Mills and Lathes

[SummitFever]

awesome. there is a Open Source Mechatronics CNC Mill in my future. https://www.makerstore.com.au/product/kit-cbeam-machine/

I think there's a lot you can do with such machines in materials like soft plastic and wood but they will have trouble with harder engineering plastics (even acryllic/perspex) and certainly alu. Sure, there's plenty of youtube vids of people cutting alu on sub $1000 CNC machines but if the dimensions are not what's intended and the surface finish is terrible then it's not really 'machining'.

DIY synthetic granite machine or mill CNC conversion would be the go. To reliably cut alu without hand-holding, flood coolant is really essential so design/build/buy a machine around being able to run flood coolant. If you can't reliably clear the chips and keep the cutters cool then you're pretty much stuck holding the machine's hand while it does its thing and that sort of defeats the whole purpose of a having a personal robot do your dirty work.

 

[SummitFever]

The rebound cap driver was a little tricker. I probably would have made this as a socket out of round stock but I didn't have any of a suitable diameter to hand and neither the 4th axis or the 3 jaw chuck is installed on the table at the moment. What I did have is some excess plate from what we are currently machining.

IFP depth setter will probably be the final thing I make for the DPX2. Probably make that out of some excess plate as well.

@link1896 anything else we need?

 

[link1896]

The rebound cap driver was a little tricker. I probably would have made this as a socket out of round stock but I didn't have any of a suitable diameter to hand and neither the 4th axis or the 3 jaw chuck is installed on the table at the moment. What I did have is some excess plate from what we are currently machining.

IFP depth setter will probably be the final thing I make for the DPX2. Probably make that out of some excess plate as well.

@link1896 anything else we need?

Stunning none the less.

Damper rod bullet for installing the seal head without damaging the oring. I can make you one easily on my lathe if you don’t have stock. I never thread them, just get close to the minor diameter of the thread in the damper rod, this way they self locate.

 

[SummitFever]

...Damper rod bullet...

That would be awesome. Much appreciated.

 

[SummitFever]

The spanners didn't turn out too bad looking in the cold light of day:

 

[link1896]

Need to make a new copy of this linkage from the Xprezo Ad Hoc. She’s shagged, the bearings fall in and out easily.

Will mount a chunk of ally in the 4 jaw for the 19mm bearing seats. I’ll press in a spacer tube to seperate the bearings, no way I can line up both sides without major major messing about if I were to try machining/turning the bearings seats.

Ally axles were just not up to the task. Will make fresh steel ones. Might push bushings in too.

 

[cokeonspecialtwodollars]

Any of our lathe owning members have some aluminium round bar laying around and would be willing to turn up some axle spacers for me please?

 

[Dales Cannon]

Let me check tooling, if anyone else has the gear speak up. 6000 series alloy ok? I think I have some 25mm bar. Will look tomorrowday. Two off? 15.5 might be too floppy?

 

[cokeonspecialtwodollars]

Thanks Dales, no great urgency required but yes two of please. Those were the final dimensions from the spacers that I 3D printed which needed to be slightly oversized to accommodate inaccuracies in the printing process, end result just needs to slide over a 15mm axle. I'm not an expert on metals, I assume that 6000 series would be fine and infinitely better than PLA printing filament?

 

[Dales Cannon]

Thanks Dales, no great urgency required but yes two of please. Those were the final dimensions from the spacers that I 3D printed which needed to be slightly oversized to accommodate inaccuracies in the printing process, end result just needs to slide over a 15mm axle. I'm not an expert on metals, I assume that 6000 series would be fine and infinitely better than PLA printing filament?

Yep, let me check.

 

[Dales Cannon]

Only ali round I have measures 19.75 untouched. Otyerwise it is a lot of turning from 75 OD. Reckon 20ish will be fine. You want?

 

[cokeonspecialtwodollars]

Yes please, the 21mm was only to match up with the OD on the existing caps. Originally I was intending to drill out a piece of 20 x 3mm tube however nobody would sell me anything less than a full length.

 

[Dales Cannon]

Baby boring bar has seen better days and i dont have any inserts, next bar up does 16mm+ so it is a bit thready looking but that is inside. If you dont tell anyone I wont either. Message me an address.

 

[cokeonspecialtwodollars]

Takes me longer to get a coffee round here some times, thanks a million Dales.

 

[Dales Cannon]

Machining is quick, walking the roads to collect cans, then melting them down and continuously casting and extruding the round bar is what takes the time.

 

[link1896]

all those cars at the shops on ally wheels, are bricks that hard to come by?

 

[Dales Cannon]

all those cars at the shops on ally wheels, are bricks that hard to come by?

Expensive round here bricks.

 

[Dales Cannon]

My mechanic mate picked up two sets of 4 piston wilwood calipers for under $1k for the Escort van, to suit vented fronts and solid rears. Time to work out how to make them fit and with which rotors...

It is running 5x114.3 stud pattern (rear diff is from a hilux, engine is SR20) front rotors are from an EA or EB (?) falcon were the right size, just 1mm narrower. A quick dry fit on the car showed it was doable and either a truncated angle or machined block would work. Quick look out the back and some 75x25 6061 aluminium bar was found.

The bits:


How it is meant to look.


Having learned my lesson I face off the bar all round to get nice flat surfaces before I start machining the important bits.


The caliper bolts were in line with the strut mounts so a little machining was in order to recess the plates to suit.


Blanks machined to size and ready for the next step.


A closer look at the recess.


The blanks were trimmed and then relieved to fit the pistons, Initially I was going to have to make space around the abs body for the hub. I thought about using a 4" hole saw and a bit of a tidy up but then discovered those aren't the final hubs so this was ok.


And does it all work? spacers holding the bracket up and a convenient drill bit holding it out where it needs to be.


Yes it does. I will redo calcs as it looks a bit skinny but there is plenty of meat left to bolt it all together, the flat area is 14mm thick and the bosses for the radial caliper mounts are 18x23x21. I am thinking those will be studs so that the tapped holes in the bracket don't get worn out.

Final test fit on the car next week and off to Bunnings for some tapped holes.

 

[link1896]

Nice work. Now to bolt the rotors to the rotary table and add slots

Timeserts or helicoil for radial mount bolts?

 

[Dales Cannon]

Nice work. Now to bolt the rotors to the rotary table and add slots

Timeserts or helicoil for radial mount bolts?

Studs I think, loctited in but helicoils are an option. If he wants J slot rotors he can buy them!!!!

I probably should have used a smaller end mill to get a nice square edge but that face mill cuts nicely and I had a heap of material to remove. Good news is the rear mounts will be an 8mm piece of steel flat with 4 holes. Very easy.