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Industrial Hobbies vs. the competition |
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| First of all I would like to state we at Industrial Hobbies do not like this kind of advertising, it seems unnecessary. But on the other hand, this is the real world and most folks ask the questions anyway. So we figured we would type them up. | ||
| Industrial Hobbies | Others | |
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Our Turnkey CNC Mills have full spindle, Quill and motor control
other than the computer keys. This is very important for
conversational CNCing, hand drilling, rigid tapping and an easy way to
set tool height. Just a few things that other CNC Mills
JUST CAN'T DO. Our Turnkey CNC Mills are Complete including Computer - Monitor - CadCam and Mach Software. The kit from Industrial Hobbies starts at about $4500 and goes up from there, and it's a KIT, you still need to install the kit onto the mill and complete the wiring. |
Offer turnkey solutions starting at about $6000, more or less. Some even offer Small Square column stepper solutions starting at $6800 plus Computer, Monitor and Stand |
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| Positioning Control and Accuracy | ||
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Close Loop Servo A closed loop servo system is continually updating it's position with the servo driver to maintain proper position. |
Open Loop Stepper Neither the controller nor the driver have any real idea on where the machine is at. Servo, well....I haven't seen any real conversions out there, a few show up on eBay every now and then, but I don't think they count. Would you sent $6000 to a small time eBay seller? |
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| Power | ||
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Servos A servo is rated with two numbers, continuous torque and peak torque. We sell it with both numbers, continuous it can do all day, peak is for moments of time (a few seconds per minute). (Just to make it easy we convert it all to machining force)
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Steppers A stepper is rated with two numbers, holding torque and torque at a given RPM (the faster you go the less torque you have). They sell it with the holding torque numbers (800 in/oz for example) but the second that machine moves cut that number in half, and it gets worse the faster you go. |
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| Power Transmission | ||
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Belt Drive Reduction More complex than direct
drive. The drive ratio is 4:1. And the Z-Axis (it
uses a bigger motor)
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Direct Drive
No multiplication of torque. Not Much Speed Not Much Power |
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| Encoder Placement | ||
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End of ballscrew. Mounting the encoder at the end of the ballscrew is more difficult that mounting directly on the motor, but it takes belt stretch and residual pulley buildup completely out of the equation. |
Stepper systems don't use encoders. Many cheap servo systems mount the encoder on the motor, this allows belt stretch and residual pulley buildup to cause both acceleration/deceleration and cyclical positioning errors. |
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| Cost Per Inch | ||
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A CNC converted machine from us can easily have a working envelope of 27"
x 11" (X, Y axes). We can go as high as 30.5" x 12.5" but we will
use the smaller numbers here. We will round UP the price of our kit to $7000. 27" x 11" = 297 square inches of working envelope. $7000 / 297 = $23.56 per square inch of envelope. |
I've seen working envelopes of 18" x 9.5 (X, Y axes).
We will use the LOWEST price for a turnkey system of $6000. 18" x 9.5" = 171 square inches of working envelope. $6000 / 171 = $35.08 per square inch of envelope. (We encourage you to do the math for yourself)
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| Running "Wet" | ||
Our CNC conversion is designed to run in the harshest environment, full
flood. We use a moderate 2000GPH on our mill, so you can use as
much or as little coolant as you wish. We can even handle:
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CNC system not sealed, you cannot use flood or other high volume coolant
systems. To be exact we're not too sure if they can handle mist or even a spray bottle, sealed is sealed, and unsealed is unsealed, once coolant gets into a motor kiss it goodbye. |
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| Iron and the Z Axis | ||
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The Square Column mill we start with is the biggest in the country and
offers superior rigidity.
It weighs the most, and features a solid column supporting the head that weighs about 275 lbs. We use a "Full Head Z" design that give about 20" of Z axis travel and allows the quill to be used independent of the CNC. |
Use a round column mill that have quite a bit of flex inherent to the mill
itself. CNC only the quill which give a Z travel of only a few inches. Also, CNC quill designs are okay for only the first few inches, after that quill deviation becomes excessive. |
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| Made in the ????? | ||
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CNC Made in the USA Of course the base mill is made in China, nobody in the USA makes a square column mill. But, the CNC is made in the USA, using quality parts made in the USA, American Ballscrews, American Electronics, American Servo Motors. |
We're a little vague on exactly where they have their CNC made, but It's surly not the USA. | |
| Use their own products | ||
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At Industrial Hobbies we use our products to make our products. To
be exact you can order the exact same setup we use every day. If you look at the pictures that we show as fixture examples or "How To's' you'll see that those are setups for our parts. Not some illusionary this is what you can make with our mill example.
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We know they do not use their products to product their products.
How do we know? Stepper based systems are too unpredictable to run
production on (we play with steppers too from time to time). How else do we know? Their products do not evolve, our 3 Axis CNC Conversion is now on the 4 generation and has a big brother (the Heavy Duty CNC) which is intended solely for production setups. Working envelope is everything, it can mean the difference between getting one part on the mill at a time or ten parts. As a manufacturer we use every square inch, since their working envelopes are so small it would be cost prohibitive for them to use their own machines. |
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The long and short of it is simple, we all use CNC for basically the same
reasons, to produce high quality parts either for hobby or for profit.
It doesn't matter if it's your first part or your millionth part, a CNC
conversion or Turnkey Ready to Run CNC Mill from Industrial Hobbies will get you there. Really want to find out what a CNC conversion from Industrial Hobbies can do? Come visit us. We're located just 20 minutes from the (Bradley International Airport), you can fly in for the day and see everything in action. And although it does sound extreme, non-stop flights coast to coast are under $500, and seeing as the "cheap" CNC systems cost $6000, spending a few hundred to see exactly what your getting is money well spent. We are Industrial Hobbies |
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| We'll keep adding to the list from time to time, | ||