Wraped work

[neal_meyers_jr]

130 Spindles done. Now for the rails........

[BFenn]

Neal,

You have been a busy guy. They turned out well. It will be nice to see the rails, when you complete them.

[neal_meyers_jr]

I will post. Too much work went into using the recoil All Camasters should get them!

[eandico]

How long per spindle?

[neal_meyers_jr]

90 minutes per roughing. 30 min finishing each one.

[Mick Martin]

What is the length and max diameter of the spindles? What wood did you use?
90 + 30 = 120 minutes per spindle x 130 = 1560 minutes = 26 hours WOW

[eandico]

Ya missed a zero there Mick! 260hrs
2hrs per is a long time!!!!!!!

[Mick Martin]

Ya missed a zero there Mick! 260hrs
2hrs per is a long time!!!!!!!

Your right Nick ..... I ran out of fingers and toes

[rcrawford]

2 hours each? That's dedication! You need a lathe duplicator. Could make them in less than 10 minutes each with an old fashioned duplicator!!

You could also change your stepper motor for a normal lathe motor, and mount a gouge and a parting tool to the aluminum plate where the spindle is mounted. Then use the Y and Z axis to carve out the shape from above with the gouge and parting tool while the lathe spins (just offset the gouge and parting tool so both can be mounted and used by just changing the x position).

Or mount a mini lathe onto the cobra bed and do the same thing with a gouge and parting tool. Just some thoughts to speed things up!

[JohnnyCNC]

Neal,

I'd like to discuss your feedrates with you. I believe we can cut that WAY down. I could be wrong, but email me your tap file if you will. I'd like to have a look. Also include your wincnc.ini file and your Aspire post processor if you don't mind. It'll probably be tomorrow before I get a chance to look at it, but I will look at it for you.

[neal_meyers_jr]

Will Do Johnny.... Thank you in advance.

Mick as for the details here is what I did and some of what I learned.. This is going to be a longish post...


The stock is Popular. Purchased 2800 board feet locally. Sawyer cut me block 4 inches thick by 8 inches wide by lengths divisible by 3'. I cut 4x4x36 inch blanks. Found center and mounted on lathe. Cut spindles to shape with max OD of 3.5 inches when finished. The stock was not kiln dry it was and is still some what wet.

Lesson one did not create rounding file just knocked corners off at Table saw. Ran roughing file using a .5 Ball Nose bit. Had to have one resharpened 2 times. One once and still have one well used one left.(Will be getting it sharpened soon.) Step over I think was 15% and Spindle speed maxed at 18K rotation of Recoil 20K again I think. ( I am at my day job so I can not look at the file will clarify tonight.) The finish file was a .25 BN ran at same as above but smaller step over.

Ran appx 60 that way then started cutting the blanks to rough round on my PowerMatic Lathe to reduce stress on the cutter for the first pass. Some times when cutting it sounded like the cutter was chattering and I think twice it vibrated down out of the collet (Replaced the .5 and .25 collets twice doing this job) I will post picks of the failures later. I also started roughing the tenons on the ends of the spindles this way too. Again trying to reduce stress and ware on the cutters. Okay back to the day job will post more picts and details later this PM as well as more details on how I set my Recoil up to cut as well as some of the things and tricks I learned about Molly during this job . Thank everyone for your comments. CamHeads are the Greatest

PS took 4 55 gallon drums of sawdust to dump. Wish I knew some one with horses but it went in to the compost waste bin so it will be back around again.

[richf]

What's the word I'm looking for - Tenacity. Wow, that is some serious production - what did you do, get up every couple of hours at night to kick it off? Are you still on good terms with your family and neighbors? Are the 130 spindles for one job that you are doing?

Impressive. Can't wait to hear the whole story and see the finished project.