Home built CNC Mill - Gonna make a 1911

[a matt]

Looks very nice. I like that cmore RTS also. Impressive, that's the word I was hunting. Lol

[jid2]

I left space for a racker in the slide, but I don't really plan on putting one in. The rear most panel on each side of the slide is for a piece of grip tape to go in. The panel on the thumb side (for a right hander) doesn't drop down as low - allowing a clean path so the grip tape doesn't drag on the thumb. The larger rear panel is for some engraving.

I'm not sure about finish yet. I'd like to try and do a 2-Tone. I don't want to send the thing out of state, so I'll need to find something I can do or that is done locally. The plan is that the slide and frame are blackish though. I'll likely photoshop some stuff and see what I like.

For the CAD work on the slide I found a CAD model online, along with the standard 1911 drawings. I then went back and reviewed the work the guy had done on the slide against the drawings, and then went and measured my 9mm STI slide and adjusted things accordingly. My day job is designing/engineering products and using Solidworks, so that's a pretty straight forward part of the process.

Edited May 13, 2013 by jid2

[midget]

This is what I have ordered:

1233 Blocks, 1-2-3

1676 Arbor, Drill Chuck R8 to 33JT

1699 Vise, 3" Precision Milling, Heavy

1893 Thin Parallels, 3" Long 10 Pairs

1959 Edge and Center Finder, Fisher

2872 Collets, R8 Set of 23

2925 Dial Indicator, Test Indicator, Magnetic Base & Point Set

3070 Soft Jaws, 3" Vise

3125 Vise Mounting Kit

3153 Drill Chuck, 1/2" Professional Grade

3960 HiTorque Mini Mill, Solid Column

Am I missing anything? (other than the CNC bits)

Edited May 13, 2013 by midget

[dskinsler83]

Why not just get the kit with the hi torque that came with the 4" vice and get a degree table and then add some DRO

[dskinsler83]

MSC has bits

[Griz]

I would not have bought the collets... Knowing what I know now, I would have started with TTS right off the bat and bought a set of ER20 collets instead of R8 collets. You can get ER20 TTS collet holders very cheap on Ebay.

Also, you really need a clamping kit. You'll find that work holding is an art and your hands will be tied with just a vice.

http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=1144&category=2

Edit: Do *not* spend money on a DRO if you intend to convert to CNC... The DRO will end up being a waste of money. (on the other hand if you don't intend to CNC, then a DRO is worth it's weight in gold )

Edited May 13, 2013 by Griz

[midget]

Why not just get the kit with the hi torque that came with the 4" vice and get a degree table and then add some DRO

I was using the "Chris' tips" for the vice. It stated that the 4" vice was too large for this machine...

[dskinsler83]

Oh ok

[midget]

I would not have bought the collets... Knowing what I know now, I would have started with TTS right off the bat and bought a set of ER20 collets instead of R8 collets. You can get ER20 TTS collet holders very cheap on Ebay.

Also, you really need a clamping kit. You'll find that work holding is an art and your hands will be tied with just a vice.

http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=1144&category=2

Edit: Do *not* spend money on a DRO if you intend to convert to CNC... The DRO will end up being a waste of money. (on the other hand if you don't intend to CNC, then a DRO is worth it's weight in gold )

What is TTS? As for the clamping kit, I will see if I can call and add it to the order. I wasn't sure if I should order it to start out.

[Griz]

Relatively cheap way to get started with TTS:

http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=2454&category=209730719

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-10pcs-C3-4-ER20A-1-38-Collet-Chuck-Straight-Collet-Chuck-CNC-Milling-Lathe-/251139490102?ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:US:3160

Buy a couple of 3/8" collets, a couple of 1/4" and a 1/2"

You'll likely find that most bits you use will have 3/8" or 1/4" shanks

http://www.shars.com/product_categories/search/?search=er20

Later, when you convert to CNC, you'll want a height setter, but you don't really need it until then.

Edited May 13, 2013 by Griz

[Griz]

TTS is Tormach Tool System.

It helps you quickly change tools and the big deal for CNC is that you clamp the tool in the TTS toolholder and the height stays the same when you swap it in and out. With plain ol' R8 collets, you lose your height everytime you change tools.

This isn't a big deal for manual operation (though it is very nice to have), but not losing the tool height is critical for CNC.

I have a few hundred dollars worth of R8 collets sitting in a drawer... Wasted money now that I have converted to CNC and am using TTS. If you're planning to convert to CNC, just get TTS now. It will cost you $200 to get started instead of $100, but that $100 of R8 collets will be wasted when you go to CNC.

Also, I have that 3" vice and it's the biggest I could see using on an X2. You will find that you never use the swivel base because it makes the vice too tall. Even without the base, you'll sometimes end up clamping stuff straight to the table because of height issues.

[StraightUp_OG]

I went R8 because I did not know any better. They do make mesument tools to set cutting tools in an R8 collet to the correct height so even for CNC it is not a huge issue. I have been able to make it work but I would go TTS if I were to do it over again and will when I upgrade to a bigger machine in the future.

[midget]

I just got a hold of LMS, they are freaking amazing! I switched the order around and have dropped all of the R8 stuff and am going to switch to TTS. What drill chuck do you guys recommend for TTS? Or should I just stick with the R8 style chuck?

[Griz]

I still use the R8 drill chuck that came with my mill sometimes when I'm doing manual operations, but if I need a hole or two that's bigger than 1/8" when I'm doing a CNC program, I just cut it with an end mill. The stepper motors sound cool when they're cutting a circle.

(First thing I did when I hooked up the stepper motors was draw a circle with a sharpie)

[Griz]

Here's an example of why I don't use a drill chuck much. I'm making a fixture for another type of slideracker and needed to drill the mounting holes for 3/8" screws to bolt the fixture to the table. Drilling a hole/pocket this big with this machine is right at the edge of it's capabilities with a drill bit, but writing a quick bit of G-code to do it is a piece of cake. (there are wizards to do stuff like this, but sometimes the tool paths in the free ones are annoying)

Keep in mind that I have been playing with CNC for only about 2 months now, so it's not like this is advanced stuff that only a skilled operator can do. I'm still excited just about being able to cut circles!

Also note the high end ball screw cover.

%
G20 G90 G64 G40 

#10 = [0.375/2]   (end mill radius)
#20 = [0.575/2]   (hole radius)
#30 = -0.750      (depth of hole)
#40 = -0.050      (depth of cut)

F30

G91 G01 X[#20 - #10]
M98 P101 L[ROUND[#30/#40]]
G91 G02 I[-1*[#20 - #10]]
G91 G01 X[-1*[#20 - #10]]
G91 G01 Z[-1*#30]

G90
M30 (end program return to zero)

(--------------------------------------------------------------------------------)
O101
G91 G02 Z#40 I[-1*[#20 - #10]]
M99
(--------------------------------------------------------------------------------)
%

[dskinsler83]

Did you read a book to learn or go to machinist class

[Griz]

No, just googled how to do stuff as I needed it, and made lots of scrap experimenting (I can make scrap very quickly as toolguy pointed out ).

What I'm doing really is as simple as just describing how I want the tool to move in lines and arcs. It feels like using a hammer and chisel when I see what jid2 is doing with CAD/CAM.

[dskinsler83]

I'm figuring out that J and Str8 were familiar with these type programs before trying this out. The building of the gun is outta my league and so is machine operation I believe.

[kevinj308]

No, just googled how to do stuff as I needed it, and made lots of scrap experimenting (I can make scrap very quickly as toolguy pointed out ).

What I'm doing really is as simple as just describing how I want the tool to move in lines and arcs. It feels like using a hammer and chisel when I see what jid2 is doing with CAD/CAM.

In all fairness his cad/cam package is industrial and the annual maintenance fees alone are probably more than your whole set up. Including the tooling.

He is an engineer by trade.

Cnccookbook.com has a killer sale right now, including meshcam. Cubify invent, Alibre hobby edition(parent company just changed not sure if its still called that), or Heekscad(free but difficult IMHO). Sketchup will export 2d to .dxf for free. I've tried the plugins for Sketchup to export .stl, not much luck for me.

Meshcam will import 2d .dxf files. Buy a bundle on sale and either use one of the free ones or Invent @$49 and you're cad/cam for under $300.

Dskinsler don't sell yourself short bro. If you see it as enjoyable hobby you can do no wrong. You'll just have a good time while constantly learning. If all you want is that open gun then just go buy it. Otherwise get a little bad a$$ mill like these guys and have a good time. A stress free period of learning. If you find you don't enjoy the process you can get most of your dough back no problem. But you might just find that the process is more rewarding than any short term result. I do my milling at work at lunchtime(not cnc). I truly don't mind when I screw up a part. Ok I curse for a minute, then I don't mind. I learn something every time, whether the part comes out good or not.

Kevin

[dskinsler83]

I want to be able to built these not just buy them

[Griz]

In all fairness his cad/cam package is industrial and the annual maintenance fees alone are probably more than your whole set up. Including the tooling.

He is an engineer by trade.

I know... I have tinkered with Solidworks at work (I'm an EE and my company has a few SW licenses, no CAM though)... That's part of the problem, when I trial something affordable at home, I'm comparing it to Solidworks... There doesn't seem to be a slam-dunk hobby solution, everything else has huge handicaps IMO :/ I've been dissapointed in the toolpaths generated by the cheap CAM systems out there. I'm doing some stuff with G-code that they just can't do at all (or I haven't figured out how to make them do it).

dskinsler.... If you have the disposable income, then just dive in. That's the only way you'll figure it out. From the sidelines it looks harder than it is. Maybe I should take a pic of a pile of scrap parts for you

[kevinj308]

If the manual mill and the assoc. tooling is in your hobby budget then go for it and have a good time! You can cnc it like OG's later if yore digging it. I'm no where near doing work like J or any of these other guys. But I'm having so much fun with a manual Bridgeport at work that I'm definitely gonna get my own hobby mill at home.

Our stock room manager came to me last week. He wanted to put two additional pickups on his electric guitar. I don't know anything about guitars but he showed me the parts and I was able to say no problem. I made a perfect cut out in this pearly plastic plate for the parts he had. He got it wired up over the weekend and it totally made his day. Made mine too.

Too me that's cool. I had a blast doing it.

[kevinj308]

" There doesn't seem to be a slam-dunk hobby solution, everything else has huge handicaps IMO :/ I've been dissapointed in the toolpaths generated by the cheap CAM systems out there. "

Agreed. But for $200 on sale I guess I don't expect NASA. That's like two hours of skilled labor. I kinda see it as a gcode training tool. Gives me somewhere to start.

By the way huge kudos for the tts suggestion. I was just reading about that last week on cnczone. Anybody just starting out ,including me, will totally appreciate the heads up.

Thanks

Kevin

[dskinsler83]

The cnc is nice but with dro and a rotary table and the right tools one could build a decent looking custom 1911 with standard or ball mill slide serrations right? Or just use files and hand tools too do it and send the slide out for the cuts and sight cuts?

[dskinsler83]

I just wanna buy a master series frame for SS and fit a slide, barrel, cut the frame back to standard length, and fit the trigger and etc then either if I had my own mill tri top the slide cut the Novak style cuts or maybe bombarded rear and do cocking serrations front and rear or send it out for that. But where do I learn all that? From the AGI vids or from the Jerry K books or what?