PM45 mill upgrades

[fusion_crank]

Got the head installed tonight. It's starting to look like a respectable mill again.


But then there's this problem...Looks like the holes I drilled for the mounting studs are off just a bit which translates to significant side to side nod in the head. Or probably more realistic the holes in the head are not aligned to the spindle bore. The original head had the ability to swivel so i'm sure they counted on that to remove this error.


Fortunately the front to back nod is much better and I think i can shim this error out pretty easy.

Check out this video. I am going to use this product to set my mill in tram.




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[hackish]

What do you think about just loosening the head, pushing on it a bit and re-tightening to see if it corrects the side nod? In your photo with the 3 giant studs sticking out, I thought the head was still tiltable?

Back on the 323 GTX subject, you'd be better off to use the 1.8l BPT engine as they are inexpensive from JDM shops, and the transmissions work just fine (with custom length CV axles). The transmissions are also considerably stronger. You need to make clearance on one of the frame rails for the alternator, but it fits reasonably well. Years ago I posted quite a few photos and descriptions of how to do the swap. Keep in mind, that was 15 years ago.

[CS900]

fusion, my column is already square so that won't help. I'm guessing the plate that adapts the rails to the head isn't perfectly flat which is causing the front to back nod.

hackish, the head is not adjustable. There is a little bit of slop just due to the clearance of the holes, but that's all the adjustment there is...and it's not nearly enough...I'll likely end up grinding the mounting holes in the head into slots so i can tilt it back into alignment.

[CS900]

A little time with the dremel and few shims later and it's looking much better:

[gearhead406]

A little time with the dremel and few shims later and it's looking much better:

Getting so close . Can't wait to see some chips and what kind of rapids it can do safely.

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[CS900]

Getting so close . Can't wait to see some chips and what kind of rapids it can do safely.

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Thanks. I was messing around with the motor tuning last night, and I'm sitting at 180IPM at an accell of 60 in/sec^2 for x and y. The motors don't even give the slightest hint they are having a hard time. The z axis on the other hand id geared down 3:1, so the stepper is spinning super fast and i can hear it bogging down around 100 IPM @ 60 in/sec^2. I may switch it over to direct drive like the x and y, but for now, I've turned it down to 80 IPM, which is plenty quick.

[j3dprints]

Did you square the head to the column before squaring the head to the base?

[CS900]

I squared the rails on the column to the table before tramming the head if that's what you mean. There is about .001" deviation over 6" in one direction, and around .002" normal to the first direction. The thinnest shim i have are .001 so it's as close as i could get without scraping the surfaces. Given that it is still a import mill when it comes down to it, i don't think that's too bad.

Also Facebook reminded me that 5 years ago today I got this mill. What a different beast it is now. And also my old 323 GTX in the background...

[CS900]

Well it's been a while since any real update, but I assure you i have not been at rest. My biggest hurdle now is getting a chip cover for the Z axis. After looking around trying to find one that I can adapt to my use, I've decided that I'm too cheap and I should try making my own. So I've been trying different combinations of materials to get the chemical resistance and structural rigidity that I desire. So fast forward thru lots of failed attempts and I think I'm headed in the right direction. I bought a 1/16" thick sheet of buna-n rubber that I'm going to use as the external surface. Great water and chemical resistance, but it's pretty floppy by itself and will never hold a bellow shape. So I went off to the hardware store trying to find something that's flexible but stiff enough to hold the rubber in place. After stumbling around for a half hour I wandered into the window section and saw it....Aluminum window screen....It's everything I needed and super cheap...So the real challenge was how the heck do you secure it to the rubber...My first attempt was contact cement, and while it worked OK, it wasn't quite the end all solution.


!st, I needed a backing material so the cement wouldn't stick to itself when folded. I tried plain old paper and some scrap fabric I had kicking around. The paper worked REALLY well while the fabric just let the cement ooze thru. The problem now was after bending it back and forth a few dozen times, the aluminum separated from the rubber.


So thinking, i remember they sell buna-n oring chord that you can glue together, so a quick google search later I found out that the glue they use is nothing more than common household super glue. That worked GREAT


So I think I've gotten the pieces together, now I just need to figure out how to fold it to get the shape I want. That said, I'm open to suggestions on better methods....

[gearhead406]

Well it's been a while since any real update, but I assure you i have not been at rest. My biggest hurdle now is getting a chip cover for the Z axis. After looking around trying to find one that I can adapt to my use, I've decided that I'm too cheap and I should try making my own. So I've been trying different combinations of materials to get the chemical resistance and structural rigidity that I desire. So fast forward thru lots of failed attempts and I think I'm headed in the right direction. I bought a 1/16" thick sheet of buna-n rubber that I'm going to use as the external surface. Great water and chemical resistance, but it's pretty floppy by itself and will never hold a bellow shape. So I went off to the hardware store trying to find something that's flexible but stiff enough to hold the rubber in place. After stumbling around for a half hour I wandered into the window section and saw it....Aluminum window screen....It's everything I needed and super cheap...So the real challenge was how the heck do you secure it to the rubber...My first attempt was contact cement, and while it worked OK, it wasn't quite the end all solution.


!st, I needed a backing material so the cement wouldn't stick to itself when folded. I tried plain old paper and some scrap fabric I had kicking around. The paper worked REALLY well while the fabric just let the cement ooze thru. The problem now was after bending it back and forth a few dozen times, the aluminum separated from the rubber.


So thinking, i remember they sell buna-n oring chord that you can glue together, so a quick google search later I found out that the glue they use is nothing more than common household super glue. That worked GREAT


So I think I've gotten the pieces together, now I just need to figure out how to fold it to get the shape I want. That said, I'm open to suggestions on better methods....

https://app.alibaba.com/dynamiclink?...areScene=buyer.



I'm not sure if this link will work but try this.

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[CS900]

I'll keep those in mind, but I've committed myself to making this work...at least for a little while, haha.

[CS900]

She's making chips! The new cover, while very ugly, is working great so far.


So here's the first part:



Total cycle time was around 15 min, but the stock is much larger than needed so there was a lot of roughing. I'm still not overly happy with the rigidity of the head. I roughed it out with a .5" 4 flute corncob rougher and ended up dialing back the settings until I got around a MRR of 1.9in^3. I realize it's a small machine, but the table and column are pretty solid. It seems like all the vibration was happening at the headstock. Probably running a smaller tool faster would yield better results as well.

Dimensionally, the part is near perfect. Everything is under .001 from nominal. The surface finish looks much better in person and was done with a 3 flute .25 high helix carbide tool at 60IPM. I'm pretty stoked to do some better testing.

I currently have the speed of the x and y axis limited to 200ipm, but i have no doubt I could go higher. Accelerations are set to around 60 in/sec^2 and even with my large welded frame shakes the whole mill of rapid direction changes. The Z axis is set to 50IPM. The drive is geared 3:1 down so it's a limitation of the stepper speed. I could go higher I'm sure but I can hear the motor start to get loaded around 80IPM.

[CL_MotoTech]

It looks very nice. Great work!

[AutomatedIngen]

The machine looks really good, I like the new cover, seems to contain the system very well. Congratulations on following through and coming to this far. Hope to see much more updates as you continue your progress on upgrading your machine.

[hackish]

They always look worse in photos. I've had great luck with one of those 3 flute roughing mills for AL. I think Niagara makes them.

[hackish]

For the way covers, I was thinking about it, and I may try using some ballistic nylon I have around for mine. I'm just not sure how well a fold will work, but the material itself is nice.

[CS900]

yeah, I've run niagra roughers before with very good results. I have a a brand new "TAS" rougher from lakeshore carbide that I'm pretty excited to try out as well, but I need to get at (very minimum) a mister set up to help clear chips away.

You may try scribing the fold lines on the nylon with the backside of a razor. should help keep things neat.

and thanks for the compliments guys. I'll have more pictures and some action videos pretty soon.

[skrubol]

I roughed it out with a .5" 4 flute corncob rougher and ended up dialing back the settings until I got around a MRR of 1.9in^3. I realize it's a small machine, but the table and column are pretty solid. It seems like all the vibration was happening at the headstock. Probably running a smaller tool faster would yield better results as well.

Any reason for using a 4-flute? Usually roughing Al with more than 3 flutes is asking for trouble. Might be able to get better results with an Aluminum specific rougher. I've heard good things about Lakeshorecarbide's Aluminum Shredder.

[CS900]

Any reason for using a 4-flute? Usually roughing Al with more than 3 flutes is asking for trouble. Might be able to get better results with an Aluminum specific rougher. I've heard good things about Lakeshorecarbide's Aluminum Shredder.

No good reason..it's what I had in my tool holder already and was giddy to make some chips, haha.

Yeah, I'll try and get a video of the TAS rougher in action!

[CL_MotoTech]

I use a four flute HSS .5" rougher pretty often. 93 IPM with pretty good depth of cut at 6k. It shreds. I have flood coolant and it is necessary. I usually do all my horizontal op's after I roughed with that same end mill. It saves me a tool change.