Yesterday I ordered and received a set of the Fignoggle plans for conversion of and X2 to CNC.

I have been going back and forth over the question of keeping my X2 as it is (with DRO installed) and buying a small CNC machine (likely Taig) for the application that I have in mind or converting the X2.

I have a lot invested in tooling for the X2 but was (a) unwilling to lose the manual mode and (b) need more spindle speed for small cutters.

The Fignoggle design which retains manual operation and the availability of a HS spindle attachment from LMS seemed worth investigation.

I have gone over the plans several times and all of the operations, except for machining the end of the ball screw for the Z axis are well within my current abilities and tools (my lathe is too small for the ball screw operation) but I assume that I can farm that out.

A couple of observations and questions - all related to the Z axis -

The conversion mounts the Z axis ball nut at the top of the column and drives the screw via a stepper attached to the spindle head so that, in the fully raised position, there is a length of unsupported ball screw sticking up in the air above the mill.

The stepper motor, bracket, drive and ball screw fixing are all attached to the head, adding to the already not insignificant weight and the spring counterbalance has been removed - problem?

I use the X2 as a drill press for small drills - # 60 and sometimes smaller - it is hardly a "sensitive" drill press but with experience and a light touch, I find it works well and the use of the XY positioning to line up the drill with a mark is useful. Obviously, the need to drive the ball screw and motor will add to the load and reduce the sensitivity - but how much?

Any comments or observations will be very welcome.

EM

Surely you do the drilling using the quill so the head issues don't come into the equation.

Also I still struggle to understand why anybody would want to maintain manual control once it's CNCed with ballscrews. For example manually positioning for coordinate drilling especially is a piece of cake, you don't even need to markout the workpiece. Type in the numbers, hit return and it goes to the next drilling position.

Regards
Phil



I use the X2 as a drill press for small drills - # 60 and sometimes smaller - it is hardly a "sensitive" drill press but with experience and a light touch, I find it works well and the use of the XY positioning to line up the drill with a mark is useful. Obviously, the need to drive the ball screw and motor will add to the load and reduce the sensitivity - but how much?

Any comments or observations will be very welcome.

EM

Surely you do the drilling using the quill so the head issues don't come into the equation.

Also I still struggle to understand why anybody would want to maintain manual control once it's CNCed with ballscrews. For example manually positioning for coordinate drilling especially is a piece of cake, you don't even need to markout the workpiece. Type in the numbers, hit return and it goes to the next drilling position.

Regards
Phil

Thanks - here's the issue:

The X2 does not have a seperate quill - the whole head is moved with the "quill" handle acting on a rack on the column

I often drill holes in small and irregular parts that have been marked by a transfer punch from other pieces. In addition, some milling operations are done "by eye" without going through a set-up and edge or zero finding process. I often work without layouts by using a sketch, edge finding a corner and "cranking by the numbers with the DRO.

Regards

EM

I have a USB joy pad connected to my PC which I use for jogging manually - I bought double-shaft steppers with the intention to refit the handles to my mill once CNC'ed but I never fitted the handles. I really can't imagine why I'd want to hand crank anything!

As to drilling manually marked holes - that's easy - I use a laser edge finder anyway - I'd just park the laser spot over the punch mark, swap to a drill bit and then drill away - either by jogging on the joy-pad or more likely by typing in a simple bit of gcode - e.g. G1 Z-10 F20 - drill to Z -10mm at a rate of 20mm/min.

I can see that if I had DRO's I might be more tempted to do manual stuff, but once you crank the handles, the computer would lose its idea of where the mill actually is, and the joypad is way, way easier.

I really like the fact that the X2 lacks a quill -it's just one more place to lose rigidity and is only really useful for manual stuff anyway...

Look at the Z from cncbridges.com, may take a while to get one, but it looks like a good solution. (I'm buying a new column with mine, so won't be able to comment on the seperate z)

I have cnc'd my mini mill using these plans, and have nothing but good to say about it. I drill holes manually all the time also, and it works great. The only thing I can say negative about cncing a mini mill is the small work envelope, so I am going to bite the bullet and order the table from cncbridges.com.

Walt