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Making a "STEP" in the right direction.

I am envious of and impressed by you folks with machining skills. Nice design. However 1/2" seems like a pretty narrow step width. Will you be pairing these with a platform?
 
Pro tip: (I own a custom machining business, aircraft and medical)
1) Only use an end mill long enough, 1/2" material 5/8" long end mill
2) Don't mill away the material you aren't using, just walk around the perimeter of the step, cuts way down on machine time.
3) Extend the spindle as little a possible, move the head as close as you can, less chatter.
4) Use coated solid carbide cutters, not much difference $ between high speed and carbide any more.
5) Good hold down technique with the screws.
6) Make mistakes, that's how you learn !!!
 
Marmuzz said:
I am envious of and impressed by you folks with machining skills. Nice design. However 1/2" seems like a pretty narrow step width. Will you be pairing these with a platform?
Click to expand...

I plan on making a platform out of the 1/2" plate as well. As for the 1/2" step width, I think it will be fine. It will be plenty strong and as wide as a typical screw-in step. If I was to stand on them all day, I would make a wider tread that screws to the top of the step to give me a wider foot pad but for what a ROS is used for, these will do fine. Plus, aluminum is pricey right now and I have several pieces of 1/2 plate. I'll use the flatform and ROS in pre-prep locations.

I am going to make my one stick platform out of the 1/2" plate as well so I can scout and hunt on the fly.
 
JC3 said:
Pro tip: (I own a custom machining business, aircraft and medical)
1) Only use an end mill long enough, 1/2" material 5/8" long end mill
2) Don't mill away the material you aren't using, just walk around the perimeter of the step, cuts way down on machine time.
3) Extend the spindle as little a possible, move the head as close as you can, less chatter.
4) Use coated solid carbide cutters, not much difference $ between high speed and carbide any more.
5) Good hold down technique with the screws.
6) Make mistakes, that's how you learn !!!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips.

I am still learning to use fusion 360 and haven't figured everything out yet. Steps are not the most machine friendly thing to make. There isn't too much to remove in between the steps. The ends have a fair amount of removal, one end has to larger corners and the other end has a larger V in the center to remove. I know my cutters are too long for the job, and I am going to order some shorter mills soon.

I laid the steps out to try to utilize as much of the plate as possible.

I removed the quill and have my spindle as low as it will go. I am using a Masso controller and Clearpath servos. I build the CNC myself. I am using the Tormach TTS tool holders.

It does have a bit of chatter, so I slowed down the feed and increased the speed and it smoothed out pretty good.
 
JC3 said:
Pro tip: (I own a custom machining business, aircraft and medical)
1) Only use an end mill long enough, 1/2" material 5/8" long end mill
2) Don't mill away the material you aren't using, just walk around the perimeter of the step, cuts way down on machine time.
3) Extend the spindle as little a possible, move the head as close as you can, less chatter.
4) Use coated solid carbide cutters, not much difference $ between high speed and carbide any more.
5) Good hold down technique with the screws.
6) Make mistakes, that's how you learn !!!
Click to expand...
I grew up working in my stepfathers shop, he had a couple waterjets as well as machining. Some days I wish I had just stayed in my home town and committed to that business, turns out waterjets took our gear to the next level in the past five years, didn’t see that coming honestly.
 
neonomad said:
I grew up working in my stepfathers shop, he had a couple waterjets as well as machining. Some days I wish I had just stayed in my home town and committed to that business, turns out waterjets took our gear to the next level in the past five years, didn’t see that coming honestly.
Click to expand...

A waterjet or a CNC plasma table would be ideal for cutting out stands, platforms and steps. I am going to build a CNC plasma/router table some day in the near future. But first, I am going to do a CNC lathe conversion.
 
Halfstep said:
A waterjet or a CNC plasma table would be ideal for cutting out stands, platforms and steps. I am going to build a CNC plasma/router table some day in the near future. But first, I am going to do a CNC lathe conversion.
Click to expand...
Why the lathe conversion first?
 
BTaylor said:
Why the lathe conversion first?
Click to expand...

There are some future projects I want to make, and a CNC lathe would be a benefit. I have an old worn out Southbend lathe that I want to replace and figured when I buy a new lathe, I would convert it to CNC as well. I already have some of the electronics needed so it wouldn't be too much of an undertaking.
 
Halfstep said:
There are some future projects I want to make, and a CNC lathe would be a benefit. I have an old worn out Southbend lathe that I want to replace and figured when I buy a new lathe, I would convert it to CNC as well. I already have some of the electronics needed so it wouldn't be too much of an undertaking.
Click to expand...
What if we have some projects for you that the table would be better for? I mean come on man. ;)
 
neonomad said:
I grew up working in my stepfathers shop, he had a couple waterjets as well as machining. Some days I wish I had just stayed in my home town and committed to that business, turns out waterjets took our gear to the next level in the past five years, didn’t see that coming honestly.
Click to expand...
The inverter style plasma tables and fine cut consumables kinda closed the gap between the 2...edm is were it's at

 
Weldabeast said:
The inverter style plasma tables and fine cut consumables kinda closed the gap between the 2...edm is were it's at

Click to expand...
I’ve gotta think EDM is still way slower or for example we’d see some use in similar stand fab applications. But I’m too far out of the game to know what I’m talking about.
 
BTaylor said:
What if we have some projects for you that the table would be better for? I mean come on man. ;)
Click to expand...

As for strictly cutting 2D parts, a waterjet or plasma table is the way to go and is faster than a milling machine. But.....I can cut things out on my CNC milling machine, it just takes a little longer. My CNC milling machine has a pretty big work envelop and I can make steps, platforms, stands and lots of other important projects.
 
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