The extender allows the MR-1 spindle to stay in the upper position and still be able to cut down on the baseplate or if you have a short cutting tool. This saves quite a bit of time not having to remove the spindle block and move it back when finished. Here’s a quick video if you want to see more of it.
Quick question, does this use same collet nut as for the spindle or are the threads standard? I bought extra nuts for my tools so I can keep a clean one for the probes.
I assume if this has standard threads we can get a collet nut from anywhere.
I noticed that this showed up on the store. So does it loose any stiffness with the extension? I’m wondering if this should only be used for facing operations or if it can be used for any operations.
Also I saw something about something new coming up for raising the z axis further up. Is that still in the works, will that introduce any limitations, and would there be a second version of the extension that is a little longer to compensate?
You do loose some rigidity when using the extender so we recommend slowing your feed rate down and taking a spring pass if you have tight tolerances. Facing is a great use for it along with small diameter drills that normally wouldn’t be able to reach the baseplate.
We are still working on those gantry risers which would raise the whole upper assembly by at least 1.5". We haven’t officially tested them but we don’t see any major drawbacks, just another step that requires attention to precision surfaces. The tool extender is also long enough to be used with the risers.
Some of the first machines don’t use the 25mm x 1.5. They use 24mm X 1.5 due to a manufacturing problem on the original spindle. Ensure you don’t mix them up if you have a first gen MR1.
I have 4 of these that I’d sell for a bargain price to anyone who wants to pick them up in Seattle. Or buy all 4 wherever you are. I used them when I had the stock spindle to make tool changes easier – I kept a 1/2" collet in the spindle all of the time, and kept tools in these for quicker changes.
@Bigdaddy2166 Do the current machines use normal collet nuts?
I don’t know for sure. I would think that the spindles were updated after the original batch.
The problem is that the 25 mm nut goes on the 24mm spindle. You won’t tighten up correctly.
Yeah I can talk about a few of them. The next is actually the gantry risers that we were talking about earlier to add more clearance to MR-1. The other is an air line in addition to the coolant system so materials that don’t like coolant can be ran more easily.
Im glad you mentioned that. Ive already set up an air blast system on mine to run off the “coolant” command but the risers were going to be my next project. Youll save me the effort of milling up a pair and grinding them in.
I assume the air will be an either/or with the coolant or will we be able to toggle between them with G code?
Ex: M08 for coolant, M12/M83 etc for air?
I’ve been entertaining adding air blast to my mill, but haven’t pulled the trigger yet. Depending how your kit will tie in I may wait for it to come out instead.
Im curious too. I tee’d my air into the coolant line and installed a check valve on both sides so neither the air nor the coolant would blow back against the other. The air side is switched by a 120v solenoid, so i ran it to the relay box that langmuir sells for the coolant pump. I have a simple inline switch for both and i just turn on the switch for the one i want. I only use 20 PSI of air at the most and it has worked well for me so far to keep chips in pockets evacuated.
I used both at the same time for an aluminum job and it worked, i just dont know if i gained anything.
We plan to have these as a permanent item since some customers have been asking us where to find material for projects or for practice. If sales go well for these billets, we’d like to expand to other materials and sizes.
