Converting My Grizzly Mill To CNC Part 3

Hello again,I have the X and Y axis now working.I do not have the home switches mounted yet.My Y axis has almost .001 backlash,and my X axis has none.I put an indicator on it and measured it.I was machining some air,and I thought that maybe I can mount a pen in the spindle,because my Z axis is disconnected for doing the installation.I made some circles on cardboard.Then after a while of playing,I decided to partially reassemble my Z axis,and put an endmill in it.I could not resist.I do not have the spindle locked,because that is apart,so I moved it up pretty high in the head,and then moved the head down to where it was just touching an aluminum plate I mounted on the table.I drew a circle on the computer,and manually downfed the spindle,and started the program.It then drew a perfect circle in aluminum.I was very happy.In the picture you can see my motor mounts,that I made,and the aluminum plate with the circle.Next I will tackle the Z axis.

Nice job, Joerom!

Are your motor mounts solid blocks of aluminum?

Hi Joerom,
Nice work on the mill. I'm hoping to get the Aussy version and convert it soon.
Two things, Can you post more picks of your baring mounts, motor mounts etc.
And the other is that you should keep your progress all in one thread.
Not in several. It makes it hard to find again and to see your progress.
Plus the search engine is total crap on this site.

Bones

Hello Dleroi,yes,my motor mounts were made from sold blocks of aluminum.Actually 2 pieces bolted together,then machined square.I have lots of scraps,and used some of what I had to make the mounts.They were machined out,and slots milled in the bottom to tighten the setscrews on the shaft collar.They worked out very well.

Hello Bones,I must apologize for not having pics of the X axis mounts.I started to work on it,and got carried away,and before I knew it,it was together and working.I will put the Y axis picture mount on here again,and the X axix is the same.If you look at the bearing mount in the picture,it is the actual bearing mount from the mill.There are two thrust bearings on each mount,one on each side of the central casting.One is for push from the screw,and the other is for pull from the screw.All I did was to machine threads on the ballscrew,along with other dimensions to fit the bearings,and put a double locknut on the be able to adjust the bearings against each other.This gave me no endplay,and also helped with my zero backlash.The ballscrews were from Roton,with their heavy duty ballnuts.I will also put the motor mount pics here also,and if you look at the motor mounts,you will see that it simply slips over the original mill bearing mount,and and also bolts through the original holes.Of course,all had to be machined on center so all would match up,and it did all match,because my collar slid on perfectly to the screw and motor shaft.Simple but very effective.

Hi Joerom,

Would you have CAD drawings for your motor mounts to share?

Can't see the different parts of the design from the pics, but they
really look nice.

Jesse (java77man)

Hi Jesse,I don't have any drawings.I just made the parts to fit what was there.It was simple.One end went over the original screw mount,and the other end was fit to the nema 34 motor.A simple 1" diameter coupling with a 1/2" hole for the shafts joined the two.One thing I should add,is that the mounting holes for the motor and screw mount need to be right on,because the coupling does not allow for play.I was able to turn the shaft by hand with the 1" coupling,and it was very smooth.

hello,I must apologize for starting a new post number 4,and not continuing here.I was asked if I could do it that way because it is easier to keep track of.After I posted it,I realized what I did,so I am writing this.

So where is the link to the new one?

You might want to go back too 1,2 and 3 and add links to the next ones.
eg build1 add the the link to build 2 etc.

Otherwise no one will read your posts. Or be bothered to find the rest.
Or just read the first one and think you haven't done any more to the machine.

Bones

JoeRom,

I agree with Bones.

I'm sure there are tons of people that will want to read about your conversion, but it's too tedious moving back and forth. If it's all in one thread, anyone can subscribe to that thread and be alerted when there is anything new.

I don't understand the logic of the person that thinks it's easier to keep track of separate threads. :cool:

- Don

hello to all,if you are not finding my posts,just go to the cnc zone search and put in...........Converting my Grizzly Mill to CNC part 1........and they will all come up.I tried it and it works.