CNCing my mini mill

[dallen]

that was my exact thoughts ut's not in the way and I can use it as a mount point for the electrical enclosure that I will need to run all the cables into or something like that, might even use it for a place to put a drip coolant tank.

[dallen]

sorry guys for not posting anything here lately, but it seems like I have become bogged down in that black hole of trying to figure out the electrical side of this and waiting on parts that I ask a friend to order for me.

But I will get back to it soon as I have something new to post or a picture to show off, just wish I could find that dang bright and shiny button on my camera

[pamrick]

I'll be watching this for sure. I'm getting ready to CNC my Sherline, so any tips I can pick up will help tremendously.

[dallen]

pamrick

I do plan to finish this, just that being on a fixed income now has slowed down my chip making. plus I am in the middle of trying to figure out how Mach3 works so I can start hooking it up to the motors.

The one thing that I will suggest to you if you plan on doing this to your Sherline is to gather up all the store bought parts first, I first started thinking about doing this over a year ago when I had the cash to just buy the stuff. Anyway just a suggestion.

DA

[DaveH]

DA,
It is fine, in your own good time

DaveH

[pamrick]

Thanks for the tip. I've found a guy that will put a kit together that will result in 'plug-n-play' for the electrical. I'll make the motor mounts, couplings and anti-backlash nuts in the shop. I'm in no hurry either as I've been planning and counting pennies for about a year also. And I don't speak 'Mach 3" either, so there's another drawback. So much to learn!!

[SnailPowered]

What about the Hoss set ups? Do those use Mach 3? I looked into it for a little bit but I want to learn the old fashioned way and then move into the new age in the future. There just has to be something satisfying about turning the dials by hand and getting EXACTLY what you wanted out of the machine.

[dallen]

I think the Hoss setup is ok, I have been copying some of the parts that he did, problem is that my MILL is just a little different in how its made. like the HF column is 4 inches mines 4.5 so some of the measurements don't fit.

My whole reason for doing this was not to have a cnc milling machine, but to have a powered table so I don't have to sit there and crank the table from one end to the other on long cuts. Get a Mill and you will find out what I mean. The build it myself idea was so I could learn something and have a little more then just a table that moves from one end to the other and then stops.

Mach3 is one of the easier programs to learn and it was the easiest one for me to aquire so its Mach3 plus I know a gut that runs it on his CNC Router so if I have a question I can hopefully get an answer on the phone in minutes instead of waiting hours or days with some of the other programs.

[dallen]

the nut that I ordered for the Z Axis has arrived, now I just need to get the bearings that I need and I can put the Z Axis drive together and see if I can make it work.

I also need to get back in gear on the Electronics and get that figured out.

so many projects and so little time!!!

[dallen]

was able to get a motor to move today via Mach3, only have enough stuff to hook up one motor at the moment but one motor moving via computer software is better then none of them moving.

only had to hookup and mess with three different computers before I hit one that had a good printer port.

DAllen