tormach Archives - Page 8 of 8

November 2, 2017November 13, 2018

Spindle Illumination Light for the Tormach PCN440

I am a great lover of having enough light to see what I am doing and being of a certain age my optics are not as sensitive as they used to be. I have fitted Ebay sourced Angel Light ring car clusters as illumination lights on my pillar drill press and on my Myford VMB manual mill. The arrival of the Tormach PCNC440 got me thinking of doing the same.

As luck would have it I had a 120mm OD ring light left over from the VMB installation and this was just about dead right to fit the Tormach 440 spindle diameter. All it needed was a mounting boss.

On the drill press and on the VMB I machined up a boss in Acetal which left a mountain of swarf and I was not looking forward to another session vacuuming out the lathe. Then the thought struck me I have 3D printing so why not print a boss ? It is quite funny how you get locked into one way of doing things and then you step back and realise there are more ways to skin the cat. (Is that a non PC thing to say these days ???)

Booted up Fusion 360 and one extrude pull and two extrude cuts plus three clamping screw holes had a design ready to print. Print time on the Sindoh was just under 4 hours but this would be longer if the central hole for the spindle fit is smaller. The final product looked a lot more professional than the Acetal ones I had previously made.

Tormach PCNC440 Fusion 360 Sindoh 3DWOX — 3D printed boss for Tormach PCNC440 spindle illumination designed in Fusion 360 and printed on Sindoh 3DWOX DP200 and using 120mm Angel light ring LED cluster

It also fits like a glove and the three M5 nylon screws lock it in place. I just need to find a 12V plug top power supply to power it.

Tormach PCNC440 illuminator — Component parts of the illumination ring

Tormach PCNC440 Fusion 360 — Completed illumination ring for Tormach PCNC440

Wider view showing the illuminator and my home made swarf (chip) shield

If you would like the Fusion STL or the link to the Angel Lights on eBay let me know. I have the STL file for the 3D printed small enclosure to suit the regulator for the Angel Lights from a 12V supply.

I also have the Fusion file for the handles on the magnetically mounted perspex front shield as seen above. The handle mountings have 45mm centres to match the magnet plates which are standard UK sourced magnetic latches.

Update : –

While producing a ring light for a client I tried mounting the ring without the plastic lens that comes attached to it. The lens focuses the light forward but does not allow spreading of the light and there is some attenuation associated. Conclusion is to leave the lens off in future.

The other conclusion is to go for the largest ring light you can tolerate for your machine so the light (without the lens) has the chance to diverge wider and illuminate around the tool in use much better. On EBay the most common large size is 120mm OD. They are also available on Amazon.

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August 20, 2017February 19, 2018

Tormach PCNC440 has arrived

Last Monday the delivery lorry arrived and the driver skillfully backed his 7.5T truck onto the drive and dropped off a number of boxes. Much excitement ensued not only from me but my three helpers – Andy, Dave and Ian.

Dave and Andy set on immediately to assembly the stand and Ian and myself continued with planning how and where the machine would fit into the workshop.

Tormach PCNC440 Milling Machine Arrives in UK

Great news that my new milling machine has arrived in the UK and is awaiting clearance at Southampton docks. (Not so good news but as budgeted was the 20% VAT on the shipped total and import duty of 2.5%).

Some significant moving round is going to be needed in the workshop to get it installed and I expect a number of days downtime while I get to grips with it. On the bright side I have some close friends keen to lend a hand.

Tormach PCNC440 milling machine on it’s way

Tormach 440 small workshop milling machine — Tormach PCNC440 CNC Milling Machine

After attending the NYC CNC Fusion 360 and CAM training course at Saunders Machine Works in Zannesville earlier this year I decided to upgrade my shop to CNC operation. During the course we had used Tormach machines and I had a good chance to asses them and the PathPilot CAM control program.

After a great deal of deliberation I opted for the PCNC440 from Tormach. There were various reasons for this but the main one related to available space. If I had sold off my Myford VMB milling machine and the BCA Mk3 Jig Borer I could have fitted in a Tormach PCNC770 but it would have dominated the shop. The PCNC440 allows me to keep the VMB and just sell off the BCA. Anything that I could do on the BCA I will be able to do on the PCNC440.

I have got very sentimental about the VMB and have done various mods to it including digital readout (DRO) and acquired quite a lot of tooling for it. I can do things quickly on it and as yet I don’t know how easy this will be on the PCNC440.

Going for the PCNC440 also brings some restrictions. The fact that the spindle cannot be reversed is probably the main thing. This means threading must either be done with machine taps (which I have never done) or it must be done offline with conventional taps. In preparation for this I have ordered a Mosquito tapping arm and more details of this will follow once installed.

I have ordered the power drawbar with the PCNC440 and the Fog Buster coolant system together with the Tormach tooling chucks. It was a lot of dollars and the F/X was miserable when I placed my order. Tormach shipped within 10 days which was impressive. After some investigation I chose ACC as the UK freight forwarder/importer and they have been excellent in helping me understand the process and arranging the shipment from the US via Montreal to Southampton.

It is going to be a big crate and our drive is not going to be easy to access for the delivery truck. More to follow once I have a delivery date.