Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Pen Plotting

In a message dated 06-Jul-02 17:18:09 Central Daylight Time,
exeric1@... writes:

>
> Does anyone know how to create a setup to plot a graphic directly on
> the milling machine? I'm talking about a device that holds a pen or
> pencil in the chuck with some spring loaded pressure to maintain
> contact on paper.

Eric: NO need for a spring-loading! Just use GRAVITY and the weight of a
good felt-tip pin on Vellum (or "clean-room paper" which is actually a kind
of rubber with no lint, and costs about 30¢ per sheet for 8½x11).

Surely, if you can operate a CNC mill, you are enough of a machinist to
cobble a little hinged rig with a vertical v-groove (which is hinged) which
can be fitted into a collet, the pen held on even just by a rubber-band!
Just be sure you don't turn-on the spindle-motor when "testing" the CNC
programs with this in the collet! Duh...

I am now finishing-up my SECOND plotter which has KMO-061 steppers, BSA
4-start lead-screws (1/2"/turn lead), and Gecko drives, to plot MY "CNC lathe
programs". This way, they are several times larger-scale, so "errors" are
easier to see, etc.

Jan Rowland


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