On Sunday 11 February 2018 03:01:58 Chris Albertson wrote: > This is astounding that it apparently works just fine. > > It is a 3D printed part that adapts a stepper motor directly to a > Sieg X2 mill. Just one part is required for the X and one part for > the Y. It will require 127 grams of PLA plastic which costs $2.47 My > printer will take 9 hours to make this. If I start printing right now > it will be finished in the morning. > > The question everyone asks is if this will work well enough to make a > copy of itself in aluminum. I don't know but I think you would need a > four axis setup to make this in metal. And the mill would have to > remove $100 worth of chips. A better way is to use "lost plastic" > casting and pour aluminum in then machine the working surfaces flat. > But maybe no need as I've been told the weak link is the lead screw, > not the plastic. > > In any case I'm now spoiled by my printer's ability to make complex > rounded organic shapes. CAD software makes drawing these shapes very > easy. I'm going to have to learn to cast metal. > > Even if CNC is not wanted, this has to be the easiest way to add the > X-axis power feed. > > In any case making milling machine parts with plastic is such an > outlandish idea that i am going to have to try this. Not much to > loose with price of price of plastic at 2 cents per gram. > > https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2446297
Looks good Chris. Its been close to 20 years ago when I put the LMS big table kit on mine, made some sliding fins type couplings, put some ball thrust washers into the handle bearing bosses, and a pair of teeny ball screws in my first HF micro-mill. I made a motor mount flange out of 1/8" plate, and made some steel standoffs to space the motors out to make room for the couplings. Shade tree mechanics for sure, but its still working fine yet in 2018. Now the z drive on that is a different critter, but its working fine too. Another reason to get one of those 3d printer things is that I don't have a thread protector for the 2.25x8 spindle on my Sheldon. I've considered making one out of alu, but putting that in contact with alu doesn't seem like a Good Thing. I saw a you-tube video where someone made one out of pla for a smaller 6" craftsman, and expanding that for the 2.25" seems like a good idea. And it wouldn't take a huge printer to do that. Complete with some pretty aggressive knurling to get a good hand grip on it. I'm impressed, but I need to make the rock64 run that Sheldon first. -- Cheers, Gene Heskett -- "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed Howdershelt (Author) Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
