If you have a sticky for the proper way to mount the blocks when I receive them send them my way.  If not, can you send it to me in a PM?

U guys making me jealous... having working SR2's and all. 

Hey Nate just checking in to see how the builds are going. I just put down some cash for a PS Vita so I'm in no hurry for the parts as I won't be finishing the loop for another few months. Keep up the good work!

clayton006

Hey Nate just checking in to see how the builds are going. I just put down some cash for a PS Vita so I'm in no hurry for the parts as I won't be finishing the loop for another few months. Keep up the good work!

I am in the middle of 3 things right now.  Shop upgrades trying to finish a wall, finished a machine upgrade (got an extra two THOUSAND rpm on the spindle and MUCH more torque AND load compensation) and was re-coding the SR2 Vregs to bang out 2 at a time.  So far the coding hasn't gone well.  The 2 halves don't mate perfectly. 
 
Oh yea... and we have company over.

Top it off, I have 2 V reg sections that don't match.  I am at a loss as to why this is not working.  I wanted to have this figured out before- oh wait- it IS tomorrow already :(

I think i fixed it, but I was close to tapping out there for a minute :P
 
Maybe some pics today?

By replacing the spindle controller, I have a much more powerful machine.  I can now drill straight through with 1/2" holes with no pilot hole even (not recommended practices) through copper/aluminum:

Kinda messy, but you can see huge copper & aluminum string chips on the bit.  Its so nice to no longer have to worry about stalling a motor and tearing stuff up.
 
Now another improvement:

While this looks like the same pic as others... ok it actually is.  The difference is now I can cut them twice as fast because I cut them BOTH in one shot, rather then one single piece.  Doesn't help with orders of plastics, but hey- the copper gets cut. 
 
Progress is slow, but it is being made.  So much to do with only 2 hands.  I am however striving to get the process of making these to improve.  Finishing them takes the majority of the time, and since my current mill is limited, I can't use it to do the finishing - so all are hand sanded.  The new machine being planned will be able to finish these in a single pass-in theory. 

Looking good. Glad you got the coding on the v-reg blocks figured out. Keep up the good work.

Also the other lesson learned: 
You can't have "One toolplate to rule them all"
 
Its more like:
"There can be only one"  ... per block. 
 
You can see that swiss cheese block they SR2 is sitting on.  So many holes.  Its called a sacrificial plate for a reason, but they take me a WHILE to make them, so I try not to sacrifice them at all. 

Took a HUGE step backwards today:

While its really cool to look at, I now have to shell out an SR2 block out of my own pocket.
I think I am going to sleep now.  Clearly I am lacking judgment and clarity of thought.
 

I was using MACH3's scaling by percentage.  I wanted to trace a seamless outside edge, so I just clicked 99% so I figured it would take a thousandth off or so.  Guess not.
 
Maybe I should have put 99.99%, or NOT TRIED ON A FINISHED PRODUCT!? 
 
ehh well.  I must sleep.

I have no doubts in my mind.  Just takes more of the most valuable commodity... time.

After the crash yesterday I decided to re-Tram the machine:

Total indicator runout means how untrue the spindle is when its turning.  It is better then 0.001.  For this Chinese mill (with bearings I JUST replaced) its not bad at all.

Got it.  It took me ALLLL day to get my machine back up to par.  I have some free time tomorrow so I plan to get some serious work done.