hobby
Heat Sinks Finished
All the stepper motor heat sinks are finished for the HB2 CNC router project. The HB2 requires four stepper motors but an initial heat sink was created as a practice piece. That is why there are five heat sinks in the photograph. The trial version (on the right) is actually perfectly suitable for use as it has only minor cosmetic flaws.
The “extra” copy will be kept as a sample of what can be accomplished on the tiny but mighty Taig CNC mill. There is over 8 hours of run time on EACH heat sink, so the photo represents 40 hours of run time on the Taig. The longest single period was 4 hours and 10 minutes. No problem what-so-ever on the mill and all the accessories. I did have my initial air compressor fail on the trial piece.
These are the most complex parts I have currently produced on the Taig CNC. The A3 wheels were complex too, but not near the run time necessary for these heat sinks.
I have already started mounting the heat sinks and the steppers on the HB2 frame. More pictures soon.
North Texas Open Invitation
I made a plea over in the TEDEX forum for local North Texas home workshop enthusiasts (hobbyists) to rise from the chips and identify. I receive inquiries from usually beginners who are seaking a place to go to associate and learn about their new interest.
Yes, I have been in many such organizations and the new folks can sometimes be a pain to the old curmudgeons. But the new folks bring life to these organizations. The fear is sometimes, “I am not good enough to teach the new folks.” Well, that’s not really true. I do my best with this web site and I always claim not to be the expert. A few locals sometimes get invited to my shop.
There are many forums out on the Internet. I don’t intend to compete with them for good information. I also don’t get a prize for number of members. 🙂 If you can drive to or are within the North Texas area (and if you are from here, you know what means) go visit TEDEX and sign in. Thanks!
Thankful
The HB2 heat sinks are milling just fine now. It just takes a lot of time. More time than it is worth to put them into production by milling alone. This is why prototypes cost so much. They prove the product but there are much cheaper ways to make things in quantity. That’s the challenge of home shop machining. I can make just about anything I can imagine, but not necessarily the using the most efficient and least expensive process.
Milling something from a billet of aluminum is no where as efficient as starting with a casting with most of the unnecessary metal not present. I don’t see enough of a market for these HB2 heat sinks. Heck, I haven’t even tested them yet. I do have one on the HB2 machine and sure does LOOK cool. Ha!
The mighty little Taig Micro-mill is working like a champ. It sets there running constantly for three to four hours just singing along. The little end mills and light cuts are just right for this machine. It shows fancy (expensive) screws and ball nuts are not required on small machines. The very light mist cooling keeps things cool, just a huge amount of slightly damp aluminum chips to sweep and vac away.
HB2 Brain Box
Bare Bones Asus Computer
I went into NewEgg and did a search for bare bones computers. That is a good start to build up an inexpensive computer. A bare bones computer usually includes the case, power supply and general purpose mother board. That’s an Asus bare bones case you see in the picture. The flat screen I already own.
I picked one that could use one of the dual processor AMD processors. Dual processors (on one chip) are the only way to go. I chose an AMD 64 Athalon X2 5000+ processor. The speed is 2.6 GHz. This is a faster processor than I have in my office computer I am using to write this post. It is also a bunch cheaper than I paid for my 4400+ a few years ago.
Inside the case. Note air intake on side panel.
Besides the case and the AMD processor, I also purchased 2 Gig of RAM. The mother board only holds two sticks and 2 Gig is more than plenty for a workshop CNC computer. The last Item I purchased was a CD (lightscribe) drive. I did not install a floppy. (What’s a floppy?)
I had a 60Gig hard drive, so no purchase there. I also had a copy of Windows XP Pro from a decommissioned computer I threw away. The sound and video is built in and are working just fine with Mach3.
Total out of pocket cost for what you see here is $270.00, not too shabby.
Let me tell ya, this little package runs faster and better than my office system. But it is not a super computer. The only cooling fans are on the processor heat sink and the power supply. Heat is NOT a problem. All fans are running on low speed… Continue reading
Finished the Flip Side
I was able to run the Taig CNC today to finish cut the motor side of my trial heat-sink. It has a few flaws here and there but fairly minor. They were caused by broken milling bits and having to start over several times.
Actually this is “good enough” for actual use if that term is acceptable. It is perfectly functional and ready for use.
I have four more to make so I will be well practiced by the time I do the last one. The time on this side to cut all the fins and a finish pass on the inside took almost five hours.
That doesn’t include the 1/4″ end mill time for cutting the center recess and the big hole. That is about 60 minutes more to do both sides.
The fact is it takes a LOOONG day to make one of these. OK for personal use but hardly worth doing for production. That is the time cost in making what is a fully machined prototype (or five). For volume production this would be best be a casting and then the only machining would be to set the desired inside thickness and create the flat heat sink contact area which is seen on this side.
All the fins on both sides have been cut using only one 3/32″ 2 flute solid carbide end mill. Looking at its cutting end and how it was performing when this side was done, I would say it still has a lot of linear feet left to travel.
BTW, the Taig mill is performing wonderfully spinning for many continuous hours at 10,600 RPM at the spindle; Which I must add, doesn’t even get warm.