bar feed on mill

[JOVATO8]

Hi,

I need help with running .125 thick x .750 wide x 12 ft. long copper bar stock using 2 air mill vises and a conveyor.I made a spring loaded plunger that goes into a hole in the part then the jaws open and move to a programmed position then close and proceed with the program,part off the finished part,the finished part will be pushed out when it feed again,until the bar is done.

The problem is on parts over 4" they are hard to keep flat in the soft jaws.

Does anyone have a god idea on how to feed long flat parts and keep them flat in the vise?

I know I have come to the right place for HELP!.

 

Thank in Advance For The Help.

 

GOD BLESS AMERICA

Joe

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Hey Joe,

 

The only thing I can think of to keep the part flat as it passes through the vise jaws is to make some sort of (heavy) spring loaded mechanism and put it in a tool holder. Then you can call the tool, bring it into position XY and Z. Unclamp the vice, advance the material clamp the vise. Change tools and continue.

 

HTH

[Rekd™]

James, looks like he's already got that, just maybe not a big enough spring, or not a big enough contact surface.

 

JOVATO8, depending on how much air preasure you have on the vise, you might have the plunger come back after the vise closes, and plunge down as far as you can, in different areas of the part. i.e on the corners, in the middle, or anywhere else you have problems with it lifting.

 

If this doesn't work, you may not like my next suggestion, and most certainly the machine manufacturer will not.. put a solid plunger in a holder, and program it to go .005 or .010 below the top of the locating surface. (be sure you plunge on an area that will be cut later to remove blemishes.)

 

What you're doing isn't very common. You're likely to be left to your own resources and inginuity to accomplish your tasks. I used to do that stuff years ago, and it was great. But unless you provide a means of verifying broken tooling, mis-loaded parts, or other common problems, (including excessive chips!!), you're going to be left wondering if the lights out machining is worth the piles of scrap you could end up with in the morning.

 

Lol, I remember this one time, at band camp, a part popped out of the vise when it closed, and the vise slammed shut so hard it broke the fixed portion of the vise right off and tossed it into the bed.

 

HTH

 

'Rekd

[JOVATO8]

Hi James and Redk,

 

Thanks for your quick reponse.I have the option to check evey tool before using it with a Renshaw probe or setting the tool life.Tools breaking are not a problem.

Also have air or water to blow chips off vises and parts before next part is machined.

 

We have almost completed hooking up conveyor to cnc control and that will feed part into vises and lower or raise conveyor.(This is a long process/we are learning as we go along ).

If this works or not a least we gave it our best shot.

I have thought about making the contact surface on the plunger wider and longer to fit the part.

Also as James mentioned move the part into position,clamp,move plunger over center of part and open and close jaws again.

 

Thank you very much for your input

Joe

[Reece L Gibson]

When we were running Modig's we had Roller Jaws.

Running Boeing parts the hole bar was loaded and we had a "U" axis kinda like a swiss,We would stab the tool and pull the material across it.

Hope this apply's to what you are talking about.

[Quickmike]

To borrow James idea, maybe a spring compression holder will work. Possibly mounting a bar of some sort to it and then using spindle orientation function (m19). Just a thought. How much force are you estimating it will take to push them down flat?

[JOVATO8]

I have made a compression tool already.

Quickmike,to answer your question when the spring in my compression tool is compressed 50% it equals 40 lbs.

MillTurn your idea has made me think of something else I will try this weekend.

James,pretty much seems to be on the same page as

me. I thank all you guys for your input and fast replies.

 

GOD BLESS AMERICA

Joe

[camguy]

I put a file up on jay's ftp site in the mc8 directory. you could mill the under cut on the soft jaws or make a removable top plate out of steel to reduce wear. this configuration should push the material down flat when you clamp the vise. hope this is of help to you. the file is called V_jaw.

 

[ 03-04-2003, 08:56 AM: Message edited by: camguy ]

[JOVATO8]

CAMGUY,

 

Thanks for the file.

 

Joe

[connormac]

hey try this.

 

make a set of step jaws. make the step depth .01 deeper than the thickness of the bar. drill and tap a two or three holes in the top of the jaw so you can bolt a thin piece of material over the edges of the bar. That way even if your jaws are open the part is held down by the part bolted.

[JOVATO8]

Kyle,

Thanks for the help.

 

Sorry it took so long to Thank you.

Getting ready to take the family to Florida.

 

Everyone Have A GREAT WEEKEND!!

 

Joe

[CAM-mando]

quote:

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Getting ready to take the family to Florida.

---

The payooff for setting up a slick un attended bar fed system ... Ya get to go to florida while the machine chunks out parts.

[JOVATO8]

LOL, Yeah right!, CAMando

 

My employees get more time off than I do.

This year being so slow I have taken more time off then normal to be with my family.

 

You Guys Have A Great Week

Thanks FOr Everything

 

Joe