X Power Feed

[EdK]

I've got the power feed mostly modeled, done in PLA. Designed after Phil Vandelay's power feed. I like the simple engage/disengage feature.
I need to make the rods longer because there isn't much support when it's in the disengaged mode.

Phil's Power Feed Video

Ed

Disengaged.

   

Engaged.

   

[EdK]

I reprinted some of the parts to make them stronger. I'm going to try running the power feed using the PLA parts and see what happens. I won't be doing any milling, just running the table back and forth. But first I need to program the Arduino with a deceleration when switching directions. As it is now, it does a hard stop then reverses. It's quite a jolt to the motor.

Ed

   

[EdK]

After too much time I finally found the bug in my deceleration code. An "if" statement inside of an "if" statement that should have been outside of the first statement. I'm a bit rusty at coding. Use it or lose it, that's what happened.  

It's working like a champ now. I'll test it on the mill tomorrow.

Ed

[EdK]

I finally got around to trying it on the mill. Lots of torque, couldn't even slow it down by pushing against the table. Way too slow for a rapid traverse though. I think I'll look for a motor that's 200 - 250 RPMs. The one I have now will work for raising and lowering the head so it wasn't a wasted purchase.

Ed

[EdK]

After looking around for a new motor and calculating what it would cost I decided it would be cheaper and quicker to just order a normal x axis power feed that's sold for a Bridgeport style mill. It should not be a lot of work to adapt it to my mill. At least that's the theory.  

Ed

   

[Highpower]

(05-30-2023, 11:14 PM)EdK Wrote: After looking around for a new motor and calculating what it would cost I decided it would be cheaper and quicker to just order a normal x axis power feed that's sold for a Bridgeport style mill. It should not be a lot of work to adapt it to my mill. At least that's the theory.  

Ed

That's what I said when I wanted to put a power feed on the knee of my Enco mill. Enco didn't want to sell it to me because they said it wouldn't fit and it won't work! "Imposssible" they said. They obviously didn't know how determined some of us old geezers can be to prove them wrong!  

   

[EdK]

Got the power feed today. Now to take a lot of measurements to see if this will actually work on my mill, with mods of course.

Ed

         

   

[EdK]

I stumbled upon a 220RPM motor that had the same mounting as the 100RPM motor that I originally tried on the X axis. It claimed to have 30n-m of torque vs 3n-m on the 100RPM. So I bought one thinking it should be perfect and I could use all of the work I put into the 100RPM motor on this one.
I tested it out on the mill today and what a joke! It had less torque than the 100RPM motor has.  

The standard X axis mill power feeds run at about 200RPM so this motor should have given me plenty of torque and a decent rapid movement speed. It's going back to Amazon.

Back to figuring out how to mount the Vevor power feed.

Ed

[Highpower]

(12-18-2023, 02:58 PM)EdK Wrote: I stumbled upon a 220RPM motor that had the same mounting as the 100RPM motor that I originally tried on the X axis. It claimed to have 30n-m of torque vs 3n-m on the 100RPM. So I bought one thinking it should be perfect and I could use all of the work I put into the 100RPM motor on this one.
I tested it out on the mill today and what a joke! It had less torque than the 100RPM motor has.  

Ed

If it sounds too good to be true...

[EdK]

(12-18-2023, 05:03 PM)Highpower Wrote:

(12-18-2023, 02:58 PM)EdK Wrote: I stumbled upon a 220RPM motor that had the same mounting as the 100RPM motor that I originally tried on the X axis. It claimed to have 30n-m of torque vs 3n-m on the 100RPM. So I bought one thinking it should be perfect and I could use all of the work I put into the 100RPM motor on this one.
I tested it out on the mill today and what a joke! It had less torque than the 100RPM motor has.  

Ed

If it sounds too good to be true...  

Yea, I bought one and am sending it back because it sounded like it was going to fall apart. The second one was a bit quieter so I gave it a shot not expecting much. They're both heading back to Amazon.

Ed