First real project on the mill

[DanH]

This is my first project on my Enco 45 clone mill. I purchased an expensive DRO for the z-axis quill and researched similar installations on the web. I modeled the mill head, quill and gear levers so I could layout the DRO and design mounts. Here is a screen shot of the assembly.
   
The next shots are of the upper mount installed on the back of the DRO.
   
   
   
   
I didn't get any pictures of just the mount but it is milled from a single piece of scrap I got from work. There are 2 countersunk holes for the supplied 3mm screws to mount to the DRO and a .25" hole and 10-24 set screw for the tie bar.
Here's the lower mount milled to size.
   
   
I next added 2 countersunk mounting holes for 10-24 SHCS and another .25" hole and set screw for the tie bar.
   
   
   
The DRO was mounted to the mill head with 2 10-24 screws. I drilled these free hand into the casting and tapped them by hand being very careful to not break off the tap.
The lower mount to bolted to the depth gage mount plate that clamps to the quill. I did this on the drill press. Here is the setup on the drill press.
   
and the finished holes
   
This final shots are of the finished installation.
   
   
   
It works great and was a fun project to learn on.

[EdK]

Dan,

Fantastic job on the install. I also have an Enco RF-45 clone mill, an older one than yours, and tried mounting a 'Z' DRO to it but ended up having to take it off because it was binding. The quill has some slop in it so it can twist when lowered. I'm not sure how to deal with that problem yet.

Ed

[doubleboost]

Hi
Dan
Very neat & tidy installation
John

[krv3000]

a job well dun

[DanH]

Thanks Ed.

To avoid bind due to misalignment I did all of the machining except for the hole in the lower mount for the strut rod and installed the DRO and used the rod to mark the hole. The holes are loose enough to allow the rod to find a sweet spot and I tightened the set screws using loctite. It seems to move without any bind and the readings on the DRO were very repeatable.

Being more of a fabricator/welder/mechanic this was a new experience in doing precision (for me LOL) work. Very fun.

Dan

[EdK]

Hi Dan,

My problem was the quill twists a small amount when lowered so it causes the DRO scale to bind. It's not a mounting hardware problem, it's quill slop that's causing the problem. I've yet to figure out a solution.

Ed

[DaveH]

Dan,

Wow, that was one fine job you did.
Very nicely photographed and posted

DaveH

[RobWilson]

Hi Dan

Very tidy job


Rob

[ETC57]

Nice job Dan,

Thanks for the post!
A DRO for my Smithy is in my future

Jerry.

[DanH]

(04-26-2012, 01:17 PM)ETC57 Wrote: Nice job Dan,

Thanks for the post!
A DRO for my Smithy is in my future

Jerry.

Thanks, my pleasure. These type of posts help me out a lot as I am very new to this game. My design is based on one I saw in the square column Yahoo group with some changes. It was very helpful to see pictures of different ways people have mounted their DRO's. Next time I will try to get some shots of the actual machining as I love to see them in others posts.

Dan