[Hawkeye]

I am a scrounger and pack rat by heart, and after looking around the house, I found the perfect solution for my spindle shaft.

This is a 2 foot 1/2 inch breaker bar that I had 6 of. It is already solid hardened steel, and all I will have to do is cut it to the correct length and cut off about half way up the handle (this will be the new head for my chuck) and mill a little of the crome off so that the bearings will fit.

[Hawkeye]

I also had some scrap 3/4" stanless steel tubing laying around. 2 of them are about 3" longer than I need for the guide rails for both the mill and lathe.

Here is the SS Tube, Bearings, and the cut Breaker Bar I'm going to use as my new spindle shaft. (Note I haven't cut the handle to length yet).

[Hawkeye]

I will be needing a few more bearings so I'll go out and get them this week. Luckily the bearings all had their numbers printed on them, so it shouldn't be a problem matching them up.
More pics to come as I progress.

[snokid]

looking at your design and the other guy's design wouldn't it be easier to make a different quill than to use the colum as a slide?

seems like the colum would be kind of sloppy, and you could make the quill as tight as you want.

but I do like this concept.

Bob

[Hawkeye]

There will actually be another shaft (the stanless steel tubing) that will be mounted to the back for alignment purposes. I think the process of making another quill would be more involved than just making a solid drive shaft with the housing being able to move. The quill in the drill press only alows about 2 1/2 - 3" of travel. If you made the quill longer, it would mean have the Drive shaft sticking further out the top. Meaning you would have to re-mount the motor higher up throwing off the center of balance. I am no engineer, but in my honest opinion, it is just easier to make the drive shaft staionary and the housing movable. If you have any further ideas on making a new quill I would like to hear/see them.

Thanks,
George

[DaDukeofoz]

George,
Your wife is going to KILL you for doing all that work on the kitchen table ...
Your link to the previous site is most useful. I'm looking forward to seeing your finished project.

[.::Jonesy:]

g-day,
great work, i built somthing similar a few years back with a friend, it was not CNC and used alot ofthe standard drill press parts, it was lost in a fire at his place but it was no loss as it was quite slopy and not the most acurate, ok for wood work etc.
I Also liked the page link above especialy where it lists making new shaft as this would have solved all the slopy chuck and ass parts on our model.
Looks like im on the serch for a cheap drill press again
Oh if anyone is interested try this website: http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/obuerkle/mill.htm
This is not as detailed and complex and probly a bit inacurate as his drill head does not seem to be held very well from rotation but it goes to show what can be built from very little.
Keep up the good work guys.
.::Jonesy::.

[svenakela]

Neat antibacklash solution.

http://www.pathcom.com/~vhchan/cnc/cnc_xy_mounting.jpg

--Sven

[.::Jonesy:]

A few questions concernig mills,
I have started looking for a S/H srill press in the size i need, i plan to follow the site Hawkeye mentioned and build something similar mainly depending on what is available at the time, i plan to convert to a mill, then once im happy with its operation set it up for cnc.
I have a few question though, on a milling machine it does not use a chuck like a drill or lathe, what is the apporiate name for the device which acts as a chuck and how does it suport what ever is placed within it, eg end mill, key chuck etc.
I have seen tapers mention eg #3MT (moarse taper??) is this it??.
Also i have seen vasrious tapers mentioned depending on the tooling used, and noticed that milling machines come with a certain taper, how does this work, is it anything like a chuck. By chuck i mean that the only differance between say a 1/4" and 1/2" chuck is that the later will except everthing the 1/4" does plus bits all the way up to 1/2". Or will say a 4mt only except bits designed for this taper. If so how does one decide what is the best taper for their needs.
Can a spindly except differant size tapers,as everwhere i have looked on DIY sites it says that they chose/built a spindle to suit a sertain taper??
Would i be better off using a small 3jaw lathe chuck or drll chuck or wont these suport end mills etc.
(moderators feel free to move this msg to a new thread etc if you dont think it fits hear.)
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
thanks
jonesy

[ViperTX]

Spindles are available with different tapers and there are taper adapters that adapt a MT3 to an R8 spindle, etc.

Generally mill spindles have a threaded bar that goes through the center of the spindle and screws into the end of a collet, end mill holder, etc. You could use a lathe chuck, but centering would be time consuming when changing cutters (mills). There are different type of adapters to handle drill chucks, slitting saws, face mills, etc.

[Hawkeye]

Well Back after a little vaction.
Still working on my mill at the same time building a CNC machine for wood. Will post updated pics as soon as I can.

[JSU]

I know this thread is really old...... do you have any updates?

[.::Jonesy:]

hi,
is there anyupdate on this, or can someone point me in the direction of other similiar projects.
thank you

[ZipSnipe]

Hey Hawkeye , Jonesy. The collet or the way an endmill is held is similar to the way a dremel bit is held except instead of the collar wrapping around the bit it has a bolt that comes down from the top and screw into either a collet or endmill holder. Here,s a link to my still ongoing project, I have taken my mill back apart three times now in the quest to make a rigid and precise mill. I have soaked up all the advice from the wise men here on the CNCZone. Originally I started to build a mill so I could learn more about working with metal but $750 bucks later I realized that to have a nice metal cutting mill , rigidness aka BEEF is where its at. So I,ve added and reworked heavier and more precisely cut metal into my mill. As for a wood mill hawkeye I would go for a high speed motor 5000 rpm is needed (mine spins at 3000 rpm and while it cuts wood it does not leave a good finish becuase its not spinning fast enough) oh yeah hers the link
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18992
My Manual small mill project - CNCzone.com-The Ultimate Machinist Community