Re: what I have

Gentlemen,

Here are the toys in my shop:

Jet mill/drill with 450 oz-in stepper motors, drives that I built with Dan
Mauch and Kevin Carroll's help using Ericsson chips and mosfets- pushing 5
to 6 amps each. It is driven with Maxnc Deluxe software, step and
direction version. It used to have Dancam/Danplot running it. Generic 486
computer running the machine. You can see pictures of it at
www.metalworking.com in the Dropbox.

Sherline mill with 60 oz-in steppers on it. It has drives from General
Controls powering it. Right now, there isn't a computer hooked up, but it
had a 286 running Dancam on it until I needed to rob the floppy to keep the
mill/drill computer going.

Wells Index knee mill- model 40 H. This is a small knee mill that is a bit
bigger than a Clausing. This needs a lot of rework and scraping before I
hang some controls on it. When I do, the knee will be the Z-axis.

South Bend model A 9" lathe. I have a full cross slide from a giant
LeBlond that I want to set up just behind the bed of the South Bend, at an
angle, to make a slant bed CNC lathe. It would be possible to leave the
manual aspect of the lathe alone that way. About 6 months ago, I milled
clearance on the underside of the Sherline mill and set it up on the ways
of the South Bend. With the X-axis of the Sherline perpendicular to the
lathe bed, and an improvised toolholder clamped to it's table, it was a
mini CNC lathe.

Recently, I bought Vector 7 from Fred Smith at www.imsrv.com and it has
been a real asset. This is a CAM program that is low-cost, but very
productive. It seems that it is somehow related to Bobcad. Now, I don't
see how I went so long without it. If you have a CNC of any kind- buy a
CAM package.

My future projects:
Get linux and EMC running. This last weeked, I installed Linux. Later on
I realized that Redhat 5.0 is kernel 2.0.32 and I need 2.0.33 to run the
RTlinux stuff. OK, time to download a later version or buy another CD.

Set up a servo system. I have built six stepper controllers and will
probably build a few more, but servos look affordable now.

Build a small VMC using a small bed mill as the iron to hang everything on.
This would involve servos the Nist/EMC and possibly a toolchanger. The
small Rong Fu RF-45 machines look very attractive for what they are-
dovetail column for the Z-axis and a table that is the same size as the one
I have now.

A floating head for a CNC engraver. I do a bit of engraving, some on a
pantograph, but most on my CNC mill/drill. It has become apparent to me
that a floating spindle would be good on surfaces that are slightly uneven.
Sanding and buffing sometimes leaves dips in brass and it would be nice to
be able to compensate. Using a diamond drag bit in the spindle, I think
that I could take advantage of some of the cursed backlash found in a
mill/drill quill. I haven't tried it yet, but it might be fun later on.
Measuring how much current the spindle motor is pulling with a rotating
cutter might be of some use, but seems too complicated.

Anyway, that's my list of toys.

Thanks,
Dan Falck