Building a milling machine

[Neubert1975]

first  post in here, but a lot af looking arround.

Thats some extremly nice work you have done there, congratulation with the machine.
I was on that route my self some 5-6 years back, hard work, but rewarding.

As for casting, i am doing a little of it my self, and decidet on a little different way to heat it.
i use a oil burner from a house heating system, for several reasons 1 gas is expencive here in Denmark 2 i dont feel that safe with gas.
the oil burner starts it self, if it goes out, it will try to restart, if not succedet it turns off automaticly, and best of all, i was for free 

ps. sorry if my english isent correct, the most i have lirned from tv and from using the internet.

[NormanV]

Thanks Neubert. I considered a central heating burner but was not able to source one. My gas blew out in the wind once and then reignited a few seconds later. I was surprised that it didn't blow the lid off considering the size if the bang!

[Neubert1975]

Hi NormanV
The thing with the gas blowing out, is actualy one og the reasons that i didnt wanted to use gas.
And the good thing for me is, that almost all oil burners in Dk are being replaced, beacuse they are to expencive to use.
But not realy that bad for a furnace, i think i use around 3 liters of diesel pr hour, and from cold, i can melt around 10Kg in one hour 

[Jonfb64]

Hi Neubert,

That is an interesting looking furnace you have their. Could you start a new post of your own with more details and photos for us casters out there.

 

Cheers

Jon

[Neubert1975]

Hi Jon
I sure could, it just have to wait some time, we are revating all 50 houses in the area i live in, so every thing is packed away and stacked.
and i defenetly must take come new pics, since it has changed a fair bit 

Regards
Martin

[NormanV]

An update on my milling machine.
I completed it over two years ago and it has seen some use since then, not daily but quite often. Most of my work has been with aluminium but strangely enough it seems to be more accurate when I am cutting steel. (maybe I am being more careful?) One thing that has pleased me is that I have not had to adjust the squareness of the head. I have always worried that when I am rather ambitious with the cut that I take and the cutter jams in the work that it will pull the head out of "tram" . That does not seem to have happened, The marks left by the cutter seem to be square. The biggest problem is the Z axis. For coarse adjustment I move the table and for fine adjustment can use the slide on the head. The leadscrew appears to be approx. 2mm pitch (note "approx.") I need to fit a digital readout to it but finances restrict my options.
Overall I am very pleased with my efforts, Definitely worth it!

[vtsteam]

Great to hear Norman. It's a fine thing to use a machine that you built yourself! 

[NormanV]

Yes, it certainly does feel good.

[vtsteam]

Honestly?

Collecting surface rust on all that hand scraping. Buried under bits and pieces of odd stuff like old lawnmower parts, house wire, trowels, etc.

 

[NormanV]

Oh woe is me!
After two years of using my milling machine I have a problem.
Twice in the past when taking a heavy cut the motor has cut out. I assumed this was a thermal cut-out in the speed controller as it sprang to life after leaving for some time to cool down.
Today it happened again, I have left it for a few hours but it refuses to work again.
Wiring this up was at the limit of my knowledge, trouble shooting it is a whole new ball game!
It is so frustrating, I am working on a new project that has come to a complete standstill. Wish me luck.

[awemawson]

Norman, do you know what type of motor it is? (DC with a chopping controller/ 3 phase AC with an inverter drive etc) I'm sure with a few specifics revealed we can sort it out between us 

(A few pictures of the motor and driver would help)

[NormanV]

Andrew, I am in awe of you skill at trouble shooting. I am not so good at it. I knew that I would be asked technical questions. Please wait until I am sober and I will have a look.

[awemawson]

.... sobriety doesn't always help 


 

[NormanV]

It's alive!

I finally got around to having a look at it. I took the cover off the speed controller and found a fuse that had blown. Fortunately I have a duplicate controller and tried the fuse from that. It is now working but obviously the fuse blew for a reason, I will see how this one holds out.

I can't understand the markings on the fuse cap, it is either P4/L250 or P4AL250, can anyone tell me what I need to ask for when I go to buy a replacement?

[Neubert1975]

glad you got it up and running again.
when doing a google search for P4AL250 it comes up with a 5x20mm slow250v 1A glas fuse, if thats the right one, they can be found in all electronic shops.

[NormanV]

Thanks Neubert, why didn't I think of Googling it?

[Neubert1975]

any time.
well maby you had other things to think about, and to me it was just nice to direct my thoughts in an other direction for a moment.