[Jewelry making - Article 01403] - Re: [Orchid] Pick a mill - Tough Purchase

[David D. Bright]

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John

>     Whichever mill you choose is independant of whichever software you
>     choose. Any software that does CNC will run any quality mill that
>     does CNC. 

>     You are never going to get ANY machine tool to run for even 6
>     months without maintenance. Machine tools constantly need to be
>     tightened up and adjusted to stay true. It's just part of the
>     package - little by little it will drift off line, and all your
>     work will be skewed. Plus that constant attention will greatly
>     extend the useful life of your machinery. 

    Please enlighten me. What type of mill do you have and what type of
    software are you using? 

    The reason that I ask these questions is that I find some glaring
    problems with your statements. 

    Your first point immediately brings to mind the REVO mill, by
    Gemvision. The mill will not run anything that is not made with their
    toolpathing software which is integrated within Matrix (their CAD
    program). The mill is totally controlled by their interface and no
    other G code generated by any other software will run on that mill.
    This mill, which goes for 27K, would most definately qualify as a
    "quality mill that does CNC" I am sure that there are other similar
    situations with other mills. I have access to a Revo in a store that
    I have my shop set up in. The Revo tooling and strategys for
    milling, using that tooling, are also specific to that machine and
    software. 

    Regarding point 2. I would offer my Modelmaster CNC 1000 as proof
    that your statement is incorrect. This machine has operated almost
    constantly for the past 18 months without ANY maintenance. Strangely,
    there is nothing on my mill that "constantly needs to be tightened
    up" The reason for this is simply that there is nothing to tighten or
    adjust. It is a well built piece of equipment and has no problems
    that need adjustment...hence no points, screws, bolts or whatever,
    to make adjustments to or with. Does it occasionally need a Z height
    or Y alignment. Yes, it does. But this is very easily taken care of
    in mere minutes. I also do not consider adjusting the z or y or a
    axis as maintenance but "proper setup proceedures". When I take my 4
    jaw chuck off of my mill and transfer it to my lathe to core out the
    center of the ring that I have milled, there is abso= lutly no way
    that I can expect to just reinstall this back on the mill an= d
    expect it to be true. It must be realigned, which is totally a no
    brainer. 

    Same situation with the Revo mill. Nothing to tighten up or adjust
    here either. It has automated alignment, software based, that
    repositions the machine automatically via a toolheight sensor. 

David
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