Drill Head

[bob_lofthouse]

I notice that in the new price list it lists a Drill Head.

Does anybody have any info on this.

[harold_weber]

I saw a drill head at the 2005 Jamboree. This is what I think I recall:

1. It mounted to the Y-car, but did not require a second Z-axis.
2. I think the z-plunge was powered by air (and retract was powered by a spring).
3. Cannot recall if the drill motor itself was air or electric.

I was not really interested at the time, so I took no pictures - sorry.

Disclaimers:
1. There is no guarantee what was there in April is what they decided to sell.
2. Those of you that were at the Jamboree may have different recollections than mine.

Try calling ShopBot and ask them to send you a picture of what they are selling.

[bob_lofthouse]

Very interesting if it doesn't require a 2nd Z.

When I've looked at drilling options on other machines they have all tended to be Air powered.

[richards]

A Google search on "air drills" produced lots of images of straight 1/4-inch and 3/8-inch drills priced at < $200 (many for less than $50). The drills that I looked at required about 90-lbs air pressure and consummed about 4-cfm. RPM ranged from < 700 to > 5,000. Since they were all light weight, about 2-5 lbs, using some type of 'piggy-back' mount on your router/spindle would be fairly simple. Adding the proper offsets to your cut files might take a little programming, but that's what the 'computer' in computer-numerically-controlled, is all about.

[bjenkins]

Robert, I took a couple pictures at the Jamboree. I'll try posting one in low resolution so you can see the assembly.

[bjenkins]

Sorry, but the picture won't help. Once I got it small enough to post you couldn't tell much. I would be happy to email them to you.

This is what I remember from checking it out. It is all air: air powered actuation piston with a small air spindle to do the drilling. It mounts in the Y-car similar to a second router. The assembly is all mounted on a steel plate that is maybe 6" in the machine's y axis and 12" in the z. That steel plate was mounted to the inside surface of the right side of the y-car. There are several small airline running to the assembly and one main airline to the airchuck.

[bjenkins]

Okay, I'll try this one more time. The image is pretty bad, but I lightened it up a bit to help with the pixelation distortion. The airchuck is in the lower center of the image. The blue lines are air to the control of the slide. The slide is dual vertical shafts with a air piston.

5439

[wayne_walker]

Bud,

Would you please e-mail me the photo of the air drill assembly?

I have several standard parts that a few holes in them and it would make the process a lot easier if I could drill while the part is still on the table. I am still learning how to use the software and hardware but some day I will get it figured out.

Thanks,

Wayne

[waynelocke]

I saw a picture of this in, I think, Custom Woodwroking Business magazine a week ago or so. It was in a Shopbot ad or new product announcement. You couldn't tell a lot by the picture and there was little info on it.
Wayne

[dirk]

I've added a few pictures of the drill option taken at Jamboree to my Blog. http://cncshare.blogspot.com/

[richards]

Dirk,
Those pictures are very interesting. I can see how how the drill would work but I can't see any Z-axis adjustment except for mechanical stops. It looks like the Z-axis is controlled by an air cylinder and is therefore binary, either up or down (I can't quite tell from the photos whether there is a proportional inlet controlled by a proximity sensor). If I wanted to drill shelf-pin holes 1/2-inch deep and then wanted to drill other holes at some other depth, it looks like I would have to adjust the air cylinder's mechanical stop. Is that the way it works or did I mis-read the photos?

[dirk]

There is a manual stop and you can not adjust depth without doing it manually. The drill routine is triggered from an output switch. The unit then uses pneumatic logic valves, which powers the drill and drives the cylinder. The drill is only running during the cycle.