Well I did what I set out to do. Find a cnc mill, fix it, learn how to use it, design my own parts, patent the parts and move on to bigger things. On June 17th of this year my patent was issued to me. Patent# 8,754,557 B2 if anybody wants to google it. Got to give big thanks to the novakon nm-145 as it was rock solid from start to finish. Here is the old link from when I was rebuilding the mill
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/novako...purchased.html
But now that time has come to recoop some cost. I kind of went a little hog wild after I got the nm-145. I bought an older shoptask 1720 3 in 1 and converted it to cnc also. Also did my research and converted the old acme thread to ball screws and also made my own spindle encoder wheel from a $10 saw blade. I also picked up a logan 14 lathe but in turn sold it to get a wade model 94 second op lathe as the Logan lathe was to big for the garage. The wade lathe was in pieces when I got it. but i tore out the old 440v 3 phase motor and converted it over to a 220v three phase with a gs2 variable freq drive. To make a long story short I learned alot over the last couple of years and will still continue on in the near future. But I already have offers on the table for companies wanting to buy my patent and it will be a life changing experience when it happens. Once I figure out where I will land from these offers I will be buying brand new but in my own shop for sure. Thanks again for all you guys' help and support on this.
Thanks,
Mike Hopkins