Boxford 300VMCi CNC Milling Machine Supplied with Boxford software, vice, set of 6 toolholders, comprehensive set of tooling and additional 3D tooling. * Each machine is supplied with a single copy of the Boxford CAD/CAM software which contains Mill Design (a cut-down version of 2D Design). 2D Design files will load directly into this.
Last night we brought the Boxford to rLab!:) Massive thanks to Ian who helped move the mill (and its table and engine crane use to lift it!) from Crowthorne and then spend the rest of the night learning and tweaking the mill/software. Lots of time spent on setting up (datums, vice offsets, tooling offsets etc) but it was worthwhile and the process to add extra tooling seems easy and solid.
We plan to spend time over the next couple of weeks fine tuning, fixing and documenting so others can then use the mill. Wiki page created - The CAD/CAM side of things is less solid.It uses a program called TechSoft Design which 'works' but is 2.5D only and has many 'quirks'. I would like the option of using Fusion 360 for this part so I am looking to see if any of the standard Fusion post processors will fit with Boxfords idea of gcode (should do as from what I have seen the boxford code looks normal). Offers of help/advice are more than welcome!! Please chat to me of Ian rather than jumping straight in though as not everything is documented. Top learning for the day. Crashing a 40mm facing cutter in to plastic makes a louder and more painful noise than I would have expected.:/ machine was fine but the plastic wasn't happy:D WARNING!!!
If the mill is in your way please please please be very careful moving it. It is on wheels but is very top heavy so a minimum of 2 people and going very slowly is essential for safety! Cheers, James Ryan 30/6/2016, 2:56 น.
'Can you please put a sign on the mill with the warning about moving it if you hadn't already?' Good point Ryan - sorry, I didn't think of this last night and I will not be back until tomorrow at the earliest - If whoever is in next could put a sign up with the above warning I would be grateful! Fusion 360 - I just checked a boxford gcode file and the gcodes are standard:) The header has some custom stuff in it however so will need a custom post processor but shouldn't be difficult James Ryan 30/6/2016, 3:23 น.
Hi Andy, No coolant system at the mo. I was thinking adding air to cool and clear chips might be nice. Not so sure about a flood type coolant system mainly due to the mess? I have been manually squirting small amounts of wd40 in during the test cuts I made at home but this still made quite a mess. But if you have any ideas on this I would be happy to hear them. There is already a cheap flexi plastic tube thing attached to the right side of the spindle. The previous owner wanted to add air/coolant but never got any further.
Oil System Crack - Yes, for ways lubrication. If you have ideas to fix it great! It is disconnected at the moment and stuffed inside a couple of blue gloves inside the mill. Feel free to take a look. If I remember I will post some pics to the wiki. Ian Petrie 30/6/2016, 13:13 น.