X1 Micro Mill Project Log

[DieGuy]

OK so rather then hijack this thread I am going to start a new one.

My neighbor across the street deals in estates sales, either complete buyouts or liquidation sales. He has a 3 car garage and 2 large storage buildings packed full of stuff. I have bought a couple of items from him in the past to help the step-daughter get restarted in life. I was out in my garage yesterday messing around a bit with the 7X10 HF lathe when he dropped in for a quick chat.

He saw that I had a HF 7X10 running and said he had a Harbor Freight crate someplace in his garage. So I asked to see if he could find it. I walked over with him to have a look. After digging in the pile of boxes of dishes and linens for about 10 minutes he found the crate, still had the steel bands attached. The crate was marked SKU 47158 - MICRO MILL/DRILL MACHINE. I offered him $50 on the spot and he immediatley accepted. Probably should have offered less.



So the saga begins, What is the first thing I do after getting it home? Hide it from the wife of course, she just never understands tool purchases! I then took a quick look at the Harbor Freight site to see what my find has brought me. What do I do next, jump on here of course and look at the BenchTop mill forum to find out how to CNC this bugger.

OK so here are the project goals:
1. minimize the funds expended, I suspect a total build cost to be less than $500 including the mill purchase but probably not including tooling.
2. build as much of the thing as a DIY as possible
3. Look at extending the X-Y travel, weight cost vs benefit.
4. try to get a 4th axis added in the budget with the existing stuff at hand.

This will be interesting project. Friday will be the unpacking day, and will probably include a dissasembly and cleaning if it looks anything like my HF lathe did out of the crate.

I am interested in hearing any any experiences you folks have had with one of these Micro Mills.

[John S.]

They have now done a longer table for the X1.
Try Littlemachine shop in the US.
Arc Euro Trade has them here in the UK but shipping would be a pain.
Have a look at http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/ under machines for the mill and the table is listed under what's new I think.

There are some US sites offering CNC kits for the X1 I believe but I don't know thier site address's.

John S.

[Taheen]

If you want to get a long table kit in the US, I highly suggest you put your name in for backorder at LMS. On their first shipment they only recieved 15 and sold out VERY fast, they didn't even last the weekend. I was on the notify list and was one of the lucky ones to recieve the kit on the first shipment.

Since you plan on basing your cnc machine of the micromill, I highly suggest the Extended Y Kit and the Extended Table Kit from Little Machine Shop.

To compare, take a look at the stock mill:


Vs with the longer Y and X axis.



And with that, I'll stop my rambling and let you get back to the project log. I'm quite interested to see how you go about it. Please keep us updated as you go along!

[DieGuy]

Well LittleMachineShop.com has the Y axis kit and I have ordered that and some tooling for the mill. The long X axis is listed but still unavailable but I am on the notify list.

At least with the base and Y axis kit I can get the bottom half done and I do expect the x-axis stuff will be compatible with the short or long table.

Edit:
Posted this and then got notification that LMS has shipped the Y-axis kit and tooling via UPS.

[Taheen]

The Y kit does wonders for the stability of the mill, the long table is very nice but I dont' consider it as big of an improvment as the Y. And you are right, the shafts on either short or long leadscrew are exactly the same as are the mounting holes for the handle blocks.

A belt drive is a nice project to do and get it over with, the stock plastic gearing is a pain, as is the stock max spindle speed of 2000 rpm.

So did you order the extended Y, or the extended/tilting Y? I'm just curious.

[DieGuy]

Originally Posted by Taheen The Y kit does wonders for the stability of the mill, the long table is very nice but I dont' consider it as big of an improvment as the Y. And you are right, the shafts on either short or long leadscrew are exactly the same as are the mounting holes for the handle blocks. A belt drive is a nice project to do and get it over with, the stock plastic gearing is a pain, as is the stock max spindle speed of 2000 rpm. So did you order the extended Y, or the extended/tilting Y? I'm just curious.

Just the extended Y no tilt. Not real enamoured with the tilt capability.

[phantomcow2]

I got the Y extension kit, non tilting. I will tell you, this transforms the mill. No joke, there is probably double the contact of gibs for the Y axis, so much more solid. Plus it really increases the travel, more than the specs state.
I too suggest a belt drive, i went that way and go up to 8000RPM now. And nothing is going to break when under heavy load, just a slipping belt. I used the Taig step pulley kit for under 25 bucks, that includes a V belt.

The two best modifications you can make besides a belt drive are:
Buy a gas strut from McMaster Carr of 20 pounds to assist lifting the head (15-20 dollars).
Buy thrust bearings and bore out the existing bearing block so your leadscrew sits entirely on thrust bearings, or simply make a new bearing block. THis makes life much easier on your stepper motors.

And put yourself on the notify list twice!!! I put myself on several times, and got a crapload of emails all of the sudden reminding me to buy. I got the long table yesterday, its very nice.


As for my CNC conversion, i have halted all operation and doing major mechanical upgrades. CHanging all leadscrews to a higher lead ACME with backlash nuts, new bearing blocks, end supports, coolant troughs.

[phantomcow2]

By the way, you asked where to get the mt2 tooling.
Harbor Freight and LMS both carry end mill holders, for around 10 bucks. I've got an end mill holder for a 3/8 shank that works nicely and has no runout that my dial indicator could detect. Then theres the drill chuck you get, but i think the drill chuck was included with the mill.
You can get collets too, but the price difference is not huge vs r8.
Thats pretty much all you'll need for CNC. A boring head+shank wont be necessary as you can just do a circular interpolation with the cnc

[DieGuy]

Looks like the box from Little machine shop just arrived, not opened it yet but it should include mt2 collets and my Yaxis extend kit.

[phantomcow2]

How is the kit? DId you drill the gib strip yet? Make sure you drill the gib strip before you take apart the mill.
And if you can, tell us how the mt2 collets work out for you. I have a 3/8 end mill holder, it was cheap and does the job. I use collets at school for an r8, but never a mt2

[anoel]

I use collets and end milll holders in my x1 and the collets are great. I only have one endmill holder for 3/8 shanks and have 1/2", 1/4" and 1/8" collets.

[DieGuy]

On hold till tomorrow, MAMA requires the outdoor Chistmas light be put up first, then I have a small job waiting to be done on the Taig. then I can get back to the goodies,

Camera charging now. Uncrating and dissaembly pics forth coming. I am getting excited!