#linuxcnc Logs

May 28 2025

12:57 AM Deejay: moin
01:17 AM lcnc-relay: <meisterdippel@> moin
01:31 AM lcnc-relay: <plaidrabbit@> I have a machining related question... pondering more manufacturing details... I'm needing to drill a lot of 1/8" holes in thin sheet alum, and alum up to 1/4" thick. Right now I'm just using cheap drill bits from home depot in my cnc router. Any thoughts on different tooling I might want to consider?
01:32 AM lcnc-relay: <plaidrabbit@> I'm wondering about shorter drill bits to give me better results?
04:15 AM Tom_L: morning
04:21 AM Tom_L: plaidrabbit, get a good set of 'jobber' length drills
04:23 AM Tom_L: err sorry, stub length
04:28 AM Tom_L: https://www.amazon.com/Piece-Screw-Machine-Length-Drill/dp/B00UIN0702
04:31 AM Tom_L: using the right speed/feed will lengthen the life of the drill as well
06:30 AM pere: A little more than a month to the Norwegian LinuxCNC gathering, and there is still room for more people, <URL: https://sourceforge.net/p/emc/mailman/emc-developers/thread/123eaae0-f3b9-4170-a251-b7d608f1e974%40bofh.no/#msg58750487 >. :)
06:33 AM pere: <URL: https://pad.efn.no/p/linuxcnc-2025-norway > is the place to sign up and look for info.
08:03 AM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> with aluminum and 1/8 inch drills - I bet you are not getting the spindle speed high enough
08:19 AM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> probably should be around 6k rpm
09:00 AM lcnc-relay: <Lcvette> morning
09:58 AM roycroft: sounds gummy
10:01 AM mrec: Tom_L: did you ever refurbish an old cnc lathe? I'm thinking about buying one and changing it to linuxcnc
10:01 AM mrec: every now and then there are some cheap offers available it seems
10:03 AM roycroft: for any of you who have an interest in woodworking, christopher schwarz has made all his lost art press books available for free download in pdf form
10:03 AM roycroft: is lost art press books available for free download in
10:03 AM roycroft: ack, sorry
10:04 AM roycroft: https://blog.lostartpress.com/2024/12/27/download-ingenious-mechanicks-for-free-today-and-always/
10:04 AM roycroft: that's what i meant to post
10:40 AM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> I picked up home shop machinist and another machinist mag from barns and nobel this last weekend. I have not looked at them yet though
10:42 AM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> I forgot I bought them until I saw them on the counter this morning.
10:59 AM roycroft: i still subscribe to home shop machinist but i'll probably let that subscription lapse eventually
11:00 AM roycroft: i used to subscribe to digital machinist, which i found more useful, until they ceased publication
11:00 AM roycroft: the rest of my subscription was tacked onto my home shop machinist subscription
11:00 AM roycroft: the other village press machining magazine - machinist's workshop? - i never found very interesting
11:01 AM rdtsc-w: <roycroft> does anyone know if those cheap z-touch plates are tolerably repeatable? <-- if it has a switch, it is likely repeatable (but more useful with a toolchanger.) For one-offs, a piece of paper (0.004" / 0.1mm) used as a feeler gauge is quick and easy enough.
11:03 AM roycroft: rdtsc-w: the cheap z-touch plates are a very thin piece of metal, more like sheet metal
11:04 AM roycroft: if they're not very flat then they're not very repeatable
11:04 AM roycroft: and they are embedded in a plastic base, which looks like soft plastic
11:04 AM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> I haven't had any of the magazine for years - so I thought I would check it out. Yes - I liked the digital machinist better.
11:04 AM roycroft: which may also not be very flat
11:05 AM roycroft: that is why i asked
11:05 AM roycroft: and if they're not very flat it might be hard to make them flat
11:06 AM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> most of my machining is one offs.. I usually use a 1/2 dowel pin to set tool lenghts.
11:07 AM roycroft: https://www.ebay.com/itm/388444902403
11:07 AM roycroft: something like that
11:08 AM roycroft: the appeal is that it's small
11:08 AM roycroft: the concern is that it's small
11:09 AM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> (but - you really need a jog wheel to set tool lengths with a dowel pin..)
11:10 AM roycroft: with such little z travel on the mini-router, if i am using an even slightly long cutter, then a touch-off plate that is 25mm thick or so might not work
11:13 AM roycroft: most of those thin ones ship from china anyway, which is a non-starter these days, now that de minimus is de extinctus
11:13 AM rdtsc-w: that link, requires black lead clipped to tool, and red lead to touch plate, forms a switch - detected when tool touches green printed circuit board (completes circuit.) PCB is a defined thickness. Should work; FR4 laminate PCB is pretty solid and robust physically.
11:14 AM roycroft: some have a magnet that sticks to the spindle, which would be more convenient, especially with odd-shaped cutters
11:15 AM roycroft: but yes, that's the general design i see
11:15 AM roycroft: and one with a pcb substrate would be more flat than some of the soft plastic one's i've seen
11:16 AM roycroft: i guess they're cheap enough that if i find one that is shipped from the us it would be worth giving it a go
11:17 AM rdtsc-w: will want to treat it as a normally-open switch, and detect closure as tool touch (.hal nitty-gritty)
11:18 AM roycroft: yeah, it should be easy to configure
11:18 AM roycroft: and if i get one all i need to do is touch off on the corners and in the middle and see of the readings are consistent
11:20 AM roycroft: on the mini-router i'm not concerned about touching off x and y - i can do that manually, and fixture if i need repeatability
11:28 AM roycroft: well, of the hundreds of listings for that z-touch plate on ebay, i found exactly one that ships from the us
11:28 AM roycroft: so i got that one
11:31 AM roycroft: i wonder if ordering it was a mistake though - ebay just told me that i should order a set of funnels to go along with it
11:31 AM roycroft: i hope the electrons don't disperse randomly when the switch is closed
11:37 AM rdtsc-w: might need the funnels to capture the stray electrons
11:38 AM roycroft: that's what i'm thinking
11:50 AM Tom_L: mrec, never did a lathe
11:51 AM Tom_L: ran an okuma kadet for a while
11:53 AM Tom_L: mrec, my experience is the lathe work we did had alot closer tolerances so make sure it's in decent shape
11:58 AM Tom_L: roycroft, https://www.amazon.com/PRECISION-MAGNETIC-SETTER-HEIGHT-303-3104/dp/B07ZHNSTH8/136-6531544-5774508
11:58 AM Tom_L: or do you want a 'surface' plate setter
11:59 AM Tom_L: and an interface 'switch'
12:02 PM xxcoder: 2" would be pretty tall
12:04 PM roycroft: i want a plate where i can touch off the cutter to set the z height while the cutter is mounted in the spindle
12:05 PM roycroft: i'm assuming that i can measure the thickness of the touch-off plate and when i do the touch-off linuxcnc will be able add the appropriate offset
12:05 PM roycroft: so i set the thing on top of my part, assuming want to index z from the top, touch off, and it sets my zero for z
12:05 PM roycroft: or i set the touch off plate on the spoil board and index z from the bottom of the part
12:07 PM roycroft: for this tiny machine i'm not going to use something like the tormach indexible tool holder system, where i can enter the z offsets in the tool table
12:07 PM roycroft: i'll just touch off every time i change tooling
12:32 PM Tom_L: i'm sure quite a few ppl do it that way
12:32 PM Tom_L: i'm not one of those
12:32 PM roycroft: i think the cnc router folks probably do it that way for the most part
12:33 PM Tom_L: any of them that don't have collets for tool changing
12:33 PM roycroft: indexible collets
12:34 PM roycroft: my mini-router spindle has collets, as do virtually all wood routers
12:34 PM roycroft: but they're not indexible
12:34 PM Tom_L: http://tom-itx.no-ip.biz:443/~webpage/cnc/cutters/Tool_Holder1.jpg
12:34 PM xxcoder: er16 yeah. not repeatable sadly
12:34 PM Tom_L: i preset all mine then i can just screw on a new tool
12:35 PM xxcoder: interesting. that can be made workable with er collet. repeatability being from just inserting it fully. of course its bit of safety risk since you want small gap in least in case it gets pushed up
12:35 PM roycroft: yeah, and that's what i'm planning on doing when i convert my mill/drill with the r8 spindle
12:35 PM Tom_L: xxcoder, by then something bad has already happened
12:35 PM roycroft: not screw on, but tormach indexible holders, or something similar
12:35 PM xxcoder: indeed
12:37 PM roycroft: another issue with inserting a tool until it bottoms out is that as the tool heats up while working, it will expand slightly in length
12:37 PM roycroft: with it bottomed out the only way it can move is down
12:37 PM Tom_L: i have some tool setter code for flex but i think i left it out because i found too difficult to make it generic
12:37 PM roycroft: if there's a slight gap it can expand both up and down, reducing the error
12:38 PM xxcoder: I suppose can always use a shim. back into it and remove shim
12:38 PM xxcoder: so theres always a gap but consient gap
12:39 PM roycroft: i'm going with the touch off z every time i change tooling option
12:39 PM Tom_L: that's a valid option
12:39 PM roycroft: and for a router i think that's fine - routing operations don't generally involve as many tool changes as milling operations
12:39 PM xxcoder: indeed
12:40 PM Tom_L: when you change tools then, will the program call a different T number?
12:41 PM roycroft: not being experienced in this, i don't know exactly how things will work, but i anticiapte i'll build a tool table and enter all the parameters except z offset, which i'll probably leave at zero
12:41 PM Tom_L: you will have to
12:41 PM roycroft: and then the gcode generated will stop for manual tool change every time i need to do that
12:41 PM Tom_L: if you're touching off each tool separately
12:41 PM roycroft: and i'll manually change the tool, do the z-touch, and continue
12:42 PM xxcoder: best way would be common reference point, but honestly that router is so tiny and dont have repeatable tooling, so its best to just set tool length each time
12:42 PM Tom_L: you may need to remap M6
12:42 PM roycroft: which i think implies that i'm changing the z=0 position every time i change tooling
12:42 PM Tom_L: that is true
12:42 PM roycroft: i'll figure it out
12:43 PM roycroft: i know this is not new territory - i'll just be doing what thousands of other people have done
12:43 PM roycroft: i just have to figure out what they're all doing
12:43 PM Tom_L: each tool then will have a 0 offset to the work. only the tool height will change
12:43 PM Tom_L: and you zero that upon the toolchange
12:43 PM roycroft: yes, that makes sense
12:44 PM roycroft: and honestly, for routing wood especially, i don't see a heap of tool changes
12:44 PM Tom_L: making M6 remap something to consider
12:44 PM roycroft: less than i do on the shaper origin even
12:44 PM Tom_L: add the touchoff code to remap then call M6 in that routine
12:44 PM roycroft: i'll have maybe 3 flat end tools for most of the cutting
12:45 PM roycroft: maybe a v-groove tool and a fillet tool
12:45 PM roycroft: and that's about it for most jobs
12:45 PM xxcoder: yeah those 3 is likely majority
12:45 PM xxcoder: maybe small drills
12:45 PM roycroft: yes, the occasional drill
12:45 PM Tom_L: and the list keeps growing :)
12:45 PM roycroft: but not like machining metal
12:45 PM roycroft: where i could see using 2x as many tools
12:46 PM Tom_L: my tool table has ~45 tools but i don't use them all all the time
12:46 PM Tom_L: but my cad also has that same tool list
12:46 PM Tom_L: so i know when i call T25 it will be the same both places
12:47 PM Tom_L: i fudge on drills
12:47 PM Tom_L: if you look in the flex examples i probably have my tool list there
12:48 PM Tom_L: https://github.com/tlight9/flexgui/blob/master/examples/touch-probe3/tool.tbl
01:16 PM rdtsc-w: dang, I must've been under a rock... https://www.oshcut.com
01:51 PM roycroft: grr
01:52 PM roycroft: i was in the middle of moving a customer's phone service to our new phone switch when the cops showed up
01:52 PM roycroft: the former squatter who has caused trouble before decided to try again to get me evicted
01:52 PM roycroft: it was the same story - he allegedly has a sales contract with the former owner, and claims to own the house and that i'm stealing his personal belongings
01:53 PM roycroft: so i had to pull out my own sales contract and the property deed again and show the cops that i'm the owner
01:53 PM roycroft: this is the third time this has happened, and i asked them very nicely to try to flag my address so that when the guy tries again they'll see the history before coming over her
01:53 PM roycroft: e
01:54 PM roycroft: they said they would try
02:07 PM xxcoder: that sucks
02:19 PM roycroft: i don't blame the cops for the most part
02:20 PM roycroft: but they do need to be able to flag this person as a kook
02:20 PM xxcoder: yeah
03:02 PM roycroft: i have a 90 minute break today between my doctor's appointment and my dinner engagement
03:02 PM roycroft: i think i'll go to the old shop and haul some of the small metal stock that's still there - that way i can start on the limit switch mounts before this weekend
03:03 PM roycroft: and it will kill some time
03:08 PM Tom_L: rdtsc-w, have you priced anything with them?
04:04 PM rdtsc-w: Not yet Tom; was going to compare them to SendCutSend... still have to finish the design for the articulating arm pieces, and weld that all together
04:08 PM rdtsc-w: not so sure how to tig plate to tube; dunno how far in the crevice I can get the filler
04:08 PM rdtsc-w: will have to make alignment jigs 'cause it's gonna be flexing all over the place
04:19 PM Tom_L: tack spots first
04:25 PM JT-Shop: https://gnipsel.com/images/wildfire-lift/
04:26 PM bjorkintosh: no Modula-2 fans here I suspect?
06:57 PM rdtsc_ is now known as rdtsc
07:48 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> well - the trampoline is together
07:49 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> took about 3 hours
07:57 PM rdtsc is now known as rdtsc_
08:05 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> got pulled over because I am missing the front plate. I had the temp paper (haven't got around to taping it in the back window) handed the guy my licence and he said I didn't have the front plate. I said - hit a deer and lost the front plate - showed him the temp printout. He was cool - didn't even take my info.
08:05 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> pissed off my ex.. Said - must be nice to be a man...
08:06 PM rdtsc_: lol
08:07 PM rdtsc_: only way that could have went better was if the wife was driving, and she had said "lost the front plate from hitting the deer." ;)
08:09 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> (she has been with me when I was pulled over. Never had a ticket. Just be nice and admit you made a mistake)
08:09 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> and be cool..
08:12 PM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841@> (she did have a really bad experience with an officer. They thought she was too friendly and nervous.. Gave her a sobriety test. (my kids were in the car)
08:57 PM rdtsc_ is now known as rdtsc
09:56 PM Tom_L: i wonder how many states actually require front plates
09:56 PM Tom_L: i know mine doens't
09:58 PM Tom_L: looks like a little over half
10:19 PM xxcoder: watching new clickspring main line video. awesome.
10:20 PM xxcoder: erm dial indictor series I meant lol
10:27 PM lcnc-relay: <littleshopofrandom@> is this the right thing for modbus spindle? https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/detail/dfrobot/FIT0737/13688358
10:52 PM roycroft: all the states i've lived in except the one i was born in require front and rear plates
10:55 PM * roycroft was born in a red state but has lived in blue states ever since, and wonders if there is a correlation between that and front license plate requirements
10:56 PM roycroft: a trend, but not a correlation
10:57 PM roycroft: 19 blue or blueish states require a front plate, and 10 red states require it
10:57 PM roycroft: not a close correlation at all
10:59 PM roycroft: 4 blue states do not require a front plate, and 17 red states do not
10:59 PM roycroft: a closer correlation there
11:02 PM xxcoder: chucky have left the building.
11:02 PM xxcoder: ed gale died
11:03 PM xxcoder: think I watched only first 2
11:35 PM roycroft: is this new clickspring video public yet?
11:35 PM roycroft: i did not get an email about it and i cannot find a new one on teh youtube
11:36 PM xxcoder: the new dial indictor video is yeah
11:36 PM roycroft: weird