"BJohnson11" (brettjohnson01)
05/02/2014 at 23:47 • Filed to: None
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"BJohnson11" (brettjohnson01)
05/02/2014 at 23:47 • Filed to: None | 4
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On our Haas TL-1. In exchange for letting us use the Buttonwillow kart track for free, we agreed to make a part for the racecar the guy who runs the kart track owns. While I was slightly annoyed because nobody on the team notified me of this plan (and I'm the only one who can run the CNC lathe), I made the part. This is just the mold over which carbon fiber will be laid to create the part. It was a bitch to machine because the stock was 5" and the jaws on the vise only opened about 4.75" in their un-flipped orientation. I had to flip the jaws (which means only holding the part by 3/8", and when it's a 25 pound hunk of aluminum spinning around 800 RPM, that's sketchy), turn an inch of it down to 4.25", then hold that in the jaws normally and machine the rest. Bit of the process, and I made a whole load of chips, but it was good experience.
interrogator-chaplain
> BJohnson11
05/02/2014 at 23:56 |
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I don't think a butt plug qualifies as a part...
Jeff-God-of-Biscuits
> interrogator-chaplain
05/03/2014 at 00:36 |
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But(t) racecar. everything counts if racecar.
Lekker
> BJohnson11
05/03/2014 at 00:47 |
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Thats brilliant. Good work man! IP have very little experience with a CNC and they can be a pain. That sounds like a sweet deal for the track, sucks they didn't notify you tho.
Philbert/Phartnagle
> BJohnson11
05/04/2014 at 05:16 |
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Nice piece, but help me learn a bit here please?
I thought a CNC was a computer controlled lathe and you basically fastened in the stock, then punched in the numbers and it takes care of the machining.
Am I wrong or how does it work exactly?
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BJohnson11
> Philbert/Phartnagle
05/04/2014 at 12:03 |
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A bit of both I suppose. Our Haas TL1 has both quick code features as well as full program functions. In quick code, there are a menu of options to do OD and ID turns, facing, parting, grooving, tapers, etc. In those modes, the computer for the lathe basically just takes care of all the work, but the process is similar to machining. For example, if I just had to turn down a shaft from 1" to .625", I could set my tool offsets by touching off on the part, then go to the OD turn menu and set my OD to 1", desired OD to .625, length to cut, feed, speed, etc, then hit go and the lathe will do all the spinning and moving on its own.
For a part like this, I had to write code in CamWorks (the cam writing software associated with SolidWorks). In CamWorks, I wrote code for it to turn down the general shape and then come back and turn that contour to get the final shape. Once the code was written, I still had to go set all my tool offsets in the machine so the code "knows" where the tool and the stock are, but after that, the machine again moves the tool to cut the part.
Does that kind of answer your question?
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Philbert/Phartnagle
> BJohnson11
05/05/2014 at 00:55 |
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Yes, thanks for taking the time to do so.