Well I finally broke down and bought some better end mills. I been using just cheap as I can get chinese stuff. Cutting 6061 aluminum at .075″ DOC at 16 IPM and getting fair results. Well tonight I put in one of my good bits, or at least to me this Altrax is a good bit. I was using a 3/8″ 2 flute bit, at 6000rpm with a .1″ DOC at 32 IPM and it was quiter and better cut than ever. Cut my milling time down from 34 minutes, to 18 minutes. So from now, spend the cash and get better bits!
Here is a great chart that I came across that is a great help!
Decimal Equivalent with Tap Drills Chart
Well here is the part after all top operations. Now to turn it over and machine the bottom.
I needed a new vise, so I did some searching around. I have a very limited budget so a Kurt or some expensive one was out of the question. Then it come to size, I have a 4″ one now, but it is just a peice of junk. So I thought of getting a 6″ but came to realize that it would be to big. So I found this 5″ Enco vise that was on sale at Enco and I grabed it for $83.95 and FREE SHIPPING!
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Above you see my old 4″Â POS vise next to the new 5″ vise. So far it seems to be not bad for a Chinese Vise, fingers crossed and will report more when I actually use it.
I have a customer that was wanting a custom Banshe parking brake cover. So I designed one. I needed to make at least 12 of them, so I made me a easy to use fixture to make these. Here is a picture of the fixture in my 4″ vise ready to be cut.Â
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Here is a picture after the first three  opertions with a 3/8″ - 2 Flute flat end mill for roughing and a 3/8″ - 4 Flute end mill for finishing, and 21/64ths Drill.
Next is to chamfer the drills, engrave the top and of course machine the bottom. More infomation on those coming soon!
It has been a while since I flown a good foamie, due to all mine being destroyed or just wore out. I had always looked at the E-Flite Funtana 300 ARF and liked it. So, bought and here is the build log. Very impressed with everything about it so far. I spent maybe a hour watching TV and building to get to this point.
Well I have had my X3 with CNC Fusion Deluxe ballscrew kit for quit some time now and I am very pleased. I keep having backlash issue with my Z axis but never caused to much of a issue. As I get more versed in machine work and do more complex projects it is starting to become more of a issue. I measured it the other day and I had .030″ backlash, and that was unacceptable to me. I worked very hard trying to get the collar tight and best I could do was .009″. I could see the collar and screw physically moving, so I know that was my issue. Come to find out the new Dexluxe CNC Fusion kits do not have a collar, they have a nut so you tighten it up and remove any play. Well after a email to CNC Fusion, and I got my answer. They offered to remachine the end of my ballscrew and send me a new pulley to fit for $15 shipped to me. Wow, how can you beat that for customer service.
I have finally got my coolant system mostly working, and need to protect my steppers a little. I used some thick Vinyl and some 3/4″ x 1/8″ aluminum. Very simple, but works nicely. Here are a few pictures.
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I got this on one my newsgroups I subscribe to and I thought I would share it with everyone, simply amazing.
I apologize for the off topic posting, but I think most of us are interested in various phases of aviation. I was just sent this video of an F-16 dead stick landing. Thought some of you might enjoy ‘riding’ along … though it went very well, I found it ‘hair raising.’
This took place in Elizabeth City Coast Guard Air Station after a practice-bombing run in Dare County, NC. Very good job by the guy and by his number 3. Heavy breathing noise is due to being on 100% oxygen, which is standard procedure with the EPU running on hydrazine.
Thanks to Carl Carlsen
Click Here to View F-16 Dead Stick Landing
One evening I was bored and had some free time. I always have had thoughts of writing something that generated G-Code. So I came up with this simple little application. It works good, I have used it a couple of times already since I made it. It only does squares at this time, but I will be adding facing and pocketing when I get bored again…
