Yet another Mini mill dro upgrade

[John Rudd]

Thought I'd share with you all my mods to my mini mill..

I'm adding some scales to make machining a little easier...

Here's my mill which I'm sure many will have seen before..

[John Rudd]

On to the hardware....

I bought my scales from a well known Ebayer, ordered Sunday and arrived on Tuesday morning...

[John Rudd]

I'm currently adding scales to the X and Y axis for the time being...

As for plans I'm using the TLAR approach and a bit of help from some photos I came across ( thanks for posting up pictures of yours Chris )

So onto some metal butchery...

X axis mounting blocks and the bracket for the lug for the Y axis scale.....



Although cut to size , the blocks require the holes drilling for mounting.
I'll do that after finishing all the machining ops with the milling cutters..Saves a lot of swapping about.

[John Rudd]

Next up, blanks cut ready for machining the Y axis mounting brackets...

Rough to size with my trusty chop saw, these are ready for machining in the mill then its drill out the holes time...



More to follow....

[tumutbound]

I'm going through the same process myself so I'll keep an eye on your progress.

I planned to finish it off this evening but watched the Federal election results instead.
Machining would have been much more interesting.

Edit: Started my own thread.http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=3503.0

[j45on]

Great work 

Who is the "well known Ebayer" and what sizes did you purchase ?
Please keep the info coming guys this is something I would like to do to my mini mill

[John Rudd]

Great work 

Who is the "well known Ebayer" and what sizes did you purchase ?
Please keep the info coming guys this is something I would like to do to my mini mill

Jason,

The seller was Amadeal, he advertises on Ebay...

I bought an 8 in and a 12in scale for my mill...The orig plans were from Fignoggle but I was going by Chris's photos for dimensions..( That Looks About Right..TLAR)

[raynerd]

Hi John, glad my pictures came in useful. I have also enjoyed using mine much more since purchasing a second hand Shumatech 350 DRO. I know the new Shumatech has quite recently been released so I don`t know if these are starting to appear yet second hand at good value? I think there is a picture of the DRO on my thread.

As I said to you earlier, the only thing that I find a bit of a pain is the Y axis scale gets in the way of the locking handle and same with the X axis to some extent.

Keep the pics of the progress coming!

Chris

[raynerd]

John,  where did you get your slick chrome handles from....mine are just  black plastic things!

[John Rudd]

John,  where did you get your slick chrome handles from....mine are just  black plastic things!

Chris

They were standard fitment to my mill when I bought it from Chester UK..
I think since then, the handles were a change to original design....

[John Rudd]

Ok, more effort put in today......

I stripped the mill into its many parts to facilitate the install of the brakcets..Some drilling and tapping needed here and I wasnt looking forward to it...Having no other means of drilling the holes I had to figure out a way of doing this..

Easy answer...make a drilling guide.. 

I had a spare piece of 16mm thick plate, so I drilled a hole through it (3.3mm ) to guide the twist drill..Duly clamped to the mill table, I succeeded in drilling and tapping...

So first the right side...

[John Rudd]

Finishing with the left...



and with the scales offered...but with a minor problem..

[j45on]

Can these scales be cut to length ?

[tumutbound]

My X axis mounts have a slot to put the scale body in instead of using the metal brackets that came with the scale.
That way, you don't have to cut the scale or rely on it being the exact length.

[fatal-exception]

Can these scales be cut to length ?

Yes. Just make sure you cut off the correct end.

[John Rudd]

Can these scales be cut to length ?

Yes. Just make sure you cut off the correct end.

Which end would that be then?

[No1_sonuk]

Can these scales be cut to length ?

Yes. Just make sure you cut off the correct end.

And be prepared for it to take a while - They're hardened stainless steel.

[tumutbound]

Which end would that be then?

The end that too long - obviously