It has arrived!

[Archibald]

Man, after all the trials & tribulations, demonstrations, specifications, and anticipation, I heard the pitter patter of little Semi feet coming down the drive! The new Hurco VM20 VMC is here, the new Hurco VM20 VMC is here! Actually, two. They also brought a Tree 425 I'd bought early in the year and had in storage.







Off the truck and getting upwrapped!

[CyclesNoir]

Let me be the first to offer you congratulations on the new baby! That looks like fun.

[hampco]

ok, you win

[Archibald]

More hot VMC on VMC action!

The hole is always just big enough:



Getting situated!



John, the Hurco Rep starting the install.



WinMax controls.



Poor dejected 4-axis Leblond Makino FNC-74 getting ready to start its trip to its new owner's shop.

[Jonathan]

ok, send me your dumpy bridgeport.

[Archibald]

This machine is going to bring a whole new learning curve for us since it's equipped with Renishaw tool & part probing for part locating and QA work as we can check the part's dimensional tolerance while they're still in the mill.

[Archibald]

Let me be the first to offer you congratulations on the new baby! That looks like fun.

Thanks! Can't wait to get the chips flying. It's getting calibrated & probing installed as I speak. Next is the spindle chiller & the chip auger!

[Archibald]

ok, send me your dumpy bridgeport.

Speaking of Bridgeports, I talked to the guy who bought my Makino and he has a step head model he'd let go for a grand. I haven't seen it, but for a grand it's pretty hard to go wrong.

[EricKeller]

Speaking of Bridgeports, I talked to the guy who bought my Makino and he has a step head model he'd let go for a grand. I haven't seen it, but for a grand it's pretty hard to go wrong.

where's it at?

Congrats on the new machine, don't get carried away with the Renishaw

[Archibald]

where's it at?

Congrats on the new machine, don't get carried away with the Renishaw

Denver. I won't. If I can make it do what it's supposed to do, I'll be pretty happy!

[Craig Ryan]

Don, for those of us that don't know, can you give a brief description of what it is? Will it do more than one milling operation at a time? Is it set up to complete a whole part, then do another, or is it a one operation machine that is ultra fancy and accurate? Seems pretty cool but I'm totally in the dark with big machine tools.

[SteveP]

it puts the bottle fittings on in the exact right place.

[Archibald]

Don, for those of us that don't know, can you give a brief description of what it is? Will it do more than one milling operation at a time? Is it set up to complete a whole part, then do another, or is it a one operation machine that is ultra fancy and accurate? Seems pretty cool but I'm totally in the dark with big machine tools.

Well, to start from the beginning, VMC stands for Vertical Machining Center (a horizontal machining center is a HMC), and usually refers for a CNC controlled vertical milling machine with an automatic tool changer, and for me with an enclosed work space. I often call open machines "bed mills" or a CNC bed mill but some folks would argue that. A manual mill like you see a lot of framebuilder's use is a knee mill. Here's the wiki link for milling machines which should be helpful to you for the basics.

Now this particular VMC we have will automatically "find" the part on the mill table. It will establish the XYZ origin references of the part and then automatically inform the machining program/control of the part's 3-axis location including its relation to the tool length (aka, tool offset). During machining it will automatically change tools per the part program without operator input. After machining it can check identified critical dimensions of the part for compliance to design parameters or you could even have it probe the entire part for dimensional tolerance/compliance before the part leaves the mill. In our lexicon, an operation is basically a series of toolpaths that can be done on the side of the part you're working on. That operation may consist of many different toolpaths. For reference, lets look at the file caddy I showed a few weeks ago:



I have to interrupt this but will return to it shortly.....

[WadePatton]

i'm saving up for some vice-grips. (pucc dared me to say that)

some peeple buy boats. archie buys anchors...reel cool hunks of pc driven anchors.

now get it dirty for us.

[Archibald]

I'm back.

So anyway, if you look at the file caddy, from one side it consists of several different toolpaths all done in 1 operation: a facing tooling path to get it flat; several drilling toolpaths: spot drill, through hole drills of different sizes; then a profiling tool path that gives it its shape; then a pocketing toolpatch that machines the recess; then edge finishing toolpaths such as a roundover or chamfer. With their completion, Op 1 is done. Op 2 would see us flip the part to finish the backside which in this case is usually a facing toolpath and then an edge finishing toolpath. So in 2 operations, but many different toolpaths, the part is finished. Often we'll do what we call a "stockprep" operation which may face the part, drill & ream fixturing holes or edges, and any other operation would be most efficiently done while the part is located. Since we do batches of tooling, we normally find it more efficient/economical to minimize stockprep toolpaths and maximize the part density on the mills to do as many parts as possible in one setup. Stockprep usually requires vises being mounted on the table and they take up a lot of space so you end up doing 1-3 parts at a time when I can do multiple parts on a sub-plate at a time, as many as 20 for us. That's a lot less part handling and a lot less tool changes. Savvy?

I don't know if I answered your question as you'd hoped, but if not, just let me know and I'll give it another shot.

BTW, this mill has 40-inches of travel on the X axis, 20-inches on the Y-axis, and 20-inches on the Z-axis. It has 945-inch per minute rapid travels, machines at 300-inches per minute, has a 20-hp spindle motor, positions within .0002" (2 ten-thousandths of an inch) of a programmed dimension, and repeats within .0001 (1 ten-thousandths of an inch) of a programmed dimension. Plenty accurate for what we're doing. :)

[EricKeller]

so you can make super masters again?

[Clockwork]

Thanks for the milling 101. Maybe you could post a video of chips flying? I'm mesmerized by such things.

-Joel

[Craig Ryan]

Thanks Don! Pretty incredible.

[bellman]

Don, the list of tools that I need to make sure are in my truck today for work include; sledgehammer, 6' prybar and 4 ton comealong. I'm feeling a little bit jealous

[Archibald]

so you can make super masters again?

No, the baseplates for the Super Masters require a 60x30 mill. This one is a 40x20.