The doors went onto the bench today. I have to fill a few nail holes because the whole bench was made from recycled materials except the 1 1/8 plywood I had to buy for the top. After I get back from the doctor today, I will sand the entire thing and put on the first coat of finish. I had intended on staining it, but on further thinking I decided I like everything to reflect light in my shop. I suppose the ideal would be to paint everything a nice cream color, or light beige, but to cover up the grain of the wood and the walnut accents would be a pity, so I guess I will just rub it down with some boiled linseed oil and call it good. I will post some pics either later today or early next week.
Sorcherer: I have been examining the pictures of the Z axis motor mount from CNCBridges and it looks like it will be pretty much impossible to bolt on a steel strip on the sides of the column for stiffness. I will find a way to attach the top of the column to the wall however. On the wall I intend to mount a piece of 1/2 inch steel plate and weld reinforcements top and bottom which will attach to the top and bottom of the column. This should be enough for machining the relatively soft cherry wood and brass I intend to machine as well as the occasional aluminum bracket.
The idea of filling the column with epoxy/sand and or epoxy/granite chips/sand is something I fully intend to do. I think a couple of pieces of rebar wouldn't hurt either. I have never used epoxy/aggregate mix before but the guys on the forums certainly believe in it and your report indicates that it works. Harlow makes whole machine bases out of it so it has to be a good technique.
yes,on harlows side mount z axis theres no room,but even on just one side it helps,i like your wall mount idea,on my minimill i had ball screws and the z axis had room for a plate on both sides,removing the swivel and replace it with an angle plate doweled to the column might be better also
steve
I don't know why some keep beating up on the Z. It isn't a problem. A new mount would be nice. Maybe fill it with Re-Bar and P/C. That's all it needs. Does fine like it is.
Attached is a pic of the new Z mount and the new backlash nut. Z is 11" now instead of 9". Also X is now 29 1/2" intead of 26". I will try an increase on Y later.
Geez DeWayne, nobody was picking on your Z. Just made an observation. Don't be so insecure. I actually think yours is the best design I have seen. I am going to tie it to the wall though.
After looking at the outstanding pics Harlow just posted, we can just bolt right to the top of the Z axis motor mount. This is SUCH a better design than what I had before which was from another manufacturer. Harlow has done an outstanding design effort here.
Barry Young
Young Camera Company
Last edited by Barry Young; 04-12-2007 at 08:32 PM.
Barry – I wasn’t defending my Z motion. I was defending the Mini Mill Z Column. Some talk about it like it’s a real problem. It’s not. It’s very strong. Those continuous statements make people that don’t own a Mini Mill think the column is a problem and it is not. The mount is the weakness. If you want to beef of the column think about the column mount and not the column itself.
I have been squaring the ends and drilling holes on a lot of ¼” steel plate and it has handled that just fine. Have done some steel surfacing just to see. Not a problem. Just need lighter cuts.
If you tie it to a wall when the wall expands and contracts from both temperature and humidity it will affect your column alignments. An 8’ wall can easily move 1/8”. Plus your bench will expand and contract.
Excellent point, please let us know if you come up with a better mount. I see your point. The column has a tiny little footprint with not enough room between the attach bolts especially front to back.
Barry – I have the design. If my body could keep up with my head I’d be in good shape right now. It’s beyond me why anyone would design a support for a long upright object that’s being subjected to continuous 3 axis stresses and put all 3 mounting bolts pretty much in line with each other. But then I can’t see 4” of Y making much since either. The X2 is such a nice machine from right above the column mount up.
Bearingman – Again. The body / head thing. Know what to do. Have the materials. Haven’t done it yet. I’ve already worked out all the design and techniques needed while re-developing the base. The most important design criteria for the new column are 12”+ of Y travel, at least 16” of Z & rigidity. This requires catching the X2 head right at the motor and beefing up from there so it isn’t just the column but also the assembly to attach the head to the column.
Harlow, Thanks for the update, just like everyone else, I'm getting itchy! That brings to mind the old saying GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT. With this I think the longer the wait the better the product, so I'll just keep on waiting and cheering you on.
I was just thinking, if there is no electrical connection between the base and column, a simple battery/led circuit with a piece of shim stock for a contact would sure make it easy to set Z. just connect one side to the head and put the shim on the part. Bring the tool down till the light comes on and set z to zero with the shim thickness offset. One minute z?
bearingman,
good idea,but i already pick up with .001 shim my feel,but would be nice if you could rig it up to a touch pad off to one side of the table to pick up all tools from there
Sorcheror,
what you want would be even easier, just apply one side to the head and one side to the table. jog till the light comes on and zero z. then all g-code z refs are +.
Alex- The increase in X was to make adjusting the X backlash nut easier. If I hadn’t done that it would have been a real pain. Now all you have to do is run X full left and your X backlash is right there to check or adjust.
Dropride – No real updates. Ahead on some parts, behind on others and in the middle of some. I like how production has come together. I don’t like how long it has taken. Everything is becoming a no-brainer now. That’s good. That means it’s just a matter of work and setup and not constant testing and evaluating. I have 3-4 hundred hours on mine now. No problems. Haven’t seen anything that I wish I had done differently. That’s also good because if I had I probably would have changed it and lost more time.
This whole deal is coming together. I remember an email I got from a client a few weeks ago. He stated something like “ I hope you can see the light at the end of the tunnel”. My reply was “ If I couldn’t see the light. I would change directions.” That pretty much sums up the last several months. A lot of changing directions. Sometimes for performance, sometimes for efficiency, sometimes for maintenance. I took four directions with the backlash nut alone. The final works great. That’s the one on the Z pic above.
Milling time is slow right now so it is taking a while to get ahead on the aluminum. Took me several weeks to get the feel for aluminum. Stainless I know like I know wood, concrete and epoxy but I haven’t done much with aluminum. It really is sticky. Once that first chip sticks inside the bit your screwed. Finally got it where it will run continuously for really long periods on the same bit. Flood cooling would help a lot but to do it right will take me a while so it gets put off.
I have the workstation nailed. Will be a complete, everything required mill station in a 3’ deep by 6’-8’ wide area. 6’ feet is enough but having extra room on each side for parts and tooling is nice.
harlow
constant coolant flood is key with aluminum to keep it from sticking,if you cant try wd-40,or solvent and brush it on,but you have to stand there,kinda sucks,flood is much better,or if you have a mister with wd40 or solvent would work
I’m finishing up the flood coolant table I’m building to fit the X2 upgrade table and Z-axis I ordered. Does this sound reasonable? 36” wide by 65” long coolant table with 3/8” carriage bolts extending 2” above table to secure base (I’m not sure what the length of the bolts should be off the table). The bolt hole pattern is 19” X by 15” Y, correct? A diagram of the base would be kick-ass, if anyone has one. Here's a pic of the stand/coolant table idea I had. It is totally a non-scienfic/non-engineered design and not meant to be taken as anything other than an idea. Comments and ideas very welcome.
I bought a plastic tray a while back (these you can get in most hardware stores and supermarket) for the purpose of keeping stuff in the boot of my car from trashing all over the place. It measure around 3.5' by 2.5' and 2" deep. I guess this could be use as a table for collecting the coolant. Anyone tried this?
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