Author Topic: Mill Dial Gauge Mount.  (Read 3413 times)

Offline Joules

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Mill Dial Gauge Mount.
« on: February 13, 2020, 11:10:03 AM »
Another quick project for the little horizontal mill.  When not used for turning !!!  it still has to earn its keep doing horizontal milling.   As I am trying to add DRO for the table, it seems a reasonable idea to add something for Z, the simplest being a cheap 25mm travel digital dial gauge.  I designed a mount in CAD to take into account the available fasteners I had, M2.5  I was a little too ambitious with my clearance on the small end and the print did crack once the bush was installed, a bit of welding sorted it out.

This shows pretty much how I made the small bushes in aluminium for this project.  First operation once I had my collet block installed in the lathe was to drill the tapping hole for the bush.  Initial start is with a small centre drill, there after we just break through for the next part to be made so the centre isn't then needed.  My second operation, tap the material, this is really to ensure that the final turning brings me to size, if I tapped after all the turning at this scale the part could bulge and crack the 3D print if it wasn't skimmed again.  LOL, I cracked one anyway.

The third operation was to get the maximum outer diameter for the part and set the overall length.  Stock material is 6.35mm and this operation is aiming for 4.75mm x 7.5mm length.  Fourth operation brings the part diameter down to 3.4mm x 5.5mm to pass into the 3D part, at the same time I chamfer the two corner edges with a needle file so they don't snag the print when inserted.  Each bush is installed using my "Precision Knocker"  They are a firm fit, and at this size ±0.1mm will crack the print or leave the bush spinning.

The finished bracket with dial gauge installed ready to be mounted on the mill.  I will have a moveable rod (same as the Taig mill) fixed to the mill knee so I can adjust.

Still lots to do on the little mill, whilst I have the free time to play.




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Offline efrench

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Re: Mill Dial Gauge Mount.
« Reply #1 on: February 14, 2020, 01:21:26 PM »
A captured nut would save all that wear and tear on the horizontal mill :)