[pepper]

Dear Forum Members.....Pretty much of a beginner when it comes to this area. Have been considering converting my small Unimat SL 1000 into a computerized engraver capable of reproducing fonts in soft metal or plastic. There are computerized engravers made by different companies that sell for a few grand. Looking for a cost effective system for the Unimat that will basically be able to reproduce the different fonts. Any suggestions, ideas, or direction will be appreciated. Perhaps there may be some manufacturers that may have a system for the Unimat that may work. Please feel free to email me direct if you like. Thank you all very much for your patience & understanding.

[The Wizard]

Hi Pepper,

Some people have converted Unimats to CNC but mostly in the lathe format.

I was in your situation a couple of months ago. I have a Unimat SL/DB200 and considered converting it to a CNC mill when a friend asked if I could make him a small quantity of circuit boards. After looking at a lot of the posts on here and studying the Unimat with a critical eye (I served my apprenticeship many years ago as a toolmaker and I hold the equivalent of a Canadian degree in engineering) I decided the Unimat in mill mode is just not capable of being converted to a viable CNC mill/router/engraver.

It lacks rigidity in the column which would only be made worse by the addition of the extra weight of the motors/drive on the head. It is also very restricted in it's travel in the Z direction (a little over 1"). The leadscrews would also require the addition of anti-backlash nuts to remove any 'slop' in the threads.

I finally decided that I was better off to build a new machine from scratch and my friend said he would pay for the parts if I make him his boards and I would have use of the machine in the 'off' time. I searched long and hard for plans and we even bought a set of plans from a well known name around here ( ) and while waiting for them to arrive I discovered a great set of plans right here on the 'Zone'! 'jgro' very kindly made his plans available to all and I used those as a basis for my machine. I made some changes to the length of the machine as I am 'space restricted' here and some small changes to the LS mounting and anti-backlash nuts. We have some parts in already and are about to order the motors/controller and bearings we need. Hopefully I will be able to start building in the next couple of weeks.

Once completed the machine should be capable of making circuit boards and be able to engrave plastics and route small wood projects. The operating size has been designed to accomodate US letter size projects (8.5" x 11") plus a bit with 4-5" of travel on the Z axis so that varying thicknesses of material can be machined.

IMHO you would be better off to look at a purpose built option rather than trying to convert the Unimat. I will be using my Unimat to make parts for the new machine wherever possible although a lot of the woodworking will have to be done in another friend's woodshop as I only have hand power tools here apart from the Unimat.

HTH and I hope I haven't burst your bubble......lol,

Larry

[pepper]

Hi Larry,

Your comments have been well received. This is exactly what I asked for :-). It is possible that I may have to consider on purchasing or having built a small mill that will be capable of doing what I had in mind.

I have a small manual motorized pantograph that I use for engraving from time to time. Problem is that the fonts for these machines are getting harder to find and quite costly for some of the fonts. This is where, even with all of its shortcomings and challenges, that I was hoping to be able to convert the Unimat into a computerized mill in order to reproduce some of the fonts that I would like to use, that is, one letter size at a time, so it could be used on the pantograph. Talk about making an easy solution hard, I guess, is what I may end up doing??

I like your idea of building a prototype mill from scratch. If you can keep us posted on how your machine works out. Once again, thank you for sharing your commentary. It sounds that your project should work out just fine.

Pete

[The Wizard]

I have a small manual motorized pantograph that I use for engraving from time to time. Problem is that the fonts for these machines are getting harder to find and quite costly for some of the fonts. This is where, even with all of its shortcomings and challenges, that I was hoping to be able to convert the Unimat into a computerized mill in order to reproduce some of the fonts that I would like to use, that is, one letter size at a time, so it could be used on the pantograph. Talk about making an easy solution hard, I guess, is what I may end up doing??

If you made/acquired a CNC engraver maybe you wouldn't have to use the pantograph at all. Your fonts would be almost limitless (providing they are suitable for engraving of course) as there is free software on the web to convert fonts to coding the machine understands. Maybe you could even sell the pantograph to cover some of the costs of converting to CNC. You would not be restricted to just fonts then either and could make engraved shapes as well as text.

I like your idea of building a prototype mill from scratch. If you can keep us posted on how your machine works out. Once again, thank you for sharing your commentary. It sounds that your project should work out just fine.

I expect to start building as soon as my next batch of parts arrive and I will start a thread on the 'Project Log' forum detailing the process so watch the daily posts...lol.

Larry

[williamkmc]

I am ready my plan to convert my unimat SL1000 to CNC lathe for making clock parts my own. Since SL1000 is not a powerful machine, thus, I am still doubt whether my plan is workable and felicitous for micro parts of clock & watch. Please feel free to give me suggestion and hope that I could make a ideal machine for clock repairing.

william