Hey guys, just thought that I'd share some pictures of the mill that I have been working on making, Its just about completed now I just need to cnc it. let me know what you think.

http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/500/medium/mill2.jpg

http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/500/medium/mill3.jpg

http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/500/medium/mill.jpg

http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/500/medium/mill71.jpg


http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/500/medium/mill51.jpg

http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/500/medium/mill6.jpg

So its got a ballscrew and linear slides on the z axis, and an x,y table for the base that will do for now. A treadmill motor powered by a kbmm-225D controller, uses a mini mill r8 head and is all welded to the base that is bolted to the stand.

chris.

Nice job man! Do you have any performace specs?
Aaron

I hacen't really had much of a chance to use it yet, but just screwing around I can take about 30-40 thou cuts in steel with my 2" face mill and I ran a 1/4 inch carbide endmill through aluminum .300" deep with no problems, all in all I'm pretty happy with it. still need to get the backlash out of the table before putting my stepper motors on it though.
chris.

Nice!

I've been thinking about going that route, that is a built up machine out of weldments. I'm assuming here that you did considerable machining on the parts after welding every thing up. Did you do that yourself or have somebody with a large mill do the job? Otherwise I'm wondering how you got it squared up.

I ask partly because I have much of the plate steel I would need for the initial frame but am a bit concerned about stress relief and normalization.

Thanks
Dave

Very inspiring... thanks for sharing!

Nice piece of work!! Please keep us posted on adding the CNC.

A few more photos would be nice also. Perhaps a little more detail on the Z axis.

Regards,

Chuck

Wow, very nice job. I like the head.
You may want to get way covers for the Z, and might as well do the Y as well.

Thanks a lot for all the comments, as far as machining after welding well I may be letting some people down by saying no machining was done after welding, simply because when I started this it went from the back support for the z axis being given to me so it all evolved from there... didn't even really know it was going to be a mill at first haha plus the only machinery I had in my garage was a drill press and lathe. as far as squaring it up I just welded it as square as I could get it, and then since the table is a totally sepperate piece I shimmed and leveled the table to be square with the column and then tramed the head to the table. Also phantomcow2 I do plan on getting way covers, its amazing how many chips even a little machine like this can make!

chris

If you don't mind me asking, what did you use for the spindle motor and speed control?

Also what speeds are you getting out of the spindle?

Thanks

AC

Don't mind at all, for the spindle motor I am using a 2 h.p. 10 amp dc treadmill motor that I got off ebay, and for the motor control im using a kbmm 225d controller that is rated for somewhere around 18 amps with a heat sink I got the control off of ebay as well, it is a variable speed control and the motor is rated at 4300 r.p.m. so I can get anywhere from about 5 to 4300 rpm im assuming, I want to get a tach for it but havent been ablt to find one.

Anybody got any good suggestions on where to get a tach.

www.littlemachineshop.com has some tach's, but if you're gonna cnc it then Mach3 has a tach function and you can build the circuit to support it very cheeply.

http://www.littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=2658

oh ok right on thats perfect then, I wasn't sure if I could set up a tach through mach 3 or not . thanks.

Thanks a lot for all the comments, as far as machining after welding well I may be letting some people down by saying no machining was done after welding, simply because when I started this it went from the back support for the z axis being given to me so it all evolved from there...

Nothing to be ashamed of here as I've collected some of the stuff that I intend to make my mill out of that way. Nothing welded up and ready to go though. It is the things that get away from you though that suck. I almost got a axis assembly off a mold machine picker but it ended up in the dumpster instead. Would have made an excellent bridge for a large router. OH well.

didn't even really know it was going to be a mill at first haha plus the only machinery I had in my garage was a drill press and lathe. as far as squaring it up I just welded it as square as I could get it, and then since the table is a totally sepperate piece I shimmed and leveled the table to be square with the column and then tramed the head to the table.

As long as it is square and you are happy that is all that counts.


Also phantomcow2 I do plan on getting way covers, its amazing how many chips even a little machine like this can make!

chris
As for chips have you considered a vacuum arrangement. Works well when dry machining, not so well with coolant or lube.

DAve

actually I haven't even considered a vacume arrangement, just kind of figured that was more of a router and wood type thing but now that you mention it that might not be a bad Idea, either that or some type of containment wall, I dont think I will go with flood coolant maybe mist though I guess that will just have to evolve as well! so far Im just happy to have something that even resembles a mill.
chris.

oh and well I am online I might as well ask if anyone thinks that running a 72 volt unregulated power supply with 3 geckos will be a problem if I do not have some sort of voltage clamp...thats really the only thing holding me back from hooking it up right now. thanks

Aren't the Gecko's good for 80 volts? I would say get that 72v power supply, the performance will be much more appreciable. I recently acquired drives which input rather high voltage into steppers. Previously, the max I ever inputted was 28v. Makes a big difference

alright well I got the 72 volt supply already but am just worried about the back current from the motors decelerating over charging the capacitor to over 80 volts and then frying my gecko's anyone think that this will be a problem?

I just got all my steppers mounted yesterday and all my electronics mounted and everything. I ended up using a dump circuit with the 72 volt supply so it should not overcharge the capacitor. I will post some pics this week.

How would you rate the X Y table you are using? It looks like the Enco 201-2536 that I have been considering to enlarge the envelop of my X2. How stable is it at the extremes of travel and is there enough room to easily install the usual 5/8 inch ballscrews and nuts? Thanks.

Glenn

Glennza,
Actually its a shears table that I got from an ebay seller. for 100 bucks its a great table the problem I see with it is that when it is at the extremes in travel on the y axis only half of the table is contacting with the base of the table.There is probably enough room to add ballscrews with a couple modifications. I am just using the acme rod that came with it and they have about 15 thou backlash that I'd like to get rid of. for now I just turned on backlash comp. but so far it seems to be working ok.

chris.

well some things are just inevitable and it figures that after I got my steppers on and started machining I would want to tear it all apart again. First I just wanted to add some ballscrews and then it evolved into a new column and a few other things.

so the major changes will be a 5" square column welded and then machined square with the base possible filled with sand and epoxy.

I will be adding ballscrews to the table, probably rolled screws with a double nut system.

A plate added between the head and the z axis backplate that actually holds the bearing blocks. I want to add this so that tramming the mill is possible, right now to loosen off the bolts I need to just about take the whole mill apart.

also I want to add an extension to the back of the base to extend the dovetail as right now at the very extreme of the travels only about half of the saddle is in contact with the base.

I would also like to find a better, more secure way of holding my motor.

So I will try to keep you guys updated along the way and let me know what you think of the new design over the old one I included a picture for you to have a look at.

http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/500/mill_rev03.jpg

Chris.

nothing?

Back to work! *cracks whip*

Looks cool. Need to plan for way covers. If you haven't already.

haha for sure, just need to get some metal then I'm back at it. anyone know of somewhere in the london ontario area that I could get the column stress relieved at?

Deviant, defiantly will be adding in way covers, things can gt messy without them.

thanks.
chris.

Ok.. i've been reading your thread as well.. lot less reading to do.. :)

Nice piece of equipment.. maybe you could swap the dovetail cross-table for a ball rail setup in the future, 'cos it doesn't do the ballrail Z-axis setup any justice.. :)

for a machine built from "Whatever was available" it's a nice piece of work..Keep us posted on progress..

I agree with Arie. It is some nice work. I actually bought the same motor off Ebay and bout a controller from Surplus Center. I also bought an extra X2 mill head, so I was glad to see that stuff in use on yours. I agree with Arie about the XY ways too. The dovetails will get you by of course, but you may just want to keep an eye out on Ebay for some matched linear ways. I got most of mine dirt cheap and they are in excellent condition. Some are even brand new. I even lucked up and got some nice ground ball screws on the cheap. About the same cost if you were to buy new Acme screws for.
You have to know what you are bidding on of course, but deals can be had if you bide your time and don't overbid.
It seems to come in waves where guys will bid cnc components very high. Then a couple weeks later, you can win a bid for the same things at 1/3rd the cost.
I too will stay tuned to your thread. Looks great and keep up the nice work.

Hey Shovel, looks beautiful very similar to mine that I built awhile back. I tore mine back down several times until I got everything dead on or at least within .001 http://www.cnczone.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=37994&stc=1&d=1180182107
Rebuilt mill.JPG


http://www.cnczone.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=37995&stc=1&d=1180183022
Mill leftside.JPG

However I got lucky and started working at a Die and Mold shop and was able to use Bridgeport to mill out some parts. However now that I still work there my poor little mill gets no use as the Bridgeport has taken over any milling duties. But now I,m thinkin about bringing the lil, mill to my home office and cnc'ing it. As for your second design while it looks good on paper, the box design of the column will present mounting problems(mine did) as you have to drill all the way thru both sides of the column to mount something. Anyway keep up the good work , looks sharp!!!

Thanks for the input guys, as for getting rid of that x-y table I could not agree more its just not really up to the task at hand. For now it will have to do I am going to lap the ways and nstall rolled ballscrews with a double nut to eliminate backlash.

Zip, I don't think the square column will give too much grief as I will be drilling the holes to mount the rails and tapping them then screwing the rails to the outside. I will need 4 through holes however with the 5x5 tubing I belive I can get my hand down there to put the SHCS in.

I have actually been watching your thread as well and must say that it is a very nie machine. I was glad to see that you put the 1/2" plates on instead of the 1/4" and all the machined parts looked great too! might as well cnc it . Its pretty fun to be able to tell people that you have a cnc machine at home haha.

well hopefully by sometime this week I will hve some pictures to show everyone.

chris.

Ya know Chris , I took my design from someone else here on CNC Zone however all trace of any pics of his mill are gone I have searched relentlessly. The side profile of mine is very similar to his except for the column he used 3/4" plates fashioned into a u channel column which now that I think of it is really the way to go as you can drill and tap one side of the column. On mine when I went to add the sideplates I had to drill all the way thru the plates and 2x3 beam. Of course I have since learned the correct way to measure and drill out parallel holes. As for the table goes for manual milling it works fine , however I do like the way Fivebears did his table by adding the thk rails to his. I thought I would just change out to ball screws first and if thats not good enough later add thk rails to the table. I also like the way you did your motor mount way easier than mine( I see you can weld, something I have not done yet). What size steppers are you going with? Anyway keep us posted

oh yeah I see I see.

I would eventually like to add some liner rails as well but like you will do the ballscrew conversion first and see how well that goes for now, after I lap the ways so that there is no binding I hope that it will work a lot better.

The motor mount works ok I think that I would like to add some more support though, right now it is just held onto the side of the head with four screws so maybe some more support will help. One thing that I have done is mill out the contour of the motor into a chunk of aluminum and put that between the mount and the motor to help stiffen it up a little bit.

Well hopefully thursday I will have some time at school to get to work on the mill, I need to tear it apart still. Maybe if I remember I will take a picture of it now with the steppers mounted and everything.

Oh yeah I am using 475 oz/in steppers on it with gecko 201's and a 72 volt power supply Im runing 75 ipm on the z and 50 on the x-y right now I think but hopefully I can pick that up once I add ball screws.

chris.

Kool that sounds pretty close to the planned setup I was going to do as far as steppers and the Gecko,s. Your motor mount looked pretty solid to me anyway keep up the good work.http://www.cnczone.com/forums/images/smilies/RAINFRO.gif
:rainfro:

hey guys, got some pictures, I know that its a lot better to look at pictures than read sometimes so here you go. Theres some showing the enclosure, stepper motors, electronics enclosure (toolbox), the second picture of the enclosure shows the power supply and the current dump circuit I made so that the voltage does not run back to the power supply and over charge the capacitor I got the circuit from the gecko yahoo site. Then a picture of the metal I picked up today to start work on the rebuild.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z150/snowshovelbmx/05-29-07003.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z150/snowshovelbmx/05-29-07007.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z150/snowshovelbmx/05-29-07008.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z150/snowshovelbmx/05-29-07014.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z150/snowshovelbmx/05-29-07015.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z150/snowshovelbmx/05-29-07012.jpg

chris.

Looking good. Is that a tool case for the Gecko's? Very nice and easy to get into. Pretty easy to control your grounding as well.
I had bought an old ammo box to use. I think it will make a better coolant tank though. I would have had to use sliding panels to be able to work on and tune things. That would be quite a bit of extra work.
I have built both my first drive box for my router and my plasma, but for my mill, I have several tool cases that don't get used.
The one for my Ridgid trim router is built pretty tough as well. This is perhaps the only other use for these things after you have bought the tool. :)
I will keep my eye on your thread. Thanks.

Yep thats a tool box that I got from canadain tire for about 6 bucks. works great, easy to drill into and mount things and as you said it is easy to control all of my grounds. thanks for the intrest.
chris.

Well I've been hard at work with the rebuild, I've got the column all rough machined and welded together. It is currently in my barbeque "cooking" - low temp stress relieving. I will finish machining it tommorow. I have also started to surface grind the components of the head assembly. Heres a picture of a couple of them. Notice the granite they are sitting on. My new surface plate that I got from a friend that used to make tombstones for a living might not be super acurate but it will be better than the metal bench in my garage. Oh one more thing I also got my ballscrews for the x and y axis in the mail yesterday so I need to machine the ends and figure out a way to mount them.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z150/snowshovelbmx/surfaced.jpg

chris.

humm let me know what kind of flatness you get on this granite

Hey Chris how's that working out with your stepper mounts to the table? Have you tested it yet? Maybe you could post a pic showing the side view of the motor to the table connection.

ataxy, I haven't been able to check the flattness yet. however I can tell that it is not perfectly flat as when I try to spin my ground plate on top of it it will spin in some places and will not in other if you know what I mea. but as I said it should be just fine for me. I will just be using it for layout work mostly and will not be doing any grinding.

Zip the motors mounted to the table seemed to work just fine for me however the problem that I had is witht he screws as you probably already know they have about 15 thou backlash so I dedcide to go with ballscrews. I would recomend the same to you if you plan on cnc'ing your mill. I will post a picture of the connection later on though just so you can see it I used a steel plate and bolted it to the table and then bolted the steppers to that with the aluminum spacer in between.

thanks for the questions keep them coming.

chris.

I was out in the shop for a bit yesterday and got a whole bunch of work done, the z axis is now finished I just need to tear it apart again Which is much easier with my new design) and paint it. I took some pictures of the mill with the table just sitting infront. I still need to adapt my ballscrews to he table and then I should be back in buisness.
Zip I also took a couple pictures showing the motor mount on the table for you to see. It is a pretty simple design that does not require much modification.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z150/snowshovelbmx/06-17-07010.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z150/snowshovelbmx/06-17-07001.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z150/snowshovelbmx/06-17-07007.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z150/snowshovelbmx/06-17-07006.jpg

chris.

well I had to take everyones advise and buy some more linear slides. because as arie said "it just doesn't do the z axis justice" so heres the new table design. let me know what you think. Theres also a picture of the z axis all painted up.


http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z150/snowshovelbmx/millpainted.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z150/snowshovelbmx/millrev04.jpg


chris.

Chris,

That is just purely amazing. Your column is great. I have been thinking about doing a column like that for my RF30 but the head on the round column has to be totally redesigned to go to a square column. The X2 head is much easier to work with. I already have a bunch of linear rails. Hmmm, decisions, decisions.

Alan

that new design looks great, BUT!!.. i would seriously consider making the cross-slide frame with the X-axis guides on top, without the Cut-out section, those bars may bend and warp once you machine out that section.. had the same problem with my Beagle 1 VMC 2814..
the Z-collumn looks the business, but, ridgid as it is, add some more steel to the base.. otherwise, the base will be the limiting factor..

Since the entire machine is built on a bench, you might consider lowering the Y-axis drive into the base.. , you could also cut out a section in the base of the collumn, to put the motor in, creating a more compact design...

i don't know.. but the design looks "familiar" to me.. :):withstupi

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a220/ArieKabaalstra/Beagle-1/color2.jpg

that new design looks great, BUT!!.. i would seriously consider making the cross-slide frame with the X-axis guides on top, without the Cut-out section, those bars may bend and warp once you machine out that section.. had the same problem with my Beagle 1 VMC 2814..
the Z-collumn looks the business, but, ridgid as it is, add some more steel to the base.. otherwise, the base will be the limiting factor..

Since the entire machine is built on a bench, you might consider lowering the Y-axis drive into the base.. , you could also cut out a section in the base of the collumn, to put the motor in, creating a more compact design...

Arie,

If one was to follow your logic for the X-axis slides, then why not space the Y-axis slides out wider, move them out more towards the ends of the X-axis carrier. This would require a larger base area but would provide even greater stability for the X-Axis (all the force on the Y-axis would be downward), whereas, when the Y-axis is narrower and the table moves out past the Y-axis slide, some of the forces shift from downward to upward on the opposite side Y slide.

Alan

it's not about the X-axis guides, it's about the Cut out section..

the X-axis guides sit perfect where they are, but cutting out sections will probably warp the supports for the X-axis guides.. that's what i was trying to tell in my previous post..

i also cut out some sections to put the y-axis guides in, and the Y-spindle nut is in a hole in the Front support beam..

took me a couple of hours to get my beams straight again..

Arie,

I thought that Chris had the rail on the table and the bearings on the X-axis carrier and that you were suggesting swapping them around. But, I see what you were talking about.

I was looking at the fact that by using an X-axis "carrier", the table is supported for its entire travel on the X-axis (very good), however, the X-axis carrier is still unsupported at the ends (not necessarily bad, just not quite as good as it could be). By moving the Y-axis rails outboard more you can minimize or eliminate the lever effect of the X-axis carrier on the Y-axis rails.

For example on my mill, the weight of the table can change its relationship to the Z-axis by a few thousandths at the extremes of its travel unless the gibs are very tight. Given it is a 32 1/2" by 9 1/2" table supported by dovetails that are only about 10" apart, but the wider the Y-axis, the less the lever effect of the X-axis on the Y-axis slides.

The gain comes at the expense of creating a larger base surface on which to mount the wider spaced Y-axis rails. The choice is a design trade off. I just thought that since Chris is doing some redesign anyway, it was worth mentioning. I really liked your idea and didn't mean to be critical.

I agree that just mounting the rails to a flat piece of metal may not provide the desired rigidity.

Alan

Mounting the Y-axis rails wider apart, means also that your base has to be A: a lot thicker ( heavier ) and B: more precisely machined.

the further the rails are apart, the more stiffnes, and accuracy you will need for a good machinebase..

there is a Famous saying from the world famous dutch Soccer player Johan Cruyff : "elk voordeel heb ze nadeel" "every advantage has its disadvantage" ( beside being a great soccer player, he was also famous for one-liners like this

this particular example of Cruyffs law is a bit like Murphy's law.. "if there's one way to get it wrong.. we'll find it eventually"

Ridgidty can also be provided bij a decent machine bench.. if the bench is all steel, maybe welding some stiffeners will provide extra stiffness to the machine.. make it part of its bench..
i did that with my lathe, bought a surplus Steel workbench, welded 2 H-Profiles next to eachother on top at both ends, made a chip-trench in between, and presto!.. one hell of a ridgid machine.. i could turn a 100 mm part cilindrical within 0.01 mm how's that for accuracy?..

Lever-effect is also less when the table runs on long beams, the supported length stays the same all the way, and.. the other end of the support always acts as a counterweight.. ( one might even consider a "dynamic counterweight" when machining heavy parts..just a thought.. :D

since the way this machine ( and mine also ) is built just like most of the professional machines, we must be doing at least something right.. :D

arie, My design was defiantly modeled after yours, as I am sure that you can tell. With good reason too it just looks like such a sturdy design. I understand what you are saying about not having the cut-outs in the x axis supports and I was thinking the same thing although the cutouts are not all the way through the support just enough to provide clearance for the bearing blocks. Do you think it will still warp? I mean I know it is bound to warp a little bit but I figure I will rough machine everything then machine the pockets then finish machine afterwards. I have been contemplating the idea of using a much bigger base, the only thing holding me back from doing that I guess is trying to find a hunk of cast big enough to do the job without costing me soo much money. Although the steel plate that I am using now does get bolted to a steel frame I would like to have a stronger base. If I get it all together and it is not rigid enough it would still be quite easy to make a base to mount it all for.

Alan the idea of mounting the rails further apart did cross my mind but right now they are 7.5" apart so it provides a solid enough base I think even when the table is out to the extremes of travel if I mounted them further apart I was conserned that with all the machining going on in the middle, the table might bow under the pressure so I wanted to keep the rails in close to the spindle yet still far enough apart to provide a rigid base.

I have included a picture of the x axis. Arie you're the machining expert here so what do you think? are these going to warp way to much or will it be managable? I would like to keep the rails this way because it makes the ballscrew close to the supports, if the rail is any lower than it will involve a lot of flex going from the ballnut up to the supports in such a limited space.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z150/snowshovelbmx/x-axis.jpg

chris.

arie I drew up a base which is 10 x 24 x 3" solid steel with a cutout for the ballscrew to sit down in and I like that way a lot more, so if I can find a hunk of steel that size than that is what I will be doing. This way will add about 150 pounds to the mill and lowers the center of mass a whole bunch too. Overall I think that it will greatly improve the performance of the mill.

chris.

arie I drew up a base which is 10 x 24 x 3" solid steel with a cutout for the ballscrew to sit down in and I like that way a lot more, so if I can find a hunk of steel that size than that is what I will be doing. This way will add about 150 pounds to the mill and lowers the center of mass a whole bunch too. Overall I think that it will greatly improve the performance of the mill.

chris.

Chris,

Show us a picture, please.

Alan

Chris,

Show us a picture, please.

Alan

cant show you much its not done yet

Alan I can post a picture of the new cad design, I still have a bit of work to do though but I am not at home right now so that will have to wait until probably tommorow or tuesday. But I am looking forward to hearing everyones input. Hopefully I can finalize the drawing though and start building.

chris.

Chris,

I'm looking forward to it. Arie and you have filled me with new ideas.

Alan

Alan heres the new cad drawing of the heavy duty base. I am pretty happy with the way this one looks and am defiantly going to go this route. Can't wait to start building.. anything anyone else sees with the design that may need to be changed. It's a lot easier to change a drawing than anything else.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z150/snowshovelbmx/millrev05.jpg

Chris.

Chris,

The base is a solid block of steel, 3" x 10" x 24", correct?

So if I am seeing things correctly, you are not machining as deeply into the X-axis carrier for the linear bearings for the Y-axis. Is that correct also?

Are the Y-axis rails still 7.5" apart or have you spaced them slightly wider? I can't really tell from looking.

Have you estimated what it will all weigh when you are done?

It looks impressive to me. I wish that I could afford to build one like it.

Alan

Yes that is now a solid chunk of steel, The cut-outs in the x axis for the bearing blocks are still just as deep, I am not sure exactly how deep but it is deep enough to be able to press in the bearing blocks using their ground sides to locate them square. The Y-axis rails are still 7.5 inches apart. Don't think that I did not think about using your advice about moving them out wider but the way I see it, all of the machining pressure will always be in the same spot (the spindle is stationary in the x and y direction obviously) so I belive having them closer rather than further from this spot may be better. Also like arie said the x axis supports will provide a counter balance as the table moves back and forth.

chris.

oh and alan the estimated weight is 350 lbs I belive. But I have not specified all the material in solidworks so I am not sure how accurate that is.. teh base alone is close to 200 pounds though.

this design looks the business already, the only thing I would change is the Y-axis motor, i'd place it in, or beneath the collumn, and as you can see in my drawings, that's exactly what i've done.. this design however is slightly less difficult to build.. :)

it's gonna be a nice one..

I think it would be wise to mount the x rails to the table, and put the trucks on the y. This way you only would have the y rails exposed to damage.

Arie thanks for the words. I think that I will keep the y-axis motor where it is only because I am too far with my column to change it now and do not want to cut into it or anything now. I will just have to put a sheet metal gaurd on the motor to keep it from getting damaged. That will look more clean as well.

DSL I have put the x axis rails the way that they are so that it will provide full support of the table over the full movement. I have "taken" my design mostly from arie and as he has been doing I have been paying a lot of attention to how the VMC's at work are built and this is how they do it as well. Thanks for the input though.

chris.

I would make the table wider than the travel, and mount the rails to it, then you will end up with the same support, and have som extra room for clamps. My toy vmc (TM 1) is built this way. If you stick with your design be sure to put some guards on those rails, or at least some wipers.

I would make the table wider than the travel, and mount the rails to it, then you will end up with the same support, and have som extra room for clamps. My toy vmc (TM 1) is built this way. If you stick with your design be sure to put some guards on those rails, or at least some wipers.

Mounting the rails to the table, that's how old knee mills were built ( the cheap ones that is ).. this way of buidling is seriously jeopardising ridgidity, not to mention balance.

if Deckel Maho Gildemeister, Mori Seiki, Bridgeport, Emco, Mazak, Haas, and all the othet big factories are doing it like snowshovelbmx and me, why is there any reason left to doubt that way of constructing a Mill?..

off course, doing it the other way round, it will still work, your machine is a fine example... ( why don't you read my topic, you might find some intrestin g thougts about why a machine is constructed a certain way? )

Thats true, read Arie's thread it is a great read that is well worth the time, there is a link to it a couple pages back I think. I will keep the rails the way that they are and yes I will be putting way covers on the machines to keep chips out, as well the linear bearing blocks have wipers to clean them off.

chris.

Thats true, read Arie's thread it is a great read that is well worth the time, there is a link to it a couple pages back I think. I will keep the rails the way that they are and yes I will be putting way covers on the machines to keep chips out, as well the linear bearing blocks have wipers to clean them off.

chris.



Ahh, belt and suspenders, nothing better than a little overkill :)

you're right, But, I need the way covers to keep chips off of hte ballscrew and the wipers came stock on the bearing blocks anyway.

chris.

Well I haven't given up on my mill I just find it hard to find time to work on it a lot.. Some of you guys have found out how to get a few extra hours in the day I think.

But here are some pictures of the parts I have done so far..

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z150/snowshovelbmx/mill001.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z150/snowshovelbmx/mill004.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z150/snowshovelbmx/mill003.jpg

Let me know what you guys think.

chris

Hi Chris,

That looks like an excellent machine to me and I would be proud to call it my own. Looks to be near completion so keep up the good work and the pictures. :) Will be very interested to here how it performs once complete.

John

Wow, that looks great - you must be very proud :)

I had to re-read the thread to check that the base really is a solid block of steel! It should be fantastically stiff and yet effortlessly free to move in the intended directions thanks to those linear slides.

Good luck, and please keep posting pics!

Chris,

It looks amazing to me.

Alan

Be kool if ya could find a small Bridgeport table like 32" other than that what a transformation. Keep up the progress Chris

Thanks a lot guys! It can be really motivating to hear all the things everyone has to say about your machine. John It is certainly closer now to completion than ever although are these things ever complete?

chris.

John It is certainly closer now to completion than ever although are these things ever complete?

Lol probably not but I think eventually you get to a point were you stop to build a bigger and better machine and it all starts again. At only 20 years old you will eventually be building a full size VMC.

So when are you starting your next machine?:)

John

Be kool if ya could find a small Bridgeport table like 32" other than that what a transformation. Keep up the progress Chris

I would have thought that for this design, you want the table to be shorter than the X-axis to eliminate overhang entirely :confused:

Chris..

it has been a while since i "checked in" here... and your machine looks stunning.. though the design still looks somewhat familiar :)

can you believe i still have to paint my machine?.. you already got that covered.. :)

I would have thought that for this design, you want the table to be shorter than the X-axis to eliminate overhang entirely :confused:

I just thought it would look nicer with a bigger table. A bigger table gives ya more support for long work pieces and gives ya a spot to put stuff down. Theres another member Jester who is building a mill very similar in design and he made a wonderful 28x6 table, bigger just looks nice. Just like the IH mills compared to a Zay45, the bigger table just plain nice......

Thanks Arie.

Oh and painting the machine is the easy part though!

chris.

Looks awesome man. Great job :)

-Jason

What did you finally do about stress relieving the parts? Esp. the base. Was it another BBQ job and did that work?

Thx.

Chris.

Hey sorry its been awhile since I have updated this thread...no heat in the garage and its a little to cold to go out and work for me.

as for stress relieving the parts I did not stress relieve the parts at all only the column and it seems to have worked pretty well it all seems to have stayed pretty square. I was not worried about stress relieving the base as it is a fairly large cross section of material with minimal machining really. I will see how well it held shape when I get it together I guess and let you guys know. As for now though I was able to get my rails indicated to within .0002" over the entire length of the Y-axis rails so I think the base has stayed fairly true.

chris.

Do you mind asking what size of linear slides and bearings you used on you homemade bench top mill and also the size of lead screw on the column before you went with the motors? Thanks in advance

the linear slides are 15mm for the z axis and 20 mm for the x and y I think. as for the leadscrew it has always been a 5/8" rolled ballscrew on the Z axis and is now the same on the x and y

chris.

So I finally got heat in my shop and got a chance to go out and get some more work done, I started machining my X axis ballscrew and have got some pictures and everything.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z150/snowshovelbmx/01-23-08002.jpg

Here is the new heater installed, I bought it new off of ebay 45,000 BTU natural gas $500 shipped to canada it works really well, heats the little shop up in no time.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z150/snowshovelbmx/01-23-08010.jpg

Here is the ballscrew in my four jaw chuck being dialed in, I got it down to less than half a thou T.I.R. which is plenty for a rolled screw like this.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z150/snowshovelbmx/01-23-08011.jpg

Here is the screw being roughed down with an indexable carbide turning tool, a sharp radius insert was used to keep cutting pressure down, I could not use the live center at the end of the screw because it is too big to get the tool in as well.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z150/snowshovelbmx/01-23-08028.jpg

Here is the screw with the thread major diameter and .300" journal finish turned I just need to thread the screw and finish my bearing diameter.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z150/snowshovelbmx/01-23-08023.jpg

But, before I could do that the main belt in my headstock broke, to replace it I need to take the spindle out of the headstock and put the new belt on, I think I might do that today though.

chris.

don't you hate it when that happens?..

well.. nutt'n a handyman can't fix.. and your mill is a fine example of "handyman's work"..