A few pics of my shop...

[HS93]

whats up with the PC need any bits ?

Peter

[Divided he ad]

Hi Dennis, Peter    I'll be posting pictures as soon as I can get near a real computer. I know it's a little boring without 

My phone is doing quite well but slow typing and typos needing attention. Very awkward getting pic's sorted too.

The computer won't even boot up! I think it needs the nerd touch!  If I hadn't just purchased the DROs I'd have just got a new computer!


Still, DROs are brilliant 

Ralph.

[lordedmond]

Ralph

these are cheap for a simple PC not sure how much power you need

A mate has one as they are local and it runs well and quiet

http://www.web-systems.co.uk/?page=Computers


£ 125 approx for a base and £175 in monitor   note you buy the OS but you have that from the due one  

Stuart

[andyf]

Last month, I replaced a 12 year old desktop and its bulky monitor with a £150 second-hand setup from here: http://www.computerclearances.co.uk/ .

Came with XP Pro and Open Office installed, R/W DVD drive and wireless card. The specs didn't mention a floppy drive, and though one was fitted, it wasn't connected so I fitted the cables out of the old machine and that got it it going. No audio amplifier, so I had to buy a pair of cheap speakers with integral amp to hear anything. 

So far, I'm chuffed to bits with it.

Andy

[Divided he ad]

Well.... I just spent about an hour writing a full blown post on my works and it got erased when my mum's computer decided to shut down IE8... POS! 
So here we go again!




Thanks for the tips fellas, will look into them if my tech nerd fails (shouldn't do.) at least I have every picture and video saved on 2 external hard drives


Now, on to the mill....


First was to butcher a few of the brackets provided with the DROs....



In the instructions it has all sorts of jiggery pokery with a finger/dial gauge... I opted for a different approach, being so damn lazy!   

My little Wixey digital angle meter. accurate to 0.1 of a degree will do me.  (thanks for the batteries John  )
This approach will work just fine as it's set to zero on the mill table and then used to make sure the brackets are square to the table.







The rear mounting plate for the 2 part shield is fitted, the good thing about this is it is the mountig plate for the scales with the holes pre drilled and tapped.
So once it is in position the scales should be too... Checked with the wixey .... Spot on!




My mill foot is angled so I needed to set the bracket away at the top till it was plumb with the mill table.
Using the wixey on it's side it was zeroed on the mill table and then the plate moved out at the top till it read zero, making it the same. It needed an ~3mm gap at the top so 2 pieces of 1/8 HSS steel were employed as packers and once they were wriggled into position and all was tight it was checked again with the wixey.

This is actually plumb with the mill table!




Another bracket butchered and the drop bracket and spacer are created and fitted...







The rear scale is fitted in much the same way but I had to fab up a new bracket from scratch to fit around the oil nipples and
fit to existing holes since I couldn't get the drill in without removing the mill's column.... Erm, no chance!




Can we say "bodge it and scarper clamping method" ?  Well doesn't everyone use a piece of 6mm threaded bar in a pinch




Fitted. ready for test (see above posts for that! )




Last bit of fab'n'fit, the mounting of the head. There is absolutely no where on my mill to fit the mounting bracket.
so it's on the wall with it!












And my first attempt at programing. The pocket mill feature. Shallow as a test on a bit of the left over bracket they supplied.....worked a treat!









Well, that's it. Now for a bit of round tuit catch up...










Ralph.

[Bogstandard]

Nice one Ralph, your machining accuracy has just got at least 100% better, despite the cobbled up jobs on the brackets (I did the same with a couple of mine).

I found it bliss not having to compensate for backlash, and as you have seen how I work, the handles and their scales are never looked at, I rely purely on the truthfulness of all my Sino DRO's, and not once have they let me down.

BTW, put the protective cover on the display head, they really do keep it protected from swarf and keeps it nice and clean from those grubby fingers poking it all the time.


John

[Divided he ad]

Cheers John,

Lots to get to grips to!

The cover is on now too, went on shortly after pic was taken.

I'm away on a course for work for the next two days so no playing 

But will get some new stuff made soon. And all barely looking at the cutter or the work 



Ralph.

[PeeWee]

Looking good there Ralph,  hoping to install mine shortly 

[Anzaniste]

Mine arrived from Singapore and after 4 weeks no bill for any duty etc even though the box was opened by HMG as witnessed by the special sticky tape they closed the package with. Having been on hols for three weeks I cant see when, in the near future, I will get round to understanding how to install it on the Centec.

[DennisWA]

Ralph....Thanks for the quick pictures despite your computer sagas.
Well done on your install and first milling job  I'm sure milling will be a load more fun and faster to boot. 

cheers
Dennis

[lordedmond]

Ralph

In your pic of the head unit on the wall with the cable clipped up and the unit plugged in,   I do not see a ground wire from the Head unit to the mill , maybe not required for your unit , but my Newall has to have one ( they are quite specific about this ) , yes the head unit is fed from a power brick so is double insulated, the reason given is that it cleans up the reader signals .

just a point but might be worth checking


Stuart

[Divided he ad]

Thank you Ian, I'm still interested in the swithing system you talked about too...  a few photo's would be good 


Anzaniste, watch out for the bit where the invoice comes through the door! They have had me that way in the past.The invoice turned up a few weeks later! 
Hope it all goes well though. A few pic's in your thread wil be good too.  I've still not done much at the mo' I've been so very busy these last few weeks 


Hi Dennis, Hopefully it will be a lot of fun.. Tomorrow is ear marked for learning to program PCDs and test a few ideas out too 
Glad you  liked the pic's. It really was a mission getting them up here, and when the computer crashed and I lost the whole first post....    and the air was blue too! 


Stuart, Thanks for the nudge, I had fitted the lead when Iwas trying to get it to work but when it made no difference I removed it!
There was no mention of it by Allendale when I was trying to find out diagnostic hints? But I will look back over the instructions and see what it's all about.
Cleaner signals can't be bad 






Here's to a bit of fun and accurate machining 






Ralph.

[DMIOM]

Ralph - just one little note ....

....In the instructions it has all sorts of jiggery pokery with a finger/dial gauge... I opted for a different approach, ........My little Wixey digital angle meter. accurate to 0.1 of a degree will do me. ....... This approach will work just fine as it's set to zero on the mill table and then used to make sure the brackets are square to the table........

Levels of various sorts are great to trim the scales in roll and pitch, but can't help in yaw.  With, for example, the Y scale, by using the level you can take out any vertical twist and and difference in height front-to-back; but what the level can't assess is if the two points on the base casting that the scale is mounted to are genuinely parallel to the Y axis. What you really need to do is to mount the scale base to the mill's base casting; run the table all the way over to the left as it is your first photos, and pop a mag mount indicator on the end of the table with the finger running on the scale base, and then run the table back and forth in Y - you may well find you have to shim the front or back end of the scale to get it true.  (BTW, when I fitted these same scales to my Warco GH mill, I fitted the Y scale to the left of the base so as to leave free access to the gib lock screws).

Dave

[Divided he ad]

Hi Dave,

I understand what you are saying bout the guages.

I'll look at it tomorrow when I'm in the workshop. No harm in checking.


I couldn't fit to the left hand side of the mill as the power feed unit is there. I can still access the locking screws quite easily though.... That's why the bracket is fitted to the back edge of the bed.




Ralph.

[Bogstandard]

Ralph,

The standard practice for these sorts of mounts is to drill a hole in each corner and put a grub screw into each hole.

Then with the main clamp screws just tweaked up, and using the jacking grub screws, you can level the holding bar very accurately against almost any uneven surface.

The main clamp bolts don't have to be super tight, as very little force is required to move the heads, but if you are worried about it bending the mounting rail, you put more grub screw holes in strategic locations that are just tweaked up to touch after the four corner mounts have the rail perfectly level and vertical in all planes.

John

[John Stevenson]

Just what Bogs says, I have the air lift cylinder on my bandsaw mounted that was and it's onto a rough casting at about a 15 degree angle but the mounting is vertical.

John S.

[Divided he ad]

Ok, so you guys have much more smarts than me     

I'll have to investigate and see what I find. It does appear to be working perfectly now that it has no bits of swarf stuck in the plug!


If I check it and all is good I'll probably leave it alone. No point in fixing what ain't broke!  If it needs tweeks I will insert jacking points and go from there 


You might have thought that the manufacturer would have put such things in place? Or at least suggested it in the instructions?! 






Anywho, been playing quite happily over the last few days (henceposts at 4am!... Lost track of time!) Steady yourselves.... Nearing completion of my rocking engine!! Only started it about a year or so ago    no pic's yet though.... Still computerless 






Ralph.

[Bogstandard]

If I check it and all is good I'll probably leave it alone. No point in fixing what ain't broke!

You are quite correct Ralph.

I only showed that because it is standard practice when mounting things onto uneven or angled surfaces. Now everyone knows the secret.


John

[Davo J]

There are manufacturers of these cheaper DRO's supplying backing plates with jacking screws. I think my Meister manual has it in it but never come supplied with back plates.
When I installed mine, I used jacking screws on both the reader head and scale as the brackets where welded up and you cant always get them perfectly true.

I perfect spot for them would have been on your Y axis instead of using packers.

Dave