Workshop
PD400 Tail Post Clamp
I purchased the adjustable control handle and bolt more than a year ago when I was rebuilding a camera head mount for my daughter. In fact I bought several with the proper bolt size for this application. I was going to experiment a little.
As you can see in the third picture, the original Proxxon PD400 design uses a simple socket hex head bolt for use with a large hex wrench. Of course the wrench can fall out of the socket and is always difficult to find when you need it.
The handle shown was a bit too “fat” to just replace the bolt. So today I did a bit of minor grinding of the tail post to provide clearance for the “fat” part of the handle. About 15 minutes work with a Dremel type tool and the handle fits perfectly. I can’t even see the grinding area.
The handle is spring loaded so the position can be easily adjusted by just pulling up on the handle and re-positioning.
It works so wonderful I can’t imagine why Proxxon didn’t do this as a standard assembly. Actually, I can’t understand why I waited so long to make this simple modification.
The Cutting Edge
I viewed a series of videos called Knifemaking Tuesday’s sponsored by Tormach. The hyperlink in the previous line will take you to the video location in the Tormach website.
The video series is a non professional production but it is an engaging story about a couple of Canadian knife makers, John Grimsmo and his brother Eric Grimsmo. It picks up their story when they first start using the Tormach machine.
John and Eric are a couple of entrepreneurs starting a production knife making business in I assume John’s garage. (I haven’t seen the videos from before Tormach sponsoring.)
The investment they made for all their recent upgrades indicates they must have deep pockets somewhere or the previous knives they sold before using the Tormach tools must have been VERY expensive and profitable. There is a lot of talk about what they are spending on development of the new production system and design run but zilch about profits, then perhaps that is not our business… so to speak. 🙂
Tormach sponsors this YouTube “Channel TV” program because it showcases the Tormach PCNC 1100 machine and a lot of their accessories, except the ATC (Automatic Tool Changer).
This is definitely more an amateur reality TV garage workshop sit-comedy of errors than a typical Tormach training series. There is way too much goofing around and trial and error mistakes for calling it training, but I did learn a bunch about amateurs trying to become serious professional knife makers. I also gathered a bunch of new information about using CNC for knife making. The knife products do look good by the week 26 video.
The video work, even with as low a production effort as seen here, takes a lot of time and effort from the actual work of knife making.… Continue reading
Getting My Head on Straight
I had to make another Taig to PNJ (HB2) adapter plate. So I removed the Taig spindle from my HB2 to make a close examination of the adapter plate I had made for myself. The spindle and motor are very easy to adjust in height or remove from the HB2. There is one clamping screw that holds the Taig ER16 spindle on the black clamping plate. No worry, it is a very secure clamp.
Of course it is always a good idea to check spindle alignment after making major movements and what I had also done was loosened the adapter from the Z axis plate. That meant I would have to double check the shims I used to remove a front to back tilt. The shims can be seen in the detail picture.
On a machine like this, when installed in an unconditioned garage shop, and some of the material it is made with is wood, I don’t believe extreme tramming of the head to (say…) +/- 0.001 across the travel is necessary. Routing wood signs and making Lithophanes isn’t extreme machining. We do want to be perpendicular to the table, have consistent Z height, and have a very rigid machine. But you can be as fussy as you please if you want. I’m good with this.
I am not sure where the offset creating the need for the shims was created. If the Z axis guides are not perfectly vertical, then a full stroke Z would be offset in the Y axis. This type machine (at least mine) is never used for that kind of cut so I am not concerned about any small offset that may be created. I am more interested in cutting a flat X/Y area flat.
One trick I do employ… Continue reading
Smooth Stepper Update
I have routed the ribbon cable past the far end of the main board since this picture was taken but it makes no operational difference. It just looked to be a little better wiring practice not passing over the center of the board.
Performance has been outstanding as far as glitch free very smooth stream of pulses. The direct parallel port operation was always first class so without using an oscilloscope, it is more of my personal perception of operational difference. It determinately “sounds” smooth and continuous when running the steppers. Listen to the 4th axis videos in this blog.
My opinion for this installation is the Smooth Stepper is extra piece of mind that I am running with the smoothest pulse stream possible (within my budget.)
There are many I/O ports on the board I am not using in this application. That indicates the Smooth Stepper can do a lot more than generate step pulses. I can see how it could be used in robotic I/O machine control as well as CNC machining.
My OS is Win XP Pro on a custom built AMX dual processor desktop running nothing but MACH3 when doing CNC. I added a high speed parallel port card. There was no parallel port on the mother board. The XP Pro is the best OS scenario for MACH3 on a parallel port. I can option boot into Linux OS for other shop computer uses.
The new Smooth Stepper just steps up my entire system quality and my goal is to have the best output for doing very small and accurate machining. The… Continue reading
Getting “A” Turned On
Late Saturday night I found some time to to work in Aspire software to create a little project I could run using the 4th axis on the Taig. Little did I realize what an intense learning experience I was about to endure.
The first challenge was to learn how Vectric Aspire creates a forth axis tool path. I do a little reading and I dive right in. After working for a couple of hours burning the midnight oil, I realized I was making something far more difficult than it needed to be especially for a first project.
A shallow pocket and add a shallow pocketed name inside of that and see if the shop computer and MACH3 can make it wrap around a cylinder. That’s all I really need.
I had a piece of inch and a quarter aluminum bar. I figured this would be the perfect victim for my first attempts. So on Sunday I began setting up the mechanical side of this experiment out in the shop.
You can see I had to be super cautious around the three jaws so I wouldn’t crash into them. I also discovered what I think is a clever trick for zeroing the Z axis. If I touch off on the top of the tail post I am exactly 0.450 inches above dead center.
All the above was the easy stuff. The hardest time I had was to figure out the MACH3 setup for 4th axis. The first run I showed in the previous post was way off base. I will probably have to write a story for the THMS main site with some more pictures of a real project. I can save someone a lot of trial and error from my experience.
With quarter stepping I am set up for 160… Continue reading