Yeah, the mini mill was great to learn on but the 770 has been far more capable. For what I paid in all for the mini mill, I would have been better off with the Tormach. But you just don't know when you are getting into something.
Very nice work Craig :) Cnc rills holes in thin wall tubing very nicely, drill presses and such seem to always like triangular holes if the drill is sticking out more then a couple inches.
Hi Craig, Not sure of the degree of precision required on your project??????? Some thoughts that may??? save you some time. 1: Instead of drilling the crossbars one at a time you could make a custom parallel for your vice to hold the maximum amount of them and set your CNC program to drill 6 or 8 of them at a time depending of the jaw opening of your vice. Years ago I helped a friend of mine make parts for paraglider frames and I used that method. Save you a ton of time on your setup and keep your time free for other work. 2: You could use the same process for drilling the vertical rail pilot holes for attaching your tee brackets to the side frames then all you would have to do is install your self tapping screws in the pilot holes. If done on the CNC the holes should keep your alignment correct for your tee bracket installation. Then you will know the exact vertical position of the tee brackets that are installed on the side frames. 3: You could also drill the pilot holes for the tee bracket attachment in the ends of the cross braces during your first setup. It would only require 1 tool change for a different size drill bit. 4: One other thing you could do is the camfer of the top side of the holes on the CNC machine. The bottom side could be done by flipping the part for the bottom chamfer operation or do them by hand if that works out better for you. Put that Tormach to work while you do other operations necessary for the project. Ha Ha Many thanks for sharing!!!!! John
Hey John! Not real critical on the precision. That's a great idea on putting multiple pieces in the vice at once! I guess I could put a chunk of aluminum in the vice. I could probably fit 5 or 6 tubes in there. As long as all of the tubes are pretty close to 3/4" I am having 5 frames welded now. I made a welding jig. They said they can weld them in less than an hour. I have 18 more frames to make.
Good work. If you have a stick welder you can get spot on coupling nuts. They also have selfthreading, screw in coupling nuts.
Thanks, good to know. It looks like I will be welding the whole thing also.
Nice video, like the relaxing music in between.
Thanks
WOW you've stepped up from the Harbor Freight mill that I seen you using on the first video's I watched some time ago! Good deal!
Yeah, the mini mill was great to learn on but the 770 has been far more capable. For what I paid in all for the mini mill, I would have been better off with the Tormach. But you just don't know when you are getting into something.
Easy way to keep parallels in place. Springs between them holding them to the jaws.
Oh yeah, I forgot about those. I will have to get some. Thanks!
Great vid Craig!
Thanks!
Very nice work Craig :)
Cnc rills holes in thin wall tubing very nicely, drill presses and such seem to always like triangular holes if the drill is sticking out more then a couple inches.
Yeah, I got a cheap drill press from harbor freight once. The drill bit moved around a lot. Lol.
Hi Craig,
Not sure of the degree of precision required on your project???????
Some thoughts that may??? save you some time.
1:
Instead of drilling the crossbars one at a time you could make a custom parallel for your vice to hold the maximum amount of them and set your CNC program to drill 6 or 8 of them at a time depending of the jaw opening of your vice. Years ago I helped a friend of mine make parts for paraglider frames and I used that method. Save you a ton of time on your setup and keep your time free for other work.
2:
You could use the same process for drilling the vertical rail pilot holes for attaching your tee brackets to the side frames then all you would have to do is install your self tapping screws in the pilot holes. If done on the CNC the holes should keep your alignment correct for your tee bracket installation. Then you will know the exact vertical position of the tee brackets that are installed on the side frames.
3:
You could also drill the pilot holes for the tee bracket attachment in the ends of the cross braces during your first setup. It would only require 1 tool change for a different size drill bit.
4:
One other thing you could do is the camfer of the top side of the holes on the CNC machine. The bottom side could be done by flipping the part for the bottom chamfer operation or do them by hand if that works out better for you.
Put that Tormach to work while you do other operations necessary for the project. Ha Ha
Many thanks for sharing!!!!!
John
Hey John! Not real critical on the precision. That's a great idea on putting multiple pieces in the vice at once! I guess I could put a chunk of aluminum in the vice. I could probably fit 5 or 6 tubes in there. As long as all of the tubes are pretty close to 3/4"
I am having 5 frames welded now. I made a welding jig. They said they can weld them in less than an hour. I have 18 more frames to make.
Nice one Craig, how does the powder coating rack work?
Thanks! Working good. The next set will be welded through.