msw135morgan
Plastic
- Joined
- May 19, 2014
- Location
- San Luis Obispo
Have a Velox gantry CNC, uses 4 limit switches for homing. Gecko control box drivers, Mach3, HSD spindle.
Machine has been leveled as well as can be done (Machinists' level), used a granite master alignment
triangle to set x, y, z. No backlash to speak of. Use SolidWorks for design, VisualCam for CAM, with Win7.
Been doing this for 2 years now, certainly not an expert. We have been making negative molds for producing
carbon fiber parts. The molds are machined from HiMacs plastic, with alignment pin holes. During the past
6 months it appears as though there has developed drift of x,y coordinates whilst machining. Not sure how
to describe this. Mold pairs are machined during the same run, side by side, mirrored. When done, and the
the molds physically aligned, the midpoint of the long edges (x axis) are misaligned by 1/16 inch top and
bottom, with y ends aligned(5" long y, 45" long in x). The alignment holes are mismatched as well, as
are the mold cavities. If one of the halves is then rotated around z by 180 degrees, the mold edges, as well
as many of the alignment holes do align. It is almost as if there is drift in y, creating curved, rather than
straight lines in x. Have another Velox CNC and a Taig Micromill 2000, both of which do not have this problem.
I do not know where to begin in troubleshooting this. We routinely home before machining, and return to 0 is
accurate and precise (test this using a precision ground alignment pin at 0, with a Starrett last word). The
machine shows orthagonality with a granite triangle (longest axis 15 inches) and the path is not sinusoidal or
weird when manually running along the edge in x or y. Any suggestions or resources would be appreciated, I am
really perplexed. Thanks. Morgan
Machine has been leveled as well as can be done (Machinists' level), used a granite master alignment
triangle to set x, y, z. No backlash to speak of. Use SolidWorks for design, VisualCam for CAM, with Win7.
Been doing this for 2 years now, certainly not an expert. We have been making negative molds for producing
carbon fiber parts. The molds are machined from HiMacs plastic, with alignment pin holes. During the past
6 months it appears as though there has developed drift of x,y coordinates whilst machining. Not sure how
to describe this. Mold pairs are machined during the same run, side by side, mirrored. When done, and the
the molds physically aligned, the midpoint of the long edges (x axis) are misaligned by 1/16 inch top and
bottom, with y ends aligned(5" long y, 45" long in x). The alignment holes are mismatched as well, as
are the mold cavities. If one of the halves is then rotated around z by 180 degrees, the mold edges, as well
as many of the alignment holes do align. It is almost as if there is drift in y, creating curved, rather than
straight lines in x. Have another Velox CNC and a Taig Micromill 2000, both of which do not have this problem.
I do not know where to begin in troubleshooting this. We routinely home before machining, and return to 0 is
accurate and precise (test this using a precision ground alignment pin at 0, with a Starrett last word). The
machine shows orthagonality with a granite triangle (longest axis 15 inches) and the path is not sinusoidal or
weird when manually running along the edge in x or y. Any suggestions or resources would be appreciated, I am
really perplexed. Thanks. Morgan