Bob's Super Simple 4th Axis

[Bob]

Phil,
It sounds like you're having fun.
Be sure to post progress reports as you explore. It will be interesting to see what your solution is.
Bob

[flying_flip]

I found smaller end mills here. http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/To ... _Bits.html
They will need an adapter 1/8 to 1/4 but that is also sold on the site.

Honey do's and work getting in the way of me actually spending time in the garage doing what I really want.
I will be sketching up what I think will work as time allows.
Design, cut, try, revise...

Thanks again,

Phil

[Kayvon]

It's been a slow process for me, too. I'm still working on my own 4th axis, but I'm continually sidetracked by other projects. The most recent one was a dust boot, which I really wanted after the huge mess of HDPE chips. Hopefully, I'll get back to 4D axis creation soon.

[Kayvon]

Just a quick picture to illustrate the mess.

[Rando]

Another fine mess we share: the scourge of bajillions of HDPE particles. The worst part is that in black, they often look far too much like mouse droppings, so as the chips get tracked through the house, they show up in strange locations and give pause .

My own HDPE light trap. Yes, that's over 3" of chips against the far wall :D.

As a solution, may I offer mine: It's just flexible, clear acrylic 20-mils. I cut them and use vinyl tape about 6" up from the bed, and then add a baffle across the back bottom of the gantry back plate. The far end has a tall wall, since the chip-blower nozzles point in that direction. It also makes a nice clear viewing window that I don't have to worry about bits or anything else flying at me through. There are also side baffles that are attached at the height of the gantry rails that keeps chips from coming out when cutting along the gantry direction . This lets well under 0.1% of the chips outside the machine, but that varies both by cut and how many chips are already on the bed; the chip-blower can kick up a pretty good cloud! The blue 2"-wide painters tape are there to catch what seems like about half of what would normally end up on the floor, so that helps too. That room is pretty full of computer and electronic gear (it's the "hardware lab"), so flying aluminum chips are to be avoided..especially the ones so small they float like pieces of gold foil.

My solution to flying chips: an acylic fence

Did I mention I tend to force my machine into into the form I want, rather than live with out of the box? You're seeing two machining vises and aluminum plate on the bed, a bottle of kool-mist, the long lines of my antifreeze spindle coolant, the spindle-control's remote, and a custom under-spindle light control, the jog keypad, and of course the chip-containing measures. Underneath are two small shop-vacs: one dedicated to aluminum, and the other for whatever else is being cut. I avoid contaminating the aluminum chips so they're better for recycling, thus the separate vac. So much fun.

Cheers!

Thom

[Bob]

Just a quick picture to illustrate the mess.

That's a glorious collection of chips!

[Bob]

Thom,
You're having waaay too much fun!
That's the first time I've seen a Shark on life support.
Bob

[Kayvon]

Did I mention I tend to force my machine into into the form I want, rather than live with out of the box?

I'm kind of the opposite. I worry about any modifications to the machine, even though I'm sure it's out of warranty by now. Give me a couple days and I'll post my dust boot pics & plans (in a separate thread--sorry for the hijack!). I managed to make one that doesn't require changing around and existing bolts or pieces.

[sharkcutup]

I am with you Kayvon!

I believe in keeping things SIMPLE!!! Besides the CNC Shark machine is complicated enough without turning it into an OCTOPUS on steroids!!!

But then again to EACH his or her own. Their are those who love to tinker around with things and I guess that is what makes/creates new and interesting inventions!

Have a GREAT DAY!!!

Be SAFE around those AWESOME machines!!!

Sharkcutup (aka the Snark)

[Rando]

Nah, it's easy....it's because you guys make these:

And I make these:

On what is basically, the same machine. Mind you, mine takes a LOT longer to make...that's probably a good 50 hours of machining to make those, all told

Neither is better or worse, and for many good reasons, I'd never even attempt an inlay, but I'll machine for tapped holes and filets and chamfers all day long. They just have different expectations and needs. Cutting lots of wood, you'd never for a moment doubt the need for a dust boot. Cutting metal on the other hand, quite literally requires a chip BLOWER to be successful. I looked, but didn't find one in their store. I didn't find a LOT of things in their store that would make their machines a LOT better, even for people using it like they originally expected.

If you're gonna achieve what you set out to do, most times you have to do what's gotta be done. At some point, every single solution did not yet exist, and had to be invented. That's an open opportunity, just waiting for someone to race in and claim it as their own. That's how products are made, and markets won...with the big caveat that they won't ever go anywhere if they are fundamentally inviable as a product. That's why a lot of the things needed for doing what I do, on a machine like this, aren't available off-the-shelf. There are just too few people willing to pay what it would take, in time, effort, or money.

That's also why there's almost zero chance anyone would ever pay me the couple-grand in time it would take to make them one. Even the online services will be quoting in the thousands (spindle clamp part was already quoted: $830) Nope, this is for my own use, and so has all the things **I** want.

Imagining there's some philosophical difference between how we do or don't use (or abuse) our machines is a distinction as meaningless as race. Did you guys update the firmware to use the new control panel software? The installation instructions required it. How is that not a "modification"? Because it's authorized by The Man? Where's the purity in that? You bought a machine they claimed worked! Why should you update it? Heck, why'd you even take it out of the box? Those nylon-inserts in the nuts will never be the same again....(reductio ad absurdum)

I am always inspired by the breadth of inventiveness we see in forums like these. Any one of us, driven by a desire to accomplish something, will always find a point where we're willing to violate the original-ness of a device to make it better. It's how we got pointed sticks, after all . It's what makes this place great (again...sorry...hahahah ).

Cheers! (And man I can't WAIT to start cutting that cage).

Thom