[turbothis]

so i have the mechanical means and knowledge to do this but are kinda lost on the stepper motor end.
i plan on mach3 and a gecko 540.
i want 4 axis and have a manual rotary table now.

it seems like i would need pretty good power to cut on the x and y. i dont need any real speed here.
the z seems to be fairly light in duty and the rotary is already geared so it must be real light.

i make rifle parts and cut a lot of 4140 blocks into trunnions and such parts.

so i will need 4 motors, power soarce, and some wires.......

i am eager to do this but need it to go smoothly.

this is the mill in question with out the power feed though. i have the ball screw and feed side just fine but the electronics are not my strong point in life.

thanks
matt

[Bubba]

Yep, looks just like mine used to:}) Has been a pretty good work horse for several years for me. One thing that might help is to extend the slot towards the front for the Y axis. This gave me an bit more travel in that area. I can now get a good 7" and sometimes use it all. Another thing was to help in setup was to make a power lift for the head. (Hint if you have the power feed as shown, do a search on google as I have seen others who have made use of that). You can also reduce the backlash in the downfeed by loosing the two bolts on teh housing and tapping the housing closer to the column. Helped out my machine quite a bit.

I think your choice of the gecko will be a good one. I can't really help you there as my machine has servos.

[turbothis]

great!
is there a thread on your mill?

[Bubba]

No, no thread as I did this many years ago (before I had a digital camera) I have a few pictures on my old web site of some of the things I did "differently" than most do.
http://bellsouthpwp.net/A/r/Arts_home_page/cnc/

The biggest difference I would do if I were to do it over again is to extend the bracket out to gain more X axis travel. This could gain me about 2" more travel!

[turbothis]

in the end i only need about 14"x 6" of working cnc, anything more is a bonus.
of coarse along the way i will keep an eye out for small things to make it better.

[Bubba]

Its easier to build the extra travel in NOW rather than later when you only need "just a bit more" to be able to use that special cutter! Don't ask how I know:})

[turbothis]

i have a quick cad program now on my computer to draw stuff up. will this work with the cnc and mach 3?

[Bubba]

I am not familiar with quick cad, but if it can output dxf files, there are several cam programs ranging from free to many bux that can generate the necessary g-code files.

[turbothis]

so i will need a cam program to take the cad to the mach 3?

[Bubba]

Yes, unless you want to hand code your work:})

[turbothis]

G540 4 axis package (One G540 + Four
KL23H284-35-4B (1/4” Dual shaft with a flat) 387 oz-in + one KL-600-
48 48V/12.5A 115V /230Vpower supply): $624.95


i was looking at this package......