I just bought a micro mill from harbor freight last week. I am now ready to start converting it to CNC. I am a mechanical engineer so I'm not worried too much about the mechanical issues. However, I only know enough about steppers, drives, cnc software to be dangerous.

Does anyone have any suggestions on driver boards, software, etc??? I am wanting to be able to convert models from SolidWorks into finished parts.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Jeff

Yes, 1st get the extended X & Y kit from LMS.

It will give you more accuracy with better (longer) gib support when out at travel limits.

Pres

Hi there,

As Pres suggested, get the extended x and y axis kits. They help a lot. I believe they are available from Little Machine Shop in the US.

http://www.littlemachineshop.com/

In terms of driver boards, two of the most common boards that people go with for this mill are the Xylotex and HobbyCNC boards. Both seem well suited to this kind of size. As far as I know, you'll have to assemble the HobbyCNC board from a kit, while the Xylotex is pre-assembled.

http://www.xylotex.com/

http://www.hobbycnc.com/

In terms of software to run the mill, you could go with Mach 3 which is Windows based or TurboCNC which is DOS based. There are also others (such as EMC???), but I'm not familiar with those.

http://www.machsupport.com/

http://www.dakeng.com/turbo.html

Unfortunately, I can't help with CAM software for SolidWorks.

Generally, the X1 Micro Mill makes a very good little CNC machine. It is not absolutely necessary to convert to ballscrews. The majority of CNCed Micro Mills around and about use the standard screws with good results. Don't be surprised when the plastic gears in the head break. It must have happened to just about everyone who uses these mills. A belt-drive conversion may be the answer, although the standard gears work fine to get going (and beyond, I guess).

Mechanical conversion kits are available from CNC Fusion. They use the standard leadscrews.

http://www.cncfusion.com/

I hope this helps.

Regards
Warren

Thanks for the replys!!!!

Jeff

I'm not sure I'd agree that you don't need ballscrews - my X1 makes nasty small diameter round holes, and I'm pretty sure this is backlash related.

I've also just exploded my head gears - amazingly ARC Eurotrade got me a new set in one working day, but I've yet to try and refit them - it really needs a belt drive-kit but I don't think they're available anymore.

I have the CNC Fusion kit - and I'd highly recommend it - it is beautifully made and a doddle to install if you read the instructions and follow them carefully.

As for software, I'm currently using MeshCAM which takes STL or 3D DXF and now does 4-axis stuff - www.grzsoftware.com . One word of warning though, a CNC'ed X1 is slow, especially at 3D - cutting a mere 0.5mm/0.02" deep per pass will take a long time to rough out your stock.

Best of luck and please post some pics of what you get upto.

Cheers.

Thanks digits.....I plan on posting some pics but it might be a while.

Jeff

Yes, 1st get the extended X & Y kit from LMS.

It will give you more accuracy with better (longer) gib support when out at travel limits.

Pres Pres,

Were is this on there site, I can not find it.

Thanks
Bill

Pres, Were is this on there site, I can not find it....

Try this:
http://www.littlemachineshop.com/products/product_category.php?category=1057823482

Good luck,
Pres

I've also just exploded my head gears - amazingly ARC Eurotrade got me a new set in one working day, but I've yet to try and refit them - it really needs a belt drive-kit but I don't think they're available anymore.

Cheers.

How about this one:

http://www.tj-cnc.com/

At a recent hobby show (Cabin Fever Exposition) I saw an X1 conversion by someone in (Virginia?, West Virginia?) - unfortunately, I didn't make a note of the name or address. It was neatly done with the Y-axis extended through a hole bored in the column and driven from the rear. They claimed good performance with the stock screws,

EM

How about this one:

http://www.tj-cnc.com/

At a recent hobby show (Cabin Fever Exposition) I saw an X1 conversion by someone in (Virginia?, West Virginia?) - unfortunately, I didn't make a note of the name or address. It was neatly done with the Y-axis extended through a hole bored in the column and driven from the rear. They claimed good performance with the stock screws,

EM

That is the belt-kit I had in mind - is it still available, I thought it wasn't? I am trying to cut some pulleys on my X-1 for my X-2 head - I suppose I might as well have a go at a DIY X-1 belt-drive conversion.

At the moment my gears exploded, I was busy building an extended column mount, to give me an extra inch or so of Y and 2 or 3 extra inches in Z - which should give me a spindle-table distance of >12" and a full 6" of Y-travel. I don't know how it will affect rigidity, but I'll let you all know!

Cheers.

I just stopped by a local Harbor Freight to look at the micro mill - $299 and I have this apparently good forever 20% off coupon = $240 + tax. Then I started thinking - the conventional wisdom advises replacing the X & Y movements with the LMS units - $150 - and - I don't like the fact that there is no lock on the quill and the motor is too slow for my applications - Why not buy the X & Y assemblies from LMS, add the column $30, gibs $9, spindle head $30, Z axis screw $10, locking levers, set screws, nuts etc - perhaps and additional $25 and then get one of the Proxxon high speed grinders and machine the spindle head to take a simple adapter - and then proceed with the CNC fitment? The only issue I can see at the moment is that there is no way to hold my favorite crutch, my laser edge finder.

The whole head assembly will be a lot lighter without the motor/gearbox component which should mitigate the less-than-ideal geometry of the Z axis feed screw vs head postion and all that is lost is the quill feed for drilling and the chuck capacity. (I doubt that, even in standard form, one would want to go hogging through brass or aluminum with a 1/4" end mill)

Am I missing something?

EM

I just stopped by a local Harbor Freight to look at the micro mill - $299 and I have this apparently good forever 20% off coupon = $240 + tax. Then I started thinking - the conventional wisdom advises replacing the X & Y movements with the LMS units - $150 - and - I don't like the fact that there is no lock on the quill and the motor is too slow for my applications - Why not buy the X & Y assemblies from LMS, add the column $30, gibs $9, spindle head $30, Z axis screw $10, locking levers, set screws, nuts etc - perhaps and additional $25 and then get one of the Proxxon high speed grinders and machine the spindle head to take a simple adapter - and then proceed with the CNC fitment? The only issue I can see at the moment is that there is no way to hold my favorite crutch, my laser edge finder.

The whole head assembly will be a lot lighter without the motor/gearbox component which should mitigate the less-than-ideal geometry of the Z axis feed screw vs head postion and all that is lost is the quill feed for drilling and the chuck capacity. (I doubt that, even in standard form, one would want to go hogging through brass or aluminum with a 1/4" end mill)

Am I missing something?

EM

I still can't believe what you guys in the US pay for everything - the X-1 is £280/$500 over here!

Instead of buying an X-1 and uprating everything, why don't you just buy an X-2 or X-3 - there are CNCfusion kits for those as well?

I am planning on adding a Kress high-speed spindle to my next machine - that will take 6mm and 1/4" collets, so my laser-edge finder will fit :)