As Requested here is my Mini Mill with the Digital Read Outs (DROs) installed, along with some other modifications I made.
The first picture is of the DROs. Two 12” and two 6” Made by iGaging. They can be purchased from Grizzly.com or off of Amazon. The 6” runs about $27, the 12” about $35. The extra 6” will be going on my lathe at a later date.
This is the Remote Display Head for the DRO.
Overall shot of the Seig Mini Mill
The Three Display Heads mounted to a piece of aluminum sheet bolted to a 1-1/2”
aluminum Angle.
The Aluminum Angle is Bolted to the rear stock motor bolt holes. It stands on top of two Brass spacers I made. I had to purchase two M6-1 x 60mm bolts from Bel-Metric in Tyngsborough, MA. The Displays need to go up a little more because I have to remove the lowest one to get the cap off of the draw bar. The lower Leg of the Al angle is cut out to fit around the motor.
This next photo is the top of the “Z” axis 12” scale. To mount it in this location I had to replace the torsion spring with a gas spring. See Below. The bracket from the read head to the spindle housing is shaped like the letter “L” with the foot of the letter going down. This is to move the read head down away from the Gib lock. All the Scale brackets are mounted using 10-32 x 1/2” button head screws. There may still be some socket heads in the pictures, but they have been replaced. Drill the bracket and the spindle head at the same time with a smaller drill. Open up the spindle hole to 0.159” to tap it to 10-32 threads. The bracket will be opened up to 0.189”
Loosen all the screws on the scale. move the spindle to the top of the range. snug up all three screws on that end. Move the head to the bottom of its travel and snug up the bottom screws. Return to the top and tighten those screws. Go to the bottom and tighten the screws there.
This is the bottom of the “Z” Scale. You can see I used some split loom covers to run the DRO cables in. This also shows the rear of the “Y” Scale.
This is the front of the 6 inch “Y” scale. The two black brackets on the scale had to be loosened up and slightly spread apart to fit down over the bolt heads that bolt the Mill to the stand.
This is the bracket of the “Y” scale. I had to make it clear the Gib screws
(It was tough to get a photo now that the table is put back together you will just have to see it in person)
Here is how I mounted the 12” scale on the “X” axis. I use an 1.5” aluminum angle 1/8” thick. The angle’s leg against the table needs to be cut down to about one inch. This is to clear the Gib screws. The angle is mounted flush to the top of the table. The scale is bolted to the underside of the angle. I had to flip the black brackets so that the scale read positive from left to right. I also needed a 1/8” spacer so the read head would not scrape the aluminum angle.
The bracket to the “Y” part of the table is bent 90º and clearanced for one of the Gib screws.
“
The bracket materials I used were 1/8” aluminum. Which is too thick to use the screws that come with the scales. So I changed to some 1/16” galvanized stock. I picked them up from Home Depot, they are in with the joist hangers.
This is the “replacement” gas spring kit from LittleMachineshop.com Using this kit replaced the torsion spring making room for the “Z” scale and also gets you 2.5” more movement on the spindle head. for a total of 9.5 inches. There are three holes to drill and tap, plus one hole in the column to mount the lower end of the spring. The kit includes a longer gear rack too.
I made a small change to the electrical box on the rear of the Mini Mill. I put a two 110v outlet box to power the LED task light and the DRO’s / Lights for the final mounting.
Use a half deep box and mount it in this area. Make sure the cover plate does not extend off the side of the box. I had to elongate the holes to move mine over to the right position.
This is the LED task light I made. It started out as a Desk lamp from Wally World for $15. I gutted it and kept the LED PCB, the reflector, the goose-neck, and the wall wart power supply. I cut down a computer CPU heat sink and mounted the LED PCB to it. The reflector also screws down to it. I cut down the reflector to fit in a reflector housing I had from one of my old cameras. I wanted to add a switch but they were too large to fit in the Housing. I may put on a line switch.
Here is the compressed air line I added to blow away the chips while machining.
There is also a metering valve in line. A quick disconnect from the yellow hose and all is well.
Here is the flexible air/coolant line I got from Mcmaster-Carr.com
I made a traming bracket from some brass rod I got when I took Golddiggie down to one of my spots to get cheap metal. He made some pistol squib rods with some of the brass that he got. Look up his Karma Thread where he gave some away. The Bracket holds my Multitoyo Dial indicator. When I checked my tram I was about three thousandths difference from one side of the table to the other. A few light taps of a rubber mallet on the column got me down to 1/2 a thousandths.
Tightened up the column nut some more and rechecked. Everything looks good for the 80% build party now.
Malodave
The first picture is of the DROs. Two 12” and two 6” Made by iGaging. They can be purchased from Grizzly.com or off of Amazon. The 6” runs about $27, the 12” about $35. The extra 6” will be going on my lathe at a later date.
This is the Remote Display Head for the DRO.
Overall shot of the Seig Mini Mill
The Three Display Heads mounted to a piece of aluminum sheet bolted to a 1-1/2”
aluminum Angle.
The Aluminum Angle is Bolted to the rear stock motor bolt holes. It stands on top of two Brass spacers I made. I had to purchase two M6-1 x 60mm bolts from Bel-Metric in Tyngsborough, MA. The Displays need to go up a little more because I have to remove the lowest one to get the cap off of the draw bar. The lower Leg of the Al angle is cut out to fit around the motor.
This next photo is the top of the “Z” axis 12” scale. To mount it in this location I had to replace the torsion spring with a gas spring. See Below. The bracket from the read head to the spindle housing is shaped like the letter “L” with the foot of the letter going down. This is to move the read head down away from the Gib lock. All the Scale brackets are mounted using 10-32 x 1/2” button head screws. There may still be some socket heads in the pictures, but they have been replaced. Drill the bracket and the spindle head at the same time with a smaller drill. Open up the spindle hole to 0.159” to tap it to 10-32 threads. The bracket will be opened up to 0.189”
Loosen all the screws on the scale. move the spindle to the top of the range. snug up all three screws on that end. Move the head to the bottom of its travel and snug up the bottom screws. Return to the top and tighten those screws. Go to the bottom and tighten the screws there.
This is the bottom of the “Z” Scale. You can see I used some split loom covers to run the DRO cables in. This also shows the rear of the “Y” Scale.
This is the front of the 6 inch “Y” scale. The two black brackets on the scale had to be loosened up and slightly spread apart to fit down over the bolt heads that bolt the Mill to the stand.
This is the bracket of the “Y” scale. I had to make it clear the Gib screws
(It was tough to get a photo now that the table is put back together you will just have to see it in person)
Here is how I mounted the 12” scale on the “X” axis. I use an 1.5” aluminum angle 1/8” thick. The angle’s leg against the table needs to be cut down to about one inch. This is to clear the Gib screws. The angle is mounted flush to the top of the table. The scale is bolted to the underside of the angle. I had to flip the black brackets so that the scale read positive from left to right. I also needed a 1/8” spacer so the read head would not scrape the aluminum angle.
The bracket to the “Y” part of the table is bent 90º and clearanced for one of the Gib screws.
“
The bracket materials I used were 1/8” aluminum. Which is too thick to use the screws that come with the scales. So I changed to some 1/16” galvanized stock. I picked them up from Home Depot, they are in with the joist hangers.
This is the “replacement” gas spring kit from LittleMachineshop.com Using this kit replaced the torsion spring making room for the “Z” scale and also gets you 2.5” more movement on the spindle head. for a total of 9.5 inches. There are three holes to drill and tap, plus one hole in the column to mount the lower end of the spring. The kit includes a longer gear rack too.
I made a small change to the electrical box on the rear of the Mini Mill. I put a two 110v outlet box to power the LED task light and the DRO’s / Lights for the final mounting.
Use a half deep box and mount it in this area. Make sure the cover plate does not extend off the side of the box. I had to elongate the holes to move mine over to the right position.
This is the LED task light I made. It started out as a Desk lamp from Wally World for $15. I gutted it and kept the LED PCB, the reflector, the goose-neck, and the wall wart power supply. I cut down a computer CPU heat sink and mounted the LED PCB to it. The reflector also screws down to it. I cut down the reflector to fit in a reflector housing I had from one of my old cameras. I wanted to add a switch but they were too large to fit in the Housing. I may put on a line switch.
Here is the compressed air line I added to blow away the chips while machining.
There is also a metering valve in line. A quick disconnect from the yellow hose and all is well.
Here is the flexible air/coolant line I got from Mcmaster-Carr.com
I made a traming bracket from some brass rod I got when I took Golddiggie down to one of my spots to get cheap metal. He made some pistol squib rods with some of the brass that he got. Look up his Karma Thread where he gave some away. The Bracket holds my Multitoyo Dial indicator. When I checked my tram I was about three thousandths difference from one side of the table to the other. A few light taps of a rubber mallet on the column got me down to 1/2 a thousandths.
Tightened up the column nut some more and rechecked. Everything looks good for the 80% build party now.
Malodave
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