CNC MILL 9
by John
Yesterday I cut some metal on the CNC mill for the first time.
I used one of the canned cycles built into the CNC controller, and faced and squared off a lump of brass which will be used for a hot air engine (The Ridder “bobber”).
Despite multiple readings of the manual, I got confused about which units required minus signs, and which ones the machine automatically assumed were positive and negative, and consequently, despite resting my hand on the emergency stop button in case such a contingency occurred, the head crashed straight into the milling vice, breaking 4 carbide tips and leaving a permanent love bite on the vice as a reminder of my incompetence.
After some expletives deleted, I re-entered the numbers, and next time, the machine went through its motions gracefully, purposefully, and quietly, leaving me with a nicely shiny and squared lump of brass.
It was so impressive, that I repeated the exercise, just for fun.
I had checked the squareness of the mill head to the table, and it was all within 0.01mm in 100mm, so nothing was altered.
I had bought a Z axis probe from CTC Tools in Hong Kong, and that was easy to use and accurate, for $a100.
Next step, to hook up a computer and try to download G code programs. Watch this space.
johnsmachines 
It might be interesting if you were to time how long different parts of the job take. Have you thought of machining a flat surface like this with a boring head fitted with the boring cutter horizontally?
john f
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I would normally square up a block like this manually, in a fraction of the time I spent setting up the CNC. But I had to start CNCing with something simple, so I chose this simple surface milling job. Next job will involve profiling with several curves/arcs. One step at a time….
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Awesome stuff. Jealous (as always!) Would love to be doing some metal machining.
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Come visit. I would like to show off my toys. Beer is in the fridge etc…
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