Just trying to verify authenticity. Everything looks legit from what I can tell

Hi guys,

I’m new to the manufacturing field and currently undergoing training. I’m machining an aluminum part on a CNC milling machine, but I’m getting a very loud and annoying squealing/chattering noise during cutting.

I’d like to understand what could be causing this and how I can fix it to achieve a smooth, normal cutting sound.

Here are my current cutting parameters:

- Material: Aluminum

- Cutting tool: Carbide end mill, hardness approximately 55 HRC

- Spindle speed: 10,000 RPM

- Depth of cut (Z step-down): 0.7 mm per pass

- CNC milling machine

Could the problem be related to the spindle speed, feed rate, depth of cut, tool geometry, tool holder, workpiece clamping, or incorrect cutting parameters?

What parameters would you recommend changing first?

I’m a beginner, so I’d really appreciate a simple explanation and advice from experienced CNC machinists. Thank you!

Hey everyone,
I just finished my first year of community college for machine tool and will start my second soon. I have little experience in a small job shop as a machinist. I got accepted for a machinist job that ends up paying 60k a year with good match and benefits. I will end up completing my 2 year degree but if I can still accept this job when I finish my degree I think it would be a good choice. Is this a good price for a starting machinist as I see a lot of people on here say we don’t get paid nearly enough which I agree with but was just wondering. I am also 19 and will be 20 when I finish my degree. Thanks!

We make brass lanterns in a small shop in Japan. A customer asked for a black one, so I went looking for a way to do it.

The obvious answer here is chemical blackening. Temple fittings in Japan have been finished that way for centuries and the color has real depth to it. I almost went with it. Then I picked one up and thought about how our lantern actually gets used. You carry it by the handle, you turn a knob with your fingers, and in oil mode the whole body gets warm. Blackening has almost no thickness. It is the surface itself changing color. Temple fittings survive it because nobody picks them up and walks around with them.

So, plating. And that is where it got interesting for me.

Our body has an oil tank bore, a small gear that opens and closes the air vent, and threads. With electroplating I would get heavy buildup on the outside corners and almost nothing down inside those features. Uneven thickness on a moving fit means either it binds or it rattles. Electroless plating goes on at the same thickness everywhere the liquid reaches, so the internal mechanism stays at the dimension I actually designed.

I ended up picking the finish for the parts nobody is ever going to look at.

One thing I am still not settled on. Do you machine undersize to leave room for plating thickness, or do you hold your dimensions and put a tight tolerance on the plating spec instead? I have been doing the first one, but I would like to know how you handle it.

I was desperate for a little bit more reach with this endmill and broke it because of some dumb reason. What remains is about 11mm of the original shaft. Would you still use this endmill? I could clean up the broken end and use the remaining part for clamping or I could cut it off and clamp on the neck. It's intended for light cuts in aluminium.

But the insert held up!

My guy was countersinking some 304 and the M. A. Ford countersink just sheared right off. I have not seen this before. Bad tool?

I need to hold .002 TP to a pre existing thru bore. Currently we keep getting flyers around .006-.008 but we also get good parts about half the time what variables am I missing? what about this set up can be improved or checked? We centered the stead rest to the best of our ability. It cuts straight and to size with no taper on the entire profile of the part.

After 20 years of service I decided to get another mini-vise for my drill press. As you see the old one did good, but I've damaged the leadscrew in it, and it was hard to turn at the end of travel. So, ordered the exact same model number.

Wow. If you don't know what to look at: the guide rails are missing, the vise face has no side-to-side control against cocking, the turning knob got smaller, and the worst thing: they removed the 4 bosses used to screw the whole thing down to a table.

Credit to the seller, they refunded me immediately and even told me to keep the POS.

This is primarily directed to those few people who operate machines that have over 5 axes.

I can understand a 6 axis machine as one that lets you use the translational X Y Z axes & all the A B C rotational axes, but after that, what's next?

Is this a way of talking about multi-spindle machines? Is it like a robotic arm with a cutting tool on it?

I think the most axes I've heard of being used was like 19 or something outrageous.

It's just adding electrical ports to a prefab box, our shop has done hundreds of these things

On the 3 axis, it took multiple setups, each side its own program, now it's just one 5 minute program.

Last week, an apprentice broke a micrometer and the boss fined him. That sparked an idea, so I machined some micrometer‑themed trinkets. I plan to give one to the boss and one to the apprentice as a gesture of comfort. I’m afraid this might come off as sarcasm, even though there’s a little bit of that intent behind it.

I’ve had this setup working at my last rental, (with the exception of the occasional blown fuse from high inrush amps upon startup) have acquired slow blow fuses for my shutoff switch since. I upgraded to the next size DPS from this same company and had my electrician set it up the same way.

I have the pleasure of researching CNC vendors that ship to Italy.I need 60 aluminium sensor mounts with a deep slot and 4 tapped holes for an automation project.Quickparts, Weerg and Xometry are the milling companies. Which one would you trust most if you need repeat orders?

Hi,

I have a Mikron WF-1 manual milling machine (similar to a deckel fp1) and the quill is not moving very smoothly.

It will stick in place even with the return spring wound tightly.

I removed the spindle from the vertical head and i can find no obvious problems. All keyways are smooth, the top portion of the spindle where the power gets tansmitted is also smooth (when i put the spinde in backwards, so only that top portion is inserted).

When i remove all the keys and put in the spindle normally, even with ample oil, it just becomes very tight and i have to tap it in with a mallet (lightly, but i can't push it in by hand)

There is one caveat, and that is that when the spindle is fully in, the first ~6mm moves freely. Then it becomes harder.

I cannot feel any burrs or anything like that so i would be curious to know of any other possibilities.

Thanks!

TL;DR: I’m retrofitting an old NEF CT40 with new servo drives. The machine still shows Error 405 – Feed drive not ready. I can apply 24 V directly to AD2/A2 pin 32 “Vorschub Freigabe” (feed enable), and the input LED lights up, but the control still does not enable the feed drives. I’m trying to find out what other conditions or feedback signals the EPL-2 needs before it considers the feed drives ready.

Hi everyone,

I’m hoping someone here might still be familiar with the older Gildemeister NEF CT40 with EPL-2 control and can point me in the right direction.

I recently joined a very small company, and one of my first tasks as a mechatronics technician was to get this machine running again. It had been sitting unused for about five years, and the plan is to retrofit it with new servo motors and servo drives.

The problem is that hardly anyone at the company still knows much about the machine. On top of that, the electrical system has been modified quite a bit over the years. There are several handwritten changes in the schematics, and some parts of the actual wiring no longer seem to match the original documentation.

I’m reasonably confident that I can handle the control and interfacing of the new servo drives. However, that doesn’t help much as long as I can’t get the machine control itself to issue the feed/servo enable.

At the moment, the machine keeps showing:

Error 405 – Feed drive not ready

According to the schematics, the feed enable seems to come down to the AD2/A2 input board, terminal/pin 32, labelled “Vorschub Freigabe” (feed enable).

As a test, I applied 24 V directly to AD2/A2 pin 32 in order to bypass the preceding wiring, relays, and other possible interlocks. The corresponding LED on the AD2 board lights up correctly.

However, error 405 remains active and I still get no feed drive enable.

So my main question is:

What conditions actually have to be met on a NEF CT40 with EPL-2 before the control enables the feed drives and error 405 disappears?

Is 24 V on AD2/A2 pin 32 “Vorschub Freigabe” supposed to be sufficient, or are there additional ready signals, feedback signals, or internal conditions that the EPL-2 checks?

And if pin 32 really is the only relevant external input: is it possible that the LED on the AD2 board lights up, but the signal is still not being processed internally due to a fault in the AD2 board or another control module?

For now, I’m not even trying to permanently integrate the new servo drives. My goal is simply to use controlled signals/jumpers to figure out what the EPL-2 expects to see before it will enable the feed drives. Once I understand that, I can reproduce the required signals with the new servo drives.

If anyone has experience with these old EPL-2 controls, a NEF CT40, or still has documentation showing how the feed-drive enable / error 405 logic works, I’d really appreciate any advice.

I can also provide photos of the control cabinet, boards, and the relevant schematic pages if that helps.

Thanks in advance!

2 inch, 3500 rpm, 40 fpm.