rung fu clone RF-45 ZX45 cnc conversion

[jumps4]

Re: zx45 milling machine cnc conversion

I have drawn the x axis ballscrew bearing mount end plates and motor mount plate. I'll do the g-code tomorrow and start milling them out. It is so nice to have the sherline cnc to cut out these parts or this would be taking me months.
steve

 

[jumps4]

the sherline cut out the brackets to hold the bearing mounts on the ends of the x axis turned out perfect the original alignment pins fit right in. the ballscrew on the other hand was a problem. i tried to use my new lathe to grind the end down to fit the end bearing after cutting the ballscrew to length and it was a dumb mistake, way out of round. I chucked it in my old 9x20 hf with the collet chuck mounted, then used my homemade toolpost grinder and i ground it back round and undersize, then i made a sleeve pressed it on the end and reground to size. this time all mounted and preloaded there is less than .0005 wobble, phewwww i'll post pics of the fix tomorrow.
steve

 

[jumps4]

I forgot to mention that by reducing the end bracket height so it does not hit the saddle i gained 10" of extra travel. I'm not going to use all of it because of the overhang but a little extra is nice. the stepper motor mount will limit the extra I can use but thats about 3" extra on each end. i'll stop it with the limit switches.
steve

 

[jumps4]

I made the ballnut mount and installed everything on the x axis, there was a slight binding at the motor end of travel so i took it all back apart and remeasured everything. the chinese must have drilled the alignment pin holes in the table after assembly because the motor end bracket was .005 higher than the other end. the pins removed and the ends matched. then i rechecked the height of the ballnut mount and found it was .024 to tall. i removed .024 from underside of the table mounting spot and everything is very smooth now. the sleeve and regrinding of the ballscrew end worked out good the collet chuck straightened it out. after running the table with a drill i noticed the couplings do not clamp the screw tight enough the way they were designed so i'm going to grind flats on the shafts and add set screws to the couplings. there is still no new motor from china for the z axis aarrrrgggg

 

[jumps4]

I only spent about an hour in the shop today i needed to rest but i did get the front and back panels cut out of my enclosure and the electronics mounted. man am i glad i prewired, I would have never been able to wire this in the enclosure. I powered it up and everything seems still intact. I still havent wired and tested motors yet. fans are a little loud but really moving a lot of air and i put in the air filter in the bottom. I also put all the screws in the panels i took the pic too soon.
steve

 

[Old Iron]

Looking good Steve, That is way be on my little pea brain.:rofl:

Paul

 

[jumps4]

thanks paul
I am trying to take my time and do it once.
notice the enclosure i used? It is one half of the lathe stand i got with my new lathe. this is a better use for it than holding up a lathe. I'm going to use the other half as a tool grinder stand and bolt it down.
steve

 

[jumps4]

at 2:00am my back decided it didnt want me to lay down pill or no pill, so i went out to the shop to work on the y axis.
this tree frog was waiting for me when i started to put the camera on the tripod so i took his pic. I really pushed the sherline on this piece it was cutting at 5.11 ipm with a 3/16 2 flute hss 3500rpm at a depth of .025 and finished the part in 1 hour and 5 minutes. I'll make the motor mounts and ballnut mount tomorrow . I contacted the company in china today by email and they said they would call the post office about my motor and let me know where it is ??? it has been a month i think it's still on their shelf and they are feeding me eggfooyoung. I may have to use the beat up z motor. it's might be ok once i fix the broken wire but i didnt want to mess with it if they wanted the old one back...

 

[jumps4]

today went ok untill the end I made the rest of the y axis motor mounts parts they just need 8 holes drilled and tapped then installed that came out fine. i made the spacers for the x axis motor mount and they just need drilled and tapped. then i decided to let the mill cut out the x axis motor mount plate and either windows or mach3 got a headache so the last pic is scrap metal my sherline made me. everything was fine all that was left for the program to finish was drill 4 holes for the motor bolts and cut the part out. mach3 did not switch to a slow speed to drill. it plunged in to full depth and a G0 plunge then tried to move to the next hole while still down. I stopped everything reset the mill to zero, checked the g-code and began again making the holes larger to use a through bolt and nut instead of tapping a hole it could be salvaged and the first one went fine the second hole was no where near where it was supposed to be. scrap metal! I flipped the breaker and went in the house tomorrow is another day.
that is the last part i needed to mount the motors:lmao::lmao::lmao:. i would have thought it was the sherline messing up but it does not speed up when it is acting up it just misses steps. i never had it do this before and i better find out why before i start running the new mill ( it wont be on that pc for sure )
steve

 

[jumps4]

everything that went wrong yesterday was my fault i was too tired to be in the shop after no sleep the night before. there was nothing wrong with windows, mach3 or the sherline, i set it up wrong and the recentered on the big cut out and not the center of the part duhhh
today almost started the same as the power went out while running but i reset everything and completed the parts i needed to install all 3 axis. i just need to make covers to keep swarf out. tomorrow i'll install and adjust everything. the lift cylinders came today and next i will start work on the limit switches and brackets for the cylinders.
steve