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Post by GTCGreg on Feb 14, 2017 23:04:38 GMT
Got a new toy. Not exactly industrial grade but it will do everything I need it for.
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Post by Lokifan on Feb 15, 2017 0:22:11 GMT
Put up a warning in advance, next time. Gosh, I sure hope my keyboard is drool proof...
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Post by GTCGreg on Feb 15, 2017 0:45:07 GMT
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Post by silverdragon on Feb 15, 2017 9:32:03 GMT
I am going to ignore that definite tool-porn you have posted, not because of envy, but because "I WANT ONE" and I am sure my Wife would have a few words to say against that idea.
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Post by kharnynb on Feb 15, 2017 17:45:41 GMT
yea, that falls in the category of if only i had the money, space and time to use it (not bothering with any "Need" questions...)
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Post by GTCGreg on Feb 15, 2017 18:54:28 GMT
Actually, I do have a business need for it. Not sure if that's justification or just an excuse.
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Post by ponytail61 on Feb 16, 2017 1:46:20 GMT
When I first got out of high school I got a job at a small machine shop that was a subcontractor to NASA. They had 2 CNC mills that were the coolest things I had seen and thankfully got to use. This was 1979 and the things cost 100k each. They were like these. When I retire I will have to put one of these little ones on my bucket list. Though I'd probably go with the model that you mount your own router to as I would be doing mostly woodwork. Edit.....forgot to add this for Greg
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Post by GTCGreg on Feb 16, 2017 3:23:04 GMT
Yeah, that's kind of how I feel. I haven't had much experience with CNC milling machines, but I do have some with 3D printing. From what I understand, it's pretty similar. It's just that with one you add material and the other, you subtract it.
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Post by Lokifan on Feb 16, 2017 4:51:51 GMT
Okay, I gotta ask--
What's the first project?
Give us a vicarious tool guy thrill, huh?
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Post by silverdragon on Feb 16, 2017 7:21:39 GMT
That looks incredibly like my old schools setup... well, from what I can remember, from back about the same time... Yeah, we had some fun. Did I ever use one since?. Nope. [..I just left it to the guys that could... they know better than me?..] But knowing what they can do, helped when I need a "part" reproducing, I could work out what was possible or not....
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Post by GTCGreg on Feb 16, 2017 13:52:13 GMT
Okay, I gotta ask-- What's the first project? Give us a vicarious tool guy thrill, huh? First project is to get it set up and figure out where the on-off switch is. I'll let you know what happens after that.
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Post by GTCGreg on Feb 16, 2017 13:53:14 GMT
That looks incredibly like my old schools setup... well, from what I can remember, from back about the same time... Yeah, we had some fun. Did I ever use one since?. Nope. [..I just left it to the guys that could... they know better than me?..] But knowing what they can do, helped when I need a "part" reproducing, I could work out what was possible or not.... When I was in school, they were just called NC machines and ran off a paper punch tape. You would create the tape on a teletype machine, loaded it on the mill, and then watch it tear itself up. There weren't many safeguards. What's interesting is the size of the motors on the mills in that picture. The spindle motor on the unit I bought is rated at 3HP (2.3Kw) and is liquid cooled. That presents another problem in that I have to install a 220 Volt circuit for it.
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Post by wvengineer on Feb 16, 2017 17:04:40 GMT
When I first got out of high school I got a job at a small machine shop that was a subcontractor to NASA. They had 2 CNC mills that were the coolest things I had seen and thankfully got to use. This was 1979 and the things cost 100k each. They were like these. That looks a lot like the corner of the machine shop at my last job. They had a dozen or so bridgeport mills like that. I actually looked at CNC conersion kits for those. There are conversion kits ready made for the Bridgeport setup. You can get 3 axis conversion kits for as little as $5,000 to $10,000 that are pretty easy to install. Heck you can get a Bridgeport style mill with CNC controls installed in the factory for around $25K.
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Post by GTCGreg on Feb 16, 2017 17:29:08 GMT
That looks a lot like the corner of the machine shop at my last job. They had a dozen or so bridgeport mills like that. I actually looked at CNC conersion kits for those. There are conversion kits ready made for the Bridgeport setup. You can get 3 axis conversion kits for as little as $5,000 to $10,000 that are pretty easy to install. Heck you can get a Bridgeport style mill with CNC controls installed in the factory for around $25K. So you can convert a Bridgeport to CNC for $5 to 10K. But first you need a Bridgeport to convert. My son has a small vert mill that we looked at converting to CNC. It would have been about $3K to convert and still wouldn't have given us the versatility of the CNC router. At least for the type of material we need to machine.
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Post by silverdragon on Feb 18, 2017 8:18:25 GMT
That looks incredibly like my old schools setup... well, from what I can remember, from back about the same time... Yeah, we had some fun. Did I ever use one since?. Nope. [..I just left it to the guys that could... they know better than me?..] But knowing what they can do, helped when I need a "part" reproducing, I could work out what was possible or not.... When I was in school, they were just called NC machines and ran off a paper punch tape. You would create the tape on a teletype machine, Bloody hell, I still have a spool of that up on the bookshelf from... oh, erm, was it 1980, or before then?.. 220, 230, 240, thats "British" voltage, you got two phases you can use?.. yours is 120volt isnt it?.. use two circuits you get the 220 but that has to be "Industrial" units?.. This is of course presuming you have similar to UK street wiring of three phase, .. Or you could find a meaty stepper that would go from 120 to 220, but be warned, if I remember right, they draw a lot of power, enough to dim the lights.
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Post by kharnynb on Feb 18, 2017 10:31:26 GMT
As far as i remember, the US uses a 3 wire/split phase instead of a 3-phase european solution
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Post by GTCGreg on Feb 18, 2017 14:08:14 GMT
When I was in school, they were just called NC machines and ran off a paper punch tape. You would create the tape on a teletype machine, Bloody hell, I still have a spool of that up on the bookshelf from... oh, erm, was it 1980, or before then?.. 220, 230, 240, thats "British" voltage, you got two phases you can use?.. yours is 120volt isnt it?.. use two circuits you get the 220 but that has to be "Industrial" units?.. This is of course presuming you have similar to UK street wiring of three phase, .. Or you could find a meaty stepper that would go from 120 to 220, but be warned, if I remember right, they draw a lot of power, enough to dim the lights. Nearly all homes in the United States receive 120/240 Volt single phase power. Most lightning and plugged in appliances operate from 120 V. Higher powered appliances such as stoves, ovens, clothes dryers and water heaters operate from 240 V. Note that we usually refer to the higher voltage as 220 V although it is actually closer to 240 V. I will have no problem getting 240 V power for the CNC router. It's just a matter of running a wire from the breaker panel and installing a 240 V outlet. I have plenty of time to do this as they just informed me the router will not be delivered until late March.
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Post by GTCGreg on Feb 18, 2017 14:23:38 GMT
As far as i remember, the US uses a 3 wire/split phase instead of a 3-phase european solution Residential homes in the United States are supplied with 120/240 V single phase power. Most industrial customers are supplied with 480/277 V three-phase star configuration. Local transformers are used to convert the 480 to 120 V single phase for plugged in equipment such as computers, printers etc.
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Post by the light works on Feb 18, 2017 15:26:20 GMT
As far as i remember, the US uses a 3 wire/split phase instead of a 3-phase european solution Residential homes in the United States are supplied with 120/240 V single phase power. Most industrial customers are supplied with 480/277 V three-phase star configuration. Local transformers are used to convert the 480 to 120 V single phase for plugged in equipment such as computers, printers etc. to elaborate, industrial areas and high density areas have three phase power transmission, while rural areas commonly have one phase power transmission. large commercial and industrial applications convert all three phases to utilization voltage, and deliver either 120/208 or 277/480V three phase (older industrial installations can also have 120/240V open delta, but that is getting phased out as it has some inherent problems) residential services use a center tapped transformer on one phase to deliver 120/240 on three conductors. and technically, that is 115/230V RMS +/- 10% this means that at minimum load, most power companies will adjust their transformer to deliver around 122-123 volts to avoid having it drop below 105 at peak load. think about that next time you buy light bulbs rated for 120V.
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Post by silverdragon on Feb 20, 2017 9:40:28 GMT
As far as i remember, the US uses a 3 wire/split phase instead of a 3-phase european solution Doesnt that make it four wires? phase 1/2/3 and return/earth?..
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