X3 Way Cover and Screwy Ball Caps
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- Опубліковано 4 кві 2024
- Here's a couple of simple side projects I've been working on. The way cover is for a Sieg X3 mini mill but it might be suitable for other small mills with a dovetailed column. The screwy ball caps were not my idea. They were developed by a viewer named Kurt Miller. He sent me some pictures of his version and asked me if I wanted to post a video featuring the design. The little caps are a useful addition to the ball style vice clamping accessories which help to clamp parts with unreliable surfaces to grip against.
The STL files for the way cover prints can be downloaded here (for free) www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/r8lx1m... - Наука та технологія
Hello Mark…thanks for the shout out regarding the “screwyballs”….lol, I don’t sell anymore units. The cap is a great idea, never saw this, the direct contact of the ball to a part is great on rough parts BUT the hardened ball will dimple the contact surface, the cap can spread out (protect) the contact from the dimple. Generally the dimple is not an issue if that contact face is machined during the build.
Thanks Chuck. I wasn't sure if you were still making them for sale. I meant to check with you before releasing this video. The little cap idea is a great accessory. I had to buy some smaller magnets for the 16mm ball sizes though. I did notice a dimple in a cast iron part just using the ball but it gets covered up later so it's not an issue.
Regards,
Mark
Hi Mark. Thank for showing these excellent “side projects”. Very interesting indeed. Another item to add to my ever increasing list of projects. 🥴👍😀
Good Show Mate: As per normal. I always enjoy your vids. Enjoy the Ausi accent too.
I was initially confused as to how you were going to get from 3/4" to just under 20mm but thankfully you cleared that up. Thanks for another great video.
Me too! That's why I had to qualify my wildly inaccurate inch to metric conversion. I hope to live long enough to see the whole world go metric.
Regards,
Mark
@@Preso58i also hope you live to see 150 (because it’ll be at least that long for everything to go to metric) 🥲
I used magnets on my way covers on my homemade mill and they get covered in swarf all the time, they must be pretty strong magnets because I have a hard time cleaning it all off. Those little vice thingys are a great idea. A button carbide tip could also be an option for cutting the ball seat.👍
Ooooh, nice! Glad to catch you just in time!
My way covers are an Ikea rollup blind with stainless tool wrap replacing the fabric. Hot chips, no problem. The blind has an internal part that needs to be removed, so it never locks and always retracts.
Cheers-Peter
I tried and failed to make a sort of overlapping metal cover that would concertina on itself like the one that Stefan Gotteswinter has on his Deckel mill. Stainless or aluminium slats would be ideal but so far the EPDM rubber has held up really well on the Bridgeport.
Regards,
Mark
Trying to sew a magnet info a fabric covered foam material is even more fun.
I have the same waze cover on my mill. It was done by the previous owner using alloy & a piece of coveyor belting. Great idea for keeping things clean. Not sure if you have done it but i fitted 2 springs at the sides. Held at the top of the dovetail. So when i raise the knee the cover follows it. Love the ball bearing idea. Never seen that before.
Steve.
I did consider trying to have the cover follow the head of the mill up along the Z axis but it all got a bit complex. The ball screw on my Z axis is off to the side of the column and it has it's own bellows type cover on it so chips on the vertical ball screw aren't an issue.
Regards,
Mark
Gday Preso, I’ve been trying to work out what material to use for the new way cover on the milling machine, now I know thanks mate, the ball idea is a great idea to, cheers
Thanks Matty. I have been told that NBR (nitrile butadiene rubber) is more resistant to oil based coolants but the EPDM has held up really well on my Bridgeport. I expected hot chips to make a mess of it but so far it doesn't seem to be a problem.
Regards,
Mark
I like to glue magnets on the back of tape measures and stick them to machines, last one I did I used JB weld ... came back a half hour later to see the magnet incased in the stuff ... oh yea its got steel powder in it, luckily it hadn't started to set so I was able to wipe it off
Great work, thanks for sharing.
I've got a magnetic work light which is absolutely brilliant, but the magnets attract the swarf! Honestly, not a huge problem and it wipes off with a paper towel.
Great tips there Mark
👍
Robert
PS Just ordered some of that rubber 😎
For what it's worth, I cleaned the Bridgeport mill today and the EPDM rubber I fitted behind the table is still very flexible, it's not showing any signs of burning and although it's a bit swollen in a few places, probably from oil. it still seems to be holding up well.
Regards,
Mark
Mark I made my own for my Bridgeport clone. I used Roofing Rubber and in less than a couple of months it is now in at least 3 pieces. I guess it could not take the cold weather. It is now spring here and it seems it just broke on its own over the winter months. My next attempt is going to be some Yoga Mat. I have been using the Yoga mat material to line the drawers in my tool chest and it works great. Thanks for sharing with us. The ball cap is definitely on my radar to build. Wish i had a precision grinder but will just have to make the flat with and angle grinder.
It turns out that rubber comes in many flavours and some aren't compatible with oil. I have been told that NBR (Nitrile Butadiene Rubber) is better for being oil resistant and it's supposed to be good down to temperatures below freezing.
Having said that, I had a clean up on my Bridgeport today and the EPDM I fitted behind the table still seems to be holding together and it's still very flexible. No burn marks that I can see either.
Regards,
Mark
Maybe a spring under the magnet will be better solution?
Then extra precision is not required when drilling a hole for a magnet, the ball can not crash the magnet, and magnet will hold stronger, cos it will be in contact with a ball
It can be some simple leaf spring, and you can just deform the bottom lip of the cone, so magnet will not fall out.
Thx for the vid.
My 2c worth would be to use silicone sealer rather than epoxy to fix the magnet in place, and (as others suggested) to also drill a vent hole through to the back of the cup. The vent hole would prevent hydraulic lock on assembly, provide a path for squeeze out, and allow you to push the magnet out if a trial assembly finds it wedged in place when you aren't ready to leave it there. 🤨
But most importantly, silicone isn't rigid like epoxy, so over time, if the line contact between ball and cone causes local yielding (plastic deformation) as you gronk down on the vise, rather than this "wear and tear" eventually bringing the ball into hard point contact with a magnet that is rigidly supported, causing it to shatter, it would have a chance of just squashing it into a nice squishy cushion of silicone, thus (hopefully) avoiding to shatter the magnet.
That makes sense. The cups are so easy to make that I will probably make a few more for the smaller balls that I have. I had to buy smaller diameter magnets for them since the geometry just doesn't work out with a 10mm diameter magnet.
Regards,
Mark
Thanks, Mark.
As always, it's all in the details :)
I made a very similar Y-way cover for my SX-3 and it works very well. I ended up skipping the magnets because I wanted to avoid attracting swarf, so I tapped some holes in the saddle and attached the aluminum clamp bar directly. There is only one problem: the rubber sheet always gets sucked against the vacuum cleaner.
Some people have a fit if you start drilling holes in your machine tools but sometimes it's the best way for trouble free fixing. I will see how the magnets go.
Regards,
Mark
May they have fits - but they still drill holes for their DROs 😊
I am using same type type of ways cover - flat pieces of material that I am sourcing from treadmill belts. It is very strong and resistant to wear. it is bit too thick, though, but cheap, actually free -there are always free treadmills in local buy/sell boards.
The thing I like about the EPDM is that it is very flexible. My X axis glass scale is on the back of the mill table on the Bridgeport and the Chinese reinforced rubber way cover I bought about three years ago had gone very stiff and it was putting some strain on the extruded aluminium cover over the glass scale. It also seemed to set into a permanent "S" shape and the chips were really hard to clean out of it. However if you can good durable rubber sheet from a treadmill it would be easy enough to replace it periodically.
Regards,
Mark
Great idea. I believe one could measure the taper using the ball bearing. Measure the BB OD and the brass slug from the faced end to a reference, like your shoulder, before the hole is drilled. As you cut the taper measure from the top of the BB to the shoulder. A little math will determine the depth. I'd blue the BB to make sure you're reaching the taper all around the BB.
Mathematics and I don't get on. I know there is a bit of trig involved and it can be done with accuracy. If you were making ten of the caps the first one might be a bit of a hit and miss affair but once you get the numbers written down you could make a batch that were identical.
Regards,
Mark
@@Preso58 Sir, I feel like an idiot at time because mathematics and I don't get along either. Thanks for the inspiration!
To measure that conical tapered depth you just put your ball into the socket and measure the height of the ball . You already have the card to get the measurements
A couple of nice little projects 👍 ! Someone beat me to the suggested though hole to let out the excess J B Weld , and it could be used to measure the clearance between the ball and magnet . 😉 . And no birds or Roos this time 😞 !
Unfortunately, the rain has seems to keep the wildlife away. We've had 1286mm of rain in just three months. I have to make another cap for a smaller diameter ball so I will try the "hole in the cap method".
Regards,
Mark
@@Preso58 , Mark, I was digging through a bunch of used end mills that I picked up and found a two flute mill that someone had hand ground it into a ball nose , It’s a little crude and I haven’t tried to use it yet but got me thinking that maybe you could grind one on your D bit grinder . Just a thought . 🤔.
I live in Louisiana where the humidity is always about 50%! I have never had to store PLA in any sort of special manner. The only filiment i've had trouble with is some that was over 5 years old!
Maybe I am buying second rate PLA. I do have some of those zip lock bags that you can pump flat to keep a sort of vacuum in the bag but it's just another job to do when changing filament. It's also possible that the manufacturers have added ingredients to help with the moisture absorption issue.
Regards,
Mark
Hi Mark,
IT might be much more durable to use NBR or PVC instead of EPDM because of better resistance against oil, fat, petrol and others. Applications where EPDM is prefered are "water-based" e.g. to seal a flat roof or a pond. As You mentioned.
Nevertheless good job 👍.
Greetings from Germany
Hans
Thanks. My original preference was for leather. I think Stefan Gotteswinter had used it on his Emco lathe. NBR would be probably a close second but it can be hard to get here in Australia. So far the EPDM has held up well on the Bridgeport but I don't use a lot of coolant on that machine.
Regards,
Mark
Hi Mark, that's some more projects added my rather long list. Could you have used your ball Turner on the wobble ball cap? Also two caps may do away with the need to put a flat on the ball.
I had absolutely overlooked the Turnado radius turner for the ball cap project. Tunnel vision is a curse sometimes! However a viewer has pointed out that a conical seat is actually better and it does guarantee a positive line of contact.
Regards,
Mark
Stiff vaseline keep ball very well in cup. Using magnet you see very soon how everything goes magnetic and chips is stuck your tools and measuring equipmetns and everything what is made iron
I usually just use a piece of wood for odd shapes, but this might be worth a shot. I thought you might use your turnado to make the ball socket. Thanks for the video!
I came here to also advocate or the Turnado, but I see you’ve beaten me to it. Lol
I would also suggest to drill a very small hole in the center of the pocket before parting it off. This will help eliminate air pockets in your JB Weld, and may even help to reduce squeeze-out as you press your magnet in.
I had totally overlooked the Turnado radius turner. Duh!
👍👍🙏👍👍
You could make a form tool with a radius the same as the ball to get a better seat as well
Absolutely. I just got lazy and went with the conical seat. Someone has pointed out that I could have used my Turnado radius turning attachment. Duh! Why didn't I think of that?
Regards,
Mark
OUTSTANDING video and ideas. I love both. Mind sharing the .stl with me. I think this idea is worth replicating.
Thanks !
I will put a link in the description of the video. It will take you to my Dropbox and you can download the files from there.
Regards,
Mark
Mark, why not making the caps from steel and magnetize these so you don't need a frigile magnet. And I think stronger than brass.
It might be hard to keep the swarf off the surfaces.
Regards,
Mark
Hello Mark. Do you really need the flat spot on the ball if you're using the cup?
I would think that the spherical surface of the ball would leave a dimple in your vice jaw unless the jaws are fully hardened and even then it would be risky to have two hard surfaces under pressure from the vice. There may be some danger of fracturing the ball.
Regards,
Mark
Looks like a tool and cutter casting. ! There is a lot of them about .. mostly half done ..
No, its the eccentric rod and strap for the Stuart steam engine. I must say I was impressed with the accuracy and the finish on what is essentially a 3D printed metal part.
Regards,
Mark
Hi Mark, the contact line could be doubled by adding an under cut at the initial contact line of the cup, the ball would bridge over that under cut creating two contact lines. Whats your thoughts on this?
Cheers
I am not sure the single line of contact is going to be a problem. Most of the parts that I work on are relatively small and as such don't need a lot of clamping pressure. I am guessing that if you need to clamp bigger parts you would just scale up the size of the ball and the cap. It would be interesting to test one of the ball caps to destruction, just to see how it might fail.
Regards,
Mark
Technically, it's a circular (elliptical even more correct) contact, not a line...but that's just being pedantic. Kinematically, ball and cone is the better solution, especially in that it will take incredible machining accuracy even with a ball end mill to avoid isolated contact. (See any number of machinist videos on UA-cam that try to make their own taper tooling.) I will defer to someone who knows more about tribology, but the best option would be to select a material for your cup cap that is more compatible with the chrome ball bearing.
I was going to challenge your use of the term "Tribology". I had always considered that to be a study of friction but (googled it) and found that it also refers to wear and interaction between surfaces. On reflection, I agree that the conical seat is more reliable and the ideal would be a steel cup with a copper or aluminium cap. That's probably overdoing it though.
Regards,
Mark
To get a stronger hold on the vise, can you put the cap towards the jaw and the flat side of the ball towards the part?
I think the idea is to put the softer material against the rough surface of the casting so that it will deform into the surface and grip the part better.
Regards,
Mark
@@Preso58 I concur, and I thought aluminium was a better choice of material for this reason.
Is that a metal 3d printed connecting rod at the end?
Yes it is. It's 316L stainless steel and I was blown away with the accuracy and the surface finish. The parts are for the eccentric strap and the rod. The parts supplied in the kit were made of brass and it's not really the right material and full size engines would have had forged iron or steel parts. I will be sharing the details in the next video on the Stuart engine. It's not a "collaboration" either. I paid full price for the parts just to see how they would turn out. I was so impressed that I ordered some more parts to make die holders.
Regards,
Mark
Hi Mark, Could you have put a bleed hole in the side of the pocket to bleed of excess glue?
You could however it has been pointed out that having the vent hole drilled right through to the front face of the cap would achieve the aim of allowing trapped air and excess glue to escape. I will try this on the next one that I make for a smaller diameter ball.
Regards,
Mark
Could you use your tailstock "DRO" to measure the depth of cut? Take the difference from the face of the piece and then put the ball in and measure to it, difference is the ball depth...
Like I said, I only have a little brain! 😁
Regards,
Mark
Let us know if Joe Pie responds to your comment!
Probably not. It will just be another black mark against my name in Joe's ledger of incompetent machinists 😁
Joking of course. Joe is one of my go to experts.
Regards,
Mark
Cabinet catch magnets are drilled for a counter sunk screw. Rather than use JB Weld, cabinet catches can simply be screwed into a bottom taped hole.
I'll bet those magnets annoy the hell out of you. Ive used them in various areas and have taken then all off over time. Nice job though
You may be right. I know that drilling holes in machines is frowned upon though. If it all gets tedious I will probably just put a couple of dowel pins in the X3 cross slide and hang the way cover off them.
Regards,
Mark
@@Preso58 Totally agree I wouldn't want to drill any holes although the back end face would probably be quite safe although a pain to get at. All the best