Wed 7 Jul 2010
Open Source Drill Press: Prototype 1
Posted by Marcin
Fabrication optimization for The Liberator open source CEB press involves designing and deploying four, heavy duty, open source fabrication tools: (1) drill press for drilling 1″ and larger holes directly in metal without pre-drilling; (2) 120 ton hole puncher/ironworker for punching up to 1.5″ holes in 1″ thick metal, and shearing up to 12″ wide slabs of 1″ thick steel; (3) torch table for cutting meta via computer control; and (4) heavy duty lathe for making motor couplers. The reason for the above developments is a significant reduction in fabrication time – such as a second to punch a 1/2″ hole in The Liberator frame, as opposed to a minute required for drilling. And, where we do have to drill 1/2″ holes, the time is reduced by avoiding switching of drill bits for pre-drilling of starter holes.
We have completed the initial prototype of the heavy duty, open source drill press. We are glad to report encouraging results, and a good addition to RepLab – the open source Fab Lab. It contains a hydraulic motor for the drilling and a hydraulic cylinder for the down pressure – so this is a literal press, and it is not short on torque or power as the motor can sustain up to 20 hp. We are using our Universal Rotor for the motor. This same rotor was already used for the lathe, tree auger (report forthcoming), and honey extractor (report forthcoming) – as it’s part of our LifeTrac infrastructure. This is part of our modularity concept in action – a key feature of the Global Village Construction Set.
You can see our wiki work page for the design and bill of materials, and the .dxf design file is at the Open+Pario repository. See the video of the build with explanation, plus demonstration of drilling a 1″ hole, without pre-drilling, in a 1″ steel slab. The workshop fireworks are extra, as we just passed the Fourth of July in these united States.
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16 Responses to “ Open Source Drill Press: Prototype 1 ”
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Pingback from Honey Extractor Tractor: The Craziest Thing Done with LifeTrac | Open Source Ecology
July 13th, 2010 at 3:08 pm[...] Both of these are already part of our LifeTrac infrastructure, and we just demonstrated the heavy duty drill press powered with the same interchangeable rotor. Categories: Apiculture, Open Source Agroecology [...]
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Pingback from Open Source 150 Ton Hole Puncher | Open Source Ecology
July 23rd, 2010 at 8:28 pm[...] of the Open Source Fab Lab, RepLab, is evolving nicely. We reported recently on Prototype I the heavy duty, open source, drill press, and here we are reporting on Prototype I deployment of our 150 ton hole puncher. Both of these are [...]
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Pingback from Getting Ready To Build: A Better Future | Open Source Ecology
July 24th, 2010 at 2:07 am[...] open source tractor, LifeTrac Prototype II. We also deployed the first prototype of the heavy duty, open source drill press, which we’re now using as part of our fabrication infrastructure. We just reported on [...]
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Pingback from 100 More Fruit Trees and Update | Open Source Ecology
August 6th, 2010 at 7:04 pm[...] As of today, the Power Cube II is over the brim, and the others need work. The total collected so far is $1475, or 31% of the total $4700, which is decent for the half-way point of the month funding period. Chip in if you can – we’ve got more vision than money, still, though we think this will turn around any day if we get a couple of sales from our first Full Product Release. It appears that this will take more than passive marketing on our side – but we are now well-positioned to produce The Liberator with our new 150 ton hole puncher and heavy-duty drill press. [...]
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Pingback from LifeTrac II Fabrication | Factor E Farm Blog
December 14th, 2010 at 3:29 am[...] RepLab, the Open Source Fab Lab – we are now using our open source 150 ton hole puncher and heavy duty hydraulic drill press quite successfully as part of every-day operations. These are all contributions to a low-cost [...]
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Pingback from Open Source Ecology - Overview
January 5th, 2011 at 11:52 am[...] The Ironworker Machine is for drilling 1? and larger holes directly in metal without pre-drilling. It contains a hydraulic motor for the drilling and a hydraulic cylinder for the down pressure – so this is a literal press, and it is not short on torque or power as the motor can sustain up to 20 hp. We are using our Universal Rotor for the motor. [...]
July 8th, 2010 at 12:04 am
wow man, thats awesome!!!so stoked on the progress u have been making out there…jealous that i cant be out there right now….hopefully will make it out again at some point in the future…
July 8th, 2010 at 11:01 am
Very nice progress. A large capacity drill press is key to making some of the equipment you want. Very good work.
Demented
July 9th, 2010 at 5:23 am
Nice one there Marcin its real heavy duty except that the structure looks like it is not rigid enough and you made that point. How do you plan to make drill bits?
July 9th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
We don’t have a clear idea on making drill bits yet. If you have suggestions, let us know.
July 10th, 2010 at 4:35 am
Firstly: Awesome! Well done, again. A truly useful tool.
It seems to me that the drill bits are a vitamin for the moment (at this stage we can’t make them, so we must eat – import – buy – them into the system).
When our replab distributed industrial base is a lot more mature, we’ll start making high precision things from hard materials, but I think that’s over the planning horizon on the road map at the moment: many other capabilities come first.
Two possible improvements occur to me:
- Use coolant. Cutting coolant can radically improve tool life, cut quality, and cut speed. Recirculating flood coolant systems are easy to make. I’ll publish the details of mine if you’re interested.
- Use a drill with a replaceable cabide tip insert, such as these spade drills . The super-hard insert lasts something like 10 times longer than a HSS drill and is cheaper to replace than a whole new drill. Result: reduced cost per hole for large numbers of holes.
July 10th, 2010 at 4:46 am
Regarding how to make cutting tools, my favoured approach is:
Sinter tungsten carbide (TC) or poly-crystaline diamond (PCD) blanks in appropriate shapes.
Cast ceramic grinding tool blanks (Boron Nitride?). Dress them against each other in odd numbered sets on a CNC grinder/dresser.
Grind the tools on a 5 axis CNC grinder.
Use laser metrology (measurement) throughout to get high accuracy and precision using the wavelength and straightness of of the laser as references.
Coat the tools with a hard ceramic such as TiCN or TiBN.
I know this is high tech. You can see why I’m saying “Not for a few years”. Let’s be clear: I expect to do this. Just not now.
We can probably make HSS tools sooner. However, carbide tools are required for high speed machining or hard turning or working efficiently with abrasive materials including MDF, High Si Al alloys, and cast iron.
I think we can rely on the current status quo to provide us with TC inserts at reasonable cost for a few years yet.
July 10th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
Hi there Marcin as for the drill bits I guess the grooves can be rolled and then twisted but that would need you furnace etc. Another way would be to used a die with machined inner region to create the grove impression in a heated steel barstock. These would depend on the tolerances you are aiming for and for factor e farm would be entirely appropriate.
July 11th, 2010 at 10:55 am
Leo, please share the technique for building a recirculating fluid coolant system, including the choice of cutting fluids.
July 12th, 2010 at 5:21 am
I remember from shop class ages ago that we had a drill with a hose that you’d aim at the drilling center, then the coolant would just run down to a tray, get filtered from the cut left-overs and simply pumped up again.
Probably just some kind of oil with a high viscosity.
July 12th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
You use a emulsifier blend (water+oil 2-5%).
You can buy these watermixable oil and you just need a bit and mix it with water.
Ordinary soap should work as emulsifier maybe.
Water cools, oil lubricates, its both important.