Hi would like to know your thoughts on what Driver board & Stepper motors,Software your using on a X2 Mini mill,like Harbor Freight Tools ect.
And Anyone know about HobbyCNC Pro 4 Axis Driver boards used on this type of Mini Mill? I tried to ask qestions in HobbyCNC FORM site. Not to much responce.
What I want to do with my CNC Mini Mill is mill 4130 & 4140 Steel.
Plastic,Alum,Brass.
Im not in a rush to mill a part. So taking it slow to mill the part is no problem.
ADVICE?
Thank You!

Hi,

I don't yet have CNC on my X2, but have been looking into it for a while.

The Xylotex is a great product. It has tons of support in the forums. That said, it's a circuit board which is prone to electrical shock, etc. It doesn't have any sort of native protection from surges. You could probably rig up a fuse for that. You could also, for a little more moolah, go out and buy keling drivers, which do have fault protection.

Hi dang
Thanks for the information. I did not know that about the Xylotex board.
Have you used your X2 yet on steel? The Hobbycnc board has built in protection. And has more amps to each stepper. Than the Xylotex.
Anyone else care to join in feel free.

I have a hobbycnc board seems to be ok. I have run the steppers just to make sure everything works dont have the X2 cnc'ed yet. As far as I know on it the protection is that they sell replacement chips and other items for when they burn out. If mine doesent run as well as I hope then I am going to get Keling or maybe even Gecko drives. Cost is a little more but if something happens then you only have to replace 1 driver and not the whole thing. They also have lots of built in protection. Just my 2 pennys though.

Thanks for the two pennys maxbostbusa.
Hey let us know how it works out for you when you get that set up on your mill?

I'm using Geckos for my mill along with a 36V power supply, and 500oz-in steppers. I'm running the mill with TurboCNC, and right now I'm switching out the old controller box with a new one which will house 6 Geckos, 2 breakout boards, 2 double relay boards, speed controller, and the controlls for the automatic tool changer. When it's done, I will be able to control everything on the mill. I have also spent a fortune on connectors, cables and all sorts of electrical parts just to make it perfect. I have never milled steel, but I have been working a lot with aluminum. After I had it cleaned down and scraped the ways, I was able to take some pretty serious cuts. I might just test it on some steel and stainless steel some day just to see what it can do.

I have also made my own tool holders for it, that are to be used with the automatic tool changer (which is on the to-do list). They are pretty much the same as the ones Hoss have made and the Tormach tooling system. I made mine out of steel, and I have about 30 tool holders with different inserts so that I can set up a library of tools which can stay the same all the time (except when they are worn out).

It can do 80IPM rapids (maybe more, but thats the limit of TCNC), and it accelerated up to this speed in less then 0.05s. I have converted the spindle to belt drive, and I got to say that it's way more quiet then the gears. This was the first thing I did to the mill, and because I live in an appartment, I would have to say that this is money well spent.

One other thing I replaced on the mill was the leadscrews and the Z axis pinion rack and gear. Now I have ballscrews on all axis, and I got to say that they make a lot of difference when it comes to accuracy. You can find several conversions for this mill on the net which include ball screws. I would also go with the NEMA23 size motors as they can accelerate faster, and they are strong enough for this type of mill. You might also have to remove some material on the sadle or base of the mill to fit the ballscrews, but it's not that hard. I had to remove a big bit of the sadle to fit the nut for the X axis in there.

Good luck with your mill, and if you try it on steel, tell us how it goes.

PS. I might just get the Xylotex board for christmas for my PCB router. I know I will be getting a high speed spindle from my girlfriend. If I get the board, I will tell you if its good or bad. As far as I know, it should be quite good. Hoss has toasted a couple I think, so he might have something to say about it.

Hi The Blight
Sound like you have a SUPER system there.
I have to agree on swapping out the gears for a qiet belt system.
Thats the first mod im doing on mine.
As for Geckos I have heard nothing but good things about them.
A little high in price for me.
I sure will share my info on the mod X2 mill im building when I start using it on steel parts.

Check out the Keling drivers they are almost clones of the Gecko drivers but cheaper. The Blight are you running a X2 with 500oz. steppers?? If you dont mind me asking what was your reasoning for going so large? 305's from all the info I gathered is overkill on a mill of this size.

Because they don't cost that much more then the smaller steppers, and because I have tightened down the gibs quite hard to remove slop. Other then that, I thought it was good to go with the bigger motors. I like overkill better then something that doesnt work.

I just finished converting my X2 to a belt drive. It's so much quieter! I've burned out two PLASTIC intermediate gears so far. The new drive system means that the little plastic gears cartel won't be able to hold me hostage anymore! I really love my belt drive. I'm able to listen to my Ipod while I machine now.
I have used my X2 on steel, alot actually, and manually as well. I'm not CNC'd yet. My best advice in this department is to take your time. Turn the spindle really slowly on steel. Take light, shallow cuts. If at all possible, remove most of the material on your list by drilling it out, mill the remainder out and do the cleanup later. Have many, many spare fuses on hand. And last but certainly not least, use flood coolant. You wouldn't believe how much easier milling or drilling or otherwise cutting out ANY metallic material is with flood coolant.

Thanks Dang for the good info. Should help many viewing this form.

Oldboy,

This is totally OT, but is your screen name taken from the title of that awesome Japanese movie?

No dang
Im just an oldboy but my children make me feel young at heart.
And I have used this screen name on other form sites way befor that movie came out.

Well,

It's a fine film, and a fine username. Good luck with your X2.

Yes I agree its a very nice Film.