[TroyO]

LOL, I can see it.. two of my wife's best friends are an Aussie couple. Reggie and Alex.

Alex is tatooed, mullet wearing red neck Aussie and proud of it! He has a glass eye.... which he sometimes takes out and rolls across the bar for a laugh.

Reggie is the female version, minus the glass eye.

Love the Aussies!

Ooooieee!!! Cobber, Digger, Blue, Mate!

I am definitley knee deep in the red goo, LOL... wow! I really didn't expect it to be that bad... the 8x12 was NOTHING on this, LOL.

I'm more concerned about the sand... I heard it said "There was half a beach in there" and I'm getting the same thing. Just got the column off the head and already got like a teaspoon out of it! (Most of it was in the torsion arm spring assembly)

I have a theory.... they are shipping the whole country over here, one mill full at a time.

[knudsen]

I didn't want to hate myself the next day by trying to lift it and carry it to the garage by myself.

I did just that, and have not seen or heard from my nuts since. That was several years ago. I highly recommend not lifting the mill alone! (nuts)

I have a theory.... they are shipping the whole country over here, one mill full at a time.

Well, perhaps we'll have something to sell back to them after all :rainfro:

[TroyO]

I finally found a little more squeezing room in the budget. I just ordered:

Air Spring conversion kit. (I may actually go counterbalance some day, but the extended rack alone was worth it.)

7/16 Clamp kit (Not really a mod, but needed.)

A drive belt for my own belt conversion

(2) of the X axis thrust bearings, in hopes/plans that I can figure out a way to add them to the Y axis.

A 6 inch steel ruler. (Needed so I can measure how little of my manhood is left after I tell the wife I dropped another $100..........)

[knudsen]

I use a 1" micrometer for accuracy

[thudson]

I finally found a little more squeezing room in the budget. I just ordered:

Air Spring conversion kit. (I may actually go counterbalance some day, but the extended rack alone was worth it.)

The question I have is would the air spring interfere with the Steele/Hoss style z-axis CNC?

The air spring mounts inside the column right? In both Steele and Hoss's design, there is a plate over the column where the z-axis motor mounts with a timing belt attached to the ball nut for the z-axis lead screw.

Can these to co-exist?

[TroyO]

No idea if it would interfere... but not too worried about it. I've seen a some CNC versions I don't think would interfere... not that I studied them in detail.

It will be a while (Year? Years?) before I go the CNC route with it... for now I'm just trying to make the best manual one I can.

When/If I go CNC, I'll still have the extended rack and won't cry about the $16 I put into the piston and mounting hardware. I'm sure I will use it for something. I always seem to, LOL.

[TroyO]

I just finished the epoxy-concrete fill. Some tips... assuming I don't have a big puddle of epoxy in the AM, anyway....

I used a 1-1/4" plumbing slip joint part to put through the big hole in the column. It seemed almost a purposeful fit... maybe a 32nd of an inch to spare. That filled in nicely with a bit of clay to seal it to the column from the inside. It also got a coat of grease.

I dipped the bolts in wheel bearing grease, then put them back in the column to fill in the holes. (4 mounting bolts and one tiny one for the ruler that is easy to miss.)

I sealed up the bottom of the column using aluminum sealing tape (Like for home ductwork.) Once I had a few layers over everything I went around and pounded the sealing edges with a rubber mallet. That squishes the tape flat and really gets a good seal.. it's a trick I've used before.

The mix was 8 Oz (4 Oz Resin, 4 Oz Hardner) of 2 hour Loctite epoxy from home depot and about twice as much concrete mix. (I really didn't care what the filler was for this use... sand, dry plaster... whatever.)

It made a thick slurry (Almost putty like), which was still flowable enough to fill in the gaps. I tapped the sides with a rubber mallet, and poked it with a stick a couple of time to hopefully shake loose any big bubbles.

The plan tomorrow is to untape it, knock out the slicked up plumbing tube and it should be ready. Maybe?

BTW, pleasant surprise... it came with a one piece drawbar. I had read somewhere that they came with a 3 piece drawbar. Guess that's since changed.

Unpleasant surprise.... I got the newer, cheaper and lighter style of the base with the open area under where the column is.

[HellPhish]

I just finished the epoxy-concrete fill. Some tips... assuming I don't have a big puddle of epoxy in the AM, anyway....

I used a 1-1/4" plumbing slip joint part to put through the big hole in the column. It seemed almost a purposeful fit... maybe a 32nd of an inch to spare. That filled in nicely with a bit of clay to seal it to the column from the inside. It also got a coat of grease.

I dipped the bolts in wheel bearing grease, then put them back in the column to fill in the holes. (4 mounting bolts and one tiny one for the ruler that is easy to miss.)

I sealed up the bottom of the column using aluminum sealing tape (Like for home ductwork.) Once I had a few layers over everything I went around and pounded the sealing edges with a rubber mallet. That squishes the tape flat and really gets a good seal.. it's a trick I've used before.

The mix was 8 Oz (4 Oz Resin, 4 Oz Hardner) of 2 hour Loctite epoxy from home depot and about twice as much concrete mix. (I really didn't care what the filler was for this use... sand, dry plaster... whatever.)

It made a thick slurry (Almost putty like), which was still flowable enough to fill in the gaps. I tapped the sides with a rubber mallet, and poked it with a stick a couple of time to hopefully shake loose any big bubbles.

The plan tomorrow is to untape it, knock out the slicked up plumbing tube and it should be ready. Maybe?

BTW, pleasant surprise... it came with a one piece drawbar. I had read somewhere that they came with a 3 piece drawbar. Guess that's since changed.

Unpleasant surprise.... I got the newer, cheaper and lighter style of the base with the open area under where the column is.

i was actually thinking of using lead shot and foam instead of epoxy and concrete. the shot would give me weight and vibration damping.

[degreaser]

Whooo hooo! Picked it up this eve, and it looks liek it's all OK. Haven't done anything with it yet other than open the box;-)

Congrats on the new toy!

Get some kerosene and CLP (spray on gun oil). That'll help dissolve the red goo and clean it up. Lots of Q tips for the nooks and crannys. CLP is n't as hygroscopic as WD40.

[knudsen]

Psssst, Troy, wake up man, go check the epoxy. I wanna know how it came out. :stickpoke

[thudson]

Psssst, Troy, wake up man, go check the epoxy. I wanna know how it came out. :stickpoke

Yeah, you're keeping us in suspense...

BTW, pleasant surprise... it came with a one piece drawbar. I had read somewhere that they came with a 3 piece drawbar. Guess that's since changed.

Unpleasant surprise.... I got the newer, cheaper and lighter style of the base with the open area under where the column is.

Same here, new lighter base and single piece drawbar.

[TroyO]

But MOMMMMM.... I don't want to go to school today!! (Rolls over.... snort, sniffle.... snooooooore....)

Hehe, I slept in till 11.... it was GLORIOUS!

OK, the overall result.... just about perfect!

The tape stuck, with just a very small amount of flash around the edges....knocked it off with a razor blade.

The greased up plug and screws all came out without a fuss. The big hole is nice and even.. the 1-1/4" plumbing pipe was the perfect size.

The only downside.... the bottom is so close that I kind of want to patch it up with Bondo and make it "Pretty".

Nah....

[HellPhish]

Congrats on the new toy!

Get some kerosene and CLP (spray on gun oil). That'll help dissolve the red goo and clean it up. Lots of Q tips for the nooks and crannys. CLP is n't as hygroscopic as WD40.

Hoppes #9 may be a bit better than regular ole CLP. or even chlorine free brake kleen

[TroyO]

I'm just using paint thinner, so far.

It seems to work just dandy. Once the thick stuff is off, I'll probably hit it with brake klean.... love that stuff for getting every last lick of the grease.

It also rocks on grease stains in the carpet and on your clothes.... just don't let SWMBO catch you.... ;-P

[degreaser]

Hoppes #9 may be a bit better than regular ole CLP. or even chlorine free brake kleen

The CLP is to protect the metal after the kerosene removes all of the red goo (and oil).

I wonder how Hoppes would work on red goo.

[TroyO]

Ahhh terminus est..... (Place of decision/choice)

Do I break the two halves of the head? I want to lap the ways of the Z column, which would be easier with the one piece to hork around. I could also lap the mating surfaces of the head while I'm at it, which while it won't get me perfect alignment it should at least help when I go to do that to have clean mating faces.


On the flip side... if I leave it as-is I can get a measure of the stock misalignemt... or just decide to leave it if I happen to be one of the lucky ones with a unit that's set decent at the factory.

Do I open that can of worms?

On the plus side... the gibs are crap (expected) but the dovetail actually looks not too bad... a little touch up and I can get to the lap dance...

(Edit) I will be doing brass gibs (I hope) on X and Y but I'm thinking Z I will go with the stock ones... the brass I ordered will be a touch too small for the Z.

[HellPhish]

The CLP is to protect the metal after the kerosene removes all of the red goo (and oil).

I wonder how Hoppes would work on red goo.

hoppes would probably work really well as its used on carbon deposits and copper fouling. ur mill would smell like a rifle after cleaning and oiling it..lol

[degreaser]

Do I break the two halves of the head? I want to lap the ways of the Z column, which would be easier with the one piece to hork around. I could also lap the mating surfaces of the head while I'm at it, which while it won't get me perfect alignment it should at least help when I go to do that to have clean mating faces.

Take it apart. You'll want to clean everything thoroughly after lapping.

Edit - and you don't want the lapping compound getting where it doesn't belong.

[degreaser]

hoppes would probably work really well as its used on carbon deposits and copper fouling. ur mill would smell like a rifle after cleaning and oiling it..lol

Probably so. It works really well on the crud the chinese pack their SKS' and AKs in so it'll work pretty well on red goo too.

Plus it smells almost as good as dykem.

[TroyO]

Yeah, I think I'll go ahead and rip it apart. It's a little daunting... but if I never get in over my head, I'll never learn.. LOL

So far... filed the gibs flat. The faces weren't so bad.. bowed some.

The bottom of the gib looked like it was done on a wheel grinder. By a monkey. With parkinsons. And whooping cough.

Anyway... close enough now I won't feel like lapping is just a waste of time, LOL.