Hey Guys,
It's been a while since I've posted here. I've been quite busy lately revising my homemade 3-axis mill.
Previously It had a dovetail saddle and table, this new revision has THK 15mm rails in place of those lousy dovetails. The difference is incredible. The table is very rigid, and I've gotten the backlash down to under a thou in both X and Y axis (oversized ballscrew balls) The machines rapid is now 210IPM which is the most my G540 will support with 5tpi ballscrews. The old noisy geared treadmill motor for the spindle has been replaced with a HiTorque mini mill motor and controller and synchronous belt drive, which is controlled by Mach3. In the past I've always had problems with chip guarding on the rear side of the Y-axis. I solved this by using U-shaped accordion bellows from Mcmaster Carr. The front Y-axis cover is made from some 1/16" stainless that I tig'd together. The machine has full swarf guarding on the table and home switches for all three axis. Anyways here's a photo of the mill and a video of it doing a test cut.
Homemade CNC Mill 3/4" Bore Test - YouTube
Mike