Production ?'s

[kodiak]

I have a Prs Standard 48x96". My question is, i will be doing full back and forth milling at 45" then step over and 45" back. Will it be more precise and help the machine wear better by doing the most traveling in the Y axis on the car with the step over happening in the x axis?... or should i machine down the length of the x axis and step with the y. My theory is it would be more precise and create less wear on the machine by using the y for most of the traveling. Or is this just a dumb idea? lol

[harryball]

I don't think trying to keep machine wear even is a dumb idea, I've read posts where people have worn one part of the rails more quickly than others creating problems. For me, I've been running mostly full sheets back and forth and haven't given rail wear too much thought. However, as I keep venturing into the smaller custom products the thought has begun to cross my mind.

To that end I've tried to make sure my hold down jigs have a home mark on them so I can machine elsewhere on the table. If I find myself machining hundreds of the same thing I could move to a different corner of the table.

In your case, you might consider running in the X=0 to 48 range for a while, then machining in the X=48 to 96 range balancing the load.

As for accuracy, I've found that while under pressure the X direction is more accurate than the Y direction as only one side of the Y car is nailed down with a motor. When machining my roosting grooves I find the curves cut while making small X moves are smoother than the curves made by small Y moves. Keep in mind, I'm running at 12 ips and cornering at 45 when making these cuts. It's nice and smooth and both are acceptable... but I could look at the curve and tell you which way it was cut.

Robert