More commissioning tasks

First, let's finish connecting up the monitor. The bracket seems to be just about up to the job now that I've fitted an additional brace to make it more rigidly attached to the enclosure. And now I have 3m long cables for the USB, HDMI and mains, they actually reach to the controls.

The mains needed a gland to bring it into the electrical cabinet. Not much point wiring all this stuff up and requiring the monitor to have its own socket.

Now to connect up the 110V isolation transformer. It doesn't need to be isolated really, nor does it need to be rated to 3300kVA but this is the only one I have and I'm not about to buy another, smaller one. I need to rewire the 240V side first. Note that these devices feature a "centre tap earth connection", so the output is actually 55VAC either side of protective earth on each output connection, giving 110VAC total.

There's no simple means of fixing this to the chassis, as it's intended to be a portable site transformer. However, I have no pride, so one of these strap things will do the business. Last thing I want is somebody (most likely The Stupid Fat Guy) catching it in passing and it ripping the cables out of the cabinet.

God, it's becoming a bit messy now but the end is in sight from an electrical installation POV.

That's most of yesterday's task list done now - or at least the ones that actually need to be done. The remainder will follow on when I finally have the thing running again.

• Wiring up and plumbing up the coolant pump and its associated reservoir tank.
• Mounting and connecting up the monitor and mouse/kbd.
• Installing the 110V transformer (required for the hydraulic solenoids).
• Connecting up the internal (IP66) lights.
• Making up some form of tool touch-off probe for tool length / offset etc measurement.
• Sealing the headstock / bed covers to the enclosure.
• Cleaning up (and polishing?) the front and tailstock windows.
• Checking out / replacing the Meanwell PSUs that seem to be tripping the RCD. Or wiring up a 240V isolation transformer on the main incomer.
• Machining several toolholders down from 20mm to 3/4" height so that the tool tip is at centre height (part of this machine's imperial legacy).

I don't have an isolation transformer in the incoming mains feed, so I'm expecting to have to either replace the Meanwell PSUs or fit a transformer if I'm to avoid tripping the RCD every time I try to turn it on. Unless the Meanwells have magically fixed themselves.

Let's have a go and see what happens.....

Outstanding tasks - starting with Vertex coolant pump and tank

I've been out of commission for the last few weeks. Pretty certain I had proper flu which obliterated 2 weekends, spent moping about in bed or staring into space, aching all over, hot and cold etc. 9 futile (negative) Covid tests, so it's almost certain I have still not yet caught it. Finally, 95% of the symptoms seem to have passed, so finally I can get back into the workshop and resume. Where were we?

Various tasks need to be completed before I can use the Tree. These arise from "just" refitting the enclosure, properly(?) wiring everything up and installing the remaining parts that would constitute a complete machine. These include (but are doubtless not exhaustive):

• Wiring up and plumbing up the coolant pump and its associated reservoir tank.
• Mounting and connecting up the monitor and mouse/kbd.
• Installing the 110V transformer (required for the hydraulic solenoids).
• Connecting up the internal (IP66) lights.
• Making up some form of tool touch-off probe for tool length / offset etc measurement.
• Sealing the headstock / bed covers to the enclosure.
• Cleaning up (and polishing?) the front and tailstock windows.
• Checking out / replacing the Meanwell PSUs that seem to be tripping the RCD. Or wiring up a 240V isolation transformer on the main incomer.
• Machining several toolholders down from 20mm to 3/4" height so that the tool tip is at centre height (part of this machine's imperial legacy).
• ...

Vertex coolant pump:

Let's start with the replacement coolant pump. The pump that cam with the machine can't have been the original, as it barely extended halfway down the reservoir, meaning I'd have to half fill the tank before I could even get anything to come out of the pump. So instead I've bought a new Vertex with the correct reach.

The hole is just too small for the pump to fit through. Also, the bolt PCB is slightly larger on the new pump, so I'll need to drill and tap some new holes.

The casters are completely buggered. I've ordered some replacements from some shitty ebay shop.

The remnants simply need to be cut and ground off.

Like this. With a coat of primer and paint to prevent undue rusting.

Here's the upper tray. It catches parts and swarf and allows the coolant to pass through a gauze into the main reservoir. Yes, it's been outside for a few months.

Let's fit the motor first. I'm going to refit the quick release hose coupling, so it makes sense to fit a plug / socket on the electrical supply. Simplest solution is to bang a hole in the cover and fit an IEC socket:

Not the prettiest job I've ever done but it does the job. The quick release hose coupling is also visible here.

Rather than weld the shitty new casters, I've decided to fix them to a piece of chipboard and simply drop the coolant assembly onto it for now. For one thing, the machine is sitting on bricks above its normal height, so the final position of the assembly may need to be fettled.

There. Now I "just" need to fit the pump to the tank.

Holes drilled and tapped M6. And 30 mins of my life spent with the grinder opening up the aperture so the pump will fit through.

Finally sorted.

Drill Doctor?

What now, Fatty?

Finally got one of these Drill Doctor things. Not 100% convinced this will deliver professional results but the alternatives are fully manual ("off hand"), using the basic Picador grinding jig or coughing up for a "proper" drill grinder. I currently do the former (with mixed results), haven't the stomach to bugger about with grinding jigs and can't justify (yet) coughing up for a "real" machine. 

These Drill Doctor things are cut down imitations of "proper" machines, with lots of plastic and roughly die cast parts. The marketing is wonderfully American, with plenty of exciting claims and patent references. And the instructions are clear (to the guy who wrote them). Much as expected. But let's see what we got.

This is the 750X model - top of the range (phoooar). Compared to the 500 model (next one down), it offers more control over the drill point angle (whoopee shit) and comes with a collet that works up to 3/4" (19mm) drills. You can buy the larger collet for £50 anyway but it comes as std with this model.

Here's a medium drill (~8mm?) in the collet.

After grinding, the surface finish looks a bit shit TBH. This grinding wheel is the "fine" version. God alone knows what the "coarse" one would do to your drill.

Ah well, best not to expect miracles. Let's try this array of buggered drills. They range from 9-12mm or so.

These have been nicely nadgered in a variety of ways. I can only assume The Stupid Fat Bloke got his hands on them.

Obvs they are still pretty grubby but after "sharpening", the result is vaguely reasonable, even if it also resembles a bear's arse.

Certainly an improvement from a geometry / function point of view.

Finally, here's a drill that tried to friction weld itself into a chuck by the looks of it. Let's grind that mushroom head off.

That took ages of course, as it's not really suited to removing much material at a time. And obviously it tried to give the shank a 2-flute sharpening grind.

It generates a lot of metallic dust. No attempt to contain it within the housing, so it gets everywhere. I hope the electrical parts are dustproof!

Conclusion:

It's possibly marginally better than off hand grinding and more convenient than the Picador grinding jig. But it's still pretty crappy as you might have expected. I guess I'll stick with this until I steel myself to buy a "proper" machine.

Building the Tree back up again

Now that the enclosure is back in place, I have to fasten it in place and reconnect all the control wiring, hoses etc.

Off to a great start, trying to fasten some cable saddles - these shitty pop rivets yield in the gun, not at the rivet. I was able to recover the situation by fatiguing the pin with pliers but I must get myself some proper rivets. This was the first of many instances...

These are the home and limit switch wires that need to be properly terminated. They aren't long enough to reach the Acorn, so a local terminal block is needed behind the headstock.

Getting there. It won't be really pretty as I'm not going to plaster loads of trunking all over the place.

Hose down to the coolant pump. Will need to run a power cable with it at some point.

Mostly done.

The pukey yellow colour is the primer coat that went on before the final blue-grey. I'm guessing the didn't apply (spray) the grey-blue until the cabinet was in place, hence this panel barely saw any, being masked as it was.

The enclosure needs to be held against the plate at the headstock end.

I'll need to bung up this large chasm before letting rip with the coolant. There was a massive glob of some sort of sealant there originally that will need to be replaced.

The various mains wiring runs need to be tidied(?) up too. This requires an extra terminal block (bottom right):

Yes, it's a bit of a mess and things are rather tight in there.

Still to do before it will run again:

• Finish connecting up the lights.
• Connect up the 120V transformer.
• Install the monitor and arm.
• Test out the limit, homing, turret etc wiring.
• ...and of course I have the doors and end cover to clean (and possibly polish?).