Flat parts machined on all sides?

Aug 16, 2010 47 Replies

Especially given that a human will invariable and instinctively back off as soon as things start making grunching noises, whereas a CNC will happily continue feeding at the programmed rate until something stalls or breaks...

Jon

I have seen really milled out vises at some places too.

i

craftsmanship. Why not slow

Actually, this is an extremely non-violent machine, very user friendly. Stuff just does not fly too far due to low RPM.

Once I broke an endmill because it gummed with aluminum and was stuck.

Another time, the endmill was in the hole and I accidentally commanded the table to move horizontally.

All things considered, knowing that I already used the mill quite a bit and tried a few things, having just two end mills broken is not so bad.

i

"Pete C." on Tue, 17 Aug 2010 09:15:28 -0500 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

"Missed it by that much!" Crap.

pyotr

Indeed. Im quite impressed at your evolution. You are doing very well.

Gunner

What's that Lassie? You say that Jon Anderson fell down the old rec.crafts.metalworking mine and will die if we don't mount a rescue by Tue, 17 Aug 2010 07:05:10 -0800:

It also doesn't care how loud you scream, or how much you bleed. Keep within range of the E-stop buttons.

They will do for onesy-twosy operations -- though I would consider three to be better, so you could clamp in a third spot before releasing the first -- less chance of the workpiece shifting -- rotating around the sole remaining clamp pressure point.

But if you are doing a lot of something, I would suggest the De-Sta-Co toggle clamps.

Drop into the MSC page (or catalog) and look at item 3 #65189706 -- with a soft pad to avoid marring. They are also available with simply the slotted bar which you can put a bolt into -- and perhaps polish the head a bit first if you want a heavier grip. This one is a

1000 lb clamp capacity for $21.07 each. Others are down to 600 lb capacity -- or much less for really small ones.

Anyway -- when you operate the lever, the clamping bar lifts 90 degrees as the handle pivots out of the way.

There are other versions which push horizontally -- to hold the workpiece against a stop on the table to start in the proper position.

Anyway -- they are very quick to operate to move the one out of the area about to be machined and to lower another into the area already machined.

To see the whole collection -- at least one other brand besides De-Sta-Co -- just search on "Toggle Clamp". At least the first page does not show anything which does not belong -- unlike with many searches on their site.

Of course, you can find them on eBay -- or in one of your usual lucky find areas.

Enjoy, DoN.

Hmm... can Voice Recognition be added maybe?

"ARGGggg!" = E-stop

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