Very Impressive to complete your own machines and use them to create custom parts.
Thanks for sharing the build with us here.

Very nice man! so when will you be making the home made 3d printer?

I'm inheriting his old CNC soon. Just need to get a PSU and some stepper motors.

Nice job nate ! Impressed. I never built one but have ran some very large ones with motors the size of your machine. Up to a 5 axis which was sweet. Sorry looked for pics ! Maybe I can find someday and link you .Wish I had your ability to make one. Running tight tolerences is one thing building a machine from scratch (almost) is another  Great Job!

Hey, Nate! To early to order Freeman Haz-suit in Black Chrome?

nateman_doo

Brad_Hawthorne
Yep, his new machine is a full featured VMC, not merely a modified mini mill.

Speaking of which... I have a pallet sitting in my garage for you.  I remember you said AUG, but I wasn't sure if the beginning - or the end of August.
 
God...5 axis dave?!  man, if I knew how to utilize CAM for that I would be DANGEROUS.  I could build a 5 axis machine in my sleep... but programming a trunion table and an A axis on top of that? ....ehhh... that will be some years down the line. 

September 1 actually. I'm looking forward to putting it back together and getting it running.

I would use a rotary table to make a trunion table for the 4th axis (since I don't make anything like gears or any round parts) and another rotary table on top of that as a 5th axis.  Making them move is easy with steppers or servos... but programming them is completely foreign to me.  I used to program G-code by hand for years until someone here helped me out with CAM.  I use a very simple CAM program which doesn't do 5 axis.  

That is something I always wish I had, formal training.  Someone here on the forums was kind enough to walk me through some simple CAM functions of Enroute4.  It does what I need it to do, but one day I swear I will get into some of the crazy CAM like mastercam etc.  I sat down in front of mastercam a while back but I couldn't figure it out on my own.  Programs like that you need to sit down in a course.

Ya, part of the thing I don't like at some machine shops is the operators don't have the CAM background. It would be really helpful for them to have that, so they can go in and modify the G code if something isn't right. Instead of the operators getting the CAM experience they have the CAD engineers do it. Often times the CAD engineers don't understand the needs of the CNC operator and the limitations of the machine they're creating tool paths for. It's how tool crashes happen all the time. Nothing quite like snapping off a 1 inch mill against the side of a vice screwing up a VMC. Once saw someone do a canned drilling cycle right through a covering into the VMC wiring harness.

Brad_Hawthorne
Ya, part of the thing I don't like at some machine shops is the operators don't have the CAM background. It would be really helpful for them to have that, so they can go in and modify the G code if something isn't right. Instead of the operators getting the CAM experience they have the CAD engineers do it. Often times the CAD engineers don't understand the needs of the CNC operator and the limitations of the machine they're creating tool paths for. It's how tool crashes happen all the time. Nothing quite like snapping off a 1 inch mill against the side of a vice screwing up a VMC. Once saw someone do a canned drilling cycle right through a covering into the VMC wiring harness.

Ouch LOL, yea i used to talk to the programmers alot. Is how I learned the G codes and how to go in blk-blk to debug the program. would write it down then call programmer to come fix . At that time in my life we used alot of taped programming not like todays computerized controls where you can go in and fix or program your own toolpath.

LOL, Nate I have broken 2" x12" carbide rought cutters for roughing out titianium ! Was trying to debug a area where the programmers didnt do there work correctly. They were breaking @ least 1 a shift for months so I was told about it by friend and my lead man found out i knew how to find errors and sent me to debug program. Took me 2hrs to get to the area where the mistake was. Probably 30 min to fix due to multiple errors. You would cry your eyes out at the end mills I have either broke or replaced. I used to be a tool setter for 1/2 a factory making B1-B and space shuttle.

Nate one question plz answer it
 
How do you do it? :P

Nice to see Nates old Cnc rig getting a good home .
 
Good luck Brad, and have fun !

How much for the CNC?

Outstanding! Nice work.