i was just wondering what mods could or should be done to these mills to get better performance out of them? like taking slop out of the handels taking up backlash and general up grades. not wanting to go cnc just wanting to make a good little mill

Omega, which Grizz mill do you have?

I found Loctite helps the handles quite a lot. Use the variety that can be undone. Backlash can often be adjusted out of the nut on the leadscrew, check your docs or examine the machine. There is a lot to be said for careful gib adjustment as well.

I have an Industrial Hobbies mill that has benefited greatly from some TLC (thorough cleanup, tramming, and way oiling, followed by judicious Loctite on loose parts) and some upgrades including powered drawbar, power feed, and DRO's.

A lot of the basic mill upgrades (non CNC stuff) can be found on various Yahoo Groups too. You have to find the right one for the type of mill you have.

Best,

BW

good points i use all of those well most of them. i am currently going threw my mill http://http://www.grizzly.com/products/G1005Z/images (http://http//www.grizzly.com/products/G1005Z/images) still new trying to break it in :) just today went to get shim stock to get the head to sit square with the table it leans to the right about 0.0003. ill give you an example of what im talking about. the fine down feed on my mill had about 0.0400 of play in the handel drove me nuts any how i took the fine feed off and used my freinds mill to slot the current holes in the peice. so that i could move it down so that the gear would mesh alot better so now the play in my handle is0.0020 not to shaby. but these are more the things that i would be talking about however you do have some words of wisdom in what you statedhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k303/omegaredghost/100_1243.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k303/omegaredghost/100_1244.jpg

Hi All,

I have the Enco version of the same mill. It would seem that some of the backlash is controlled by how tight the handle retains the bearings on shaft that controls the side to side travel. I removed the handle as part of the CNC conversion and the bearing tends to walk out of the hole where it sits. I have tapped it back in to get by backlash down to .003-.004 but it doesn't last. I was thinking about putting a collar on the handle shaft but I would prefer something that can be used to "draw" the bearing flush.

How do other people control backlash on the front bearing? I noticed in my Swarfrat video thst minimills have a nut that draws the handle tight rather than a set screw.

If nothing else. locktite? (The RC helicopter's friend)

Regards,

BH

bherd i have that same problem with slop on my X Y so far the only fix that i can come up with is to put 10-32 set screws in the inner most coller (the one with the tension pin in it) so that when the screws are ran in aginst the bearing race it would take the extra slack out. have not done it myself yet but i think it would work :idea: i have heard of some puting shims in there to take up the slack.