I recently purchased this mill, it works beautifully but I'd like to convert it to CNC,

http://busybeetools.ca/cgi-bin/picture10?&NETID=0834191005061185738&NTITEM=B1976

I found this kit online ( http://www.xylotex.com/3AxSysKit-497.htm ) and was wondering if:

a) Anyone had used it before?
b) If it should work (in theory)?
c) If anyone would have a better suggestion?

I'm a Newb to CNC construction, so any help would be greatly appreciated

FYI, I'm probably going to use Mach3 to convert my DXF files.

A good place to start with this mill is here :

www.homecnc.info.

This is a forum members site that has done a nice conversion of the round collum mills and there is lots of info on his site.

Keep us posted on how you proceed.

unfortunetly he's using servos I was hopping to stick with steppers before I invest in servo. (servos for the time being are outside of my budget)

(servos for the time being are outside of my budget)

Would help, to know your budget.










.

up to $1000 USD (cheaper is better)

this is only to do some fairly light stuff (once in a blue moon) I was thinking of gearing the stepper if addidional torque is needed

this is the info I would like, how much torque do I need to cut throught aluminum or brass, there's only light presure when I'm working by hand so I can't see a huge torque requirement from the stepper.

I don't see why you could not use his plans and put steppers on it rather then servos..

His plans (homecnc.info) are great and a money saver when you count not having to buy the wrong parts while trying to figure things out..

Although doing the spinning nut Z is a challenge. I ended up making my Z spinning nut out of steel tube rather then aluminum which was many times easier.

Also also a must to doing the project is a lathe (or at least I picked one up before I did mine..)

b.

Here is a pic of my Z from Jeff's plans. Of course I could not mount mine in the same spot as a belt drive mill since I'm a gear head mill but it works..

You can see the spinning nut hub is made of steel gas pipe tube. Easier to turn for me then the aluminum.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=22871&d=1158450250

b.

Mounting everything shouldn't be a huge issue, I'm a mechanical engineer by trade, my main concern is with all the electronics and more precisely the torque required (the size needed) for the steppers.

I'm fairly good with software but my hardware knowledge is fairly limited,... I'd love to learn some of the hardware as I go (maybe not all the nitty-gritty stuff but at lease what part does what and why).

Thanks for your help guys.

Well I have a similar mill to the one in the link and I'm running 420oz servos geared down by half (small gear on the motor large on the shaft) But I'm not sure how servo torque rateings compair to stepers..

b.