[Flenser]

I guess I've clogged up all the other threads long enough. This is a Bolton machine I bought last year to make parts for my G0602 conversion which I was mostly using to make mountain bike fork parts. The CNC bug got me, though, and now I'm converting the mill. It's slow going. My work load is very high, and my motivation has been severely limited by the need for sleep.

I ordered ballscrews from LMB a few days ago. I took a couple of pics while I had the mill apart measuring the z-screw.

1. My high tech head stand (patent pending).
2. When the mill first arrived, I discovered a fair amount of rust inside the column and other areas. I spent a couple of weekends removing rust and slopping on Rustoleum. I spent another 2 weeks trying to get the paint out of my armpit
3. Re-tramming the head for the millionth time.
4. And the vise. Note the enclosure in the background. I still have to wire the G320x's, but other than that, it's done just waiting for a purpose.

[Flenser]

Been thinking about cutting some slots in the ways for oil. I'm essentially copying the extremely popular one shot oiler from Bob Warfield's site. Without a second mill, though, I need to cut the slots more or less by hand.

I fished a block of wood from the trash, cut and threaded a spindle mount on the lathe and milled it to fit the dovetail on all the ways. So far I've only tried it on a piece of mild steel (3rd pic), and with just a flat aluminum guide instead of a dovetail. I also didn't have a 1/8" ball mill to fit the Dremel (have to get one) and had to use a square end mill. I was pretty happy with the results, though. The softer cast iron ways with dovetail guides and the right ball mill should be comparatively easy. I guess I'll find out when I take everything back apart to mount the ballscrews.

[Flenser]

couple of stupid newbie questions...

I bought some ceramic inserts a while back. I knew they didn't fit any insert holders I have, but I got 170 of the things for about $13 shipped. I want to use one to turn down the ball screws. Can I get away with making an insert holder from mild steel?

I've used them in a 2" face mill on a hardened Kurt vise jaw that came damaged with a vise I bought on ebay. They're a little over sized for the holder, but they fit snug and haven't moved or broken - so far. They cut pretty well, considering a carbide end mill would barely scratch the jaws. I can cut 0.004 at 300 RPM and maybe 5 IPM. I get satisfying curled blue chips. It "feels" like I could run higher RPMs and feed a little faster, but the one time I tried I stalled the motor and knocked the head out of tram. I think the inserts could handle it, though.

I also want to grind one of these to make a threading insert. Can I just use a diamond wheel?

Thanks,

Jeff

[Teyber12]

clever way to grind the ways!

I love rf45 builds.

keep the pics coming

[BobWarfield]

Flenser, what the heck is that funny looking stuff you're machining with the wavy lines in it? I think you called it "wood"????? Must be some newfangled "composite" material.

LOL!

Good job on applying the oil grooves. Peeps should bookmark that trick. It is so great to have a one shot oiler. I'm surprised at how fast I go through a gallon of way oil, though.

RE the ceramic inserts, you can definitely make your own toolholder out of mild steel just so long as you take lots of photos!

Are you sure the ballscrews require a ceramic insert though? Hoss would know, as he machines a bunch of them. I'd would've thunk regular carbide would work fine, but that it might shorten the insert's life. I guess I will find out pretty soon myself when I start up my lathe conversion again.

Cheers,

BW

[Bubba]

ALL of my insert tool holders are made from mild steel (read key stock) and work very well. A while back, I used one of them to test on a piece of ballscrew and it cut it like butter! This was Atlas/Craftsman lathe and we know how "rigid" they are:{(

[gd.marsh]

Flenser,

Can I suggest that the block you made though ingenious in solving a problem, is actually the wrong gender for what you want to accomplish?

The oil grooves need to be cut into the the X,Y,Z saddles on the surface that mates to where your showing your block will cut. Also they need to stop short of each end of the saddle. That way the oil will be for lack of a better word 'contained' within the groove and not be able to escape out the ends and just run everywhere.

Am I looking at something backwards? Or not thinking this all the way through? If so please disregard this post.

If you haven't already .. I highly recommend that you take a look (or another look) at Bob W's web site for a visual of what I'm referring to. You'll have to scroll quite a way down after following this link but it's there.http://www.cnccookbook.com/CCMillCNCHome.html

gd.marsh

[Flenser]

Wood - the other metal. You'll find it in any materials handbook somewhere between convenient and dirt cheap

Thanks for the tool holder info guys. I promise to take some pics. I'm using the ceramic inserts for the same reason I used the wood, they were cheap, about $0.08 each.

Actually though, when I turned the ball screws for the lathe, I ruined 2 carbide inserts before I gave up and broke out the grinder. They were cheap Chinese inserts, and I was (am) a complete newbie, so maybe I'll risk another try on the ball screws for the mill.

Jeff

[Flenser]

Flenser,

Can I suggest that the block you made though ingenious in solving a problem, is actually the wrong gender for what you want to accomplish?

The oil grooves need to be cut into the the X,Y,Z saddles on the surface that mates to where your showing your block will cut. Also they need to stop short of each end of the saddle. That way the oil will be for lack of a better word 'contained' within the groove and not be able to escape out the ends and just run everywhere.

Am I looking at something backwards? Or not thinking this all the way through? If so please disregard this post.

If you haven't already .. I highly recommend that you take a look (or another look) at Bob W's web site for a visual of what I'm referring to. You'll have to scroll quite a way down after following this link but it's there.http://www.cnccookbook.com/CCMillCNCHome.html

gd.marsh

Ouch, thanks. You aren't missing something, I definitely have it backwards. And I spent all that money on the material for the block, too.

Jeff

[gd.marsh]

Never know when you might need a handy wood block for something .. I've got many shapes and sizes that were orig. planned for something else!

[Flenser]

I figure I'll need that block to test fit the other blocks I have to make. It wasn't a mistake at all, honest...

Let's see... I know Hoss just made his own timing pulleys. But I have to take my little successes where ever I can. I was happy to just get mine bored to the right size...

[Flenser]

I still need to make the top plate to hold the insert down, but here's what I came up with for an insert holder.

Jeff

[BobWarfield]

That ought to work. You just need to get past the hardened skin, which isn't very thick. Once you are, I'd do the final finish fit with a little more elegant insert.

Cheers,

BW

[Flenser]

I still need to order or make a threading insert, too. I'm half hoping I can grind one of the chipped ceramic inserts into one.

Jeff

[mattmark]

hey jeff,

great to see your own thread - and wow, that is a lot of inserts.. good to see the different ways that you're going to get use out of them..

nothing to add at the moment... love the dovetail of wood, and i'm glad gary caught the potential cut of the ways.

matt

[hoss2006]

I still need to order or make a threading insert, too. I'm half hoping I can grind one of the chipped ceramic inserts into one.

Jeff

Ceramics don't like interrupted cutting as in the ballscrew turning, they are very brittle
and are easy to chip.
Not something I care to do with my $10 apiece inserts, but you have SO many for next to nothing, I wouldn't worry about it.
A diamond wheel will cut the ceramics although slowly, keep dipping into water.
I wouldn't bother making a threading tool with the ceramics, just too brittle,
I gave up using carbide threading inserts for the same reason, nothing worse
than it snapping one during a pass and buggering up the threads.
I bought one of these Aloris threading blades and made my own holder.
I'll be dead and gone before it ever wears out.
http://www.aloris.com/index.php/page...20Inserts.html
Hoss

[Flenser]

I had thought about breaking a ceramic threading insert, but hadn't really thought about the consequences. Now that you mention, though, I would be rather unhappy about one breaking in the middle of threading a ball screw... Getting the inserts so cheap may have screwed with my common sense a little

I really like those threading blades. I initially made a threading tool from a stock piece of HSS, but haven't gotten it quite right. It does the job, but I always end up with small nicks in the threads every couple of turns. I was hoping with the lathe CNC'd now I could take lighter cuts for a better finish. Have to try it some day, but not on the ball screws... I just ordered the Aloris blade with the tool holder from Grainger. Thanks for the tip, Hoss.

Jeff

[Flenser]

The ball screws arrived today, and I'm not real happy with what I got. The deal was the ball nuts would be shipped separately, so I wouldn't have to deal with removing them to machine the screws. Short of magic, there's no way to get a mount between the nuts. You would think someone would notice.

Fortunately, I happen to have some aluminum tubing the right size to transfer the nuts. Anyway, knowing what a worker's life is like in China at the moment, I'm a little reluctant to complain.

[Flenser]

A brief update. There just isn't enough time in the day. The arrival of the ball screws gave me some incentive to get something done. The plan was to make the mount for the z-axis motor and pulleys. In the whole hour and twenty minutes I had to work, this is as far as I got.

[Flenser]

I finally got around to mounting one of the ballscrews in the lathe.

I made the mistake of using PVC to make a sleeve around the ballscrew. It slipped despite the slot I cut in the side and all the torque I could put on the chuck screws. I need to make one from aluminum before I do anything else.

I used a PVC junction box fitting on the back of the spindle to keep the ballscrew centered. I also found an end mill container lying around that just happened to fit the ballnuts, so I won't be reloading the things manually this time.