Re: ( was Software ) now Servo Wars

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, "Polaraligned"
<polaraligned@o...> wrote:

> My BOSS does 120 IPM with the stock steppers. I just don't know
> why anyone would want to move faster. It has a 12" x 18" cutting
> area and gets from one end to another fast. Personally, I could
> take even slower rapids and it would not bother me. This is in a
> mill setting though. A large router or cutter is a whole different
> beast, 120 IPM would probably be intolerable.

Consider if you were making a 12 x 18 tooling plate with a 1 x 1
inch hole pattern. ( 10 x 16 hole grid ). This a fairly common
project for a new CNC machine.

Spot drill all the holes, then peck drill the 1 inch plate for 1/4-
20 tapped holes. Your hole to hole travel is probably going to be
at least 170 inches per tool ( 10 x 16 hole grid ). At 120 inches
per minute your minimum time wasted in not cutting is 2.8 minutes.
At 45 ipm your useless time increases to 7.5 minutes. etc etc etc.
Now if you make 2 for yourself and 3 for your buddies, you will
spend between 14 and 38 minutes doing nothing but watch your machine
move between holes.

For the first plate run the investment in the "show" is well worth
it, and you might even want to slow down the rapid rate override to
make the show last longer. After you become experienced and watching
a CNC is not quite the novelty, you may begin to resent that to make
the parts that you want, your hobby machine requires that you work
it like a full time job. That's when it becomes more important to
have faster rapids, and stronger cutting forces for the actual
cutting time.

See you at the CNC-workshop next week. http://www.cnc-workshop.com

Fred Smith - IMService
http://www.cadcamcadcam.com/hobby