[Stevie]

The new bearings

The old spindle will be cut about where the blue line is
The new will be using the bearings shown; this will give me room for the Nikken SK10 collets i have; I'll be inserting the aft part of the old shaft (splines) into the new one; and it will be pinned for the drive
The new bearings are 20mm bore the old had 12mm bores; plus these new ones have a 17000rpm rating
The roller will take all the side loads while cutting; should be a neat conversion of a Delta drill press into a nice mill
The original whilst it has done sterling service is going to be used for some very special stuff; i need high accuracy and ridgidity for this new item
I'll post more as this progresses

[Stevie]

The assembly

Still need the pre-load nut

Collet close up and re-shrinking on the aluminum spindle motivator

Collet cap and threads; black after hardening

Ch/ked run out about 0.0005"
Much better than the chuck gave me; and it did come off twice; luckly without screwing anythng up

[praetor]

Where'd ya' get the new spindle? Also what size delta drill press? May I say that your projects are quite inspirational, simply put...man you are good. I am a noob to CNC, but not machining as a hobby, and looking to take on a challenge of building my own CNC mill to learn from. A guy by the name of Vincent Chan modified a tabletop delta drill press to a cnc mill, only he added a counter weight, not to fond of that. I don't remember the web site. But I can look it up, again. Nice projects.

[praetor]

Hey Stevie,

here's the site:

www.pathcom.com/~vchan/cnc/cnc.html

I had trouble getting through this site, if you fair the same go into yahoo and use the key words, "cnc project" it should get you there in no time, it's a good concept but it looks to have it's flaws, but I guess what ever werks.

[Stevie]

"where did I get the new Spindle"

I made it of course

[Stevie]

The original design
The Delta is the smallest of the bench top models; 8" I think
I paid $58 for each one
But one is now a 4 axis mill; I'll have to take a new photo of it once it's all back together

[praetor]

Cool spindle, if I do say so myself. I have the same drill press, I was going to modify it the Vincent Chan way but ended up putting the project on the back burner because of other projects.Then I saw the cnc mill on the
www5bears.com website plus your new CNC lathe project and was inspred to set a couple projects on the back burner in place of my own cnc mill build project. The "set back" wouldn't effect anything major, so I'll just go ahead with the project build. I'll be sure to take pics and post them, Thanks.

[Stevie]

in action

The machine

cut is 4mm deep 10x10mm tapered sides with 2mm (top)and 1.75mm fillets (bottom) bottom is 7x7mm
Finish cut was 0.2mm down step
Material is Corian (DuPont)
Control Turbocnc
Stepper drives compumotor with same make steppers

[praetor]

Hey Stevie,

Uhm, I am trying to get some idea for my own CNC mill design, so I am looking at different pics to get a better idea of what I want in my design but I can't seem to see pics of your projects, I just get these boxes with X's in them, is there any way that I can fix this on my PC?

[Stevie]

if your trying to see the old post about the 4 axis mill the photos are unavail
I was using someone else's FTP
That taught me a lesson
From now on I will control the URL address of the images
I asked for the thread to be deleted and I'd re-post it with new links; but that option is not going to happen
I'll post new one if needed here; or email me I'll send what detail photos I can

[Stevie]

My new bigger mill
22" travel in X 14" travel in Y and 9.5" in Z
I'm hoping to add 4th and 5th axis after it's up and running; the mill will be used in conjunction with the small mill and small cnc lathe to make the other 2 axis parts needed (plus some stuff at work)
The 4-5th will look like the Hass unit with both combined into a single unit
Kind of a cradle underslung with the rotary axis mounted on the centerline of the 5th; the problem is size of the drive parts; that all getting quite small to fit under the gantry and leave some usefull room

[JFettig]

Looks like an awesome start, Any reason you choose to go with channel iron for that cross slide? I would think that it would be kind of flimsy and deflect a lot. Have you considered a similar design like this one posted in the gallery?


I am referencing the columns and y-axis(thats the y-axis right?)
How are your columns attached to the base?

what are your goals for rigidity and capabilities?

Jon

[Stevie]

Looks like an awesome start, Any reason you choose to go with channel iron for that cross slide? I would think that it would be kind of flimsy and deflect a lot. Have you considered a similar design like this one posted in the gallery?


I am referencing the columns and y-axis(thats the y-axis right?)
How are your columns attached to the base?

what are your goals for rigidity and capabilities?

Jon

As per all the machines made up to now; i use offcuts or scrap parts
Motion stuff from eBay (I buy new for bearings/timing pulleys)
That is a nice machine design for sure you linked
My goals are as before; light cutting of plastic and softer materials like Brass/Aluminum
I have no need for cutting Steel at home; I do enough of that every day at work
The channel is Aluminum as will be most of the machine; I have lots of cut offs to work with; it's all 6061 T6 so it's tough enough for the light stuff i do

[CATCH22]

I Was Just Over Checking Out Steves 4 Axis Mill And New Lathe, I Must Say His Machines Are Very Impressive. He's Got Some Great Ideas. I Have To Thank Him He Has Helped Me Out A Lot. He Has Got Me Into Building A Lathe Also. Without His Help I Know I Would'nt Have Been Able To Do This. Thanks For Your Help Steve, I Know I Will Be Needing More In The Future. Mike

[Stevie]

Thanks Mike

I'll be pushing you again to get your lathe finished; now some more motivation has set in

LOL

[Stevie]

What more can I say; wow
The part was within 0.05mm on every size I ch'ked

[jarr88]

do you know any sites that turn a drill press into a milling machine

[jarr88]

besides pathaco

[Stevie]

CNCZone.com
Look for a thread by Stevie

[FPV_GTp]

LOL