It has been a long and enjoyable build, and I am finished and ready to start test cuts with my new ATC set-up.
Since my last update I have been busy finishing a number of tasks.
I have fully completed and tested all the safety circuits and sensors which work with the spindle, VFD, pneumatics, cooling, etc., and happily all are working as expected. Help from the Masso forums, Clough42 (YouTube) , and Joseph Abenhaim (FB) was greatly appreciated
I designed, printed, and built spring loaded ISO toolholders that have been working very well for the auto tool changes.
I wanted a way to protect the tool rack, and after a lot of designing and trial and error, came up with one that seems to work quite well - although there are tradeoffs. A sensor triggers an air cylinder when the Y axis block enters the ATC area, which pushes the cover away - the opposite happens after the tool change is complete. I found a supplier of commercial strip brushes, and added that at the bottom to keep out chips and sweep them away.
I wanted to add a way to make oiling easier, so I purchased a manual oiler, and along with some compact M6 push connect elbows and 4 mm OD tubing, put together an oiling system. I kept the tube lengths and fitting locations equal to make sure the ball screw nuts receive a similar amount of oil with each pull of the handle. Because the Z ball nut is inaccessible, I designed and printed a tube holder that clips to one of the linear bearings, and dispenses oil out the tube right on the screw above the nut. The linear rails I just add oil to during the warm-up program.
I had always wanted to create a warm up routine for my CNC and spindle, and thought now is a good time. Besides wanting to teach myself more about g code, the warm up routine will also serve to disperse the newly added oil, warm up the bearings, and let me listen for and catch any mechanical issues. The program I settled on starts with two full diagonal moves and a Z axis up/down move to fully distribute the oil, followed by a series of perimeter runs around the ATC/non ATC areas at increasing speeds. During all these moves the Z axis is moving up and down. I just finished testing the oiler and the warm-up program and all worked as expected. I now plan to edit it to include a spindle warm-up as well, so all will happen at once maximizing the time.
Below is the g code for those interested. My program uses a G59 work offset zero position which is +1cm X/Y from machine zero, just to give a little ‘buffer’ around the perimeter during travel.
(CNC warm up routine - no spindle RUN/RPM)
G59 G17 G21 G90 G94
G00 X0 Y0 Z-10
(manual oil pump - pump lever once)
G01 Y705 X725 Z-63 F2250
(manual oil pump - pump lever once)
Y0 X0 Z-10
(cycle 1 - ATC zone - higher spindle)
Y705 Z-63 F2000
X725 Z-10
Y0 Z-63
X0 Z-10
(cycle 2 - ATC zone - higher spindle)
Y705 Z-63 F2250
X725 Z-10
Y0 Z-63
X0 Z-10
(cycle 3 - safe cutting zone - lower spindle)
Y605 Z-135 F2500
X725 Z-10
Y0 Z-135
X0 Z-10
(cycle 4 - safe cutting zone - lower spindle)
Y605 Z-135 F3000
X725 Z-10
Y0 Z-135
X0 Z-10
M30
On a final note, I revisited tramming … just because. I used the tramming gauge I had purchased to adjust the tilt (side to side) and nod (front to back) orientation of the spindle. Happily I was able to get both to less than +/- 0.0005", which is the smallest increment of the instrument version I purchased. Two things of note 1) the tramming bolts on the X50 tubes when all four were used changed the nod by eight to nine 0.0005" increments, and 2) I found the adjustment of the tilt challenging, so I designed and printed two ‘tramming blocks’ to help position the Z assembly. They are held on the assembly using two M6 screws, and use a M8 screw to adjust the tilt by pushing against the Z axis block. I loosened all M4 screws but the top left (it functioned as a pivot point), then adjusted the M8 screws until I was happy with the tramming. The blocks worked very well to secure the Z assembly while I retightened the M4 screws.
In my next update I plan to share the ATC in action, as well as an evaluation of the performance of the build, particularly how it mills aluminum. (But because I am a novice, and a little nervous of crashes, I purchased a block of machinable wax to practice on 
)
Such a spindle like 
