CNC conversion complete time to start building

[Dead*Reckoned]

So it's not directly gunsmithing yet, but it will be in the future. I just completed the conversion for my cnc. It's a copy the grizzly Mill drill. Cutting envelope is ~15/7/5 pretty good for what I paid for it.

For the electronics side I went with mach 3 as the controller, an ethernet smoothstepper (ESS) for the motion controller board, C25 breakout board (made specifically for the ESS), 3x kl-6050 5 amp drivers, and a 48v 12 amp power supply to top it all off.

It's running great as of yesterday, final had the opportunity to dial in my backlash, and it's holding 2-3 thousandths of an inch!

please forgive the camera work, it's hard to cover the stop button, add cutting oil,vacuum chips and film at the same time


picture of that pocket being finished.


Any questions please ask! if you are on the edge of converting your mill let me know and I'll push you over the edge.

[xfer42]

Congrats!
I noticed you have the knobs still on. Are you using the original lead screws?



I milled these out on my G0463 CNC on Friday and Saturday:
20150524_000133-small.jpg

[kurac]

Congrats!
I noticed you have the knobs still on. Are you using the original lead screws?



I milled these out on my G0463 CNC on Friday and Saturday:
[ATTACH]415311[/ATTACH]

Nice! did you mill the threads or use a tap?

[xfer42]

Tap. Used a spike in the spindle to push on a tap, then manually turned the tap. Takes about 3-4mins per hole. Just need to apply pressure for the first 3 turns to make sure it goes in straight.

[xfer42]

Are you using ballscrews or the original leadscrews?
Also, what kind of couplings are you using?

I moved from spider couplings, to bellows couplings and shaved .0015 of backlash off. Im down to a total of .0015 now.

[Dead*Reckoned]

The owner i originally bought this from had ballscrews installed. I haven't had a chance to open it up and see what kind of couplings are in there though, really need to get on that.