"The Kid" just got a new laser to play with where he works. You get a
lot of toy for $300K. It claims .003 accuracy, he says you can do .001
with careful setup and watching your cut conditions.

Karl

On Mon, 08 Nov 2010 19:07:00 -0600, Karl Townsend
wrote:

"The Kid" just got a new laser to play with where he works. You get a
lot of toy for $300K. It claims .003 accuracy, he says you can do .001
with careful setup and watching your cut conditions.

Karl

shoot I didn't copy a link to one running:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJfQR...eature=related

Karl

On Mon, 08 Nov 2010 19:07:00 -0600, Karl Townsend
wrote:

"The Kid" just got a new laser to play with where he works. You get a
lot of toy for $300K. It claims .003 accuracy, he says you can do .001
with careful setup and watching your cut conditions.

FUN! Gifs at 11, I trust?

--
Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling.
-- Margaret Lee Runbeck

"Karl Townsend" wrote in message
...
"The Kid" just got a new laser to play with where he works. You get a
lot of toy for $300K. It claims .003 accuracy, he says you can do .001
with careful setup and watching your cut conditions.

Karl

The Trumpf laser at a shop where I used to work cost $750k in 1994.

Fantastic. Just fantastic. 4' x 10' bed.

Steve

On Mon, 08 Nov 2010 20:38:48 -0600, Karl Townsend
wrote:

On Mon, 08 Nov 2010 19:07:00 -0600, Karl Townsend
wrote:

"The Kid" just got a new laser to play with where he works. You get a
lot of toy for $300K. It claims .003 accuracy, he says you can do .001
with careful setup and watching your cut conditions.

Karl

shoot I didn't copy a link to one running:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJfQR...eature=related

Amazing! But, WOW, I'd hate to see those lead screws after a month of
that. I wonder what the maintenance schedule is on an industrial CNC
laser.

--
Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling.
-- Margaret Lee Runbeck

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 08 Nov 2010 20:38:48 -0600, Karl Townsend
wrote:

On Mon, 08 Nov 2010 19:07:00 -0600, Karl Townsend
wrote:

"The Kid" just got a new laser to play with where he works. You get a
lot of toy for $300K. It claims .003 accuracy, he says you can do .001
with careful setup and watching your cut conditions.

Karl

shoot I didn't copy a link to one running:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJfQR...eature=related

Amazing! But, WOW, I'd hate to see those lead screws after a month of
that. I wonder what the maintenance schedule is on an industrial CNC
laser.

Its my understanding that for machines like that they use precision balls
screws with preloaded nuts because the service life is very predictable.
Does seem like over kill to make perforated metal sheets though. LOL. I
like it.



--
Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling.
-- Margaret Lee Runbeck

On Tue, 09 Nov 2010 05:40:35 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Mon, 08 Nov 2010 20:38:48 -0600, Karl Townsend
wrote:

On Mon, 08 Nov 2010 19:07:00 -0600, Karl Townsend
wrote:

"The Kid" just got a new laser to play with where he works. You get a
lot of toy for $300K. It claims .003 accuracy, he says you can do .001
with careful setup and watching your cut conditions.

Karl

shoot I didn't copy a link to one running:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJfQR...eature=related

Amazing! But, WOW, I'd hate to see those lead screws after a month of
that. I wonder what the maintenance schedule is on an industrial CNC
laser.

"The kid" is day shift lead for the laser dept. He does a lot of the
daily stuff cause "the operators or mechanics just screw it up". I
know they do a major rebuild on each machine once/year and espcially
the old machines suffer a lot of major breakdowns. They run over 120
hours a week.

Karl

"Karl Townsend" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 09 Nov 2010 05:40:35 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Mon, 08 Nov 2010 20:38:48 -0600, Karl Townsend
wrote:

On Mon, 08 Nov 2010 19:07:00 -0600, Karl Townsend
wrote:

"The Kid" just got a new laser to play with where he works. You get a
lot of toy for $300K. It claims .003 accuracy, he says you can do .001
with careful setup and watching your cut conditions.

Karl

shoot I didn't copy a link to one running:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJfQR...eature=related

Amazing! But, WOW, I'd hate to see those lead screws after a month of
that. I wonder what the maintenance schedule is on an industrial CNC
laser.

"The kid" is day shift lead for the laser dept. He does a lot of the
daily stuff cause "the operators or mechanics just screw it up". I
know they do a major rebuild on each machine once/year and espcially
the old machines suffer a lot of major breakdowns. They run over 120
hours a week.

Karl

The company I worked for was having trouble making the payments on about 2
million worth of equipment. They called Trumpf and notified them, and asked
if they could help. Trumpf got on the phone and called Ford and
Caterpillar, and within two weeks, they added a swing shift equal to the day
shift. HOLY CNC, Batman!

That stuff is about as hi-tech as it gets, yet elegantly simple. I could
watch the CNC punch machine, benders, and laser beds all day, but I was
there to weld. Those pieces came off perfect, with just fusion welding
seams on 16 ga. stainless. It was a great experience.

Steve

On Mon, 8 Nov 2010 21:27:26 -0800, "Steve B"
wrote:


"Karl Townsend" wrote in message
.. .
"The Kid" just got a new laser to play with where he works. You get a
lot of toy for $300K. It claims .003 accuracy, he says you can do .001
with careful setup and watching your cut conditions.

Karl

The Trumpf laser at a shop where I used to work cost $750k in 1994.

Fantastic. Just fantastic. 4' x 10' bed.

Steve


Scary thing is that our 5 axis Trumph is now 18 years old and can still
out-perform the water jet cutters in other plants the company has. Got a new
floppy drive for it last year :-)


The plant I started at had a Trumph DNC punch press for panels, I got 600 3"
dia, 12 slot electric motor laminations knocked out of 1.6mm steel sheet for
an apprentice school training exercise (this is how a motor works, now build
one!). The Press Shop wanted big money and months to make a die set, the Panel
Shop said "We're busy at the moment, can you collect it day after tomorrow?"
:-)

Mark Rand
RTFM

On Tue, 9 Nov 2010 10:28:30 -0700, "Bob La Londe" wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 08 Nov 2010 20:38:48 -0600, Karl Townsend
wrote:

On Mon, 08 Nov 2010 19:07:00 -0600, Karl Townsend
wrote:

"The Kid" just got a new laser to play with where he works. You get a
lot of toy for $300K. It claims .003 accuracy, he says you can do .001
with careful setup and watching your cut conditions.

Karl

shoot I didn't copy a link to one running:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJfQR...eature=related

Amazing! But, WOW, I'd hate to see those lead screws after a month of
that. I wonder what the maintenance schedule is on an industrial CNC
laser.

Its my understanding that for machines like that they use precision balls
screws with preloaded nuts because the service life is very predictable.
Does seem like over kill to make perforated metal sheets though. LOL. I
like it.

Very very few CNC machines these days use anything other than
ballscrews. Frankly..they are far far more precise, keep their accuracy
longer and are easy to swap out when they ultimately do start loosing
accuracy.

And they can be pretty cheap when you add up the advantages over lead
screws.

Im not aware of ANY cnc machinery that uses lead screws any longer.
There is a reason that machines are faster and more accurate these
days..and ballscrews are one of the prime ingrediants.

I replaced a 12 yr old ballscrew in a CNC lathe this week. Its been run
8-16 hours a day 6 days a week for those 12 yrs, in some of the nastiest
water based coolant conditions one could possible imagine. And in 12
yrs..it finally started showing up (7) tenths....(1) 10,000ths of an
inch backlash..resulting in up to .0004 parts miss-tolerance. And since
the owner needs 0/+.0002 accuracy..he had me replace the ballscrew. Cost
him under $800 total.

Try that with a leadscrew......

Gunner, machine tool repair tech


--
"Confiscating wealth from those who have earned it, inherited it,
or got lucky is never going to help 'the poor.' Poverty isn't
caused by some people having more money than others, just as obesity
isn't caused by McDonald's serving super-sized orders of French fries
Poverty, like obesity, is caused by the life choices that dictate
results." - John Tucci,

On Sat, 13 Nov 2010 18:14:00 -0800, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Tue, 9 Nov 2010 10:28:30 -0700, "Bob La Londe" wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
. ..
On Mon, 08 Nov 2010 20:38:48 -0600, Karl Townsend
wrote:

On Mon, 08 Nov 2010 19:07:00 -0600, Karl Townsend
wrote:

"The Kid" just got a new laser to play with where he works. You get a
lot of toy for $300K. It claims .003 accuracy, he says you can do .001
with careful setup and watching your cut conditions.

Karl

shoot I didn't copy a link to one running:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJfQR...eature=related

Amazing! But, WOW, I'd hate to see those lead screws after a month of
that. I wonder what the maintenance schedule is on an industrial CNC
laser.

Its my understanding that for machines like that they use precision balls
screws with preloaded nuts because the service life is very predictable.
Does seem like over kill to make perforated metal sheets though. LOL. I
like it.

Very very few CNC machines these days use anything other than
ballscrews. Frankly..they are far far more precise, keep their accuracy
longer and are easy to swap out when they ultimately do start loosing
accuracy.

And they can be pretty cheap when you add up the advantages over lead
screws.

I'm sure they can, especially in a production atmosphere with long
workdays and repetitive parts spewage.


Im not aware of ANY cnc machinery that uses lead screws any longer.
There is a reason that machines are faster and more accurate these
days..and ballscrews are one of the prime ingrediants.

OK.


I replaced a 12 yr old ballscrew in a CNC lathe this week. Its been run
8-16 hours a day 6 days a week for those 12 yrs, in some of the nastiest
water based coolant conditions one could possible imagine. And in 12
yrs..it finally started showing up (7) tenths....(1) 10,000ths of an
inch backlash..resulting in up to .0004 parts miss-tolerance. And since
the owner needs 0/+.0002 accuracy..he had me replace the ballscrew. Cost
him under $800 total.

How's work going for you? I'm still smothered in handyman work here,
though I had to quit roofing a pumphouse extension when the rain
started this noon. Got the felt, drip edge, and 2 courses on before
it fell, though. I'm going to enjoy 2 days off in a row, lemme tell
ya! I'm (we're?) gettin' too old for this kind of work...


Try that with a leadscrew......

Surely it'd be cheaper. g


Gunner, machine tool repair tech

Got any leads on parts deals for a DIY CNC mill or router?

I'm just starting on Alan Overby's newly-released book _CNC Machining
Handbook: Building, Programming, and Implementation_.

--
To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.
-- J. K. Rowling

On 2010-11-14, Larry Jaques wrote:
Gunner, machine tool repair tech

Got any leads on parts deals for a DIY CNC mill or router?


I can sell you a set of three very nice DC servos and a power supply.

Personally, I think that making a DIY CNC mill is a horrible
idea. Possibly, a CNC router is a less horrible idea, but a new one
would cost you much less than DIY.

i

On Sat, 13 Nov 2010 18:58:22 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Sat, 13 Nov 2010 18:14:00 -0800, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Tue, 9 Nov 2010 10:28:30 -0700, "Bob La Londe" wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 08 Nov 2010 20:38:48 -0600, Karl Townsend
wrote:

On Mon, 08 Nov 2010 19:07:00 -0600, Karl Townsend
wrote:

"The Kid" just got a new laser to play with where he works. You get a
lot of toy for $300K. It claims .003 accuracy, he says you can do .001
with careful setup and watching your cut conditions.

Karl

shoot I didn't copy a link to one running:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJfQR...eature=related

Amazing! But, WOW, I'd hate to see those lead screws after a month of
that. I wonder what the maintenance schedule is on an industrial CNC
laser.

Its my understanding that for machines like that they use precision balls
screws with preloaded nuts because the service life is very predictable.
Does seem like over kill to make perforated metal sheets though. LOL. I
like it.

Very very few CNC machines these days use anything other than
ballscrews. Frankly..they are far far more precise, keep their accuracy
longer and are easy to swap out when they ultimately do start loosing
accuracy.

And they can be pretty cheap when you add up the advantages over lead
screws.

I'm sure they can, especially in a production atmosphere with long
workdays and repetitive parts spewage.


Im not aware of ANY cnc machinery that uses lead screws any longer.
There is a reason that machines are faster and more accurate these
days..and ballscrews are one of the prime ingrediants.

OK.


I replaced a 12 yr old ballscrew in a CNC lathe this week. Its been run
8-16 hours a day 6 days a week for those 12 yrs, in some of the nastiest
water based coolant conditions one could possible imagine. And in 12
yrs..it finally started showing up (7) tenths....(1) 10,000ths of an
inch backlash..resulting in up to .0004 parts miss-tolerance. And since
the owner needs 0/+.0002 accuracy..he had me replace the ballscrew. Cost
him under $800 total.

How's work going for you? I'm still smothered in handyman work here,
though I had to quit roofing a pumphouse extension when the rain
started this noon. Got the felt, drip edge, and 2 courses on before
it fell, though. I'm going to enjoy 2 days off in a row, lemme tell
ya! I'm (we're?) gettin' too old for this kind of work...

Its been pretty slow. I did hummm 14 hours of billable work this week
stretched over 5 days. Pays the bills..but...shrug


Try that with a leadscrew......

Surely it'd be cheaper. g


Gunner, machine tool repair tech

Got any leads on parts deals for a DIY CNC mill or router?

If they are still in the parking lot there are 3 CNC mills (nice looking
Kondia mills (BP style) and a BP mill that would be easy to turn back to
manual, and a Victor 14" lathe all for $2k last I talked to them.

N/C Industries
42147 Roick Dr.
Temecula, CA 92590

Phone: (951) 296-9603
Fax: (951) 296-9623


Give them a call and see if the stuff is still there.

Gunner


I'm just starting on Alan Overby's newly-released book _CNC Machining
Handbook: Building, Programming, and Implementation_.

--
"Confiscating wealth from those who have earned it, inherited it,
or got lucky is never going to help 'the poor.' Poverty isn't
caused by some people having more money than others, just as obesity
isn't caused by McDonald's serving super-sized orders of French fries
Poverty, like obesity, is caused by the life choices that dictate
results." - John Tucci,

On Sat, 13 Nov 2010 21:08:53 -0600, Ignoramus12083
wrote:

On 2010-11-14, Larry Jaques wrote:
Gunner, machine tool repair tech

Got any leads on parts deals for a DIY CNC mill or router?


I can sell you a set of three very nice DC servos and a power supply.

I think I want to stick with steppers for now. cheep, cheep, cheep


Personally, I think that making a DIY CNC mill is a horrible
idea.

I think adding steppers to an existing small mill would be OK.


Possibly, a CNC router is a less horrible idea, but a new one
would cost you much less than DIY.

From what I've seen, DIY routers cost less than half what turnkey
systems cost.

--
To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.
-- J. K. Rowling

On Sat, 13 Nov 2010 22:40:21 -0800, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Sat, 13 Nov 2010 18:58:22 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

How's work going for you? I'm still smothered in handyman work here,
though I had to quit roofing a pumphouse extension when the rain
started this noon. Got the felt, drip edge, and 2 courses on before
it fell, though. I'm going to enjoy 2 days off in a row, lemme tell
ya! I'm (we're?) gettin' too old for this kind of work...

Its been pretty slow. I did hummm 14 hours of billable work this week
stretched over 5 days. Pays the bills..but...shrug

32 billable in 6 days for me, with 1.5 rainy days.


Got any leads on parts deals for a DIY CNC mill or router?

If they are still in the parking lot there are 3 CNC mills (nice looking
Kondia mills (BP style) and a BP mill that would be easy to turn back to
manual, and a Victor 14" lathe all for $2k last I talked to them.

I'd rather start from scratch for a CNC router.

--
To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.
-- J. K. Rowling