Any DIY metal mills being built

[marx911]

Hi my name is Mark and I'm new to your site and was wondering anyone is sctatch building any metal mills? I looked and didn't see any threads on the subject but I could have overlooked it. I have 2 options either retro fit my Bridgport clone or scratch build a mill. I would like to build one with 30"x18"x6" work zones. I build custom Harleys for fun and would love to be able to make some of the more complex parts myself. I am a CNC machine tool tech by trade. If I missed the thread sorry.

THanks in advance
Mark

[ESjaavik]

I retrofitted my mill, about same size as a BP. There is one problem with that: You need a mill to do much of the work. If you have access to another, then that would take care of the problem. If not, make a good work plan.

The size is a bit big for using steppers. I did, and I'm not quite satisfied. I may convert again to servos. The 10Nm steppers have enough torque, but not enough speed. Especially on the knee that had to be geared down quite a bit.

If starting out again, I would still do the conversion before the scratch build, as the heavy iron lump places less restrictions on the kind of work it can do, and the cutters I can use.

[marx911]

speed is not an issue as I dont plan to make parts for sale so I don't mind is it takes a while to get the job done as long as it gets there... I'm just not sure the BP is up to the task my machine is fairly new being a '97 model with low hrs so its tight but converting to ball screws could get expensive and is why I was looking at sctatch built as I could build around the parts I can find....

Thank you for the reply

I like this design alot

http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/showp.../cat/500/page/

[HuFlungDung]

Mark,

I would seriously look around for an older cnc mill, even if the control is shot, or missing. There is just too much good value sitting there in the old iron and ballscrews. There is no way you could build it from scratch for what you can buy an old machine for. You still get the pleasure of resurrecting it

[marx911]

Good point... just seems the comercial machines out there,in the size range I hope for are a little to large for the house.. I will keep looking

Mark

[Ferenczyg]

Swede, the owner of www.5bears.com post frequently at this forum and has build his own mill (not big in size, but really nice) and posted a lot of really useful info at his site. I really envy him for that work, that shop, that...
Well, take a look under 'cnc mill' in the top menu of www.5bears.com and enjoy the worklog.

Hope it helps

/Fer

[RotarySMP]

The Swede has documented his scratch built CNC Mill at
www.5bears.com

[marx911]

Originally Posted by HuFlungDung Mark, I would seriously look around for an older cnc mill, even if the control is shot, or missing. There is just too much good value sitting there in the old iron and ballscrews. There is no way you could build it from scratch for what you can buy an old machine for. You still get the pleasure of resurrecting it

well I took your advice and bought a machine a Deckel/ Maho 600E CNC heres a similar pic not the actual machine but same model
http://uen.hsix.com/machpict/002015/5198.jpg

supposed to pick it up monday I'll keep you informed as to the progress of it as I'm sure it will require a lot of TLC

Thanks
Mark

[nervis1]

Yea! Now you are talkin. That looks like you could do some work, should be fun to get it up and running. Be sure and post up some pics and let us follow your progress as you get it up and running. Congrats.

[RotarySMP]

These come up on Ebay germany all the time. Please keep us informewd of your experiences with it.

[Johnuk]

Deckel Maho is now producing some seriously competitive machines.

A lot of them are powered by linear motors, meaning that they're fearsomely accurate and super quick - >70m/m (2,700I/m) quick.

I love Swede's site!

I've spent hours reading the pages on there. I've been wondering who it was who made it until now!

[HuFlungDung]

Yes, Mark, that looks good. Is it's control functional? Was it cheap?