This will close out this portion of the new machine for now. I did a run of 13 windows. Ya, lucky number 13.
I was getting terrible vibration even with the feed rate cut back to 30% of one inch per minute. I still haven't figured out if that's what my CAM software means. Anyway this seemed to work for a while. I still had an annoying vibration at certain spots in the cut. I tightened down the motor clamp a bit more and that seemed to help, but the brass still vibrated a bit. Only being held down by the clamps on the outside of the piece seemed to be causing the problem. So on the next piece I used the 3M adhesive. That seemed to quiet it down even more. Only problem was I had to totally remove the clamps to pry the piece off the jig with a putty knife. So on the 13th piece I just stuck it down with the adhesive. I figured if the cutter broke I already had my 12 window frames. And that's how I got the 13th piece. It worked out great.
Now came the next problem. Cleaning the adhesive off the cut part. Duck (yes that's what it says on the roll Duck Tape) works wonders. I stuck it on to the side with the adhesive still on it and pulled it off. I had to do that once or twice to remove all the adhesive. Worked great. Then I used a sharp box cutter knife and separated all the frames. Pictures of the procedure follow.








So this closes out the first chapter on getting this machine to perform. This is not a milling machine, yes it can be used as a mill but only small projects. Anything over an 1/8" cutter would vibrate this machine off the table. I think I've located all the spots that cause the vibration. One being the motor. The stator is not balanced as is the plastic fan inside it. You can see the runout when turned by hand. At 10,000 RPM that sets up quite a bit of vibration. Plus the long spindle of the motor that is also used as the tool holder. It's way to long for any kind of heavy work. Plus the machine is not a ridged machine like a cast iron milling machine weighing several thousand pounds. It can do the kind of work I've tasked for it, but any heavy milling will be reserved for the Grizzly mini-mill and the Bridgeport. I think it will do well for engraving, an adventure I need to go on yet. You can also add a laser cutter to it for cutting and engraving. One problem here is it will need some kind of enclosure to contain the smoke. Before I even think of getting a laser for this machine I have three other items lined up for it. One will be using a Deep Cut knife from the Cricut that the scrapper crowd uses to cut styrene, cardboard and possibly thin wood. A second test will be to use the machine to make rivets in brass or styrene and the third test will be to see if I can get it to emboss thin aluminum for corrugated siding. I'll document the work in this thread as the adventure continues.
Hope who that read this little adventure found it useful and interesting. Stay tuned more to come.
Bernd
I was getting terrible vibration even with the feed rate cut back to 30% of one inch per minute. I still haven't figured out if that's what my CAM software means. Anyway this seemed to work for a while. I still had an annoying vibration at certain spots in the cut. I tightened down the motor clamp a bit more and that seemed to help, but the brass still vibrated a bit. Only being held down by the clamps on the outside of the piece seemed to be causing the problem. So on the next piece I used the 3M adhesive. That seemed to quiet it down even more. Only problem was I had to totally remove the clamps to pry the piece off the jig with a putty knife. So on the 13th piece I just stuck it down with the adhesive. I figured if the cutter broke I already had my 12 window frames. And that's how I got the 13th piece. It worked out great.
Now came the next problem. Cleaning the adhesive off the cut part. Duck (yes that's what it says on the roll Duck Tape) works wonders. I stuck it on to the side with the adhesive still on it and pulled it off. I had to do that once or twice to remove all the adhesive. Worked great. Then I used a sharp box cutter knife and separated all the frames. Pictures of the procedure follow.
So this closes out the first chapter on getting this machine to perform. This is not a milling machine, yes it can be used as a mill but only small projects. Anything over an 1/8" cutter would vibrate this machine off the table. I think I've located all the spots that cause the vibration. One being the motor. The stator is not balanced as is the plastic fan inside it. You can see the runout when turned by hand. At 10,000 RPM that sets up quite a bit of vibration. Plus the long spindle of the motor that is also used as the tool holder. It's way to long for any kind of heavy work. Plus the machine is not a ridged machine like a cast iron milling machine weighing several thousand pounds. It can do the kind of work I've tasked for it, but any heavy milling will be reserved for the Grizzly mini-mill and the Bridgeport. I think it will do well for engraving, an adventure I need to go on yet. You can also add a laser cutter to it for cutting and engraving. One problem here is it will need some kind of enclosure to contain the smoke. Before I even think of getting a laser for this machine I have three other items lined up for it. One will be using a Deep Cut knife from the Cricut that the scrapper crowd uses to cut styrene, cardboard and possibly thin wood. A second test will be to use the machine to make rivets in brass or styrene and the third test will be to see if I can get it to emboss thin aluminum for corrugated siding. I'll document the work in this thread as the adventure continues.
Hope who that read this little adventure found it useful and interesting. Stay tuned more to come.
Bernd
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