How Should I Machine This?

[JimDawson]

does that replace your clock spring(?)

The clock spring is still in there. The clock spring preloads the the Z axis drive gears. The counterbalance actually preloads the quill rack & pinion. This is how I eliminated all of the backlash in the Z axis system.

Depending on the Z axis drive system, you could eliminate the clock spring. On a conventional lead screw drive you would not need the counterbalance or the clock spring. I chose a gear system so it would be a quick changeover to manual operation, all I have to do is flip a lever and turn off the Z drive power.

I'm also noticing a hole in your head which leads to what I assume is the gearhead. shouldn't that whole compartment be more or less full of oil?

There is very little oil in the head. The back gears are greased and are above that area. That hole is where the original quill feed engage lever was. The only oil in there is for the external quill oiling, but not the spindle bearings. It's the same area the the oiler on the right rear accesses. Only requires a few drops per day and just drips out the bottom of the quill housing.

My head is pretty much gutted. All of the quill power feed hardware has been removed. The only original parts in there is for the the back gear and the quill pinion shaft.

 

[Metal]

So making progress this weekend.
Added 20a fuses between the controllers and power supply and between the controllers and motors, everything should be good now, maybe

1. Slowing down to 6-8 ipm climb cutting and doing a .04" finishing pass gives things a really good finish, I'm wondering if slowing down the feed overall and just going deeper to get roughly the same clear per minute may be the way to go
2. Servo's overheating, I've rigged up some PC CPU fans to the x/y and will wire them up today, it takes about 30-45 minutes or so for them to get hot enough to concern me (still not too hot to touch maybe I'm overly concerned) so I figured with that slow of a warm up it isn't that big of a deal, I was looking around, but couldn't find any heatsinks, I could have sworn that someone sold heatsinks where the base plate was thin enough you could just bend it around the motor, may have to make something.
3. I still keep losing zero, typically stop the cycle with the yellow button in mach3 which completes the current move then stops, turn off the spindle/cnc, leave it for 30 minutes or so, then come back and repeat the steps in reverse, I'm losing zero somewhere in here, and sometimes during tool changes.

 

[JimDawson]

1. Slowing down to 6-8 ipm climb cutting and doing a .04" finishing pass gives things a really good finish, I'm wondering if slowing down the feed overall and just going deeper to get roughly the same clear per minute may be the way to go

Give it a try, a lot of machine work is experimenting to see what works best.

2. Servo's overheating, I've rigged up some PC CPU fans to the x/y and will wire them up today, it takes about 30-45 minutes or so for them to get hot enough to concern me (still not too hot to touch maybe I'm overly concerned) so I figured with that slow of a warm up it isn't that big of a deal

A 40°C temperature rise is common for motors. If you can touch them, it's normally OK. I have had steppers go to 145° F running unloaded, this is normal.

3. I still keep losing zero, typically stop the cycle with the yellow button in mach3 which completes the current move then stops, turn off the spindle/cnc, leave it for 30 minutes or so, then come back and repeat the steps in reverse, I'm losing zero somewhere in here, and sometimes during tool changes.

What happens if you leave the CNC powered up? How much error are you getting?

 

[Metal]

I threw some pc fans on the servo's with zipties, and they are now ice cold after 30+m before I had about 45m before they were pretty hot, so I think we're okay there.

I'm not sure yet how far it is off, but I'm resolving it for now by just taking a final finishing cut which should take up the .0x" that its off.
I've also discovered that my inches are about .001 too long, so some more tuning is necessary.

I'm getting a slight rattle in what sounds like the drawbar at higher speeds now too, hrm

 

[bfd]

I would need to see your work (just like high school math) but itlooks like you are trying to climb mill instead if conventional mill. climb milling sets the cutter to climb up on the part and if there is any lead screw slop it will pull the part forward and cause it to dig in.climb milling should be limited to the finish cut for alum. .005" cut. reroute your direction of cut to feed the endmill so the cutting action is from inside the part to outside the part instead from over the top of the part. bill