Boxford CNC Mill

[James]

Last night we brought the Boxford to rLab! :)

Massive thanks to Ian who helped move the mill (and its table and engine crane use to lift it!) from Crowthorne and then spend the rest of the night learning and tweaking the mill/software.

Lots of time spent on setting up (datums, vice offsets, tooling offsets etc) but it was worthwhile and the process to add extra tooling seems easy and solid.

We plan to spend time over the next couple of weeks fine tuning, fixing and documenting so others can then use the mill.
Wiki page created - http://rlab.org.uk/wiki/Boxford_260_VMC

The CAD/CAM side of things is less solid...It uses a program called TechSoft Design which "works" but is 2.5D only and has many "quirks". I would like the option of using Fusion 360 for this part so I am looking to see if any of the standard Fusion post processors will fit with Boxfords idea of gcode (should do as from what I have seen the boxford code looks normal).

Offers of help/advice are more than welcome!! Please chat to me of Ian rather than jumping straight in though as not everything is documented.

Top learning for the day...
Crashing a 40mm facing cutter in to plastic makes a louder and more painful noise than I would have expected... :/ machine was fine but the plastic wasn't happy :D

WARNING!!!
If the mill is in your way please please please be very careful moving it. It is on wheels but is very top heavy so a minimum of 2 people and going very slowly is essential for safety!

Cheers,
James

[Ryan .]

Can you please put a sign on the mill with the warning about moving it if you hadn't already?

Nice work guys!!! So cool!!!

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[Alex Gibson]

Yay :)

Tapped on my mobile phone.

[James]

"Can you please put a sign on the mill with the warning about moving it if you hadn't already?"

Good point Ryan - sorry, I didn't think of this last night and I will not be back until tomorrow at the earliest - If whoever is in next could put a sign up with the above warning I would be grateful!

Fusion 360 - I just checked a boxford gcode file and the gcodes are standard :) The header has some custom stuff in it however so will need a custom post processor but shouldn't be difficult

James

[Ryan .]

Sweeeeeeet!!!

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[Andy Noyes]

Exciting!

Does the machine have a coolant system? Couldn't see any mention on the wiki.

Looking at the to do list:- "Oil System - Crack in manual oil pump needs fixing." I might be able to repair this. This is lubrication for the ways, right?

[James]

Hi Andy,
No coolant system at the mo. I was thinking adding air to cool and clear chips might be nice. Not so sure about a flood type coolant system mainly due to the mess? I have been manually squirting small amounts of wd40 in during the test cuts I made at home but this still made quite a mess. But if you have any ideas on this I would be happy to hear them. There is already a cheap flexi plastic tube thing attached to the right side of the spindle. The previous owner wanted to add air/coolant but never got any further.

Oil System Crack - Yes, for ways lubrication. If you have ideas to fix it great! It is disconnected at the moment and stuffed inside a couple of blue gloves inside the mill. Feel free to take a look. If I remember I will post some pics to the wiki.

[Ian Petrie]

I spent a couple of hours playing this evening.

I've found it a keyboard ( James had to take the one he brought last night ) and I've dug a monitor out of the store upstairs and connected that instead of the one on top of the machine. Keyboard, mouse and monitor work comfortably on a table set to the right of the machine rather than cricking your neck to look at the one on top of the machine.

I started reading the help pages.

I've changed the default speed for simulation down to 10%.

I was playing with the "Import Image" function. This imports a bmp or jpg and makes a shallow engraving from that source.

Ian

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[James]

good idea on the sim speed. Its annoying being higher as it races through and you end up rewinding it anyway!

I have made good progress with the post processor for Fusion 360 just needs some testing next time I am down.

[James]

Progress update:-

• Correct PC up and running with the mill
• Settings redone
• Machine Datums set
• Tool Library set.
  
• USB was dead on the other pc so the settings file couldn't be transferred.
• Tool confusion - The boxford software makes the distinction between Slot Drill and End Mill when setting tools up. This difference essentially is that Slot Drills can plunge vertically but End Mill cannot. Its important to get this right as only Slot Drills are allowed to be set to pocket an area in the Boxford CAD/CAM.
• Need more tooling for testing, specifically slot drills as we only have one at the moment.
  
• Fusion 360 Post tested and failed :/
• Used the generic RS-274D post supplied by autodesk.
• Boxford software requires a specific header and moans if it cannot find one. Can work without header as the software prompts for the values but it's not a great workflow.
• Number of G/M code not allowed (work offset, tool length offset, coolant off...)
• I am tweaking the post to fix the above issues (also need to create a custom tool library for Fusion 360 that mirrors the Boxford one).

I will be down again this week to continue.

Cheers,

James

[Ryan .]

Excellent work James!!!

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[Andy Noyes]

What range of collet sizes does it have? I might have some suitable slot drills or centre cutting end mills I can donate, though probably old and imperial (I rarely ever use those). But ok for testing/playing around with.

[James]

Currently have 5 easy change tool holders (http://www.engineeringsupplies.co.uk/tool-holders-easy-change-c-175.html?page=1&menu=1)

1 is a 40mm index facing mill
the others can take 6-8mm shanks I think. Would need to double check this though as i have only been focused on the cutting diameter so far.

I think I would be good to get a ER easy change chuck and a set of collets. Would give more flexibility in tool sizes although it does mean you need to set the offset every time you put a new tool in (or have some sort of quick set jig?) and also think how the tool library would work.

[Andy Noyes]

I've left a few small slot drills on the rack behind the tool holders. They are 6mm and 1/4" shanks, I'm not sure if these tool holders can take intermediate sizes and I didn't want to open one to check in case you've stored all the offsets.

I took a look at the oil pump, I didn't realise the cracked part was plastic, thought maybe it could be welded. Maybe instead it can be lined with something (varnish?) and only partly filled.

The table looks like it's not really designed for coolant, there is no gutter or anything to collect it, which is a shame. It would be nice to have flood coolant particularly with aluminium, but would be messy. I guess now with interlocks fitted you can no longer just open the doors and spray on WD40. Perhaps some sort of mist system would be a compromise?

[James]

That' s great, cheers Andy :)

Oil pump - Is it possible to use some sort of glue in the crack? Like the stuff we use for acrylic?

Coolant - The interlock switches are fitted but the wiring had also been removed so I need to figure out were they should go. Originally when the doors were opened the program would pause, spindle stop (I think it would first move to a safe z), and the steppers stop. you could then give a squirt of WD40/clear chips, close the door and press cycle start to resume. Would be nice to get this functionality back.

[Matthew Daubney]

Can we print a replacement plastic part?

[Matthew Daubney]

or even replace it with a metal one?

[Andy Noyes]

It's a clear plastic reservoir that holds the oil, basically a square beaker shape, maybe it could be printed but it's quite tall. It's clear so you can see the oil level inside, though that's probably not essential.

It might be possible to find a similar size clear plastic container and adapt it, or make an adaptor/mount.

[Stuart Livings]

Model vehicle fuel tanks are probably appropriate.  They're readily available, cheap, translucent and safe with a variety of aggressive oils and fuels.

Stuart

[Andy Noyes]

Something like an airline separator/trap might do.

[James]

Update.

Spent last night on the mill:

• Made a cool keyboard/mouse/tools/whatever drawer for the mill out of a couple of server rails and some plywood.
• Tested the latest post for Fusion 360 and........ it works!!!! Well, kinda.. :/  A simple pocket created in Fusion -> post to .gmm (gcode) file -> file opened in the boxford software and moved the machine! The Boxford software no longer moans about incomplete headers but it doesn't seem to fully support arcs (G2/3) correctly. The Boxford CAM seems to avoid arcs outputting small linear moves instead so in the short term I will tweak the post to turn off arcs and test again.

Need to fix the oiler, add the new tools from Andy and get a training plan together and then people can be trained to use (using the standard boxford software first followed by Fusion 360).

James

[Paul Lawrence]

 It sort of suggests that the CAM software was design to be used with a control that is not capable for full circular interpolation and is trying to achieve it in steps using linear interpolation.

James, 

Is it possible to send the machine a program hand coded in G-code ?

Paul 

[James]

Hi Paul,
Yes to does seem that way. Its worth mentioning that the CAD/CAM software is not by Boxford. Its by another company called Techsoft. The output I have seen from the CAM so far only shows G1 moves for all features.

But, the Boxford interpreter does accept arcs as I can pass it code with g2/3 moves but it needs more work to fine tune I think.

As said, I will change the fusion post to remove arcs for now to get it working and if you or anyone else would like to help, we could work work on getting full arcs working?

The software lets you open a gcode file so you can write your own files.

Here is an example of a pocket toolpath generated from boxford and one by fusion, quite interesting:-

Boxford:

Fusion:

Cheers,

James

[Paul Lawrence]

Looks good James.

Whats your plan for the next week or so with regards to working at the hackspace on this ?

Paul

[James Whiting]

Hi Paul,

I plan to work on the boxford again on Tuesday and also maybe Thursday next week (8pm till late) so if you fancy helping out you are more than welcome.

Ian - Are you around on Tuesday/Thursday? Or will you be busy with the new thermo gadget? ;)

I have been updating the wiki page for the Boxford with my progress so take a look for more info.

http://beta.readinghackspace.co.uk/wiki/Boxford_260_VMC

Cheers,

James

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Date: Tue, 12 Jul 2016 17:45:13 -0700
From: euro...@gmail.com
To: reading-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [RDG-Hack] Re: Boxford CNC Mill

[Paul Lawrence]

Hi James,

If nothing comes up, I will see you on Tuesday

Regards

Paul

[Bob Bonney]

Dear James

I'm a DT teacher learning fusion 360 for my new school and am loving this wiki, firstly we have a Boxford A3HSR, so now trying to construct the setup and tool path  plus contour and i am having the same issues with the GMM file. Bad header etc.... and when i input the file the preview is blank in the Oxford software and was wondering if you managed to get all your settings into the setup.

Bob

Jersey College For Girls

and having read your post its clear we are following a similar path having created a product in fusion 360,