First mill chips

DavidR8 said:
I’m interested in how you rig up your feed.
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Before I got a real power feed I used a wiper motor mounted to the mill with angle iron and coupled to the shaft with a sleeve that fit the indents on the factory shaft. It was powered by a 12v auto battery and had a fwd/rev switch. I see some on ebay for ~$100 but they are all for Bridgeports - maybe adaptable to the RF30?
 
Make sure you have a fly cutter or 6 also. They are very useful and seriously make the chips fly.
 
DavidR8 said:
I am giving it serious consideration after mucking about with the belts over the past few days. I'd like the ability to be more accurate with rpm to get proper SFM.
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Look at a single phase VFD. Single phase in/ single phase out and you keep your current motor. Cheaper that way. I have looked at it but not dived in yet.
 
I have never gotten a DRO or a power feed. No money in the budget for either. I use good old fashioned pencil and paper to keep track of things and plan things out before I even turn on the machine. I also do a dry run on all of the tooling I plan to use and set the head height accordingly to avoid having to move the head to change tooling. So far that has worked for me.

I use my ER32 collets for everything. This eliminates having to fuss with the drawbar to change tooling. I have not touched the drawbar since installing the ER32 collet chuck.

These mill/drills can't make big hogging cuts. I mostly use 3/8 and 1/2 end mills. One of the members here advised me to run at 400 rpm with no more than .020 cuts in steel. That has worked very well for me. You will quickly learn the feel on the right pace for manual cuts. The hardest thing for me was milling a slot. You are both conventional and climb milling at the same time. I have ruined several end mills cutting slots. I now drill out most of the slot and use an end mill smaller than the width of the slot to clean up the edges.

Now you need practice making things. You will need a bunch of tool holders for your QCTP. Don't buy them. Make them. That's what I did. You will gain lots of practical experience making the tool holders.

Have fun. That's the most important part of this hobby. Having fun.
 
MontanaLon said:
Look at a single phase VFD. Single phase in/ single phase out and you keep your current motor. Cheaper that way. I have looked at it but not dived in yet.
Click to expand...

I didn’t know such a thing existed.


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2.2kW VFD Drive Inverter, 220V AC Single-Phase Variable Frequency Drive Inverter, Walfront VFD Speed Controller Inverter for 3-Phase Motor : Amazon.ca: Tools & Home Improvement

2.2kW VFD Drive Inverter, 220V AC Single-Phase Variable Frequency Drive Inverter, Walfront VFD Speed Controller Inverter for 3-Phase Motor : Amazon.ca: Tools & Home Improvement
www.amazon.ca

this VFD is what I have on my mill and lathe (2Hp 3 phase and 1 Hp 3 phase) so far so good


According to the installation documentation you can connect as an " AT2" configuration - and it mentions removing or not removing a run capacitor.....can be done but will require some further research/ proper settings

What is your speed control like now?

Lots of guys running the VFD have to pay attention to the loss of torque as you dial down the frequency. It is not the best to have a VFD on a variable speed machine and set it at one "pulley stop" and then speed control the rest of it. Many machines need the mechanical advantage created by the pulleys or gearing to give them the proper output power/torque. The VFD can then adjust the "in between"
 
mickri said:
I have never gotten a DRO or a power feed. No money in the budget for either. I use good old fashioned pencil and paper to keep track of things and plan things out before I even turn on the machine. I also do a dry run on all of the tooling I plan to use and set the head height accordingly to avoid having to move the head to change tooling. So far that has worked for me.

I use my ER32 collets for everything. This eliminates having to fuss with the drawbar to change tooling. I have not touched the drawbar since installing the ER32 collet chuck.

These mill/drills can't make big hogging cuts. I mostly use 3/8 and 1/2 end mills. One of the members here advised me to run at 400 rpm with no more than .020 cuts in steel. That has worked very well for me. You will quickly learn the feel on the right pace for manual cuts. The hardest thing for me was milling a slot. You are both conventional and climb milling at the same time. I have ruined several end mills cutting slots. I now drill out most of the slot and use an end mill smaller than the width of the slot to clean up the edges.

Now you need practice making things. You will need a bunch of tool holders for your QCTP. Don't buy them. Make them. That's what I did. You will gain lots of practical experience making the tool holders.

Have fun. That's the most important part of this hobby. Having fun.
Click to expand...

Indeed. I ordered a few 3/8” and 1/2” end mills today.
I am very happy with my ER32 collets so far. I like how easily I can change tooling and the quality of the cut is good though I think my end mills are not terribly sharp.

My machine is metric, each division of the wheel is .025mm (I think) which means absolutely nothing to me as I cannot think in metric.

So I’m slowly learning. Today’s accomplishment was getting it well trammed in. Quite happy about that.


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mattthemuppet2 said:
You did better than I did - thought my end mill was dull as it was really struggling and raising an enormous burr. Took a while to realise I was running it in reverse :) Cut a lot better the other way round!
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Suzuki4evr said:
:laughing: sorry but that is funny. Forgive me. It's the way you said it
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LOL . :grin: None of us have ever done that ! :rolleyes: I just tell 'em I was knocking those sharp burrs off the end mills ! :big grin:
 
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