Has anyone made a dual axis tramming tool?

[Starlight Tools]

that's Ok Jerry, I thought you were just pulling my chain.

The link that I pointed out shows about stoning down the table.

Walter

 

[Magnum]

Won't be long till my hobby will be turning into a small business. But there is a lot to be learned by hobbyist and how they accomplish things. More specifically small parts and holding. I do think my point was lost in the posts. It is cheaper to make things but first you must have a very accurate machine to make tools to set your machine up to within .001. Something like this fits that.


Back on the topic from the OP, not sure anyone has seen the different uses for a tool like this. Here is how they are used and an example of alternate uses. My machine is CNC not a tilt head, so can't use the second video.

[video=youtube;qGdptphPWGs] http://www.youtube.com/user/mrpete222#p/u/44/qGdptphPWGs [/video]


You might want to forward to the 5:00 minute mark on this one:


[video=youtube;RMmSsQj6S6s] http://www.youtube.com/user/mrpete222#p/u/39/RMmSsQj6S6s [/video]

author=starlight_tools link=topic=1723.msg25532#msg25532 date=1315842038
Magnum

I do not think you need to move on. There are quite a few of us that have spent large amounts on our workshops. My workshop sort of doubles as a small business / hobby. As I have stated before it is often hard for me to determine where the hobby starts and the work ends.

 

[Tenn]

Saw several rather abrasive comments about not using brake rotors to tram a mill head. I can see your point but after very carefully turning a rotor down on both sides and checking it for flat and thickness tolerances to suit myself on a surface plate I find it quite satisfactory for tramming my mill head in. If you want or need tolerances closer than 0.001" then you will probably want something other than a brake rotor. My mill table is so badly scarred and abused by the former owner that those tolerances are quite satisfactory for my own purposes and probably for others as well. Just my two cents worth. I liked the idea of a large bearing race and I like the idea of the tramming tool as well but it's not in my budget so I make do with what I have. It is amazing the tolerances one can accomplish with less than perfect machinery if you have a bit of patience and do the best you can with what you have. ;0

 

[Magnum]

I actually started to buy/use a brake rotor for my mill as like you say it seem like a very practical solution as they are in dead held to within .001 tolerance on most rotors. However, having designed rotors before (train/helicopter type application) I realized there may be an issue most are overlooking.

What about rotor surface finish, most are in the 30-60Ra. Is that a smooth enough surface to indicate off of? (Been a long time converting that to grit, but isn't that about 120-80 grit?)

What about the parallelism of the brake rotor surface and the hub part that would sit on the mill table? I would think using the front of the rotor would have the closest tolerance as it must hold the rim on the car. But the back side may very well anybody's guess as its tolerance. The video posted shows the correct way I think to place the rotor I think.

author=Tenn link=topic=1723.msg25674#msg25674 date=1315953591
Saw several rather abrasive comments about not using brake rotors to tram a mill head. I can see your point but after very carefully turning a rotor down on both sides and checking it for flat and thickness tolerances to suit myself on a surface plate I find it quite satisfactory for tramming my mill head in. If you want or need tolerances closer than 0.001" then you will probably want something other than a brake rotor. My mill table is so badly scarred and abused by the former owner that those tolerances are quite satisfactory for my own purposes and probably for others as well. Just my two cents worth. I liked the idea of a large bearing race and I like the idea of the tramming tool as well but it's not in my budget so I make do with what I have. It is amazing the tolerances one can accomplish with less than perfect machinery if you have a bit of patience and do the best you can with what you have. ;0