We need six special hubs to attach some very unusual wheels to the 6mm motor shafts on a new robot we’re building. There was nothing commercially available for what we needed, so we designed the hub on the CAD system and we’ve been machining them on our Tormach CNC Mill. Each of us took a turn fixturing the stock, setting up the job with the high-precision probe, and then operating the CNC to make one of the parts. These pictures show our new intern Camille completing his part.

In this picture, our intern Camille has already machined the top of the part, flipped it over, and re-fixtured it into the vise. He is using the red-tipped probe to tell the CNC where the stock is located in the machine. Specifically, it takes readings along the outside diameter in order to calculate the exact x-y position of the center of the cylindrical stock we’re machining. He then uses the probe to set the z-position.

REMOVING THE FINISHED PART FROM THE MACHINE

INSPECTING THE FINISHED PART

CLOSE UP OF THE FINISHED PART