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  1. #1
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    Mar 2009
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    Default Printed spindle nose cover

    I've been scratching my head for a while trying to think of something useful to print with my sons 3D printer.
    The boy prints lots of action figures, parts for spinners and his knives, my missus has made a bunch of vacuum adaptors and such for her CNC router but I couldn't for the life of me think of anything until the other day when I came up with making a spindle nose cover for the lathe, brilliant I know.

    About 15 min on Fusion 360 and I had a model but no idea where to go from there.
    A bit of help from the missus and the boy and two and a bit hours later there it was.

    Spindle Cover 01.jpg

    Spindle Cover 02.jpg

    I've got to admit I'm pretty impressed, it screws on perfectly and the accuracy is far better than I thought it would be, I just need to think of some more things to make now.
    Cheers,
    Greg.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
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    Melbourne
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    Default

    I must admit, I'm becoming increasingly interested in 3D printers. Even just for the occasional part such as yours.

    Cheers,

    Simon
    Girl, I don't wanna know about your mild-mannered alter ego or anything like that." I mean, you tell me you're, uh, super-mega-ultra-lightning babe? That's all right with me. I'm good. I'm good.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
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    Perth WA
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    Default

    Neat Greq!

    Is the plastic tough enough to enable the protector to perform as an ejector?

    Bob.

  4. #4
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    Thanks Bob,
    Dual purposeing the cover as an ejector is a very clever idea.
    The spindle nose thread might be coarser than ideal for a morse taper ejector and the notches that would engage a spanner might chew out pretty quickly under the torque required.

    The cover was printed with PLA and I'm not sure how strong this is under compression but it does chip. PET or nylon might be more resilient but I don't really know.

    I reckon the idea steamingbill posted from Model Engineer might be the go for an ejector as it uses the fine collet nut thread which would require less torque to produce the same force.
    Cheers,
    Greg.

  5. #5
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    Hi Greg,

    I made a nose protector/ejector from some 1214 probably fifteen years ago and it functions well as an ejector for the 9's 3C collet adaptor. Using a pin type hook spanner, it takes very little effort to remove the adaptor from the 3 Morse spindle bore. Mind you, I don't belt the adaptor into the bore to start with. I often mount my 2M ER25 chuck in the spindle with an open ended 3M adaptor and I've often thought a sleeve between the back of the ER chuck and the spindle nose protector would allow a more gentle extraction than tapping it out with an aluminium drift. I should turn up a simple sleeve. Tomorrow's task.

    I had a look at a Fusion 360 YouTube tutorial. I should have persevered with Autocad back in 1995!!

    Bob.

  6. #6
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    Default

    G'day Bob,
    Fusion 360 is actually not too bad to learn. Before using it my CAD experience was pretty much limited to Visio.
    It really only took an hour or so of playing around and I was pretty comfortable with it.
    There is an extensive array of online tutorials, both official and unofficial so if you get stuck it's not usually too difficult to find a workaround.
    I'm not a huge fan of the whole working from the cloud idea but again, you get used to it.
    It's incredibly powerful and the fact that they recognise hobbyist users don't have thousands of dollars to spend on CAD and offer a free licence is very admirable.
    Cheers,
    Greg.

  7. #7
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    G'day Bob,
    I tried using the printed cover as an ejector and it worked better than I thought it would.
    I use an ER40 chuck straight in the MT4 spindle of the 260.

    IMG_0419.jpg

    If I set the chuck then give it a whack with my hand, I could eject it turning the cover off by hand. If I set the chuck then give it a light whack with a rubber mallet (my usual practice) I needed to use a C spanner but it ejected no problem and the notches in the cover held up fine.
    The notches are probably the weakest part and would most likely fail first but it worked much better than I thought so once again, brilliant idea Bob. One day I'll make a proper metal one like yours.
    Cheers,
    Greg.

  8. #8
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    Hi Greg,

    Mal has them on the shelf - hercus 9 or 260 spindle thread cover--part No.amh5H1091 An easier option maybe?

    Bob.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
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    melbourne australia
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by kwijibo99 View Post
    If I set the chuck then give it a light whack with a rubber mallet (my usual practice) I needed to use a C spanner but it ejected no problem and the notches in the cover held up fine.
    You don't find you need a draw-bar Greg? I have the same MT4 ER40 collet chuck as you and I've never been game to try it without a draw-bar in case it comes loose and damages the morse taper in the spindle.

    Quote Originally Posted by Anorak Bob View Post
    Hi Greg,

    Mal has them on the shelf - hercus 9 or 260 spindle thread cover--part No.amh5H1091 An easier option maybe?

    Bob.
    I have one of those. It's very well made.
    Chris

  10. #10
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    G'day Chris,
    I usually use the collet for repetitive tasks and have made up a depth stop for use in the drawbar thread.
    Most of the jobs I do using the collet are on smaller parts less than 10mm in diameter so the ratio of work piece size to that of the MT4 taper is pretty generous and the collet chuck has never moved, touch wood.
    For larger work I’ll use a drawbar and barely nip it up. I figure the benefit of not having to flog the arbour to remove it every time outweighs the small risk of it spinning in the taper. If I plan to take heavy cuts I’ll use the four jaw rather than the collet.
    My printed cover was really only to keep spindle thread clean but if I can use the nose cover to eject the arbour then better still so I might have to look into getting a proper one.
    Cheers,
    Greg.

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