Hey Tony, Nice setup. Be careful when making fine adjustments to that nozzle while the spindle is running. I had my el cheapo one pop apart at a joint and I almost took off a knuckle. It was a close call. I was never a fan of my mister setup, it created a full weather system of it's own in my shop. I ended up shielding the sides of the table and creating a low pressure, low volume flood system instead (with a return system to a bilge pump). It works a lot better, but won't eject chips quite as good as the mister did... Curious to see what you are building next. -Aaron
Great to have you back. Loved your go-cart series, but if I may? Can we please have a shitload more? I'm talking Alec Steel frequency here. If that comes at a cost of using performance enhancing drugs, so be it. We're all addicts here. We're not judging.
Man there has never been a better time to be a hobbyist (hobbiest?). Modern tech sure makes some pretty advanced stuff available to pretty much anyone willing to do some messing around :)
thanks for the vids. I enjoy the humor. I have read many of the comments looking for the points I have and didn't quickly and easily find it. 1. Coolant , the stuff we use at work is waterbased and pink mix about 4(water) to 1(coolant). we usually use it for a full wash at the saw or drill but I have misted with it. much easier to clean up and no smoke. coolant and lubricant are quite different products. 2. put a paint sprayer regulator in front of the mister and play with the air side of your contraption. If you decide to put one in permanent you can get a small one with a built in gauge at any hd truck parts place. they are about 20$ and quite small and concise. 3. turn your coolant reservoir into a pressure pot. Just spit ballin' Thanks again.
I would recommend anyone who didn't watch his CNC build video to watch them. I don't remember how many video's there were but they are amazing video's.
Many thanks for covering this Tony. I have a diy CNC all metal engraving machine that is grounded. Your little green block gives me an idea for the way forward to use a simple insulated probe with Probeit. Its been doing my head in for 3 days.......
my dad got this same cheap cool mist, he also had a problem that the air compressor didn't have enough air flow for the venturi to really work as it was supposed to - to be able to pull the coolant up without positioning the bottle above the nozzle, I fixed it by enlarging the coolant nozzle that sits inside the air path, to speed the air up, was a bit of a trial and error, but now the bottle can sit good 30-40cm below the nozzle, the air pulls the coolant no problem, and the adjustment was fixed by introducing an adjustable clamp on the coolant feed line, now everything works like it should and don't need to fiddle with the bottle and bring it down below the nozzle to stop it dripping after air is off, to brake the connected vessels effect
Hi Tony always remember when buying these cheap coolant parts buy the ones with 2 screwes because with one you can regulate the air with the second how many coolant you want and only with these real minimal coolant system (don't know the exact term) is possible.. The first I bought were the wrong ones you can only need these for old style" coolant river " cooling but the ones with two regulate screws I bought then you can regulate very fine how much air /coolant should come they are way better than the others. Good video thank you 👍👍👍
Got the same mister, same issue. Amazon has some wee little adjustable valves that fit the line for a few dollars-- cut the line, throw it in, and you have full adjustment. Works great.
I use one of those coolant units on my mill. I added a pressurized coolant tank (just a regulated air pressure on top so the coolant siphons out from under it). Then I added a needle valve in the coolant line (the one on the banjo never seemed to work very well for some reason). Now it works quite well for me, I can go down to almost nothing and up to a solid stream. I also had some problems with the coolant mist varied greatly with the height on the coolant compared to the nozzle, but what I described fixed that as well.
For the coolant, I have one of the Noga versions and have to say it's very well made (but also $100). I had to adjust the nozzle opening before the fluid suction was affected by the "suction" adjust knob. The height of the coolant tank also affected suction if has a lot of gravity helping it will tend to flood out a lot.
I have the same mist coolant setup - I just use a really small c-clamp on the liquid line to act like a pinch valve to be able to control the flow somewhat independently of the air flow.
yeah Tony as has been mentioned, pressurizing your coolant tank will allow you to get rid of the fine mist fog and instead change it to micro droplets, that and a few good needle valves will allow you to dial this thing down to an awesome setup instead of a fog making mess. you can pressurize the fluid tank to the same pressure as your flow or for even more control you can regulate the fluid tank pressure separately and run even higher pressure in the tank than the air flow. trust me night and day difference between this and siphon feeding like that
What a coincidence, I bought two of these this week! My lathe doesn't have any coolant handling, and my (silent) compressor doesn't produce much air, and I don't want to breathe atomised coolant/lube, sooo.... I'm running mine with 10psi air- not much chip clearing,and hardly any venturi, but I've set my (soluble oil emulsion) coolant tank slightly higher than the work, so there's a slow drip from siphoning when the air is off. To stop the siphoning I just lift the tip of the mister to the same level as the coolant after turning of the air. With the ten psi air flow it doesn't generate a mist, but there is very good coolant delivery (compared to brush or squirt bottle) with virtually no splashing. I managed to finally part off round solid mild steel without breaking the parting tool or splashing milky white suds all over the shop (which was a big problem with my home made flood coolant system). I'll try a positive pressure coolant delivery as suggested in other comments, so I can put the reservoir somewhere easier (I've got a couple of adafruit peristaltic pumps which should be ideal). I wonder if this would work on your router, the low air flow from 10psi may not move the chip out of the way I guess...
I have the same cheap coolant mist nozzle, they work awesome. However theres a trick. The siphon/venturi part of it suck. Make a pressureized oil canister, I like using water filter canisters, a couple valves and a regulator, and push the oil to the nozzle, that way it's not dependent on air flow. You'll spend $30 on fittings, but they're just as good if not better than a name brand one. A correctly set MQL system ( the correct name for them are minimum quantity lubricators) should spray so little coolant you shouldn't be able to see it. Spray it on a piece of paper to see if the coolant is actually coming out
Hey this old Tony I have a suggestion for your sprayer. It looks like a Venturi just like a carburetor. You can get an regulator and a one touch adjustable adjustable orifice valve to reduce the flow. That seems like it's for spraying lots of fluid. Or just make a new need valve since you have all that equipment.
the way you made the touchprobe is a good idea , its certanly cheaper then the micro switched one with the ruby tip i was checking on once (that was enough to know i wouldnt buy one ever ) you need to know the exact x and y offset from the probe to the center and the distance to the edge of the tool in the router but that should be eazy enough to lock in once the probe is mounted wonder if it be a good idea to mount the probe with a break away type of mounting (magnet with an emergency switch under it to stop the machine on break away) to prevent the machine from breaking the tip and keep going untill the limitswitch is hit
We use them at work (electrical distribution industry) to check for poor quality connections on switchboards, etc. Great tool to find things before they melt and go catastrophic.
Yeah. Nobody ever imagined using a "thermal cam" or any other temperature-sensing/measuring device to actually check the temperature of parts/systems before. They just invented "thermal cams" and infrared thermometers and thermocouples and even regular thermometers for the hell of it because they were bored. Thank God people like this "genius" here found a practical purpose for them.
I've got a koolmist on my Taig, and it works great. It only takes a tiny amount of coolant to be effective, and the koolmist coolant lasts a long time and doesn't get stinky.
get one of those $110 shop filters. Does a good job of pulling coolant out of the air. Filled one of mine with activated charcoal for next to my 2x72. It really helps with that burning-metal smell.
Tony For that mist cooler and the expensive ones , get a water filter housing and fit that in to the suction line and pressure it with the same air supply that way you can get the flow very low , just air or just liquid or both , o tools and others have done video on the mods Great video
Tony - Sorry about your power supply. But there is something vaguely satisfying about finding the limits :) You should check out UCCNC for control software. And the 2017 screenset for it. It's a good value and has good support and a growing user community. Really like your videos, I always learn something.
I am interested to see more details about Mach. I spent a fair bit of time pulling my hair out to try to make a low-end plasma table (that was running an older version of Mach) work, and was immensely frustrated by the software. It had what I considered to be a very confusing interface and poor documentation, and I really struggled to make it do simple things. I was getting started on writing my own when we figured out a couple of workarounds that allowed us to get by with the basic parts we were making until we could get another table. The new interface looks much better, which will probably solve some of the types of problems I was facing.
I would love to see a comparison between Mach3 and Mach4. I currently have Mach3, works pretty good but I've had it do weird stuff like freeze. Great video's pleas keep them coming!!
If your lubricating oil stinks too much, take rapeseed oil, it evaporates only when your milling cutter begins to melt and it smells like in the kitchen. Only the best. I used also for the lathe... :D
If you like, you can use Canada.. I mean Canola oil. It's a modified variant of the same plant with slightly different final makeup. If someone has tried both Rapeseed /and/ Canola oils and can demonstrate any differences, I'd be very curious.
I thought they were the same thing...Europeans use the rapeseed name while Americans use the Canola name. But why only those? Peanut oil leaves a great finish when/if burned on. Fairly rust resistant and ultra-cheap for the shop. I think transmission fluid would probably have the most antiwear additives. I mean it is used for cooling metal gears. And I'm tired and rambling now.
Me: This old Tony posted a new video! Wooot woot UA-cam: video length only 7 min Me: I can't handle this emotional turmoil. I'm going to end it all. Goodbye cruel worhgsyvrifbdbskosjdbbfjdbd..................................
Great video, thank you. Also nice fixture plate, couldn't help but notice it's from Saunders Machine Works (NYC CNC). Looks well made, all corners chamfered. Will need to add it to my wish list.
Also, I have the same myst cooling cheapos, they spray too much oil because it gravity feeds to it, and forces the oil out. If you put the bottle at the same height, it works really fine (for the price)
i was beginning to wonder how long it would be before you probed a ring ! That type of probe could also be used on a manual mill with some simple electronics to control the led and maybe a buzzer . i would love a 3D taster though !
I have two of those coolers... problems encountered include siphoning (the heads don't valve off coolant when the air is off so if they're lower than the reservoir, they keep draining it) and a lack of real suction (if the reservoir isn't higher than the heads, they can't pull coolant up to the heads) and the seals seem to have deteriorated in my coolant (I'm using kool mist 77). I'm rebuilding my enclosure now to use flood coolant.
Sounds like a new project and video. Designing a new tool holder for the probe tip. No offsets would be needed and the probe would be out of the way. Also Z height on the same tool.
i have the same (or very similar) mister, i solved the adjustment by placing an adjustable clamp on the tube from the coolant bottle, works great! I 3d printed the clamp because it was easy.
Get a 4mm push-fit inline needle valve from eBay. That gives you fine control over the flow. You only need just enough to leave an oily film on the surface of the work.
Remco Ardui people really don't appreciate magnesium as a metal for machining parts. It has great properties, and it's an absolute joy to work with in my opinion. Good luck :)
I bought that same mist cooler, and the line burst spraying water everywhere. For a budget option buy the one from Little Machine Shop, or just go with a Fogbuster. Trust me, get rid of that before your entire machine is covered in water.
Thanks, that's interesting. I use the tool (an end mill for example) as the probe. I have a big croc clip that goes on the spindle and a ground wire with a smaller croc clip I can clip on to the part I'm measuring, or the machine's chassis. That allows me to quickly find edges and zero the tool height. Ok, I have to subtract the radius of the tool from the x/y coordinates, but my brain can handle that most of the time (not so easy when it's a 1/8" tool and I'm working in millimetres).
That's true. Mine certainly is, it's a 300W 48V brushed, air cooled motor with an ER11 collet. I've just ordered a new one, same but 400W and brushless, interesting to see if it is also isolated.
Hey Tony... Make your own fogless mister.. Check out Kilroy's channel, he made one, and has plans online for it.. As for probing, not sure how your spindle is set up, but as long as there is continuity from the outside body of the spindle to the actual spindle arbor, you should be able to use the spindle (or a tool chucked in the spindle) to probe with. Easy way to test this, is to get a multimeter, set it to continuity, and touch the body of the spindle, and then touch the other lead to a tool that's chucked in the spindle. If there's continuity, you can do away with the offset probe, and the only offsets you'll need to enter is the offset of the chucked probe, or tool.
Why not use the tool as ground, ditch the probe, make the "touch plates"/alligator clip positive, and remove the offset altogether and zero straight to the bit? Mach 4 (I'm using 3) should allow you to make a macro to halve the bit dia, and since you probably only have 2 or 3 collets (looks like a PreciseBits nut), you only need that many macros.
That would probably work fine. The only thing that scares me is that the tool/spindle has no compliance. So I'd be running small carbide end mill flutes up against steel. The probe has some flex to it.
Was there ever a follow up on the mist coolant setup? I don't see it in the videos list and I'm interested in making one now. If you didn't perhaps a good idea for a follow up video!
I’m sure pro CNC must have something similar but i was thinking for a better way. A laser would be precise but the reflection on the shiny parts is likely to be a problem, a high definition camera might have the same mirror confusion, it would be great to have a permanent 3D scanner that auto calibrate the work in real time, like a phalanx point defense that checks both the target and the shells for fast and accurate drilling. There might be a sciency trick to use light on a shiny surface for accurate distance measuring like multiple sensors. If not electrostatic, acoustic, magnetic there should be a way for the router to be conscious of it’s work it’s the next step to global takeover
Tony, I am having the exakt same issue with this type of mist coolant - it really creates a mist all over the workshop. Quite unpleasant to inhale 😛 On the other hand milling aluminium can not be done without lubrication. I will play around with lowering the air pressure - a spray of small drops would be ideal...COUGHS
You could try probing the angle on a known straight bar (parallel, 1-2-3 block etc.) against those pins first to get a base reference. Were you able to run the probing routine multiple times and check repeatability?
You are going to regret that Delrin block for that touch probe. - A guy that implements dimensional Metrology equipment for a big machinist tool company that you like.
Will you please provide a wiring diagram for your inductive limit switches? I'm building my own CNC, but I can't find a way to wire the inductive limit switches to the break out board without using the switches to trigger a relay or a small transistor circuit which then feeds a signal to the break out board. I will be feeding my switches with either 12V or 36V and I don't think it's a good idea to feed that directly to a terminal on the BOB. Love the videos!
About the cooling, I thought about mist,,, I am going with a "Flood" ( Harbor Freight) pond pump, for now, I have a small shop and am not sure if I want a "fog" of cool hanging in the air, I got quite a bit of (splash) of my machine, But a towel hanging in the front of my machine has helped quite a bit, my machine is kind of small ( floor print of about 4'x5' ) I love your editing and your poke's at other YTube guys, Hopefully AVE will finally wise up an move south, Please help guy's like me ( Pretty good mechanically ) but pretty dumb transition into the CNC world, I am really struggling with it.
There are also good cheapo available what is important always buy the ones with two screws one for air one for coolant with these cheap units you can really set the two mixing screws to a point where you have more a coolant fog for light cuts but also more coolant for heavy cuts mine costed about 15 to 20 euro and works very good but I bought 2 wrong units until I saw at a friend what was wrong if there is no possibility to tune the air with a screw and the coolant with a second screw they are useless 😎
A simple fix for the transformer is to buy a small desk fan and run it on the transformer. This was how I got my first 'hacked" together 512k ramdisk to work on my first 16k computer.
I think why the coolant comes out as too much is because they probably feel that is a "safe" way to run it because they probably consider most setups are meant for coolant and collect it and all that. If you don't (and I know from experience) then you want minimal coolant because you are creating a verifiable mess in your shop. No elegant solution. Maybe a different valve. Or an absurd solution -- get a pan like those used under water heaters and place the whole pan underneathe the machine and tie it into the coolant system.
I use now inspired by TOT and other vids a very similar probe system it's only 2 alligator clamps with 2 cables one I clamp to the tool in the spindle which is the ground the other one is the +5V which comes to a diy probe plate which is isolated because in a plastic base.. With this I pick up z height if I want to get x and y I clamp it to the workpiece but only when I put my diy isolating pieces on the Jaws and it's isolated from the rest then I copied the Skripts from a UA-cam video to Mach3 and it will automatically find x+ and - the same with the y axis.. Very easy and time saving I'm not the fastest with measuring equipment cause I want to avoid mistakes which sometimes drive me crazy trying to make everything perfect 😜🤔that's why I love such simple devices there are not too much things that can go wrong 🤔😁
i got a noga mini works good and i set mine up with mt dew soda bottle watch toms video on his oxtool on youtube i had one just like yours and all it did was piss me off more less there junk. thanks for sharing
Hey Tony,
Nice setup. Be careful when making fine adjustments to that nozzle while the spindle is running. I had my el cheapo one pop apart at a joint and I almost took off a knuckle. It was a close call.
I was never a fan of my mister setup, it created a full weather system of it's own in my shop. I ended up shielding the sides of the table and creating a low pressure, low volume flood system instead (with a return system to a bilge pump). It works a lot better, but won't eject chips quite as good as the mister did...
Curious to see what you are building next.
-Aaron
Great to have you back. Loved your go-cart series, but if I may? Can we please have a shitload more? I'm talking Alec Steel frequency here. If that comes at a cost of using performance enhancing drugs, so be it. We're all addicts here. We're not judging.
LMAO!
Man there has never been a better time to be a hobbyist (hobbiest?). Modern tech sure makes some pretty advanced stuff available to pretty much anyone willing to do some messing around :)
thanks for the vids. I enjoy the humor. I have read many of the comments looking for the points I have and didn't quickly and easily find it. 1. Coolant , the stuff we use at work is waterbased and pink mix about 4(water) to 1(coolant). we usually use it for a full wash at the saw or drill but I have misted with it. much easier to clean up and no smoke. coolant and lubricant are quite different products. 2. put a paint sprayer regulator in front of the mister and play with the air side of your contraption. If you decide to put one in permanent you can get a small one with a built in gauge at any hd truck parts place. they are about 20$ and quite small and concise. 3. turn your coolant reservoir into a pressure pot. Just spit ballin' Thanks again.
I would recommend anyone who didn't watch his CNC build video to watch them. I don't remember how many video's there were but they are amazing video's.
Fair play, having only ever seen renishaw stuff on CNC machines this seems like an awesome idea.
Many thanks for covering this Tony. I have a diy CNC all metal engraving machine that is grounded. Your little green block gives me an idea for the way forward to use a simple insulated probe with Probeit. Its been doing my head in for 3 days.......
0:20 I like how the chinese just says "dirty word".
And the Russian says the same thing... literally translates to "abusive word" but means swear, cuss, etc. Tony's humor is TOP NOTCH. I love it!
fucking weeb
Same on Russian.... haaaa )
@@SubjektDelta strangely I just learned what that word today I'm glad I was able to recognize it
@@LT1FirebirdSLP . Not "abusive", just "swearword". Not addressed to anyone. "Inert swear".
my dad got this same cheap cool mist, he also had a problem that the air compressor didn't have enough air flow for the venturi to really work as it was supposed to - to be able to pull the coolant up without positioning the bottle above the nozzle, I fixed it by enlarging the coolant nozzle that sits inside the air path, to speed the air up, was a bit of a trial and error, but now the bottle can sit good 30-40cm below the nozzle, the air pulls the coolant no problem, and the adjustment was fixed by introducing an adjustable clamp on the coolant feed line, now everything works like it should and don't need to fiddle with the bottle and bring it down below the nozzle to stop it dripping after air is off, to brake the connected vessels effect
Hi Tony always remember when buying these cheap coolant parts buy the ones with 2 screwes because with one you can regulate the air with the second how many coolant you want and only with these real minimal coolant system (don't know the exact term) is possible.. The first I bought were the wrong ones you can only need these for old style" coolant river " cooling but the ones with two regulate screws I bought then you can regulate very fine how much air /coolant should come they are way better than the others.
Good video thank you 👍👍👍
seven minute video (which is awesome) must take you a full day to edit. thanks for doing that, and the narration. excellent !
Hey Tony, take ethanol as coolant - makes for a great work environment ;-)
Thanks for your awesome videos!
Got the same mister, same issue. Amazon has some wee little adjustable valves that fit the line for a few dollars-- cut the line, throw it in, and you have full adjustment. Works great.
I use one of those coolant units on my mill. I added a pressurized coolant tank (just a regulated air pressure on top so the coolant siphons out from under it). Then I added a needle valve in the coolant line (the one on the banjo never seemed to work very well for some reason). Now it works quite well for me, I can go down to almost nothing and up to a solid stream. I also had some problems with the coolant mist varied greatly with the height on the coolant compared to the nozzle, but what I described fixed that as well.
For the coolant, I have one of the Noga versions and have to say it's very well made (but also $100). I had to adjust the nozzle opening before the fluid suction was affected by the "suction" adjust knob. The height of the coolant tank also affected suction if has a lot of gravity helping it will tend to flood out a lot.
I have the same mist coolant setup - I just use a really small c-clamp on the liquid line to act like a pinch valve to be able to control the flow somewhat independently of the air flow.
Tony, you could make a plastic probe holder for the spindle to insulate it from the collet and then have the probe where you want it to be.
Nice! I've never seen a DIY probe solution before, I had no idea it'd save that much time on setup
yeah Tony as has been mentioned, pressurizing your coolant tank will allow you to get rid of the fine mist fog and instead change it to micro droplets, that and a few good needle valves will allow you to dial this thing down to an awesome setup instead of a fog making mess. you can pressurize the fluid tank to the same pressure as your flow or for even more control you can regulate the fluid tank pressure separately and run even higher pressure in the tank than the air flow. trust me night and day difference between this and siphon feeding like that
If you are looking for a a cheap MQL setup, you could always find a used airbrush and mod it into the end of your locline.
What a coincidence, I bought two of these this week! My lathe doesn't have any coolant handling, and my (silent) compressor doesn't produce much air, and I don't want to breathe atomised coolant/lube, sooo.... I'm running mine with 10psi air- not much chip clearing,and hardly any venturi, but I've set my (soluble oil emulsion) coolant tank slightly higher than the work, so there's a slow drip from siphoning when the air is off. To stop the siphoning I just lift the tip of the mister to the same level as the coolant after turning of the air. With the ten psi air flow it doesn't generate a mist, but there is very good coolant delivery (compared to brush or squirt bottle) with virtually no splashing. I managed to finally part off round solid mild steel without breaking the parting tool or splashing milky white suds all over the shop (which was a big problem with my home made flood coolant system). I'll try a positive pressure coolant delivery as suggested in other comments, so I can put the reservoir somewhere easier (I've got a couple of adafruit peristaltic pumps which should be ideal). I wonder if this would work on your router, the low air flow from 10psi may not move the chip out of the way I guess...
I have the same cheap coolant mist nozzle, they work awesome. However theres a trick. The siphon/venturi part of it suck. Make a pressureized oil canister, I like using water filter canisters, a couple valves and a regulator, and push the oil to the nozzle, that way it's not dependent on air flow. You'll spend $30 on fittings, but they're just as good if not better than a name brand one. A correctly set MQL system ( the correct name for them are minimum quantity lubricators) should spray so little coolant you shouldn't be able to see it. Spray it on a piece of paper to see if the coolant is actually coming out
Hey this old Tony I have a suggestion for your sprayer. It looks like a Venturi just like a carburetor. You can get an regulator and a one touch adjustable adjustable orifice valve to reduce the flow. That seems like it's for spraying lots of fluid. Or just make a new need valve since you have all that equipment.
The MASTER returns, life is good again. Have a good weekend. Tony. Kindest regards. Joe.
the way you made the touchprobe is a good idea , its certanly cheaper then the micro switched one with the ruby tip i was checking on once (that was enough to know i wouldnt buy one ever )
you need to know the exact x and y offset from the probe to the center and the distance to the edge of the tool in the router but that should be eazy enough to lock in once the probe is mounted
wonder if it be a good idea to mount the probe with a break away type of mounting (magnet with an emergency switch under it to stop the machine on break away) to prevent the machine from breaking the tip and keep going untill the limitswitch is hit
Very good, I like the program and how you're using it. Of course if you have the "bells and whistles" in it why not use them. Rock on!
Its always a good day when Tony uploads a video :D
Going component heat hunting with a thermal cam is such a genius idea
We use them at work (electrical distribution industry) to check for poor quality connections on switchboards, etc. Great tool to find things before they melt and go catastrophic.
Yeah. Nobody ever imagined using a "thermal cam" or any other temperature-sensing/measuring device to actually check the temperature of parts/systems before. They just invented "thermal cams" and infrared thermometers and thermocouples and even regular thermometers for the hell of it because they were bored. Thank God people like this "genius" here found a practical purpose for them.
DEEREMEYER1 You’re a dirtbag
I've got a koolmist on my Taig, and it works great. It only takes a tiny amount of coolant to be effective, and the koolmist coolant lasts a long time and doesn't get stinky.
get one of those $110 shop filters. Does a good job of pulling coolant out of the air. Filled one of mine with activated charcoal for next to my 2x72. It really helps with that burning-metal smell.
Tony
For that mist cooler and the expensive ones , get a water filter housing and fit that in to the suction line and pressure it with the same air supply that way you can get the flow very low , just air or just liquid or both , o tools and others have done video on the mods
Great video
Tony - Sorry about your power supply. But there is something vaguely satisfying about finding the limits :)
You should check out UCCNC for control software. And the 2017 screenset for it. It's a good value and has good support and a growing user community. Really like your videos, I always learn something.
I am interested to see more details about Mach. I spent a fair bit of time pulling my hair out to try to make a low-end plasma table (that was running an older version of Mach) work, and was immensely frustrated by the software. It had what I considered to be a very confusing interface and poor documentation, and I really struggled to make it do simple things. I was getting started on writing my own when we figured out a couple of workarounds that allowed us to get by with the basic parts we were making until we could get another table. The new interface looks much better, which will probably solve some of the types of problems I was facing.
If I had a machine like this with a touch probe I'd spend countless hours doing nothing but watching it do it's thing, too cool !
That was really neat Tony, not the probing video I was searching for but neat none the less 😁. Great job Tony, one day I will have a sreup like this.
awesome!!!
Good advice at the end to not break the ground connection, which would of course make this edge finder quit working.
I would love to see a comparison between Mach3 and Mach4. I currently have Mach3, works pretty good but I've had it do weird stuff like freeze. Great video's pleas keep them coming!!
It might help to put a ball valve on the fluid hose to restrict flow, while keeping full airflow.
If your lubricating oil stinks too much, take rapeseed oil, it evaporates only when your milling cutter begins to melt and it smells like in the kitchen. Only the best. I used also for the lathe... :D
But thats how it is also not very politically correct... Best stuff :D
If you like, you can use Canada.. I mean Canola oil. It's a modified variant of the same plant with slightly different final makeup.
If someone has tried both Rapeseed /and/ Canola oils and can demonstrate any differences, I'd be very curious.
I thought they were the same thing...Europeans use the rapeseed name while Americans use the Canola name. But why only those? Peanut oil leaves a great finish when/if burned on. Fairly rust resistant and ultra-cheap for the shop. I think transmission fluid would probably have the most antiwear additives. I mean it is used for cooling metal gears. And I'm tired and rambling now.
Rapeseed oil just wins since it is even cheaper then diesel. However, I don't use it anymore since it gums up after a couple of months.
to some percentage of the population (I believe it is a genetic thing) rapeseed oil smells bit like like old fish when heated
Me: This old Tony posted a new video! Wooot woot
UA-cam: video length only 7 min
Me: I can't handle this emotional turmoil. I'm going to end it all. Goodbye cruel worhgsyvrifbdbskosjdbbfjdbd..................................
Me irl
easy fix. Set speed to 0.5 -> Double Tony time
6:59 "Nothing ground breaking"
Just ground shorting
Great seeing you again!! I missed you and your videos!!
Great video, thank you. Also nice fixture plate, couldn't help but notice it's from Saunders Machine Works (NYC CNC). Looks well made, all corners chamfered. Will need to add it to my wish list.
Also, I have the same myst cooling cheapos, they spray too much oil because it gravity feeds to it, and forces the oil out. If you put the bottle at the same height, it works really fine (for the price)
i was beginning to wonder how long it would be before you probed a ring !
That type of probe could also be used on a manual mill with some simple electronics to control the led and maybe a buzzer .
i would love a 3D taster though !
A very probing video! enjoyed.
ATB, Robin
I have two of those coolers... problems encountered include siphoning (the heads don't valve off coolant when the air is off so if they're lower than the reservoir, they keep draining it) and a lack of real suction (if the reservoir isn't higher than the heads, they can't pull coolant up to the heads) and the seals seem to have deteriorated in my coolant (I'm using kool mist 77). I'm rebuilding my enclosure now to use flood coolant.
Don't forget the angle of the sun in relationship to the earths axis when measuring
Sounds like a new project and video. Designing a new tool holder for the probe tip. No offsets would be needed and the probe would be out of the way. Also Z height on the same tool.
you could try using a smaller diameter tube for the coolant to help reduce flow rate to the sprayer.
Tony, can't you make a new manifold block and make a longer taper on the needle valve to give a finer mist? It was good to see another video! Thanks.
Did anyone else catch " бранное слово", now i know why he is saying everything takes month to arrive, nice one Tony.
I like this stop-motion style of the video.
i have the same (or very similar) mister, i solved the adjustment by placing an adjustable clamp on the tube from the coolant bottle, works great! I 3d printed the clamp because it was easy.
Get a 4mm push-fit inline needle valve from eBay. That gives you fine control over the flow. You only need just enough to leave an oily film on the surface of the work.
yesssss new video!!! I'm thinking of building a clockmakers lathe for magnesium machining :)
Remco Ardui people really don't appreciate magnesium as a metal for machining parts. It has great properties, and it's an absolute joy to work with in my opinion. Good luck :)
I need it because of the weight, I'm building a cinema lens and the magnesium will reduce the weight by about 400-500 grams which is a lot!
Nonsense! It's where the term "Mag" came for Mag wheels. Been used for decades and decades!
In film we say mag against a film magazine
Just be careful not to create too much friction. If it catches fire..........💥💣
I bought the same coolant mister and found I had to place the reservoir on the floor to keep it from spraying too much.
I bought that same mist cooler, and the line burst spraying water everywhere. For a budget option buy the one from Little Machine Shop, or just go with a Fogbuster. Trust me, get rid of that before your entire machine is covered in water.
That should be useful for any type of mill, not just cnc.
Thanks, that's interesting. I use the tool (an end mill for example) as the probe. I have a big croc clip that goes on the spindle and a ground wire with a smaller croc clip I can clip on to the part I'm measuring, or the machine's chassis. That allows me to quickly find edges and zero the tool height. Ok, I have to subtract the radius of the tool from the x/y coordinates, but my brain can handle that most of the time (not so easy when it's a 1/8" tool and I'm working in millimetres).
I do that too, but it relies on the part and the spindle being isolated from each other
That's true. Mine certainly is, it's a 300W 48V brushed, air cooled motor with an ER11 collet. I've just ordered a new one, same but 400W and brushless, interesting to see if it is also isolated.
Hey Tony... Make your own fogless mister.. Check out Kilroy's channel, he made one, and has plans online for it..
As for probing, not sure how your spindle is set up, but as long as there is continuity from the outside body of the spindle to the actual spindle arbor, you should be able to use the spindle (or a tool chucked in the spindle) to probe with.
Easy way to test this, is to get a multimeter, set it to continuity, and touch the body of the spindle, and then touch the other lead to a tool that's chucked in the spindle. If there's continuity, you can do away with the offset probe, and the only offsets you'll need to enter is the offset of the chucked probe, or tool.
love your cnc videos tony! keep them coming!
maybe build up your own custom fogbuster that would be a sick video!
A good chunk of the small error on the angle bloc likely comes from less than ideal electrical continuity between the probe tip, bloc, pins and deck.
Thank you This Old Tony. I just bought Mach4- any little bit of info will help.
Yeah now video! I've got to say I really enjoy your videos! They're at such a high quality level it's amazing I don't have to pay for it xD
Why not use the tool as ground, ditch the probe, make the "touch plates"/alligator clip positive, and remove the offset altogether and zero straight to the bit? Mach 4 (I'm using 3) should allow you to make a macro to halve the bit dia, and since you probably only have 2 or 3 collets (looks like a PreciseBits nut), you only need that many macros.
That would probably work fine. The only thing that scares me is that the tool/spindle has no compliance. So I'd be running small carbide end mill flutes up against steel. The probe has some flex to it.
Why do you tease us Tony? "Shortly"? BUT I WANT IT NOW
Was there ever a follow up on the mist coolant setup? I don't see it in the videos list and I'm interested in making one now. If you didn't perhaps a good idea for a follow up video!
I’m sure pro CNC must have something similar but i was thinking for a better way. A laser would be precise but the reflection on the shiny parts is likely to be a problem, a high definition camera might have the same mirror confusion, it would be great to have a permanent 3D scanner that auto calibrate the work in real time, like a phalanx point defense that checks both the target and the shells for fast and accurate drilling. There might be a sciency trick to use light on a shiny surface for accurate distance measuring like multiple sensors. If not electrostatic, acoustic, magnetic there should be a way for the router to be conscious of it’s work it’s the next step to global takeover
Abom79 uses a Noga mist cooler in some of his UA-cam videos, he's very happy with it and it seems to work well
Tony, I am having the exakt same issue with this type of mist coolant - it really creates a mist all over the workshop. Quite unpleasant to inhale 😛 On the other hand milling aluminium can not be done without lubrication. I will play around with lowering the air pressure - a spray of small drops would be ideal...COUGHS
You could try probing the angle on a known straight bar (parallel, 1-2-3 block etc.) against those pins first to get a base reference. Were you able to run the probing routine multiple times and check repeatability?
You are going to regret that Delrin block for that touch probe.
- A guy that implements dimensional Metrology equipment for a big machinist tool company that you like.
Control flow of the coolant via a peristaltic pump. Not looking for super precise flow, just a way to control it pretty well.
I've Waited So Long For Another Video
You say "Nothing Ground breaking". Well, Sir, then why did I like it so much?
You do know you adjust the float with coolant by twisting the tip of the nozzle right
thank you tony.
my head hurts less now.
Will you please provide a wiring diagram for your inductive limit switches? I'm building my own CNC, but I can't find a way to wire the inductive limit switches to the break out board without using the switches to trigger a relay or a small transistor circuit which then feeds a signal to the break out board.
I will be feeding my switches with either 12V or 36V and I don't think it's a good idea to feed that directly to a terminal on the BOB.
Love the videos!
About the cooling, I thought about mist,,, I am going with a "Flood" ( Harbor Freight) pond pump, for now, I have a small shop and am not sure if I want a "fog" of cool hanging in the air, I got quite a bit of (splash) of my machine, But a towel hanging in the front of my machine has helped quite a bit, my machine is kind of small ( floor print of about 4'x5' ) I love your editing and your poke's at other YTube guys, Hopefully AVE will finally wise up an move south, Please help guy's like me ( Pretty good mechanically ) but pretty dumb transition into the CNC world, I am really struggling with it.
use alcohol water mixture to cut aluminum... Cheap and works great
Afterwords you can run it through a cheese cloth and drink it.
Nice addons Tony 💪🏻
There are also good cheapo available what is important always buy the ones with two screws one for air one for coolant with these cheap units you can really set the two mixing screws to a point where you have more a coolant fog for light cuts but also more coolant for heavy cuts mine costed about 15 to 20 euro and works very good but I bought 2 wrong units until I saw at a friend what was wrong if there is no possibility to tune the air with a screw and the coolant with a second screw they are useless 😎
Buy a fog buster from tormach, doesn't make the coolant cloud in the shop like 400 bucks but worth every penny
Only T.O.T. could make me want to watch this stuff! :)
I love your videos!
add a small needle valve to the coolant tube (or a cheap aquarium air pump line valve)
A simple fix for the transformer is to buy a small desk fan and run it on the transformer. This was how I got my first 'hacked" together 512k ramdisk to work on my first 16k computer.
4:53 Isn't that familiar mr Saunders... (aka NYC CNC) :)
I'd like to have some numbers for repeatability and precision. How does it do measuring gauge blocks?
How's that surface gauge project coming along?
Probe, sounds a bit like its got something to do with Aliens to me.
I'll watch this tomorrow but like it today :)
Very cool video mate!
YES JUST WHAT I WANTED. I was thinking about this last night! =O
"I can just extend it when I need it and retract it when I don't." Let it not be said you are nothing if not a hopeless romantic ToT.
XD
I think why the coolant comes out as too much is because they probably feel that is a "safe" way to run it because they probably consider most setups are meant for coolant and collect it and all that. If you don't (and I know from experience) then you want minimal coolant because you are creating a verifiable mess in your shop. No elegant solution. Maybe a different valve. Or an absurd solution -- get a pan like those used under water heaters and place the whole pan underneathe the machine and tie it into the coolant system.
That's awesome Tony thanks!
I use now inspired by TOT and other vids a very similar probe system it's only 2 alligator clamps with 2 cables one I clamp to the tool in the spindle which is the ground the other one is the +5V which comes to a diy probe plate which is isolated because in a plastic base.. With this I pick up z height if I want to get x and y I clamp it to the workpiece but only when I put my diy isolating pieces on the Jaws and it's isolated from the rest then I copied the Skripts from a UA-cam video to Mach3 and it will automatically find x+ and - the same with the y axis.. Very easy and time saving I'm not the fastest with measuring equipment cause I want to avoid mistakes which sometimes drive me crazy trying to make everything perfect 😜🤔that's why I love such simple devices there are not too much things that can go wrong 🤔😁
i got a noga mini works good and i set mine up with mt dew soda bottle watch toms video on his oxtool on youtube i had one just like yours and all it did was piss me off more less there junk. thanks for sharing