robodrill time..help please..

[alkometal]

if its in the x axis try to make a subplate where the 4th and the centerpoint are just on the start and end of the travels so you have fully use on the part for x travel

[Seekins]

Originally Posted by Dave Cross

Geez man, thats a pretty major bummer. Is the issue you don't have enough X travel or not enough between centers? If its the latter building a standoff for the tailstock and rotary shouldn't be a big deal. But out of x travel, how did you miss that???

not enough room between centers..

I missed it because of the way the fixtures work and i hadn't realized it until i started playing with cad files today. then it hit me like a ton of bricks. We were already very close. The rotary has an ID expandable collet so the part needs to be able to slip over it, this takes away 1.1". Also, the rotary has another face plate that needs to be added taking away another inch. The tailstock center is also too small OD, and the larger one will take up just a bit more room.

We already had the tailstock and rotary attached to a sub plate and hanging off the bed 3'' each direction.
After what i learned this week with the Haas, hanging over at all is not something i am comfortable without doing some substantial testing. Regardless, i am short a couple inches so it wont work with 20% of the parts that i really need it for. I spent most of the day trying to find a solution and as creative as i am, cannot find a solution i am comfortable with. A little mistake could cost me huge here, so im a bit overly cautious.

The other 80% of my parts will work on it, so as soon as i can justify two 4th axis machines i will have one, maybe even sooner than that if the parts take off like expected. They really are an awesome machine. I wish i would have looked at them or at least listened to some of you when i was shopping around the first of the year. I have already kicked myself a time...or nine..

[JMC]

Originally Posted by Seekins

We already had the tailstock and rotary attached to a sub plate and hanging off the bed 3'' each direction.

can you do a larger subplate? If its beefy enough I don't see a problem from hanging 4" instead of 3".

You are right bout Chris tho....good sales guy. We just got a V-Max 800 (not brand new...a demo machine that we got for a steal) cuz of him

[Tonytn36]

Hanging off 4" each direction on a sub plate shouldn't be a huge issue. If you are worried about bow, add a 2 or 3 stiffener ribs to the sub plate between the indexer and the center. You can even add stiffener ribs to the ends of the table, below the subplate if needed. I don't know about the RoboDrill, but the Brother table actually has, (I think 4x IIRC) M6 tapped holes in each end of the table where you could bolt stiffeners.
I would use a 1.5" or maybe a 2" sub plate. You can pocket the whiz out of the bottom side to regain weight load for the machine (see pics). I would check my Z clearances though, you may wind up needing a Z column riser.
For reference, the plate is 1.5" MIC-6, hard anodized. The webs are 30 mm wide, the pocket depth is roughly 1.1". The plate is 600 mm x 440 mm. A 4/5 indexer hangs roughly 90 mm off the front side of the table on this one and I've seen no issues.

[Seekins]

Originally Posted by Tonytn36

Hanging off 4" each direction on a sub plate shouldn't be a huge issue. If you are worried about bow, add a 2 or 3 stiffener ribs to the sub plate between the indexer and the center. You can even add stiffener ribs to the ends of the table, below the subplate if needed. I don't know about the RoboDrill, but the Brother table actually has, (I think 4x IIRC) M6 tapped holes in each end of the table where you could bolt stiffeners.
I would use a 1.5" or maybe a 2" sub plate. You can pocket the whiz out of the bottom side to regain weight load for the machine (see pics). I would check my Z clearances though, you may wind up needing a Z column riser.
For reference, the plate is 1.5" MIC-6, hard anodized. The webs are 30 mm wide, the pocket depth is roughly 1.1". The plate is 600 mm x 440 mm. A 4/5 indexer hangs roughly 90 mm off the front side of the table on this one and I've seen no issues.

Its great in theory, but i need to do some testing before committing to something like this. the base of the rotary is only 5.5" in the X axis. The edge of the bed is already 10" from where it bolts to the ways.

What threw me over the edge with the haas was the TABLE flexing with the rotary secured directly onto it, but off to one side. If that's flexing the table i don't see how an aluminum subplate wouldnt, especially when its extended out even further from the hold down locations than i am now. If i wasn't pushing with the tailstock it wouldnt be a issue and the rotary be attached wherever.

[Tonytn36]

The bed of the Robodrill hangs off that much? I haven't looked at one in a while...

[Needshave]

If you're uncomfortable about the table and travel size I'd suggest you go with your instinct and at least look into getting a lager machine.

[barbter]

Our Robodrill has an ally grid plate on the table thats 2" thick.
It overhangs the x by 5" at each end. This is to be able to put our indexer up and the face of the indexer is just within travel.
We do this on all of our larger vmc's and have had no troubles so far (knock on wood).

What size machine is it you're after? Ours is the 500 x travel but they do make the longbed (700mm travel) which is not a lot more money?

[Slater]

Methods did not have a solution to this? were you looking at the long bed machine?

[Seekins]

The solution is to overhang the rotary and tailstock, then i CAN do my parts. I just hope it doest flex the bed when i push with the tailstock because i am outside of where the bed is mounted to the machine. The Haas does, and it even flexes with a 1" steel subplate as i proved today, while they watched.

Like a little girl buying shoes i ran back to the store and will submit my PO, the down payment and the loan papers tomarow for my new robodrill long bed Hopefully it ships next week !!!

[Perry Harrington]

You can always add bolt on vertical webs to the top of the subplate to strengthen it. If you make trusses that are milled out of flat, the chips will pass through.

[3t3d]

What are going to get for a Mist collector, and chip conveyor?

[Seekins]

i got the losma unit after researching both. The one i looked at was poring out fluid like it was supposed to.

For the conveyor i went with the standard conveyor. Hoyt is doing the same type of cutting and they aren't having an issue with the 4 they have and they aren't using air on them at all. 99% of the chips i cut will be from a 3/8em.