Makes me happy!

Cheers,
Gerhard

Hi everyone!

RoGR is nearly finished! Yay!!!!!!

You guys have been great for being so patient; I sincerely appreciate the understanding. I'd like to offer all micRo people a free membership to say thanks! A membership will be very valuable, trust me. Just PM me and I'll upgrade you (but if you want to donate, that's ok too!)

Update on production:

With micRo getting close, Robin and I took some time to look at micRo's design. We had a couple of lingering design changes to finish. We took the gantry bloks from 5" to 6", as well as the Z back plate. The plastic was ordered early last week. It means we'll have some leftover plastic (good thing I ordered it first), but I'll find a use for it.

I'll be turning some screws by hand this week, but I truly need to take a minute to add drives to the lathe, as there are hundreds of screws to turn. I did it to myself by offering the coupling upgrade! Stay tuned...

We're all excited....it's almost like Christmas morning when I was a kid!

Thanks for being as detailed oriented as you all are -

I'm sure you will, but if/when you do add CNC to the lathe, can you post up with that as well? That'd be the other obvious tool to add in a CNC shop, for me at least. I know there's other places to source CNC info from, but come on? I mean, how many of them have 4 am shop videos?



I'm still at the night before Christmas stage, knowing it's coming but still having to try to sleep the night before. When I discovered Peppermint Schnapps and hot cocoa, it wasn't much of a problem getting to sleep, but it sure seemed harder to get up in the morning.




BC -- when you get a minute, can you fill us in on the gantry block changes. My head is spinning on some thoughts and making some assumptions, and wanted to see if this was the case: I'd assume the 5" -> 6" would require a 1" longer screw on the Z (assumption 1). With that 1" longer z-screw I'd think that would imply 1" more of z travel (assumption 2). But having that extra inch, since with the dual Z-block configuration the Z is rigid, but limited to 1.5" could this mean we'd have an even more rigid Z, with the full 2.5" of travel? Like I said, I started making a lot of assumptions.

You know, rogR + lathe would make a great start for a Lathe based CNC. You'd just have to work out the tool holders, and orient the lathe properly... Sounds like it could be a fun experiment.

But of course.

Ok, not such a great diagram...but this is how we are changing it. The end pieces are now 1/2" which opens up the interior for a bit more Z. The Y ways are all going through a single block now and the bottom Z way holder is just enough below the bottom Y way to make clearance for the Z way holder attachment screws.

Click to view attachment

Oh, in the above I didn't mention that we also increased the X blok height and separated the Y ways by another 1".

Very cool moves! It was there all along. It just needed someone to stare at it long enough and be able to see the possibilities. Congratulations!

Nice one!! This is why you guys rock!!

Cheers,
Gerhard

Hello friends,

I saw this pic during the "pumpkin post" and I immediately saw the micRo's hand in the speaker "grill". This operational geometry is very suited to the micRo; actually is best suited to a machine that is the "right size".

Cheers~

A week gives me abstinences.. Any slurpylicious news for us?

Sure, I'm making the jigs for the micRo now. I'm alone at the task due to economic conditions requiring me to lay-off Robin, but otherwise all is in order.

Oh no, Im so sorry. Followed the election closely from Norway, and I cross my fingers that Obama will help stabilize things! Anyways, keep up the fantastic work!

Oh man, I'm sorry to hear that

Man, I hate to hear that about Robin, I thought the site had gotten quieter.

Very sorry to hear about Robin. I can imagine it was good to have someone to share the load. I know you are pushing now, but try and get a little rest now and then and pace yourself! If I were closer, I would volunteer to help wherever I could.

BC, I know you "comped" my Pro membership for being a Micro buyer, but is there a way I could say, sign up for a second year now? Maybe I should PM Kellie? Every little bit may help. Maybe there are others out there ........?

crap. sorry.

Yes, count me in on that one too!

Hi all. I am mashupishu and I had just suffered a personality change due the sad news about Robin. (F****** economy).

Well take me on consideration for the idea of a on advance pro-membership payment .

In the meantime have my very best wishes from Spain. See you guys.

Kind wishes all, thanks...and I thought I couldn't work any harder! I'm not happy about Robin's absence, but he's still helping out where he can. This report should make a few micRo people happy; the testing of the trams on the micRo bloks. I am very pleased at how well RoGR is performing and I am certain I made the right decision to finish the big boy first, as the output quality is miles above what I could have produced otherwise. It won't be long now, I expect we'll see micRo bloks coming off the RoGR this week.

Click to view attachment

Gotta love Coldplay in the background!

Hi everyone. Today I went to the shop to run more hole-boring tests. I am trying several techniques to ascertain which is the fastest and most accurate of the various options. This has required a lot of holes! I am still not completely satisfied. The method shown here is "depth first offset pocketing". The flute length is not sufficient for the very bottom of the hole, and you can see the chip load start to build at the end. The excess, unrelieved chip will cause the entry point to become larger than the bore. There are several options for fixing this. I'll discuss the options and document my solutions in the private forums. The video below shows 500mm/m with 120mm/m plunges staged at 6mm each. The bore is 12mm and the through bore length is 67mm. There are two more videos and some discussion on the other side.

Hi everyone. Robin and I got together today and did some work on the holes. Robin is volunteering until the world comes to its senses again, but it's ok; Robin and I are drawn to robots like moths to a flame...our biggest question is always "how do we keep it all going?"

I've systematically ruled out most error in the system, and thanks to Robin's helpful G-Code programming we burned through a lot of tests today, improving the results each time until there was only one source of error; the end mill itself is not ground perfectly and has .002" of taper. Switching the bit to a straight sided gave near perfection...if only I had one long enough! Whiteside has the bit I need, so I'll be ordering that tonight with some "magic money" I'll pull out of my...er...assorted places.





There's extra content on the other side, including a discussion of the precision fence.

Heyyy guys, wild wild way G coding (maybe you must make a symbolic link from gedit to Gedit), nice to see Robin's face (and the two beers ). Also is nice to see the quest for an error free system (and the two beers ).

See you soon guys (and the two beers). Bye.

Hi everyone, I'm waiting for the tools to be delivered. In the meantime I am getting other things ready; the CAMs, lathe etc. Nearly done!

Fallen Heroes of the revolution! (The hole tests are coming to an end...please?)

Click to view attachment

It's reassuring to know that you're so thorough!

Keep up the great work!

~S~

https://www.onsrud.com/xdoc/plastics
O bits? yes we can.

I actually have an O-flute bit from Whiteside that I think doesn't work nearly as well as a double flute carbide....I was surprised.

Really i thought the beauty of the O was it ran cooler and ejected more volume.. huh.
they are also very fragile.

Hi everyone. Today a lot of work went into planning for the machining of the micRo pieces. It also happens that those upgraded plastic pieces (I mentioned recently) finally arrived today in the form of these precision machined bloks. Besides a couple details, we're ready to make the machining run.

The blok on the left is the new gantry blok; taller and more massive. On the right (by the knife) is one of the two spindle mounts...it is time for us to discuss who wants what...

Click to view attachment

Getting closer everyday! Nice one!

what's there to discuss? We all want the best don't we?

Cheers,
Gerhard

YES!

Great news!! I'll bet you are excited to be getting to this point! For myself, I would like the spindle mount for the Grizz. I actually don't remember the other option(s). Are you talking about the base you envisioned? Or the handpiece modification which would take collets (I am anxious to hear about that one)? Other options?

Yes, what is this with options?

New Blok design? [check]
Spindle mount for Grizzly/HF flex shaft grinder? [check]
Aluminum coupler and turned screws? [check]
Steppers, controllers, and parallel breakout? [check]
Ways and bearings? [check]
Power supply? [check]


Did I miss anything?

I'll email everyone over the next couple of days, but the spindle holders are (free) optional, the base (not free), and the spindle itself. I wasn't planning on tapping all of the mounting screw holes, just the motion screw holes, since anyone can get a regular tap for a couple of dollars. I can do this though, but your kit will take longer. Also, the hardware; I can provide it but I don't yet have it...I've never decided whose responsibility that is!

IMHO - You might want to try http://www.phoenixproto.com They have tighter tolerances +/- .001 & don't limit your design as much as a "proto" only house. + my fav is free samples. They don't advertise it, but they will meet or beat most competition quotes...

"Tapping all of the mounting screw holes"? Mounting what, the spindle mount? I think I can do the taping. What hardware? The screws and nuts? What will the base look like? How much will it go for?

BC

You don't happen to have the dimensions of the power supplies and controler boards, do you? I'd like to plan the space for the electronics.

The struggle continues... We apparently need to re-tram a couple things on the ROgR before we go into production of micRo parts. On the other hand, I was able to bore a practice 10mm hole (which would be the Z-axis bearing) to within .0025" tolerance. Meaning that the high to low difference in diameter from both sides of the bore (and most points on the bore are within +.001" of the intended bore of .393"d0 aka 9.98mm) is .0025". I'm kinda gloating. This is the sort of tolerance that's difficult (though by no means impossible) to get with a knee mill. The router we're using probably has a spindle runout of close to .001" at the collet! That means that if I had a .393" bit, and carefully drove it down into the work, the resulting hole would have a tolerance of .002". Anyways, I'm pretty happy with it right now. Of course, it's a pain to have to re-tram the thing, but even while mis-adjusted, it can have phenomenal tolerance.

FWIW, judging by feel, the fit between the bore and the way seems perfect. There's just a little bit of drag, and the way can't be moved other than forwards and backwards through the bore. When moving the way through the bore, fingertip grease is scraped from the way and builds up around the edges of the bore. It's tight but not tight.

You can count me in for purchasing a base. When you say hardware how much is needed as if it is a lot I would prefer to get my own so it will save weight on shipping costs.

BC - If you want my opinion (or if ya don't =P ) hardware and tapping isn't an issue on my end, and I doubt anyone on here would have problems attaining the hardware from a list and tapping the holes. With the tapping as well, I'm not sure if you plan on using SAE or metric, but the overseas guys might have trouble coming up with SAE hardware maybe? I don't know about availability of that stuff in the metric parts of the world.

But a list something like 24 - 6mm x 30mm capscrews, 12 - 8mm x 50mm bolts, etc. should make things pretty simple. After all we're talking probably under $5 in bolts. Another couple bucks for a tap if you don't have one. I would assume everyone will need to visit the hardware store anyway to pick up materials and hardware for their bases and project materials anyway. Not much logic for me to add a pound to the shipping weight, $5 to your pocket expense per machine, and what? An hour for each machine to tap, plus the sore wrists. In high school I built a 12 foot long arched metal bridge, with 2x6 planks. Each plank had 4 bolts in it, so two of us tapped over a hundred 1/4-20 holes in steel! Not something you'd want to subject yourself to).

-- But just my thoughts.

unfortunately, i'm on the other end of the metalworking scale... experience wise.

so, i'd be happy to pay you to tap everything and ship all required hardware.

(you could also consider it an investment in LumenLab... more income!)

Mmmmm . . . Caps Lock key problem?

How's 'bout a Tramming Tutorial in the knowledge database sometime? You know - work it up during your copious free time.

It was late/early (kind of a volume of water in a glass sort of thing).

I'll get them tonight.


OK, we'll talk via email. I'll be in touch with everyone over the weekend.


Not a problem, thanks.

I got a quick vid yesterday:

Getting ready...

I know I've gotten the high hopes early a few times...but getting pretty stoked knowing we really should be seeing the first micro's coming off rogr int he next week or two.

It's really happening. I expect the plastic machining to begin Tues, provided I can get the fixtures (jigs) complete by then. The video shows that for the first time in hundreds of attempts the tolerance I wanted is achieved (< .002" for bore and straightness) and can be repeated indefinitely without any "fuss". I'm ecstatic by RoGR's performance.