Does the LMS solid column conversion kit make a big difference?

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Originally Posted by Bison9

the_great_snag - yeah I have been reading in more than one spot about the column stiffening mods for the X2 as well. And more than one person has come out the other end not that pleased form what I have been reading.. Even the guy at this link: Reducing Mini-Mill Column Flex (and Column Y-Axis Alignment) - Home Model Engine Machinist says at the end of all of it that it doesn't really do what it needs to do in the end anyways which is get the thing into perfect Y axis tram (also I think "tram" is only and X-axis thing?? :S anyhow, you get the point :)). For this reason I am going with that Solid Column kit.

bjones - you are actually totally right here. I was kicking myself when I started reading that there was the SX2 with the column troubles already hammered out. I knew the SX2 was out there but just learned about the column improvements like 3 days ago :S I originally thought the price difference in the SX2 was the improvements they made on the belt driven, brushless motor... It didn't seem like enough justification alone to go $400 more on it. Had I known about these column issues, you bet, I would have gone that route in a heartbeat!

Lastly, I have actually gone to the belt drive on my X2 also. I did that about 5 nights ago That is the only mod as of now on my X2. When my Solid Column kit comes in its off the races. Going to be adding some DROs , squaring everything up, and will be milling these lowers soon!

Thanks for the replies and keep it polite! I'm just a brand stankin newbie! No need to get into a tissie about it! :):):)

Have a good one all!

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you have the right attitude and it should help you here, please start another thread when you start working on your mill improvement and get away from the bad attitudes posted here.

Sorry for my comments too Bjones. I was a bit out of sorts yesterday. :)

Honestly, you can be pretty far off on your tram and still finish an AR lower pretty nicely. The key is to make sure the distance from the front of the Fire Control pocket to the Bolt Stop slot is right or you will have a hard time getting the hammer installed. The bolt stop slot and mag release are all in line and make a great datum to set up from. Let me know if you need any dimensions. I have CAD models of a lower that are dead-on.

So, sorry for this all, I tried to post the below in a new thread and was getting tons of errors... So I am posting this here:

Hey All,

So, I got to tramming my Harbor Freight 44991 mini mill table last night (spindle to X-axis basically) and I used these two items to do it:

The Dial Test Indicator I used:

https://littlemachineshop.com/produc...ory=1319044103

The Holder I used:

Test Indicator Holder, Professional Quality - LittleMachineShop.com

Now... I have got to say that I got this holder all assembled and the thing is just not a good piece of equipment. LMS has great products and I have dropped some serious coin on this site in the past 2 months. But... This DTI holder is very sub par. The whole thing moves and I just don't trust the readings I am getting... I reamed down all the connections on it and the whole holder moves very easily at the connection points and is just a sub par piece of equipment in my opinion after using it last night....

I also want to be able to use a full sized Dial Indicator as the Dial Test Indictor there does not have a wide range of movement and is lazer small / precise needle. I was noticing that I was bottomed out on it a couple times when starting tramming and was getting false readings that way too...

So! I am going to use this method found here at this site to tram my mini mill:

How I tram my mini-mill | MachinistBlog.com

I need one question answered here... What is the tool held in the spindle here on that link? The vertical tool that is holding the perpendicular bar?? This would be a great article if this was explained... I just have not seen a good way yet to tram the mini mill. I want something that chucks up and doesn't move... Maybe bending a piece of bar stock even and chucking that up... But I still am clueless how to attach this dial indicator to that successfully...

Seems like an easy thing to do, but as a newbie machinist, this has left me scratching my head...

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Great site with good info!

Drill bar crosses drilled to hold the dial indicator holder, according to the link.

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk

Yeah, right after I posted this I thought, Hmm, I most likely will have to drill a 1/2" section of bar and then make a set screw on it by drilling and tapping the end...

Also, I may be able to take like a 3/8" brill bit or something and use the connector that connects the two bars on the magnetic holder. Just using that connector to connect that bar to the drill bit In the chuck.

See, this is a good exercise because it is teaching me to think like a machinist! My first inclination is always "oh, somebody is selling that..." But really it's, "somebody made that." This I am learning slowly!

Yeah it would be good practice to make the simpler tooling yourself. Use that as stepping stone and sooner or later you can tackle more complex tools and will have better machining skills

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk

Although I would not recommended that knockoff indical holder or the real thing for that matter there is nothing wrong with the indicater itself. +- 15 and +- 10 are pretty standard for half thou indicaters. Get a holder that mounts in a collet and a mag base holder. There is plenty of travel for tramming and alignment purposes. It is also very accurate.

Ben