A little bit of help; in the UK
Posted by
info.host@b...
on 2001-05-25 16:14:51 UTC
Hi Anthony,
I'm in exactly the same situation as you but my problem is finding the
money. John Stevenson on this list has given me a lot of his time and knows
about CNC in the UK. I think I remember seeing that the RF45 has a different
name in the UK but I'm not even 50% sure on that. There is picture of it
here... http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/_1999_retired_files/rf45-5.jpg
This site, www.gandmtools.co.uk and http://www.budgetmachinery.co.uk/ are
the only two sites I've found in the UK that sell second hand mills, and
have a list of them that you can look at.
www.gandmtools.co.uk seem to sell things you or I would want and the other
is more sort of £5,000+
http://www.gandmtools.co.uk/photos%20351-400/0372.html is much the same
size as the RF45 but made by Boxford. Boxford sell loads of stuff to
schools, this is retired from a school. We have two Boxford Union machines
in our newest DT lab. Boxford is a British company and it's site is at
www.boxford.co.uk if you'd like to have a look. Do a search for Duet on
their in site search in the menu. The Duet is their in the classroom style
mill. It works as a lathe as well I think. Anything that kids in a classroom
can use must be real expensive. www.gandmtools.co.uk is good for an hour or
so reading but the people who run it don't really want to talk unless you
ask to buy something.
I'm on ICQ if you'd like to talk to me in real time. My number is 76574387.
Let me know if you find anything interesting. Where abouts in the UK are
you? I'm in Wallasey, on Merseyside.
Best wishes,
John H.
N.B (No relation to any other Johns on the list)
N.B.B (Thanks to John S. for the help so far)
info.host@...
e.heritage@...
I'm in exactly the same situation as you but my problem is finding the
money. John Stevenson on this list has given me a lot of his time and knows
about CNC in the UK. I think I remember seeing that the RF45 has a different
name in the UK but I'm not even 50% sure on that. There is picture of it
here... http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/_1999_retired_files/rf45-5.jpg
This site, www.gandmtools.co.uk and http://www.budgetmachinery.co.uk/ are
the only two sites I've found in the UK that sell second hand mills, and
have a list of them that you can look at.
www.gandmtools.co.uk seem to sell things you or I would want and the other
is more sort of £5,000+
http://www.gandmtools.co.uk/photos%20351-400/0372.html is much the same
size as the RF45 but made by Boxford. Boxford sell loads of stuff to
schools, this is retired from a school. We have two Boxford Union machines
in our newest DT lab. Boxford is a British company and it's site is at
www.boxford.co.uk if you'd like to have a look. Do a search for Duet on
their in site search in the menu. The Duet is their in the classroom style
mill. It works as a lathe as well I think. Anything that kids in a classroom
can use must be real expensive. www.gandmtools.co.uk is good for an hour or
so reading but the people who run it don't really want to talk unless you
ask to buy something.
I'm on ICQ if you'd like to talk to me in real time. My number is 76574387.
Let me know if you find anything interesting. Where abouts in the UK are
you? I'm in Wallasey, on Merseyside.
Best wishes,
John H.
N.B (No relation to any other Johns on the list)
N.B.B (Thanks to John S. for the help so far)
info.host@...
e.heritage@...
----- Original Message -----
From: "Anthony Salsibruy" <antsals@...>
To: <CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2001 6:59 PM
Subject: Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] A little bit of help; Always works!!!
> RF45 mill??? What make where from I live in England, web page for
machine??
>
> Anthony
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Chris Stratton" <stratton@...>
> To: <CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Friday, May 25, 2001 5:35 PM
> Subject: Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] A little bit of help; Always works!!!
>
>
> > > I am still undecided what to do whether to buy a ready made
> > >CNC like the Taig milling machine or to retro fit one myself.
> > >Personally I would rather build one myself, get a small milling
> > >machine and you know do it myself. But I am worried about the
> > >electronics of it and the software sides of thing!! How have people
> > >done this?? Is there any literature that anyone knows of like a step
> > >by step guide to converting a machine?? Any companies that supply
> > >the electric gubins??? And the software?? I start getting lost in it
> > >all?? Should I just buy on of these small CNC machines??
> >
> > Anthony, a CNC machine has 3 parts: mechanics, electronics, and
> > software. What choices are best for you depend on how comfortable you
> > are with each. There are of course complete packages, but I think
> > many of them that are in the hobbyist price class may have serious
> > compromises in one of the areas, so in the end you'll end up doing
> > some system integration to upgrade things.
> >
> > Mechanics:
> >
> > First you need to decide what size machine. For just experimenting,
> > the sherline and taig size machines are good. People will loudly say
> > they make real parts on them, some apparently even in cottage-industry
> > production settings, but of course they have to be small parts. If
> > you want to make larger parts you may want to look at things like
> > the RF45 mill, or possibly the shoptask 3-in-1 (although there are
> > some serious compromises in that design.)
> >
> > Then you need motors and mounting hardware. If you don't have a lot
> > of machining experience, or would rather get on to the rest of the
> > project, then buying a machine that is available with premade motor
> > mounts is a definite win. You can for example get a sherline with the
> > motors already on it, or with mounts for standard 23-size steppers.
> >
> > Electronics:
> >
> > For simple machines this primarily means stepper drives. You can get
> > low-powered drives (2amps/phase) in kit form and assembled at various
> > prices. Many on the list use Dan Mauch's (www.seanet.com/~dmauch).
> > For larger machines there are things like the gecko drive modules
> > (www.geckodrive.com). Of course you have to add a power supply to
> > those. If you want to minimize wiring, outfits like Ah-hah (hope I
> > spelled that right) have complete enclosed boxes that you connect to
> > the computer, wall outlet, and motors.
> >
> > Software:
> >
> > Again, it depends on what you are comfortable working with. There are
> > solutions for dos, windows, and linux. The windows drivers that work
> > well include a custom hardware box and are a little more expensive.
> > The linux system called EMC works well, and continues to evolve, but
> > really is best for someone who has used linux or unix before.
> >
> > And of course there are outfits that will happily sell you a machine
> > tool, motors, drive electronics, software, and maybe even the pc to
> > run it. If the package is within your budget it may be a good way to
> > get started. Generally, you can with a little work make most
> > components from one source talk to another, so you can eventually
> > upgrade the lacking parts of a package.
> >
> > Chris
> >
> > --
> > Christopher C. Stratton, stratton@...
> > Instrument Maker, Horn Player & Engineer
> > 22 Adrian Street, Somerville, MA 02143
> > http://www.mdc.net/~stratton
> > NEW PHONE NUMBER: (617) 628-1062 home, 253-2606 MIT
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Welcome to CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@...,an unmoderated list for the
> discussion of shop built systems, for CAD, CAM, EDM, and DRO.
> >
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> >
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>
> Welcome to CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@...,an unmoderated list for the
discussion of shop built systems, for CAD, CAM, EDM, and DRO.
>
> Addresses:
> Post message: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com
> Subscribe: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
> Unsubscribe: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
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> Moderator: jmelson@... timg@... [Moderator]
> URL to this page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO
> bill,
> List Manager
>
> FAQ: http://www.ktmarketing.com/faq.html
>
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