Member postings for Paul White 3

Duncan & Ndiy,

thank you both for your comments. It is very interesting to me that the points you make

cover my reasons for the drive mods - the std machine when fitted with single phase motor

was loud from the cabinet vibrations and gearbox noise. The separate motor has produced a silent operation.

The mod allows change in available work envelope both back and forth and up and down.

Thank you, to all the respondents to this thread.

The original objective was to identify the poster mentioning

centec head gearing, this has been achieved by Duncan

fessing up.

Ndiy- to answer your question, I fitted a1/2 HP ,3phase 1400 motor,

I don't know the head model no. , a picture of the set up exists in my

album.

I had hoped to read the shaft or motor speed, put that output through a very simple electronic item and feed that tto

the cheap tachometer units we all know. As this

now seems unlikely , a variant on Johns proposal, is the likely outcome.

NDIY, thanks for your response to my post. The heading was incorrect and the question badly phrased.

I will try again- My centec mill has its own vertical head motor, this motor has a VFD . The net of this set

up is that cutter speed has no reference . In a thread recently the poster passed an aside that he had

made a gizmo to read the cutter speed, this I think was set by comparing the cutter speed as read on a

hand held counter then setting the gizmo.

.

.

Previous post should be headed - Centec mill

Hello all,

A arecent thread contained reference to the odd vertical head gearing ratios on these machines, the

poster had produced an electronic gizmo to drive the normal cheap Rev counter.

I have fitted a VFD to the vertical head drive on my Centec and now have great difficulty in estimating cutter speed.

Could the forum member concerned please contact me.

Paul.

I too built Joe's ELS and must agree it is a wonderous beast.

I have also built the, Hobber / divider, to Joe's design, however the problems of accelerating the stepper to sync. with the cutter arbor would only arise if the machining was stopped mid pass, this is an operational technique situation, best avoided.

The matter of, stepper size required, has been stated as relevant to cutter rotational rate, cut back the rpm of the cutter and the stepper size required goes down. When using the ELS I always select a start point ,in the setting procedure, that is pre the actual cutting start , this allows any time needed for speeding up and backlash.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

Paul.

Hello all,

Not wishing to be argumentative but- my approach would be to consider the controller as a part of the project.

Other items- stepper, PSU, stepper controller, belts and gears, are by far the greatest part of the project spend thus

the comparative cost of the eelectronics is secondary.

Go for the most complete answer -Joe's all in one solution. I say.

Best wishes,

Paul

Thanks to all respondents , your comments were most helpful .

i had not wished to high jack the thread but

the OP question is pertinent to where I find myself.

Michael Briggs post takes us full circle- does the £50 unit have the set up spec. to allow the

use of small motors.

If Clive ever gets a "manual" I Would be pleased to hear.

Hello all,

can anyone comment on the use of a VFD rated at 1.5 kW on smaller motors, of 1/2 HP RATING.

TIA.

paul.

Bob.

Thanks for your helpful comment, I will try to

get a copy of your article .

John,

Thank You for your helpful input . More to source and read.

Paul

Hello Bob,

Thanks for your prompt response

I have an excellent ELS but it is fitted to a lathe. My hope is to make a small simple as possible item to use on the T&C grinder. As previously mentioned I have tried mechanical systems but the prospect of a variable pitch in the region of 1-2 TPI on up to 3" is still to be found.

was your Arduino program from a library, and was it simple.

thanks

paul

Hi Bob,

I would like to ask how you measure the helix of the cutters for sharpening.

I have tried all manner of devices (mechanical ) but have failed miserably . The area I am trying to address is that of

sharpening the sides of small end mills when the usual mechanical guide does not work.

your use of an electronic solution looks to the answer but the helix variation has me stumped.

thanks

paul

+1, well said Joe.

Dave Halford.

Your proposed - push back and clamp is the process I use, but had not been told that I couldn't!

Gary,

I must disagree with your "only purpose for the block" statement . My reason for making one was to change from vertical to horizontal configuration without taking off the very heavy head. This is perhaps what the OP was thinking.

Hello Frank,

Having the same problem with regard to the weight of the vertical head, I made a lifting block from a piece of 3" sq.

18" long mild steel. Having machined the dove tails I also drilled some lightening holes in the support.

I also fitted a separate motor for the vertical head driven thro a VFD . This set up removes the need to reset the drive belt.

Joe,

I should have guessed, did not consider stroke variation, making an even more impressive build.

Looks like a busy year, 2 days into it and 2 projects finished

.Paul

Joe,

Did you really mean 2 and 130 strokes/sec. I know you build fast but HSS blades must be essential!

A very neat product at any speed.

Joe, Many thanks for the very interesting link.

Emgee, I had a screen appear that suggested itself to be a windows security alert, warning me of a virus attack(3of them) and listing them, with the information that my operating system was in melt down. Action was advised to immediately use a scan (free of charge) by downloading from the page.

Ran windows security scan and Malwarebytes both gave clear result. The initial screen was quite convincing, take care.

Paul..

Hello all,

If anybody intends to buy one of the die grinders on offer today, be sure to open and check the contents before leaving the shop, I travelled and returned home then found on opening the carton that one of the collets was missing.

Spares are not held so a return journey is needed for exchange putting another £5 ONTHE PRICE.