Newbie with questions

[wafarmer]

Hello been watching for a while.
I have very little experience with lathes or mills (I am a retired farmer in Western Australia)
I have a Yunan Tool Co CY1760 lathe (spelling) and a brand new Hafco HM52G geared head mill.
The questions are: with a 3 axis dro on the mill would you put the Z axis on the quill or the knee?
Would a 3 axis dro be usefull on the lathe compared to a 2 axis and why?

I have used the lathe to repair farm machinery and make parts and hyd rams am only self taught.

I am looking for the answers before buying the dro's on ebay from Singapore

Thanks for this forum the people on here are great

wafarmer

[Karl_T]

I'm a farmer also, here in the states we don't retire though (Grin). Self taught machinist - its the best way. You learn a lot more making your own mistakes. I'd suggest you get a couple how to books with pictures. "Machine Tool Practices" is one I have, many others.

I'd put the Z axis on the quill, its the one you'll use. I just have a two axis DRO on my mill and an el-cheapo digital scale made just for the quill. No need for three axis on a lathe

I use a big welder and very big sledge hammer to repair my farm machinery.

Good luck with your new endeavor.

Karl

[wafarmer]

Hi Karl_T

Thanks for the reply I to have some good books very handy for the novice.

Why I asked about where to put the z axis it looks like it will be a tricky job to attatch it to the quill but if thats where it should go it will have to.

Is there no use for the third axis on a lathe?

Didn't want to retire PD did it for me but there is some compensation I moved 900km's the coast so plenty of fishing to be done

Yep plenty of hammer and welder work on the farm

Cheer's

wafarmer

[ViperTX]

Well do you use the quill or the knee to move from one machining surface to the next on the same part? Answering that will tell you where to put the DRO on the z-axis.

[Karl_T]

Hi Karl_T
Why I asked about where to put the z axis it looks like it will be a tricky job to attatch it to the quill but if thats where it should go it will have to.
wafarmer

That's the other reason I jsut went with a quill readout. Here's a pic of one in the lower right of this page. You can get another brand for $70US
http://tinyurl.com/w3qut

Maybe it would be nice to do this AND have a DRO on the knee. Solve your install problem.

Hi Karl_T
Is there no use for the third axis on a lathe?

Didn't want to retire PD did it for me but there is some compensation I moved 900km's the coast so plenty of fishing to be done

Yep plenty of hammer and welder work on the farm
wafarmer

I suppose you could put a thrd axis on the compound. It would be hard to install there.

I'm leaving for the Florida Keys to go fishing next week, 2000 miles or 4000km. Winter on the top 1/2 of the globe

Karl

[wafarmer]

ViperTX
Thank you for the reply

I have not used the mill yet or any mill for that matter just moved and finishing new workshop and have been waiting for 3ph power to play with it.
I am going to buy a DRO and was trying to find out how to go about how to fit it up so I could get the right size scales for each axis
After my first visit to this site I can see I wont be happy until it's cnc controlled

Karl_T
The distances we will go to fish, hope they bite well, good luck and thanks for the advice.

wafarmer

[sluggo]

I would mount it on the knee. You don't want to mill with the quill down if possible. You want to keep everything as short as possible when machining, just a rule of thumb. With the quill down you might tned to get some vibration. I would mount it on the knee, then use the knee to adjust depth when milling. If you are drilling and you need to hold a depth set a stop on your quill short of the depth you need, measure the depth, then bring your knee up the rest of the way. Then you can drill more holes at the correct depth.

[wafarmer]

Thanks sluggo

Thats a different slant on it and I suppose I can always add a digital read to the quill if needed.
I think if I become confident enough I will try to change it to cnc but thats a way off yet

Cheer's

wafarmer

[chich2]

Yea I'm with sluggo. I would definately put it on the knee. I have a Hafco HM52. It's the same mill except it's belt driven and only single phase. The tolerance on the fit where the quill goes into the head on the hafco is nothing short of terrible. I leave my quill locked and do all my milling by raising and lowering the knee. I only drill small holes with the quill. I rebuilt some hydraulic cylinder clevises not long ago using a boring head and a MIG welder. I used the fine feed on the quill to bore down through the re-welded clevis an ended up with a realy tapered hole. The reason for this is because even though I had the quill clamp quite firm, the tool kept pushing away from the bore of the hole being machined. The further out the quill went the more the deflection and therfore the smaller the hole. I then returned the quill all the way up, locked the quill clamp tight and rased the knee to take the next cut and it was perfectly parallel.

Leeroy on my cnc conversion thread actually made himself a new quill to tighten everything up. You can see it here. I think his post is on page 3. Hafco Metal Master HM-52 CNC Conversion

If you want a cheap $99 DRO to put on your quill go to http://www.hareandforbes.com.au/sample_2/home.php They have the positron digital scales. They also have a vertical scale about halfway down the page. There is a branch in Perth that should be able to help you out.

Have fun
Chich

[wafarmer]

Thanks chich2
I think you are right about putting the dro on the knee instead of the quill as it is pretty wobbly.
In the future when I get some confidence I will do what leroy has done.
What a great site

Cheer's

wafarmer

[RICHARD ZASTROW]

wafarmer, Keep the quill up as much as possibile and lock it when milling. Karl has excellent fishing in the area where he lives, he just doesn,t appreciate the joys of ice fishing and freezing one's ass.

[chich2]

wafarmer,
I have just added another post to my thread regarding the knee adjustment. http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showth...532#post232532

Chich