4th Axis Productivity

[Chipmakr]

I am thinking about getting one of these for our VM3. Does anyone have any experience with this product?

 

http://www.trunniontable.com/

[Newbeeee™]

I have seen these a while ago and they look good.

I like the idea of the clamping for the 'tailstock' end. http://www.trunniontable.com/accessories.html

Depending on what you will be doing, you could make your own

 

Here's a pic of one we made a few years ago http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/cnc-machining/vertical-4th-axis-rotary-tombstone-252701/

Post number 15. We have since modded the fixture to accept a chick vice on top and bottom.

In truth by the time you finished making something, it's probably cheaper to buy what you were thinking of.

[Chipmakr]

Thats a nice looking setup you made. Thats what I'm really wondering is if its cheaper just to buy. I like how they have the outboard support solution already worked out. I can get something similar from Boss Toolworks for the outboard support and make the rest myself, but I'm really trying to relieve our 5axis machines and reduce setups. So I think in the big picture buying it turnkey might be cheaper overall, because all the bugs are already worked out and I can keep jobs running thru the machine.

[Chipmakr]

Anyone else has some info on this setup or something similar? We would be using this on our Haas VM3. What would be the best way to deal with the rotating work coordinates? It would be nice if the machine could deal with that like a Heidenhain cycle 19.

[Chris Rizzo]

The best $ I've ever spent was on a Unilock chuck for a 4th axis faceplate. They have a model specifically for 4th axis. Hook up to a foot pedal control, and tombstone change times are seconds.

 

http://www.bigkaiser.com/unilock.php

[mkd]

Anyone else has some info on this setup or something similar? We would be using this on our Haas VM3. What would be the best way to deal with the rotating work coordinates? It would be nice if the machine could deal with that like a Heidenhain cycle 19.

chick has vise tombstone solutions tailored to specific popular vertical mills, including the VF3 (not sure of VM). not cheap to purchase but seems to offer solid value.

as far as coodinate rotations you're kinda out of luck. best advise would be to get good with G10s. seems like there should be a way to roll your own with macro doing the math and G10 for setting of offsets at various angles in the program. like poor mans setup error comp for 4 ax positional moves.

 

just never researched it enough myself. would be a great tool in the toolbox.

bet james already has this developed.

[Chipmakr]

This is our shop made unit using a boss tool works support block.

 

 

[Chipmakr]

[cincy k]

What did you use to go in your end support? A bearing or just a shaft of some kind?

[Chipmakr]

https://www.bosstoolworks.com/catalog/rotary-table-workholding/support-frame-4.php

 

https://www.bosstoolworks.com/catalog/rotary-table-workholding/support-bearing-16c.php

[Joe788]

Dwain, how do you like that vise?

[Chipmakr]

^{Love them. Using them all over the shop with great effectiveness.}

 

 

[Joe788]

^{Love them. Using them all over the shop with great effectiveness.}

 

Holy xxxx Dwain! 5th Axis must love you!

[dstryr]

Holy xxxx Dwain! 5th Axis must love you!

I love mine. Been finding a lot of uses for it. Repeats pretty well. Idk about .0005 like their spec though.

[Newbeeee™]

Holy xxxx Dwain! 5th Axis must love you!

We got like 5 of them.

He's got like 55.

That's just plain showing off.

[Chipmakr]

We have 11 of these right now and one of the larger version. I have been trying add some every month to build up to the 18 stations in the pallet changer on our 400u

.

I love mine. Been finding a lot of uses for it. Repeats pretty well. Idk about .0005 like their spec though.

We use torque wrenches on ours set to 45 ftlbs. Everything I have probed has been within that spec.

 

We picked this vise & riser up from a local company that was going out of business. We have it on our HEM500u right now.

[The Cathedral]

That looks like a nice beauty mark on the corner there

[Chipmakr]

 

Already had a heart to heart with this machinist. This kinda crap is completely avoidable. You should see the other side. It would make ya sick.

[dstryr]

We have 11 of these right now and one of the larger version. I have been trying add some every month to build up to the 18 stations in the pallet changer on our 400u

.

We use torque wrenches on ours set to 45 ftlbs. Everything I have probed has been within that spec.

 

We picked this vise & riser up from a local company that was going out of business. We have it on our HEM500u right now.

 

Yeah I have a torque wrench for it as well. For first ops it gets set to 45 ft lbs but for second ops I've gone as low as 8ft lbs to not colapse the thin wall parts.

 

I was too cheap to buy one of their risers so I just built my own.

[dstryr]

How do you like the HEM500u? I was looking at them but wasn't impressed by the country of origin for the $$$$.

[Chipmakr]

 

I was too cheap to buy one of their risers so I just built my own.

Me too. I bought the vise & the riser for $500 from local shop that was going out of business.

 

 

How do you like the HEM500u? I was looking at them but wasn't impressed by the country of origin for the $$$$.

 

We like it. we had it in here as a loaner machine because the delivery was way late on the machine we ordered. It ended up staying on the floor ,even after we received our machine, for several months until we eventually purchased at a very good price. The tool changer is a  little tricky if it gets unhappy, but that & the short chip conveyor are my biggest complaints. It has glass scales and the geometetry checks at the time of install were within .005mm. The surface finishes, acell/decell, & rigidity seems to be great over a year later.  We have made some nice parts on it. 

 

HTH