[mrcodewiz]

I turned the ball screws a couple weeks ago but didn't have a chance to do much else until today. I don't have a boring head so a lot of stuff went from the mill to the lathe to make the pockets and through holes the right size.... I have all the flat stuff done. Tomorrow I'll start on the round stuff.



I am planning on finishing the Z-axis ballscrew mount once I get the conversion done as I cant fit it on my lathe and its too big for my rotary table so I have no way to make the pocket.



















I messed up the left brace a little but it turns out my mill must not be made the same as Hoss'? I have this bar that runs down the side with a ruler on it (see next pic)

[tooManyHobbies]

Looks like a good start!

Whose ball screws did you buy?

tom

[mrcodewiz]

They are the Rotons. I read the pros and cons of them vs. others but I'm hoping they are good enough. I'll find out once I get it together - worst case I guess I put in different screws later.

[tauntdesigns]

Nice lathe work!

How was the turning of the ballscrews, easy...... hard?
I'm starting on some tomorrow (X and Z axis) for my lathe conversion.
Did you thread them on a lathe or use a die?

Again, Nice Work!
Jack

[mrcodewiz]

I cheated. I annealed the ends first. I should have taken a picture but I got a tall bucket and rigged up a way to stand the ballscrew on end inside. I then filled the bucket with water right up to the point that the threading started, heated it to bright red, and slowly let it cool. It cut like butter after that - I went through a several inserts before I decided to anneal them.


Oh and I forgot to mention - I bought the stock kit from Hoss. That was one thing that was holding me back for a while - trying to source all of that. So thanks again, Hoss.

[tauntdesigns]

Thanks for the tip,

I don't have a bucket that tall......... I may try to wrap the screw with wet rags and then heat the end. If that doesn't work, I'll hunt down a bucket/barrel for the job.

Thanks again for the tip,
Jack
P.S. I ground down a ring around the screw stock and then tried to cut it with a bandsaw. The screw just laughed at that, 'poor little saw'.

[cadmonkey]

I made a mount to run my angle grinder (pneumatic) on my lathe and kind of an IV drip of cutting fluid and ground to just below the threads. Once you're through the case hardening, they don't cut too bad. I was able to square up the shoulders nicely with a trashed threading bit (I use brazed toolbits till I get around to getting a quickchange toolpost) and the rest was pretty straightforward.

The one advantage is that you'll end up with a harder end to clamp onto the stepper with than if you anneal it.

[tooManyHobbies]

They are the Rotons. I read the pros and cons of them vs. others but I'm hoping they are good enough. I'll find out once I get it together - worst case I guess I put in different screws later.

That's what I want to use too. Let us know how they work out!

Are you following the conversion exactly or are you changing it any way?
I want to go this route too, but I don't have access to a lathe for the parts that need one. I'm gonna check out the machinist we use at work.

tom

[mrcodewiz]

That's what I want to use too. Let us know how they work out!

Are you following the conversion exactly or are you changing it any way?
I want to go this route too, but I don't have access to a lathe for the parts that need one. I'm gonna check out the machinist we use at work.

tom

I am pretty much following it to a T. If you have a boring head, you may be able to do everything on the mill (except for the ballscrews themselves). I mainly used the lathe to bore the holes to size since I don't have a boring head.

[mrcodewiz]

I finished all of the round stuff (except for the stepper handles) and got the X/Y assembled. Hopefully I will test it with the PC tonight.

Man, I need a better camera - the phone camera doesn't work too well.

Setup for cutting the ballnut corners down:


Halfway there


X/Y steppers on

[tooManyHobbies]

I am pretty much following it to a T. If you have a boring head, you may be able to do everything on the mill (except for the ballscrews themselves). I mainly used the lathe to bore the holes to size since I don't have a boring head.

I'm not sure I'd tackle the ball screws even if I did have a lathe! I'm too new at this!

I want to get a boring head anyway, so might as well do it now. (I still haven't received my X2 from HF!) But I couldn't use a mill for the upper and lower Z flanges, could I?

tom (who hates being a newb!)

[mrcodewiz]

Z flanges?

[tooManyHobbies]

Actually, upper & lower Z flanges!
http://www.hossmachine.info/images/c...ed_800x461.jpg

From his conversion page: http://www.hossmachine.info/cnc_conversion.html

tom

[mrcodewiz]

Actually, upper & lower Z flanges!
http://www.hossmachine.info/images/c...ed_800x461.jpg

From his conversion page: http://www.hossmachine.info/cnc_conversion.html

tom

Weeeell... that's interesting. I didn't make those yet. No, those would be pretty difficult on the mill. Guess I wasn't as done as I thought. I'll have to get those cut out tonight.

[mrcodewiz]

Now that I am looking at that picture, I'm not sure I'm getting it. Does anyone have a picture of a completed upper flange?