Hello,
I have pretty old mill and it's ways need reconditioning. I have come to conclusion that outsourcing the work is not possible. Way too expensive and involved to work companies that really don't want to cater hobbyist. Ways need to be milled/ground to acceptable accuracy, now they have serious wear and that produces almost 0,4 mm dip in the 500 milled distance....I would be happy with 0,02 - 0,04 mm planar inaccuracy on 500 mm distance. Nothing impossible.
Ofcourse I could scrap it and start looking for a little less used, but here mills that are way better are really big industrial ones. Small hobby size (like bridgeport or such) are not often available and they are really expensive when they are.
So before scrapping my scrappy mill I might as well try fixing it and if I break it, I least learn something. Amount of metal removal necessary excludes manual scraping. I need to use power tools.
I have seen magnetic drills and mills bit like this on sites I used to go to:
http://www.hydratight.com/sites/default/files/products/images/geniSYS_II_milling_machine_product1.jpgI never seen an linear portable mill, but apparently there are some:
http://www.hydratight.com/sites/default/files/products/images/geniSYS_II_milling_machine_product1.jpghttp://cdn.powermag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/520004de14df6-Linear_Mill_-_Gantry_Mill.jpegNow the interesting design question: How to build "frame" which is a) bolted to milling machine frame to mill/grind milling machine upright flat ways straight, b) to mount that will hold table and it has dovetail ways, c) possibly knee.
Knee I might be able to farm out for milling least, maybe even grinding, but table is way too big.
I have been checking as much as I can without dismantling the milling machine (I need that on this condition to make some parts) and interestingly looks like there are part of the ways that still has original scraping left, I could use them as a reference to record shape of the ways and keep book how much screws and mounts have to moved to fit all parts together.
I considered plasma cut steel parts and welding....fast and easy, but I don't have immediate ways of heat treating them. I know that those structures have no long term stability, but for one-off work how much they live in a day/two time span? Or do they spring which ever way and live all the time during the stress of milling/grinding (not the rig/frame) but part?
I'm not considering concrete in any form. Makes a real mess on reuse of the metals and it shrinks first 400 years, first very much.
Most I'm considering hot rolled steel, minimal machining and all bolted joints.
I may be able to persuade one machine designer to give go/no-go advice on dimensions and such. Plan is to use some parts I have all ready and build bare minimum of structure/tools I will not have much use after.
Pekka