Preturned Ball Screws for Hoss Machine X2 Conversion

Hi all,

I purchased a Sieg X2 off Craigslist about 6 months ago - I realized that machining things out of metal was a lot more entertaining then printing them out of ABS and PLA.

Since then, I've been learning how to machine the old school way (no DRO, just hand cranks and a calculator), and preparing for the inevitable CNC conversion. All while gleefully learning about feeds, speeds, and how to do horrible things to end mills. :rolleyes:

I'm about ready to start machining the X and Y axis stepper mounts (going to manually control the downfeed and CNC mill the Z axis pieces), because I just got a big box full of 2024 T351 bricks as remnants from a professional job shop.

The only remaining question is, how to machine the ball screws?

I don't have a lathe (about to pull the trigger on a Taig, but that won't help much), and so far I've struck out in my area (Olympia, WA) on finding a job shop that will machine the ends of the ball screws for less than the cost of the ball screws themselves.

I've seen some eBay sellers that say they'll machine down the ends on their ball screws, but I haven't seen any unanimous support for any one seller, and the shipping time from Shenzhen makes me weary of pulling the trigger. Plus there's the unknown quality factor vs. Hoss' proven Roton Screws.

So, if anyone's got any suggestions better than my current idea of settings up a rotary table mounted 90 degrees relative to the Sieg's bed and using an end mill to machine down the screws, I'm all ears!

- Apt

Just contact linearmotion2008 on ebay. Lots of people have gotten ballscrews and ballnuts from him with machined ends.

I would suggest getting a lathe, just a little harbor freight mini will do. It will be very useful in the future too. You will just need to grind away the hardened surface which isn't too thick and then they machine pretty easily after that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Alax7

I would suggest getting a lathe, just a little harbor freight mini will do. It will be very useful in the future too. You will just need to grind away the hardened surface which isn't too thick and then they machine pretty easily after that.

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On closer inspection, I see that the Sieg lathes feature pass through chucks - For some reason I've never come across that bit of info. Well, I guess the only question is if I'm going to make a 2 hour drive to pickup this Sieg C2 for $175. Looks pretty rough, but I can dump a lot into it for that price...

Thanks!