X2, head dissection & extention

[nateman_doo]

I am looking into making my own custom mill, and I have next to no experience. I am pretty handy, but I am learning along the way.

I ran across Hoss's X2 Freak, and I was curious how the head of the X2 was taken apart like this:





My desired outcome would be to extend the reach of the mill for my custom vise that I am constructing. The extension would be like this articulating head (but without the articulation obviously):




To me, it looks like you have to slide the head UP the Z column, and if you look in the back of the head, there are bolts there? I won't know until I actually try to take it apart, and I am a bit hesitant to start, because once I do it, then I am committed to see it through the end, and I haven't designed a 'spacer' to extend it.

[Starleper1]

You are correct on the disassemble process. Very simple and straight forward.

While your in there remove the intermediate shaft and gears. Then head over here and pickup a belt drive if you don't have one yet.

[nateman_doo]

A belt drive is something I will defiantly do, since I am not a fan of plastic gears. How do you initially pull the head off the Z column?

[Starleper1]

Loosen the gib adjustment screws and locking handle then use the handle that you normal use to lower the head to crank it up and off the top of the column. Once you get past the rack you will have to slide the head off by hand.

~Scott

[nateman_doo]

Wow, that sounds too easy in fact. I feel like something stops it from just simply cranking up off the column. I am not sitting in front of the mill at the moment.

I guess the easiest thing to do as far as an extension, would be to get longer screws of the same pitch obviously, and find an aluminum block the same overall size as hoss's articulating mount(perhaps 6" long?), then drill 4 holes in it and just slide the bolts through it.

What is the thread pitch of the Mill head?

[port_huon]

Head over here and all will be explained.

[Starleper1]

tumutbound Head over here and all will be explained.

You can't get much better step by step then that.

What is the thread pitch of the Mill head?

The original bolt size is M8x1.25 x 25mm long.


~Scott

[nateman_doo]

Head over here and all will be explained.

Thanks!

The original bolt size is M8x1.25 x 25mm long.

~Scott

Thanks for the info! Question though, are you sure its 25mm long?

I took this picture last night, and that screw would have to be at least 3" long. 25mm is just under 1".

[hoss2006]

[QUOTE=nateman_doo;836338

I took this picture last night, and that screw would have to be at least 3" long. 25mm is just under 1".[/QUOTE]

They are long screws, you can see them to the right of the first pic you posted.
You can get up to 7.875 (200mm) long M8 x 1.25 screws at McMaster.
McMaster-Carr
You can find more head spacer ideas here.
The X2 head spacer design thread
Hoss

[nateman_doo]

With about 7" from collet to Z column on the X2, I was trying to figure out the thickness of the spacer that I would require to get maximum use of the table that i am building.

The 2 right triangles are sitting at the ends of the tables full traverse. It has about 8 inches in total. I kind of "guessed" a 4" extension would do the trick.



The table is centered in the picture, so I figured a 4" would give enough stand-off from the Z column for a bit to be able to get the full length of a Y traverse.

[hoss2006]

You'll only need a couple inches of spacer to get your travels and center the spindle
fairly well on the table.
Hoss

[TXFred]

With about 7" from collet to Z column on the X2, I was trying to figure out the thickness of the spacer that I would require to get maximum use of the table that i am building.

That's easy to figure out. Move the table to the exact center of your Y travel.

Now measure the distance along the Y axis from the centerline of the spindle to the center of the mill's table.

That's your ideal spacer thickness.

Fred