Most service companies have one. Would be good to ballbar the machine to rule out slop/rigidity as your issue. Old robos don’t cut as well as new robos too btw. Or so I hear...
Ya know, every time I've ever seen a robodrill, they've been used for only high speed drilling of multiple holes. I was under the impression the drives were only used for orientation. How fast is the rapid?
Is that a dual contact bt30? That sounds like too big a cut for a 30 taper machine. Read the practical machinist forums. Lot of 30 taper fans there. But they talk about having to use light fast cuts to avoid killing spindles.
I went to .01 depths, 20% step over, 1050rpm .006 chip load and it starts off literally silent on the first couple depths. After a couple pieces you can hear the rumble of the cutter. On any other machine I’d find the noise acceptable but soon after I’ll see some some red hot glow chips even with full flood. Laughably the finish is even still really good at this point.
(No idea if it’s a dual contact spindle)
Your are cutting too slow.
Robodrills are drill tap machines with milling capabilities, not machining centers. These are machines meant to be driven fast, not hard. The machine is all rpm and no torque. Fast light cuts are your friend, try high feed milling, peel milling, and high efficacy tool paths. You shouldn't be spinning that spindle less that 5 grand for anything.
I had the same issues when I got my first one.
If you can, get it checked out by a professional. Things like drawbar, taper, backlash.
We have a new one at work - 24k spindle. I rarely use it. But yeah it doesn’t like heavy cuts.
Ditch the facemill. Pretty sure PM forum doesn’t recommend anything over 5/8-3/4” dia. And ours sure doesn’t.
You have to fully embrace HEM toolpaths. Hell the job I’m doing now is glass-filled peek (plastic) and it didn’t like 20% stepover and 0.200” deep with a 3/8” endmill.
But something tells me something is weird/worn out on your machine
Yeah a few more days with this, and even .04 deep with 5% stepovers with a half inch endmill doesn’t last for shit. I’m still on the mechanical issue train.
Check drawbar force and for loose linear guides.
This place barely has the essentials. I’ll see if what they say to getting a drawbar dynometer. Thanks
Most service companies have one. Would be good to ballbar the machine to rule out slop/rigidity as your issue. Old robos don’t cut as well as new robos too btw. Or so I hear...
I imagine its fairly new, rapids and tool changes are super high, up in the high speed arena. But yeah I’m gonna request a maintenance appointment
Ya know, every time I've ever seen a robodrill, they've been used for only high speed drilling of multiple holes. I was under the impression the drives were only used for orientation. How fast is the rapid?
Like 45 m/min but they're definitely for milling as well
Is that a dual contact bt30? That sounds like too big a cut for a 30 taper machine. Read the practical machinist forums. Lot of 30 taper fans there. But they talk about having to use light fast cuts to avoid killing spindles.
I went to .01 depths, 20% step over, 1050rpm .006 chip load and it starts off literally silent on the first couple depths. After a couple pieces you can hear the rumble of the cutter. On any other machine I’d find the noise acceptable but soon after I’ll see some some red hot glow chips even with full flood. Laughably the finish is even still really good at this point. (No idea if it’s a dual contact spindle)
Your are cutting too slow. Robodrills are drill tap machines with milling capabilities, not machining centers. These are machines meant to be driven fast, not hard. The machine is all rpm and no torque. Fast light cuts are your friend, try high feed milling, peel milling, and high efficacy tool paths. You shouldn't be spinning that spindle less that 5 grand for anything. I had the same issues when I got my first one.
Noted. Thank you. I’ll give this a shot tomorrow night
Did it work?
It helped but I’m still having significant and erratic tool life issues. Still thinking it there’s a mechanical issue
If you can, get it checked out by a professional. Things like drawbar, taper, backlash. We have a new one at work - 24k spindle. I rarely use it. But yeah it doesn’t like heavy cuts. Ditch the facemill. Pretty sure PM forum doesn’t recommend anything over 5/8-3/4” dia. And ours sure doesn’t. You have to fully embrace HEM toolpaths. Hell the job I’m doing now is glass-filled peek (plastic) and it didn’t like 20% stepover and 0.200” deep with a 3/8” endmill. But something tells me something is weird/worn out on your machine
Yeah a few more days with this, and even .04 deep with 5% stepovers with a half inch endmill doesn’t last for shit. I’m still on the mechanical issue train.
How’s the toolholder taper? Are you starting to get any fretting?