brightspark
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a piece of float glass is ideal for 99 percent of work and cheapPersonal use? 99% of people could use a piece of mdf and it wouldn’t matter myself included
a piece of float glass is ideal for 99 percent of work and cheapPersonal use? 99% of people could use a piece of mdf and it wouldn’t matter myself included
I'm gonna change my mind on this to say 'Not unless you're very experienced'. It's very easy to make a face which is apparently quite flat but actually has a fairly uniform dish, as I did today.
This is my 12" x 18" test subject.
View attachment 286788
I didn't get a 3d graph sceenshot of it but the figures make it to be no better than a grade1/grade B equivalent. It's low in the middle up to 4.9um on two corners.
So I re-charged my lap and went over it again favouring the corners in an effort to bring them down without going too mad and rolling the edges. The result is much better.
View attachment 286783
View attachment 286787
This easily achieves the equivalent of grade 00 and just about makes the US grade AA for the size of plate. Very pleased with that.
Of course it's wholly unnecessary for my purposes but what the hell - it was my first attempt at re-finishing a plate. It doesn't even qualify for the specification which is why I say 'equivalent to' - there are stipulations that it doesn't achieve. That doesn't matter though I achieved my goal and got it from 20 microns deviation to 1.8um globally. I wanted to see if I could hit that spec and I did. I have found that it's quite easy to produce a Grade 0 plate but a 00 is a lot more challenging.
BTW it's so flat now that another plate placed upside-down on it will float right off the edge just from the air molecules not being able to get out from between the plates quick enough
My only thought was for paying customers of yours, if you're scraping stuff in flat for them or measuring anything for them... Easy for you to show us this stuff and take your word for it, since we've seen plenty of your excellent work... but for joe bloggs you might just be another charlatan and fraud, how would they know?I hadn't given it any thought TBH. I wouldn't want to pay postage both ways to find out something I can do precious little about. I know I can make great improvements quite easily on an out-of-spec plate and I'm reasonably confident that I can check the work to at least the flatness I'm capable of lapping to. Don't see the point in spending money
cant see manual machine rebuilding coming up, why bother everything is cnc and most cnc's use linear rails which are relatively simple to replace and set upUp til recently, the trend as been to buy new machines, hence the dying rebuilding trade...
Now everyone is realising the new ones are crap, it's time to start rebuilding old ones... I'd have thought skilled rebuilding would be coming back in fashion...
I dunno, I'd have thought with the prices that the likes of Blue Diamond charge, there would be enough work and a good living to be made... not on the back of penny-pinching DIY'ers, there's no living in that - but on the back of machine shops and factories rebuilding their older gear. Not a massive market, but a market nonetheless.
I dunno, maybe I'm still in pipe dream land.
CNCs still have machine ways!cant see manual machine rebuilding coming up, why bother everything is cnc and most cnc's use linear rails which are relatively simple to replace and set up
i believe Haas and similar are using linear rails which are shimmed then epoxy grouted, higher end machines are hydarstaticCNCs still have machine ways!
Albeit with bearing material like turcite etc.
Still needs scraped!
Are the new ones crap? Obviously within the hobby market it's true, a Warco doesn't compare to a Hardinge, but what's wrong with high end CNCs like Datrons and DMGs? I bet they outperform old Bridgeports in just about every way.Now everyone is realising the new ones are crap, it's time to start rebuilding old ones...
Odd quick jobs tend to end up not being quick and costing time and money by taking a skilled man off the paying work - so those jobs get sent out to the places who still have those old machines and lower overheads.CNCs still have machine ways!
Albeit with bearing material like turcite etc.
Still needs scraped!
And there's nearly always a couple of simple older machines in most machine shops. Even the cleanest, nicest shop I've ever been in with literally £millions worth of kit still had an old colchester in a corner for odd quick jobs.
Up til recently, the trend as been to buy new machines, hence the dying rebuilding trade...
Now everyone is realising the new ones are crap, it's time to start rebuilding old ones... I'd have thought skilled rebuilding would be coming back in fashion...
I dunno, I'd have thought with the prices that the likes of Blue Diamond charge, there would be enough work and a good living to be made... not on the back of penny-pinching DIY'ers, there's no living in that - but on the back of machine shops and factories rebuilding their older gear. Not a massive market, but a market nonetheless.
I dunno, maybe I'm still in pipe dream land.
Haas are bolted on to milled faces. Individual castings may be shimmed. Cnc rely upon grid and ball bar calibration to set geometryi believe Haas and similar are using linear rails which are shimmed then epoxy grouted, higher end machines are hydarstatic
As a few of you know I’m/was a time served machine rebuilderCNCs still have machine ways!
Albeit with bearing material like turcite etc.
Still needs scraped!
And there's nearly always a couple of simple older machines in most machine shops. Even the cleanest, nicest shop I've ever been in with literally £millions worth of kit still had an old colchester in a corner for odd quick jobs.
Haas are bolted on to milled faces. Individual castings may be shimmed. Cnc rely upon grid and ball bar calibration to set geometry
Cheaper machines use ball linear rails higher end roller
YesSo they then rely software compensation so the speak?
a piece of float glass is ideal for 99 percent of work and cheap
Do you take your veg to work to cut upI have a granite 'worktop saver'
Never used it though... there's a pukka granite surface plate in the metrology lab at work
Yep... measure spring onions with micrometer, mark with height gauge, chop with 12" cleaverDo you take your veg to work to cut up
Yep... measure spring onions with micrometer, mark with height gauge, chop with 12" cleaver