Finally, I have a CNC mill ! pics

[SScnc]

Well, after years of wanting a mill I now finally not only have a mill, it's CNC !

I had planned to do the mounts myself to save some money but after reading Hoss's cost breakdown btwn DIY and kits,(Thanks Hoss) I decided to order a kit from CNC Fusion.

The PC case I put the PS's and drivers in was only $18.00 new. I added a circuit board with a PIC I programmed so I could use the front power button on the PC case to turn all power on and off. I need to do little cable management still though.

I did my first CNC'ing today with the circular bolt pattern wizard in Mach3. I still have allot to learn !

It's having a very hard time on raising the Z, it gets about 2/3 of the way up and starts missing steps, making bad grinding noises and stops. I did take the Z part of the kit off and adjust the gibs a couple of times (what a major hassle, my only real complaint with the kit) and when the mill head operates smoothly there's too much play. And when the gibs are adjusted properly, that's when the motor stalls.

Do I need to add a counter weight to the Z ? Or is there another solution ?

The joystick in the pics was just for testing it out, I'm going to be making a pendant with the guts of it, (Thanks again Hoss).

I recently moved so my shop isn't all set up but it's getting there slowly. Anyway, here's a few pics. I just got it working today.

[SScnc]

Here's a few more pics...

Warning, I have many questions to ask yet !!!

[Regnar]

You mill looks really clean, have you put any lube on the ways yet? If not I would start there. I have the same set up and Im not having any problems with no counter weight. Your about to have alot of fun with this little mill. I was taking .05 cuts today at 36 ipm with a 5/8 endmill. I am learing myself and it was kinda scary watching the little mill go through it. Next step is get a enclosure for it you will be making a huge mess!

[SScnc]

It's clean now but it wasn't. I of course cleaned it after taking it out of the crate a few weeks ago then did some manual milling with it and I usually clean it up a bit after each use, as I have done with my lathe for a long time too.

But before installing the CNC Fusion kit I completely disassembled it and thoroughly cleaned it. I did then lube all the ways quite a good bit. Then before starting to run the steppers I put some more oil on the dovetails. You can't see it but it is dripping oil.

Yeah, your right about the mess and needing an enclosure, I've been going over possible enclosure setups. But before I start that I need to understand running it with Mach3 better first. And of course, get the Z axis working good.

It has already been fun just watching the first drill wizard run. But then I must have changed something because even though I have set Z to zero just at touching the stock, when I run it now, the drill bit goes up and stays above the stock just drilling and pecking the air ??? I guess I better go do some more reading.

[alexccmeister]

Hi SScnc,

Nice cnc mill. I am about to have the same cnc mill. I just ordered kit #4 from cncfusion. Can you tell me how long right after your order did you get the kit?

Alex

[SScnc]

Hey Alex,

Thanks. It took exactly 2 weeks from order to shipping, then only 2 days to arrive. But I'm in Florida and they are in Texas so I have no idea how long it will take to get to your location.

[praetor]

That is a nice build, specially the PC case. How did you get the joystick to control the mill ways?

[alexccmeister]

Great, thanks. Probably will take about a month than for my kit to get to where I am. Can't wait for it.

[SScnc]

That is a nice build, specially the PC case. How did you get the joystick to control the mill ways?

I learned about the joystick from reading Hoss's posts and at his website using keygrabber and enabling the joystick.

Thanks

[sansbury]

What size motors do you have and what sort of driver are you using?

[SScnc]

I have this setup:

http://www.kelinginc.net/ThreeXCNCPackage2.html

I have the 36 volt PS

[sansbury]

Those should work--plenty of people have driven these with 270s.

The first thing I'd try is putting a handwheel on the Z and try raising it manually with the power off, and see if it gets a lot harder to move at some point. This would indicate that there is a mechanical binding issue which would most likely be due to slight misalignment of the screw. Are you using a standard ballnut on the Z or is it an overloaded one? The overloaded ones are a bit more sensitive to alignment.

If there is no change in the torque needed to raise the head, then I would also try swapping the motor/driver with one from the X or Y. If this works then either the motor or driver are at issue. I don't think this is likely since the Z works for most of its travel but I try to not assume too much!