hobby
Be an Angel
Cherub is more accurate. I made this on the HB2 Sunday. I was of course running the Taig spindle. The roughing and the finish were both done with a 1/8 (0.125) inch ball end mill. The total run time was 1 hour and 35 minutes at 50 IPM. 10,600 RPM.
The spindle is now just slightly warm after that kind of run. The spindle break in has about 5 hours of run time. The motor was HOT but that is normal for the motor and that run time. Taig rates it as a continuous duty motor so heat is not a problem.
Another note:
The Sieg X3 mill motor controller has been replaced (lightning damage) and the machine is back into operation! Yea!
Make a Cannon
I have been corresponding with a old fellow named John Gerling about the X3 motor controller. He must be really old as he says he is older than me! 🙂 He is retired ( I am not) so I guess he does have the age credentials.
I found a link to him in the Little Machine Shop web site. Chris Wood, the owner of LMS, has a suggestion posted on the page where he sells the Sieg replacement board I need, to check John out if you have a Sieg controller board that needs serviced.
John is a retired electrical engineer who now has a small business repairing said controller boards. A recommendation from Chris is good enough for me, so I have been emailing John several times. John seems like a fair enough guy, a great repair flat rate (if repairable) and an otherwise good first choice if you have a bad board. Here is his website: http://www.www.repaircontrol.com. He calls himself Gerling Laboratories but the URL is a bit different. (Yes, two WWW’s?)
John, Chris and I all decided in my case that two burned through traces from lighting is not a good thing as certainly most other parts are affected (no more magic smoke left), so I have ordered a full replacement board from LMS.
John is also an active hobby machinist and has produced a very well done instruction manual for building an all brass cannon from raw stock. He gave me permission to publish the link to the manual. So it is free to you to download. He intended to publish the instruction manual as a part of a kit for a profit. I assume to invest in more tools for his retirement center.  … Continue reading
X3 Lighting Damage
The X3 mill motor controller was damaged in a lighting strike that took out a lot of electronics in my home. Mostly all the phone, computer and amateur radio gear. It also did some damage in the workshop.
The overhead door opener went out and had to be replaced. Here is the visual damage to the X3 motor controller board. The arc traveled between the solid jumper wire and the trace below which is ground.
The shop light transformer just burned out today. So the repairs are not finished. The new board is worth about $180.00 if it can’t be repaired.
Just another adventure after another… 🙂
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Here is a picture of the backside of the board. I found another blown trace. Who knows what is also blown in those SM (Surface Mount) components. I was checking out having the board tested and repaired but now I intend to replace this board.
You know how it goes. Fix the obvious then other things start to fail like a week later. Not worth the time or aggravation…
Taig ER16 Spindle Added to HB2
Here is the first look at making the mount and installing the Taig ER16 Spindle and continuous duty motor on the HB2. This is the same spindle and head that I use on the Taig CNC mill. In fact it IS the head FROM the Taig CNC mill.
I’ll be running a project tomorrow to test out the set up. If all goes well I already have the TAIG order made out for a new set-up exactly like this for full time use on the HB2. This is lower power than other spindles used on the HB2 but much quieter. From my experience using it for wood carving on the Taig mill, I think it will be just perfect for most work I do. I can fit up through a 3/8 inch cutting tool.
The ER spindle is far superior to the one in the little hand router. The big difference is sound level and the fact that the Taig spindle is 1/3 slower and 1/3 the power.
One thing to note though is there is the opportunity to select 6 different speeds. With the belt drive I always get full motor power as the motor is always running full speed.
The change over from one head to the other is about 30 minutes. It could be less but the one bolt in the center of the back-plate mount is a bugger to get started. It is between two linear bearings and behind the lead nut. I taped the nut to the wrench to get it started. 🙂
I will also post these pictures over in the THMS web site. That probably won’t be for a week or so. I am also considering doing a sound video so you all can see AND hear how she runs.
Just Getting Better
The parts breaking seem to be behind me for now. I have run several very long 3D projects with no qualms from the HB2. It has just been rolling along doing it thing at fairly high speed (at least to me).
I have increased the MACH3 frequency to 60,000 Hz and now been able to run the steppers as high as 200 fpm (1000 rpm on the steppers) but not reliably. My rapids are now set at 150 IPM and that is as good as I’ll probably need. I was running the roughing at 100 IPM and the 2 hour finish passes were running at 70 IPM. Working just fine.
Ahhh… Life is good!