New Mill I built; big puppy

[steve nuttall]

I know Steve will want one of these for making hulls LOL

But it's first job will be a 1/350th Queen Mary hull (Battlecruiser sunk at B/Jutland)

After that who knows; it can make a part 14 1/2"wide and 33" long; 12" working height (less tool length)
3/4HP spindle with 2 speed settings 0-6000 and 0-14,000 V/speed electronic drive (Toshiba)
Computer is an AMD Sempron 3000+ with all the bells and it's built right in with 3 cooling fans just for the case; which is all 3/16" thick Alum (Heavy duty)
Accuracy is on the order of 0.001" with no problem (I had repeats of 0.0002" over 23")

So I can make just about anything now; I've had a ton of fun making these machines; really they are models; but this one is a real custom design; the 33" length is of course open ended; so really how ever long I want; I have got plans for a big Sub U995; might turn them into CAD and hog a hull master out; mind is full of projects for this baby

[tmsmalley]

Geez Steve - Couldn't you

Geez Steve - Couldn't you make something a little bigger?

[raalst]

as one of my other

as one of my other hobbies is metalworking,
I am impressed.
No half work, that base. let's hope you neve have to move house !

did you develop the (stepper) motor control yourself as well ?

[steve nuttall]

No I use Mach3 from

No I use Mach3 from Artofcnc

http://www.machsupport.com/artsoft/index/index.htm

The machine uses 3 Zeta4 drives for the steppers; but it will be going servo drives within 2 months
The mini mill is going servo very soon
Here is the new control box; it's not all hooked up yet; plus when I do change; the mini will be offline for 1 week i'd bet
there's a lot of work involved with new connections to the computer

Servos are faster and more accurate as they are closed loop
Steppers being open loop can drop steps and you'll never know; servos will fault if they lose position

[tabledancer]

Steve,
Will you be doing anything

Steve,
Will you be doing anything for the soon to be released Revell 1/72 Gato.I plan to R/C one and would sure like to use some of your fine products.
TD

[raalst]

is this purely hobby ?

is this purely hobby ? what do you make with those
magnificent toys ?

I bought a chinese mini lathe, only to discover it did not come
with a complimentory dose of machining experience

i'm now working on getting that experience...

[steve nuttall]

Steve,
Will you be doing anything

Steve,
Will you be doing anything for the soon to be released Revell 1/72 Gato.I plan to R/C one and would sure like to use some of your fine products.
TD

I have an order for a 1/350th Queen Mary hull master; going to a well known Model supplier (thats all i can say)
I will be making some masters for other projects too
My own plans are to make parts for the 1/48th Yamato I'm building
Plus i have a real desire to build a small running F1 engine V10 of course; I have started a design with 32mm bore 27mm stroke; 4 valves per etc

Might build a big 4th axis for props; who knows!!