make the imodela make it's own 4th axis attachment

[chevy6600]

Hi all, i think i have finished doing this project, it has been so long doing it that i may of left something out but i`ll edit it in if and when the holes appear.
I wanted to get the imodela to make itself this 4th axis attachment using the roland software and i`m not too sure if i can claim that to be the case, i did design and edit the 4th axis using 3rd party software, then imported the designs into the `creator` software, i then traced the imported files with which i used to make the cutting paths, so in theory it could be said that the design could be done straight from the `creator` software the problem is there are not enough measuring and editing tools to do it, hence the tracing.

This has not been so much a project but more like a journey due to finding out what can and cannot be done
using the whole imodela package . The first trial i ditched half way through the design as impractical, the second design i actually finished making but after giving it some thought i came to the conclusion that other imodela users would not be able to drill 1" holes in a part so i redesigned again which is the one you see here.
As i don`t profess to be a teacher, i am more a `hands on` person myself, i found the tutorial explaining how to make this 4th axis, as much work, as the actual design itself so i just hope that it all makes sense to you all .
I tried to maximise the available space and the indexing head is 26mm x 26mm square so anything that fits on that will be o.k. for doing a 4 sided part, if you only want to do a `flip` you can use a very much larger width of material though.

4th axis.pdf

THIS CONTAINS MORE PICTURES AND DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS ON MACHINING OUT AND THE ASSEMBLY OF THE 4TH AXIS. (20 PAGES!)

(845.76 KiB) Downloaded 119 times

4th axis MEASUREMENTS.PDF

this is the diagram that shows most of the dimensions of all the parts.

(38.99 KiB) Downloaded 80 times

4th axis CUT OUT.PDF

this is the diagram that is used for cutting out all the parts.

(36.81 KiB) Downloaded 82 times

Ok then, so enough rambling, the instructions is pretty much a manual and realising that i can only put 3 pictures per post and i had quite a few, i would have to put several posts as a series so i instead put together everything into a PDF file instead, so if by some chance you are still reading all this you can open up the enclosed PDF file which contains everything, pictures and explanations, some 20 pages long .

I`l just put a few pictures here just to wet your appetite.
I have also put together a video to go along with it all, and if like me your likely to prefer seeing something visual rather than reading.
I have learnt quite abit about what seemed to work machining polycarbonate with the imodela so i will put my findings in a future post here, i`m a bit burnt out with all this at the mo and have a few other things to do any way.
I decided on polycarbonate as it does not shatter and is very strong and is pretty hard as well (read as rigid).
i guess i ought to put a list of suppliers i found that supplied the materials in the small quantities so i`ll make that my next job...i`ll do it as an edit sometime. For all i know there is no one interested in all this and i`m just blowing in the wind, but at least the roland developers can`t say i didn`t give their goods a fare good going over.

YOUTUBE VIDEO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecyS45dw ... e=youtu.be

[Dennis Poole]

Nice work Chevy.

I have most likely blocked the file type in the admin section. I will have a look at unblocking it when I get into the office and let you know when you can try uploading it again.

Cheers
Dennis

[Dennis Poole]

Hi Chevy,

I have just had a look in the Admin section and it looks like it will not support the upload of a IMD file. However if you were to ZIP the file you should be able to upload that. Give it a try and let me know if it works.

Cheers
Dennis

[chevy6600]

Hi dennis thanks for that, i have now edited my first post accordingly, it looks as though the zip file has been accepted.......you never know some one some day maybe be interested enough to open it up.

[Patrick Thorn]

Well done Chevey, that is a really impressive piece of work and a very useful device. Top Job !
Just a point when you talk about your feeds and speeds. I think you should add a little link to the spindle motor you are using as this seems to have given the whole system the ability to cut more.
You have contributed so much to the information on using iModela and I am sure others will benefit from your efforts.
Whats next on your list....

[chevy6600]

Hi patrick, thanks for your remarks. The video doing the cutting out was using my motor to it`s intended purpose and not throttled back but when i did the 4th axis design i had intended anyone with a standard imodela to be able to make the 4th axis, so my suggestions on speed and feeds are what i believe could be used with a standard motor, until someone tries it out i`m only guessing though. I did not intended to `push` my motor idea onto others who may not be interested in doing the conversion, and i also thought it would be a good idea to balance out all my past moaning and groaning by putting up something more positive . I won`t direct to any links from here as i wanted this project to inspire others to make use of the imodela they already have and may not be able to use 3rd party software either because of them being so expensive, and to tell you the truth i`m not sure if any one`s that interested in my mod`s, short of a passing interest. If anyone out there is interested having more detail on anything i have done i`ll be glad to answer any questions though.
I see that out of 44 viewers of my post only 5 have been interested enough to look at the pdf file so i guess most of the viewers are you guys the moderators/administrators.
I have a few ideas that could be made in this fashion, an angle plate to screw awkward parts to, a small vice, a couple of jigs, a centre post for the 4th axis etc. all in plastic and an alternative to sticking things down so if the interest is there i`ll do a few more, i don`t know about you but i have all sorts of problems trying to unstick the finished parts without breaking them , if i use too little tape the parts creep while being machined and if i use too much tape i end up breaking the job....but i can see tape is the only way in some circumstances.

[chevy6600]

Hi all, here is some info on my experience cutting out my parts. i guess i ought to start off mentioning the cutters, i have a 3mm spindle and i used a 3mm 2flute carbide end mill now i have read andy`s remark "The intention is that you should use a 3mm shank tool, but with a 2mm end (or smaller), as the iModela is not really powerful enough to cope with larger tooling in the tougher materials..." so it`s up to you which size to use, i myself have used the standard motor with a 3mm cutter to cut wood and i found that it slowed the motor down (and consequently the feed rate) down to 80% so in my book it cut it! maybe slower but it did the job. Now when i setup this 4th axis i throttled back the motor to something like what i expect the standard motor to be like and my 3mm cutter still managed to cut the polycarbonate. You have to bare in mind that all this cutter talk boils down to what is `chip loading` . so if you find that your cutter is slowing down too far..say 40 or 50 % just back off how much your cutting off, maybe less depth, maybe less `milling speed`, you can always use a smaller dia cutter because the `creator` software will recalculate the tool paths for you, just input the different cutter sizes, i expect the time to complete the job will be longer though.
So i guess your asking `how long to cut the darn things out then` well, if you were able to use the 3mm cutter i`m estimating that it will take in the region of 17 hours of cutting time, and if you had to go to a 2mm cutter that would increase that time by around 30%......i know...i know, it`s a long time but you can always buy one already done from Delcam for £600
It transpires that the cutter lasted cutting out all my polycarbonate parts but then needed sharpening so this gives a fare idea on how long a cutter lasts.
The drilling no doubt will need to be done in stages (as instructed in the instructions) so your`ll need to have 1mm, 2mm, 3mm. to suite your size of spindle.
For gluing i suggest a solvent glue that is suitable for polycarbonate, i bought mine from my local model shop. There is also many places on the internet.
For the polycarbonate sheet i bought from ebay here http://stores.ebay.co.uk/plastic-water- ... 4340.l2563 they sell small amounts, so i had an`A4` sheet size. 5mm thick.
The nuts + bolts i had from my local hardware store, nice to spend the little extra and get the stainless steel.

[imodela]

Hello Chevvy, just had a look at the forum - not visited for a while been busy learning Rhino - and saw your details, downloaded them and will have a look though them later - well done, I can see a lot of effort there

Regards
Steve