Lathemaster Square Column Mill ?

[cncJerry]

I am using the 500 line encoders that Dan sells that give 2000 pulses in quadrature. They are way to fine. I should have used 150's. The resolution depends on the leadscrew and step down gearing. I can easily get .0005 moves with my setup. My maximum rapid rate is only 67.5 IPM but it will double when I convert to ballscrews. The 67.5 is really fast enough for this size mill. If you go faster you have to adjust the acceleration which just slows things back down for short moves.

I would stay away from the pulse multipliers on the G340's. I also have been reading about all the problems with the G100 and mach3. It just adds another layer of complexity and I don't know if mach3 does a good job of keeping track of all the extra calcs related to the pulse ratio. I have a lot of trouble with Mach3's backlash compensation as it is without having to worry about something other than 1:1 for pulses.

I don't know if resolution below your backlash is worth anything in the real world of one-off CNC. If you run a program more than once, then yes, you can factor everything in. I have found that ramping approach and retract coupled with careful attention to climb vs conventional millling and feedrate has more impact on final dimensions and finish for one-off parts. I use the machines for prototype work and need them to run the code the first time right out of the CAM postprocessor.

[keffer]

Thanks for all the information about your mill. I just went down to Wholesale Tool yesterday a bought their ZAY7045M. I am building a Mosquito helicopter kit and needed to build a few parts for that so it seemed like a good excuse to finally get a mill.