3D printing. The nice thing about Fusion is that you can make multiple separate parts in a single design, and arrange them and check for fit, then arrange the bunch of them like in a flat plate configuration, then output as a single solid model. If you import that multi-part model to vectric, you can trick it into cutting multiple different plated parts in the same CRV/etc file. Normally in the VCarve Pro, you can only import a single solid model for the design :(.

I love that it's a real, live, installed application, and not a glorified web site like some of the newer free systems.

If you really want to enjoy using Fusion, or any 3D design software for that matter, you'll want to get one of the 3Dconnexion 3D manipulators. I have the big-boy SpacePilot Pro, but the smaller 3D mouses also work well.

I haven't messed around with their toolpath generation stuff yet, mostly because getting over the post-processor validation / integration and tool library entry is a time consuming process...that I've already done with Vectric and BobCAD.

Some things I dislike about Fusion are it's text-fitting facilities. Pretty much across the board, working with engraving-style things works far better in Vectric. And since it's a 3d solid model, the concept of "single-line fonts" is not something it can understand. The way I get around this, when I need to engrave something onto a part I've designed in Fusion, is to output the Fusion model (without engraving) as an STL file, do the engraving aligned to a DXF version of the face I'm engraving onto (from Fusion), and then map that onto the STL structure in Vectric. Works great!

I am probably not like others in how I number/version my projects, but I've found Fusion's version-management system absolutely BITES. But, they're adding features all the time, so I'm confident it will get better. And finally, there's that damnable cloud. They force everything to be stored "in the cloud", even if it's not visible to others. That means that like late last week, when the Amazon data centers take a dump, all of Fusion (and many other sites) go down for an entire day. Sure, it's all geographically-dispersed, but that only helps Amazon's uptime, not their customers' sites, which seem to all go down when one data center fails. Something having to do with the fact that Amazon charges more for geo-dispersal, so many companies don't opt for replication to most international failover data centers. But, I digress....

File format compatibility is excellent for everything I'm doing, so far.

From what I understand, AutoDesk is essentially converting for online-use a CAD/CAM product they bought, HSMWorks. That supposedly is why such large features, like the ability to design folded sheet metal parts, will just show up one day, like they've been secretly working on it all along. Features are added, and bugs fixed, on a very rapid basis, and updates get pushed automagically.

And, free until I make $100K from what I design in it...that price works for me!
<<Correction: There is no Free Lunch anymore; $25/month, $300/yr. Arrrrgh!!!!>>

Ask a simple question....:D

Regards,

Thom
Last edited by Rando on Wed Mar 08, 2017 1:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
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ThomR.com Creative tools and photographic art
A proud member of the Pacific Northwest CNC Club (now on Facebook)

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Kayvon
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Re: NEW: Shark HD (Blue) 80mm Spindle Mount Plate

Post by Kayvon »

Rando wrote:And, free until I make $100K from what I design in it...that price works for me!
It looks like the Enthusiast Pricing is free for one year and $40/month after that. Is there are way around a monthly fee? I don't mind paying for good software obviously, but monthly software subscription models don't work for me.

Rando
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Re: NEW: Shark HD (Blue) 80mm Spindle Mount Plate

Post by Rando »

Oh, how bizarre. You are totally right. I hadn't even realized they had changed the account over. I vaguely remember a promotion for a year's subscription, but I thought it was for a different product. Now that I check, that subscription was applied to my previous free account, which now has an expiration date. It looks like the subscription was purchased through and managed through Amazon, and I seem to remember it was pretty heavily discounted.

Yikes, good thing I checked! Thanks for the tip-off :D.

I'll update the above. Still, I love it and use it everyday.
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ThomR.com Creative tools and photographic art
A proud member of the Pacific Northwest CNC Club (now on Facebook)

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Kayvon
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Re: NEW: Shark HD (Blue) 80mm Spindle Mount Plate

Post by Kayvon »

It's sounds exactly like the sort of tool I'd love to learn and use. Knowing that I'll be tied in to a subscription and fork over cash each month I fire it up, I'm not sure it's worth the investment to really learn the tool.

Since you already know the tool, you're ahead of the game using your free year. After that, I'll be interested in seeing if it's worth the cash given your learning investment or if you scout out another tool with similar features.

Rando
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Re: NEW: Shark HD (Blue) 80mm Spindle Mount Plate

Post by Rando »

Kayvon:

For me, a self-employed mechatronics engineer (HW/SW/CAD/IC/Mktg/Supt/Docs/.....), $300/year is well worth it; I get FAR more value out of it than that. These days, you gotta have SOME system, and one that's capable and growing is good molehill to ride as it becomes a mountain. That is, a community of users, designs, companies, and services forming a vibrant ecosystem around the platform, that helps ensure my time investment doesn't have to be re-made sooner than later.

Regards

Thom
=====================================================
ThomR.com Creative tools and photographic art
A proud member of the Pacific Northwest CNC Club (now on Facebook)

Rando
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Re: NEW: Shark HD (Blue) 80mm Spindle Mount Plate

Post by Rando »

Well, with one minor exception of a wayward lead-in that thought it fun to plunge a ball-nose straight down the side of a wall, and a mis-calculated safe-height, the mount came out really nicely. Really REALLY not commercially viable on our machines, but it's at least possible. Attached are a few pix. The complex filets on the piece turned out quite nice.
2017-008-001 Front-right view with tramming set-screws
2017-008-001 Front-right view with tramming set-screws
2017-008-001 Left-rear view
2017-008-001 Left-rear view
2017-008-001 Side-top View
2017-008-001 Side-top View
The finish is a combination of glass bead-blasting overall, with the interface-surfaces left raw for better grip, and the rest painted automotive metallic blue...in homage to the original HD's blue bed :D.

Please note that because of the amount of machining time, it's unlikely it could be made economically by me, with the machine and tools I have. Xometry.com, for example, quoted $450 just for the fixture, and $800+ per unit in one-piece quantities. Costs come down quickly in lots of 10 pieces or more, but still spendy. Thus, I am more than open to providing information to people who want it. In the "normal" course of my project work, I create full production instructions, including workholding and fixturing designs, setup sheets and a cut catalog. The design is done using Fusion (see the thread above ;-) ) with BobCAD toolpath generation (Sorry, Vectric). I'm mostly willing to make any of the files generated available.

Over the next few weeks, I think I'll try updating the design to work in the machines more currently available: the HD2+ like I have, and maybe the HD4 for others. I'm considering adding the shapes/surfaces to mount one of those drill-press laser-cross sights. I find mine useful for approximate zeros, and there are issues with the current mounting method with the plates. Cutting of this part takes forever on the machine I have, so I'll leave that to you all to handle on your own. But, I'm happy to submit the updated designs...when they're ready. (The original post has a link to the original Fusion design, if you're interested). If I can get dimensional drawings of the bottom plates, that would be ideal, of course. I also hope to at least test the design in HDPE. I mean, if the normal ones are made out of that, a really cool one made out of that would be even better, right? ;-)

And yes, this was carved out of a 1.5" x 6" x 5" block of 6061-T651 Aluminum, on a (modified) Shark HD2+.

Anyway, it's back to engraving brackets for me. Cheers!

Thom
=====================================================
ThomR.com Creative tools and photographic art
A proud member of the Pacific Northwest CNC Club (now on Facebook)

Rando
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Re: NEW: Shark HD (Blue) 80mm Spindle Mount Plate

Post by Rando »

UPDATE:

I've just about completed the design updates for the Shark HD2+, which I think might also fit the 3. I took the measurements from one of those Rockler 60th Anniversary Edition machines with the copper-colored bed. As with the other one, prohibitively expensive to make, but I only want the one for me :D.
Next version, for the Rockler 60th Anniversary Edition models (HD2+? HD3?)
Next version, for the Rockler 60th Anniversary Edition models (HD2+? HD3?)
This is the rear face, that mounts onto the Z-axis lead-screw follower. Note the two sets of holes in the X. The inner set allow you to remove all of the old carriage, all the way back to the HDPE follower block. If you choose to continue using the supplied mount block, the outer set of holes are for mounting to that.
This is the rear face, that mounts onto the Z-axis lead-screw follower. Note the two sets of holes in the X. The inner set allow you to remove all of the old carriage, all the way back to the HDPE follower block. If you choose to continue using the supplied mount block, the outer set of holes are for mounting to that.
This shows the bottom part rotated into it's 5-degree setback/recline position. Because the machines aren't all that stiff, when you replace the lighter-weight router motor with a real 2.2kW spindle, that extra weight makes the z-axis carriage sag. By tilting the spindle motor back, I've been able to effectively cancel that sag.
This shows the bottom part rotated into it's 5-degree setback/recline position. Because the machines aren't all that stiff, when you replace the lighter-weight router motor with a real 2.2kW spindle, that extra weight makes the z-axis carriage sag. By tilting the spindle motor back, I've been able to effectively cancel that sag.

Regards,

Thom
=====================================================
ThomR.com Creative tools and photographic art
A proud member of the Pacific Northwest CNC Club (now on Facebook)

ChubbyRooster
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Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2017 1:34 pm
Location: Blanchard, Oklahoma

Re: NEW: Shark HD (Blue) 80mm Spindle Mount Plate

Post by ChubbyRooster »

Sorry for the late response, we just got our Boxzy and it comes with 1 year subscription to Fusion 360 which I am downloading right now. Will have to see how it works. Does anyone know if you can export files from Vectric (for Shark) as generic G Code?

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