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IndustryArena Forum > MetalWorking Machines > Benchtop Machines > Just Finished My New LMS HiTorque Mini Mill Conversion
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  1. #1

    Just Finished My New LMS HiTorque Mini Mill Conversion

    I bought my Little Machine Shop HiTorque Mini Mill on 11/15/2010 and used it immediately making some parts that I have been having trouble finding. I thought this is great as long as I only need to make straight cuts. So I began investigating what it would take to convert this little mill to CNC. I was surprised to find that it involved little more than buying the parts from a couple of companies and less than a month later I’m making chips!

    On December 12, 2010 I ordered the Kit #4 (with the LMS Upgrade + Preloaded ball screws) from CNC Fusion. The next day I ordered the Monster Kit (three 400 oz steppers) from Probotix. The Kit from Probotix arrived about three days after I ordered it! The parts from CNC Fusion took 16 days which was pretty darned fast since they are made to order and it was Christmas time. I also had to collect miscellaneous parts like a box to house the electronics, fuse holders, stand-offs and mounting screws, etc.

    I decided to replace the plastic electronics box that came with the mill with a larger aluminum box (12” x 12” x 3”) that would hold everything. I mounted a 90mm 120v box fan on the rear of the case to keep it cool inside and wired the new power supply and the fan up to the switch in the mill so everything is controlled by one switch. I was able to find the same black plastic conduit as the mill comes with but finding the same connectors proved impossible. Chris Wood at LMS said that he has them on order from China so I will replace the six non matching connectors when the nicer ones arrive.

    I also provided space for a CNC controlled 4th axis which I will be adding very soon. I still haven’t decided on which unit to purchase.

    I have a very small shop area (4’ x 10’) so every inch counts as you can see by the photo there is probably no flood cooling system in my future. You can see part of my Harbor Freight 7 x 10 lathe to the right of the mill. That was the first mini machine that I acquired and I found it at a garage sale. The guy selling it thought it was broken, but it only needed a tune-up, so I paid almost nothing for it.

    This machine building project was so much fun that I am getting ready to build another one for a friend!

    Major components used:
    • Little Machine Shop HiTorque Mini Mill
    • CNC Fusion Kit #4
    • 3-Axis Monster Stepper Motor Driver Kit (three 400 oz steppers)


  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    2580

    Looks grea man....

    Just a couple thoughts, I would think that your monitor would get all covered with cutting fluid, chips, drill bit chips flying around and just basically get in the way where it is, can ya move it a little higher out of the way of flying debris? Second , what is that white thing wired sitting on your table, an ipod? A cool new pendant? Inquiring minds wanna know... I am sure that 400 oz in steppers will move that little mill with authority so you should be good that way... Now all ya gotta do is make some super cool parts with it and post pics of them here so we can all ooh and aah!! Nice job, clean control cabinet, and maybe you can hookup an air blower or mister for machining. Running dry leaves a lot to be desired in aluminum let me tell ya. If you do a mister you can control the amount of fluid that comes out usually and the air blast will clear the chips which is half the battle really. Anyways, nice job and good luck with it... peace

    Pete

  3. #3

    Thanks for the comments!

    The monitor is on an arm that extends the monitor completely out of the way. I brought it close in for the photo. That white thing (I just ordered a black one) is a mini touchpad/keyboard. I do all my programming in my nice comfortable office so the CNC computer keyboard gets little use. Next to it is a ZBot pendant which works great for manual control. And yes I do use a mister and do cut a lot of aluminum and prefer a nice smooth finish as opposed to grisly chip gouged dry cut. You would be surprised at all of the stuff I have crammed into my little mini shop. I also have a ten gallon compressor and a five foot tall rolling tool cabinet. I don't dare gain an extra pound of weight or I won't fit.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    2580

    Ooh ooh...

    tell me more about the pendants... I gotta get me one of them too soon. Looks cool man!! peace

    Pete

  5. #5

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    2580

    Thanks man...

    Those look really cool but I think that keyboard will be problematic with my sausage fingers at best. the pendant is cool tho.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Posts
    127
    FWIW: I opted for the XBOX 360 controller pendant option with MACH3, VERY NICE!!! < $30.00

    http://www.cnczone.com/forums/615906-post4.html
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Xbox.jpg  

  8. #8

    That's pretty cool..

    But mine starts off already black!!!

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    2580

    If I am not mistaken you can get.....

    You can get the Xbox 360 controller in black too. BTW how do you like that controller, I have seen others using it and it seems pretty cool. My only dig is I often am toggling back and forth between continuous jog and incremental jog and changing the spindle speed which I would think would require a keyboard input. Is there a way to do it without the keyboard, IE perhaps setting multiple stepped speed ranges like the incremental or step jog only with the spindle speeds? That would be cool.... Then a cycle start and an Estop on it and you would be golden.... Peace

    Pete

  10. #10

    Jog Dial

    The ZBot is very programmable. The last button I have programmed as a e-stop. There are an inner and outer ring on the shuttle control (like a video editor) the inner has a finger indent and is programmed as the fine increment step. The outer ring is the fast increment and will toggle between fast and verry fast. I don't know about cycle start (I'll bet it does though)

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Posts
    139
    Very nice . Some results of feed rates and rapids with those green monsters would be nice . Maybe a video too ? Was also wondering how you chose to wire the Monsters . With 8 wires they give all sorts of options .

    I havent seen the xbox deal in any threads . Didnt even know that was an option on mach3 . Too cool . I was looking at the penants at CNC4PC . $180 . I like using a wheel for movement cause thats what I use at work . But at $30 I think I could get used to the xbox controler . Do you have any tips for how it is wired ? Can a geckog540 do it too ? Can you use analog as well as the arrow keys ?

    CNC4PC

    I built a bench the same way . Was trying to figure out some type of platform for mounting . I will eventualy do a shroud around the sides and back like yours . I figure if we are using coolant and oil on the machine the wood should be sealed with something to prevent swelling .

    I found a grizzly 10x22 on craigslist a month back for $600 . I saw it at work on a sunday and called monday . It was gone in one day .

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Posts
    7063
    The VistaCNC pendants are very nice for the money, and very versatile. When I got mine about 18 months ago, I ditched their plug-in (it didn't work with the SmoothStepper), and wrote a macropump driver for it that supports all the plug-in features, plus some. If you search the archives, you'll find where I posted the driver.

    IMHO, an MPG is a must-have for any pendant. It makes doing "manual" machining soooooooo much better, as you can have full manual control, but constant velocity on each cut.

    Regards,
    Ray L.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Posts
    127
    It is USB plugged into your computer,Should work fine with your 540 controller. I have never used an MPG so I cant compair to the XBOX controller,However I really like it !!! very customizable....really like throttle action of the two triggers on the front when jogging. If you set mach to lets say 10% jog speed and want to go faster just pull the trigger just like a throttle.

    its a plug in for mach and its free

    http://www.machsupport.com/plugins.php

    Rob

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Posts
    4415
    I have the Contour Shuttle that I use as a pendant. It works excellent. I also have a Cnc4Pc unit, I like the physical qualities of the pendant but having to use a second PP and losing keyboard control while using my pendant sucks. With the Contour Shuttle I still retain all of the keyboard controls at all times. The installation of the second PP seemed to slow my computers reponse times down too.

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