Time For Change
Time For Change
The Hobbyist Machine Shop website has served well on the Internet as encouragement for new home machinist getting started in the hobby. The ton of email (if it could be weighed) sent to me confirms this statement.
The web site was built through the years with several HTML editing tools. First was HoTMetaL Pro which many years ago went out of existence. I switched to Adobe GoLive and then to Macromedia Dreamweaver. Adobe purchased Macromedia and there was an inside battle between GoLive and Dreamweaver as to which program would be Adobe’s HTML flagship. Dreamweaver won out and is still my WYSIWYG HTML editor.
HTML5 is the newest version of HTML, created to do battle mostly against Adobe Flash. Adobe counters with Adobe Edge, a new HTML5 animation editor. I don’t do much direct FLASH editing so HTML5 is not a big deal with me (yet).
I’m getting off track, back to my story. I have been using a freeware CMS (Content Management System) web publishing tool known as Joomla. It is a graphic intensive creative and web display product written in PHP . With today’s high speed backbone and much faster user computer systems this high overhead system has been working well for me on many web sites I manage. It stores information in a MySQL database and builds the pages dynamically. Enough black magic, it just works.
Joomla and all CMS systems have a very good “back end” management system that doesn’t exist with standard HTML web sites. It is much easier to maintain all the information in a standard form. This THMS BLOG website (using WordPress and my own template) is a CMS system and works in very much the same way as Joomla.
My secret weapon to building CMS templates is Artisteer.
Bottom… Continue reading
CNC 4th Axis Update
The Taig CNC mill is closer to having its 4th axis operational. All that is really needed is to get the wiring completed. The tail post is not mounted where seen in the pictures. I was making adjustments to the height. You can see it is easily adjustable.
I will bolt down the tail post once I have an application where I need to use it. I now have the shims I need so a couple of bolts in the base and I’m in business.
When I have it running I’ll post a SHORT video to prove it works, Ha! There is nothing more boring than watching 10 to 20 seconds of a CNC axis moving around doing nothing.
Gear Cleaning
I import steel gears for the mini-mill and the mini-lathe. I have sold over 200 sets of gears to people all over the world. Most buyers are machinist, used to working with wire brushes and getting dirty hands cleaning gears covered with grease or a little surface rust. Most carbon steel will rust. However, I show nice shiny gears in the photo’s. My Bad. The real gears have to be cleaned because there is some “gook” used to preserve them from rust while shipping across the salty brine. (Ocean to you land lubbers.)
Most gears are well “gooked” but a few, especially the change gears are only “oiled” a bit light. There is a coating but looks like almost none and as shown here, have definitely gathered some surface rust. The first picture is a worst case gear I could find (65 tooth change gear ). It is the largest in the group and the only one showing rust. It really does look nasty but looks are deceiving.
I think some salty air got into the last shipment. Only one side had this rust and all the other gears clustered in one group on a long bolt with this one had no rust. It is cosmetic and does not make the gear defective.
A spray with WD40, about a 5 minute soak and two to three minutes with the brush shown and the gear is photo perfect. Perhaps too much work for some people with arthritic hands. It is hard for me. A rotary wire brush would do it faster and easier.
I could clean and inspect all the gears, shine them up like shown in the store photos, re-coat with that heavy LPS3 grease for maintaining protection in storage and sell them for about 50% more… Continue reading
Small Ideas
If the reader doesn’t like my preference, I am not here to make a convert to my way of thinking. I assume the only reason you are reading this is you have a similar interest in machining or you are trying to decide just where your interest (in machining) lies. I too always dig into the unfamiliar when I have the chance.
I have always enjoyed model making. That means making small things that resemble or are realistic versions of larger things. But that doesn’t mean I only build models. That preference has also spread to building full size items that are also small.
For instance, my latest interest is in the kind of CNC machining that is done in jewelry making. It is very small and very detailed and can be held in the palm of one hand. I am not going to buy gold and diamonds and make “bling” jewelry, but I would like to make parts with that kind of detail. A study of jewelry making can go a long way in learning how to do detail machining.
The small CNC milling machines that can do this are not the cheap ones. High precision is absolutely necessary when working in the realm of the very small. I believe my Taig mill can take me onto the edge of… Continue reading
4th Axis on My Taig
The screw drive of the standard rotary table has a lot of benefits in this 4th axis application. There are a few limitations in the area of backlash (controllable) and rapid speed (not really necessary.)
With small mills like the Taig and the Sherline, weight (mass) is a required parameter to consider. Most rotary tables are designed to have a lot of weight as part of their design. It adds stability for normal machining. However for miniature CNC machining, it is undesirable to abuse your drive system with a lot inertial mass to start, stop and reverse perhaps up to a hundred times a minute.
The winner in my selection is the Sherline 3700-CNC rotary table with motor mount. At $320 it is not the least expensive of my 4th axis schemes but I think it is the best in this case.
First point is the weight. At 8 pounds it is heavy enough and when you look at it, you see it carries no extra weight in a heavy case or mounting system flanges.
Second point is it is specifically designed for CNC operation internally (Sherline says in the worm housing) as well as the included #23 motor mount and coupling.
Third big point with me is the drive is 72/1 turns. Some rotary tables are 40/1 (yuk!). At 72 turns and 1/4 stepping, each step is 0.00625 degree. (Sherline uses 1/2 stepping.) A 90/1 would have… Continue reading