My name is Vasi, and I'm an enthusiast deeply passionate about technology and making. Alongside my primary role in software development, I delve into diverse areas such as electrical engineering, home shop machining, 3D printing, and welding. My journey in these fields has been largely self-taught, thanks to the wealth of knowledge shared by others on platforms like RU-vid. Now, through my own channel, I aspire to inspire and guide beginners embarking on similar paths, just as I was once inspired by the generosity of experienced creators sharing their expertise.
The measurement on the mill table is possibly influenced by the traverse of the table itself. It would still seem to be quite a lot though. Check the mill table itself with an indicator and lift up and push down on the table at each extreme of its travel. I just realised this is a bit old but may point is still valid.
The mill table was fine, the measurement was wrong. It seems that it’s a compound angle and I was not measuring it correctly. In the meantime I got the gib adjusted and the upcoming videos were made using the lathe. Thanks for your feedback anyway! Cheers! 🍻
*A lovejoy is a sloppy/backlash prone connection type.* It is specifically designed to allow a little slop/misalignment in drive systems. Perhaps if you had one that was tapered and compressed together, you could be rid of that excessive backlash at the cost of inducing a thrust load on both the motor and cycloid drive. *Hopefully, you have the cycloid at enough of a gear ratio to make it very back-driving resistant* to help reduce the negative effects of the slop of a love joy. *It would have been better to turn the whole mechanism on it's face, and float the motor in with a more direct coupler.* The spindle motors for our mills are loosely mounted up, then spun to self center. You tighten the motor bolts while it's spinning, so the jolt of stopping doesn't throw it back out of alignment. That is a good place where a lovejoy coupler is used: it allows a little slop, but the spindles don't need to hold accurate position. The +/- 1.5deg they vaguely hold is plenty for a tool change, but way too soft and loose for an A-axis that needs to hold position to resist chatter and cutting forces. A lot of the industrial machines where I work have a coupler system with 2 plates and bolts between. The plates are cross planar to the shaft. In normal operation, they act very rigid and direct. But in the event of a bad crash, the plates are thin enough to bend/buckle. I don't know the name for that type of coupler.
@@LikeFactoryMade My machine z travel is too small for 5 axis table ...I am using Mazak vqs 40/20 ...I can go to scrap yard tommorow to actually fetch another gearbox a bit smaller that this two ...I always wanted to have 5 for gear cutting Spiral gears
Minus diameter capacity. Shavings will accumulate on this curtain instead fall to the pan. And metal beard can catch this curtain and rip it off. But it looks and acts cool :)
After about 6 months since I installed it, it seems it works ok. I will need to make another video where I replace the torsion spring with the other mechanism that I was talking about. Yes, there is the risk that some birds nest like chips can rip it off, but I try to keep that under control. I also thought of having some compressed air nozzles built into the wiper housing that would blow off chips only when retracting, but so far it was not such an annoying problem.
I have looked at this video several times now and your design for the roller retracting way cover is just about perfect. I had done some experimenting with a retracting roller design on both my lathe and on my benchtop milling machine but struggled to find a suitable material for the cover itself. I have tried thin industrial rubber sheet and the EPDM rubber sheet used to cover flat roofs but all these rubber based materials do not cope well with oil or coolant contamination. This material you have shown us here is perfect for the job. It would seem that a lot of the components for a system like this would be very suitable for 3d printing.
Indeed, for a half a year since I’m using it, it behaves very well. I will have a future video where I’ll add other retraction mechanism, as the spring does not have constant pulling force. Other than that it behaves as I hoped it will. Yes, if your model fits within the print bed, it is suitable for 3d printing. But for this kind of projects, I prefer metal. Ideally it would have been some surface ground steel, with a tempered blue color 😋
Wow i just discovered this channel. Amazing workshop you have put together, i am impressed by your dedication, skill and passion! I have just started chasing my dream of having a workshop of my own in my garage, if i could reach only half of what you have acheived with your workshop i would be delightful.
You probably know all the BS videos with the law of attraction... well I could say that having this shop is the only argument that it might work 😆 About 10 years ago I didn't yet had my first lathe, and I could have never imagined that I would be here. But yes, it seems that I am attracted to tools and the tools are attracted to me, so here we are! 😄 Do it in your pace, it does not matter how small the steps are, it will grow in time. I wish I had this long term drive for other stuff like eating healthier or working out, but I spend almost all my time thinking on how to build, something, how to fix something, how to improve something. I totally understand your dream, chase it! Its worth it! Thanks for the kind words! 🍻
Nice looking setup ! When programming 4 axis machines i have found its far easier to set my Y + Z axis Zero in the center of rotation, that way you only need one datum. I've almost 40 years of experience programming and operating CNC machines, and that is most definitely the most practical way of doing it. It goes without saying that using the vice you need to ensure you set the part in the right place. Depending on your accuracy requirements, this can be as easy as putting in a 10mm dowel in the spindle and using that as a retractable stop. This would usually be accurate enough for a first operation.
Thanks for your comment! By ensuring that the part is in the right place you mean making sure that within the vise jaws, the stock is perfectly centered left to right?
@@LikeFactoryMade that is correct. obviously with the 3 jaw the part is self centering. i wouldn't be inclined to use the vise for 2nd operation on the 4th axis due to accuracy of location. either that or you reset your datum for every part on each plane you work on, which you realise is a nightmare and an accident waiting to happen.
Really nice build. So in Fusion it's pretty simple. you need to find the right Post Processor for your setup (Fusion Post processor Bibliothek) then you need to tell Fusion which part of your fourth axis ist turning and the center of rotation. When it comes to CAM you can then choose one face for your coordinate system and then in your for example facing operation you find something like align coordinate system, click the face that has to be perpendicular to your z axis and Fusion will align your 4 axis. that works with every operation type like drilling, 2d contour etc.
The thing is that the stock inside the vise, can be clamped more to the left or more to the right, if we assume that from a vertical perspective, its being clamped exactly in the middle. I am wondering if fusion should be aware about that left or right offset that the stock can have in the vise.
I already have modified the linuxcnc postprocessor to activate the 4th axis, its aware of it and it works well for round parts, my confusion is about the rectangular parts that are not exactly clamped on the center of the vice.
Gaw`dayum, this is a proper renzettification of a lathe... Remarkably nicely done... The pulley system idea for the actuation is even better, but as you said, you had no time for it and this was a prototype... I mean, i`m almost speechless, which happens around as often as a full blackout of the sun... I`ve seen quite a few way cover videos, and of them all, maybe 5 in total have pleased me to the point of commendation and desire to either replicate the design or adapt some features into my own designs... This one is in those 5 videos... I would have considered a way to make the chip-guard curve downwards, rather than being a flat sheet, as chips and abrasive crap has a remarkable tendency to defy gravity and physics in it`s pursuit of precise surfaces to ruin, but alas, your cross-slide guarding is supreme in that aspect... All that being said, i would not have used aluminium for the sheet housing or any parts really, just for the dissimilar metals issue potentially with that block resting against the ways... I tend to solely use alu on alu parts, inox on inox and for cast iron, regular steel and brass/bronze, i`m fine mixing those together, but inox and alu, well, those i tend to treat as troublesome at best... Anodizing and all other metal treatments notwithstanding... I would likely have gone with a same slab of regular steel, but as a finishing step, i would have heat oxidized it to a spotty gentle purple, purple and dark blue before letting it cool below the smoke point and would have dunked it in oil to glaze and seal the oxides... It`s a `yuge part to heat blue, but the bigger the better, as there is more surface for the pornography that is oxide finish to manifest on... All the best and kindest regards! Steuss Oh, btw, you have earned a sub dear machinist brother...
Find a datum ball or make one, and then probe and find the center of the ball in 2 points 180 degrees apart in A axis and then calculate the center of rotation. I have made a similar program for my 5 axis machine that calculates the center of rotation for the C, B axis and sets the G59. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-orfUwBFwDgQ.html
Thanks for your comment. I can calculate the center of rotation on the axis itself, but when I am clamping some stock, maybe the stock is not perfectly centered left to right within the vise jaws. Or maybe the vise does not clamp perfectly centered. If we take as example a piece of rectangular stock, its not clear for if the center of rotation is not exactly concentric with the intersection of the diagonals, how should I reflect that in fusion. If the center of rotation is the same with the intersection of the diagonals, in fusion its simple, the offset will be in the center of the stock. How about when the two centers don't intersect in the real life? How should I handle that in fusion?
@@LikeFactoryMade HI, in solidworks I have make a 3d drawing with 3 lines for x,y,z for the axis center of rotation and 3 lines for the part real location, I probe the part and set in cam the part the real position and use as work coordinate the center of rotation.
Well done Vasi! I see you're getting better at CAD. Did the plasma nitriding modify the geometry of the piece in any way? (did it add or remove a couple of microns?)
Thanks! It did added a couple of microns, and since everything was already very tight fit, I had to take light pass with sandpaper on the alignment boss on the inside. Other than that, nothing was that tight to become an issue.
Both indicators are metric. The first indicator used to measure the chuck spindle taper runout is 0.001mm/div (0.0394) and the other one is 0.01mm/div (0.394 thousand of an inch). Yes, could tweak this further, but I’ve found it quite annoying that the set screws are not 90deg apart from another. It seems they didn’t had enough room.
Yes, I can share them, but without the actual cycloidal drive, they will be quite useless. The entire design was build around that Spinea TS 140 cycloidal drive.
:)) that's how desperation sounds in Romanian :)) i don't even curse anymore, i just search for the feed hold button and count my blessings that the spindle bearings haven't shot out of the spindle yet(I have a spare spindle in a box waiting for that occasion). It is weirdly exciting to see how many times a mistake is recoverable, especially when making things for myself. Maybe it doesn't quite need that extra 1.5mm of height, maybe it can be 2mm smaller on all sides, maybe a bigger chamfer is actually better, etc. Anyway, look into the cheapish carbide drill bits, i got one from a local suplier and haven't managed to kill it yet and it doesn't seem to wonder anywhere near as much as the normal ones.
After I changed my channel name to LikeFactoryMade, I told myself that I'm gonna engrave all the parts that I make with the (upcoming) logo. After fails like these, I feel somehow it doesn't deserve that logo. But I guess its just me, needing to accept failure as part of the process.
I think your measurements would be more accurate if you were to measure in reference to the bearing surfaces, not the unverified underside of the horizontal surface
Hey! Nice work. I have a Harrison M280 CNC/Manual lathe and I'm considering scraping the ways myself, or finding a professional to do it. Do you think the results you got with your lathe was worth the effort? Thanks!
My ways were reground, I scraped just the saddles. I think scraping the ways would be waaaay more complicated than scraping the saddles. Mine at least were hardened. I would recommend regrinding the bed (if that’s needed) then you can do yourself the matching with the saddles. In terms of effort, for me it took about a half a year because I had very limited time and basically no experience, but I really like what came out. Cheers!
Both vises are from this company mlockvises.com/mlock-workholding/ But from what I understood, after the pandemic due to some increases in the material cost and heat treatment, he’s not producing the big one anymore because they are not price competitive.
This channel is new to me. Very good surprise : interesting, inspirational, entertaining, nicely edited videos. Many thanks. Already delighted to follow up this channel.
Finally you got around doing this video, And showing the mishaps and all the processes with little filters is more appreciated than showing directly a perfect result. People like to see mistakes, the thing just burns better in their mind (what to avoid where to be careful and so on) Thumbs up!
Awesome machining! I built a 4 axis CNC Bridgeport, but my rotary axis is a belt driven 5C collet. I have a BLDC Harmonic Drive that I have been meaning to modify into a much more capable 4th axis. Thanks for the inspiration. Also, for larger threads. Have you considered using a thread mill to cut threads?
I am wondering why thread milling never crossed my mind 😅 In fact I’ve never tried thread milling since I have this machine because initially I had no thread mill, but after I found one on the fleamarket, I did not allocated the time to do some learning on plastics before I jump to steel. I need to put this task on my todo list. Thanks for bringing this up! 🍻
@@LikeFactoryMade I use Mach3, which has a thread milling subroutine. I use it for any threads over 12mm (1/2"). If it is a single flute cutter, you can cut multiple thread pitches, along with chamfering the top of the hole with the same tool.
@@keithviolette5870thanks for bringing this into my sight. Its so obvious why it would be the best solution that I can’t figure out how it didn’t even crossed my mind 😅
Love your channel and your content, very informative specially when the projects are advantageous. Awesome. May I ask, what brand of wedge type machining vise is that? That looks like a very good vise.
Both vises are from here: mlockvises.com/ But as far as know after the pandemics, the materials and the heat treatment costs made it non profitable for him to produce it anymore. I really like it so far!
Fantastic! Your work is inspirational and thank you for making this video. Your manual / CNC lathe is exceptionally interesting and well done - I look forward to the next parts for this set up.
