DROs Mounted to my Mini Mill ( Pix per Request)

My little shop

IMG_1235-vi.jpg


IMG_1277-vi.jpg


Then I have this hunk of American Steel in the garage.

P1030980-vi.jpg
 
Last edited:
7.62x39 said:
Buying one of these is not really like buying a mill, more like buying a kit from which a mill can be built. lol
Click to expand...

59930d1364089621t-dros-mounted-my-mini-mill-pix-per-request-mill-support-005.jpg


[rofl]
7.62 It looks like there was an explosion in your shop and the mill got the worst of it...

It actually is a starter kit that can become a Mini Mill...

Was there any section or part of your mill that did not get torn apart ?


cmacclel said:
My little shop

IMG_1235-vi.jpg


IMG_1277-vi.jpg
Click to expand...

VERY NICE...

Does not look so little to me... [smile]

I just noticed something. I hope you are standing in the doorway when you took the photos. If not there is no way in or out of your shop. [smile]
 
Last edited:
DJ_99Wing said:
Was there any section or part of your mill that did not get torn apart ?
Click to expand...

Nope, every nut and bolt, which was pretty easy since most of them were loose anyway. LOL
I loc-tited everything. That pic was taken when it was on it's way back together. I had it stripped down to the empty gear box at one point.
 
yea tooling eats ya alive in $$ I have done a ton of mods to my mini mill, belt drive, full tear down clean and lap the ways, the extended z travel mod, (I have a counter weight setup with the pulley on the ceiling.) Led ring light around the quill and a square one on the box to the left of the quill. With these mods it will cut steel decent for the size. I need to make a column brace sometime.
 
ATTN ATTN the DRO power setup I posted seems like it has issues. If you do it make sure the scale doesn't jump, mine did by .400 twice on me.

You may want to hold off on the power setup, I was just doing some milling (heavy.313 cuts in aluminum) and the dro I did the mod on jumped .40 (so I made a cut in the wrong place thankfully it was just a jig for the 0% lower not the lower itself) I reset it and it did it again while cutting but this time I caught it. so I am back to batts for now. I will bring a Oscope home this weekend and see what I can figure out.
 
Question for Dave.

I'm just wondering why you chose to mount the Y and Z DROs on the right side when there is already a lot of stuff going on, on that side. (gibs, table lock, hand wheels etc) With the torsion bar and scale removed, the left side is wide open. I'm getting ready to mount mine on the left and I wonder if there is something I'm missing?
 
Wildweasel said:
7.62 I mounted mine on the left side no problems. the x dro is on the back of the table on mine.
Click to expand...

Thanks WW. I went ahead and mounted the Y and Z on the left side, all went well. I'm trying to decide what to do with the X. I've seen them mounted both front and rear. I like the idea of mounting them on the rear, But I'm concerned with losing Y travel. How much do you actually give up by mounting it in the rear?
 
I don't think I gave up any travel to speak of. The only issue I had today was when I was using a large angle block that shortened the travel but the dro's don't.
Overall I am very happy with the dro's using the ray-vin 0% instructions the dro's made it relatively easy. Beats the hell out of counting revolutions of the dial. my Holes are all spot on. very happy with them, just have to figure out the ac-dc issues. I may do an RC circuit to see if we can smooth it out.
 
drox (2).jpg This is my X axis DRO mounted to the back of the table.

droxcove (2).jpg my quick and dirty cover for the dro, I used some Vinyl I had from a bike seat and double sided tape. I plan on replacing it with flashing metal.

droz (2).jpg My Z dro mount left side of column.

pully (2).jpg My cheap version of the gas spring ,counter weight. My mill is permanently bolted to the bench on a 3/4" aluminum plate.

pully2.JPG another shot with the pully and lead. (the eyebolt is rated to 1K and screwed into a beam.)

The last pic is the LEDs on the bottom of the mill. they work great. they are 12v for cars (round for around headlites and the square for dome lites.)
 

Attachments

  • lites.JPG
    lites.JPG
    38 KB · Views: 28
Glenn, Thanks for posting. Cool setup. I like the counterweight, nice touch. Thanks for the info on the LED's.

How is the X axis scale mounted? Looking at the photo, it appears to be attached beyond the end of the table. Is that just the angle I'm seeing it from?
 
The end you are talking about is mounted past the end pf the table. (so I could get full travel) I just made a Bracket out of sheet metal and used the end cap screw to mount it. I had to hold the phone behind the mill to get the shot ..

Of my mods the z extension (longer gear track) and the counterweight Are high on my list, But the belt drive is #1 in my book followed closely by the DRO's they make is MUCH easier to do some precision work. with the stock torsion bar setup if you loosened the stay on the head it would then drop to the lower position of the backlash. (I broke an endmill once that way) now with the counter weight
it stays where it should. I have used the mill a ton, and now with DRO's on I will be doing more complex machining. If you guys want closeups let me know. it took me a few tries to get things 100% on the dro mounts. I was running into issues with binding on the scale at the end of travel. now it is fine right to the end.

Here is a look at the Y scale hard to see under the bed. xscale (2).jpg
 
Last edited:
My Y and Z set ups look almost identical to yours.
For the X I'm going with the set up that LMS has on their site. (Print attached) It also looks similar to yours

Update...This piece will not work with the igaging DROs.
 

Attachments

  • dro bat.jpg
    dro bat.jpg
    101.9 KB · Views: 16
Last edited:
The important thing is the scale not move end to end. how you get it attached to not move is not important, so even 22 gauge sheet metal worked. I had not seen the LMS drawing before. I was going for quick and had mounts made for my old DRO setup which I moved away from as the maker/inventor dropped off the face of the earth, and with the scales he specified not available I went to the ones we all use. (my old setup ran on a PC. Yadro great idea as it had a calculator built in etc but I only had 2 of the 3 axis's working.)
 
The material is just roof flashing. I actually had it upside down in that pic but I swapped it around so I don't limit my travel. (but it is harder to get a pic lol. ) I just doupble sided taped it to the aluminum slab.

I got my belt kit from someone else. (harrision? I think they are out of business as their web site is down. I do have the old gears if anyone needs them.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sieg-x2-min...035?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a7fb2cb3b
single speed..
this looks like mine-
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sieg-x2-min...693?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a7fb2ae8d
they are from turkey but you might get it sooner.


One other tip- when doing cuts that produce lots of chips use your shop vac and suck them off as you are machining. you don't have to get too close. I am thinking of making a clamp to hold a nozzle. (doing the deck on the lower produced long thin sharp swarf that was getting tossed to my hand on the wheel. I set up a shield but the vac worked great. (I was doing .010 cuts at the time. )
 
Last edited:
DJ_99Wing said:
I agree belt drive is #1. Sounds like it will be about 6 mos. before LMS has the kit available again. It appears that nobody else makes a belt drive conversion kit for the Mini Mill.
Click to expand...

I have found a few different sets of plans for building your own belt drive. Problem is that now you need to buy a lathe to go with your new mill. LOL

Here's one
Projects 6
 
I have 2 lathes logan 10" and a mini( the mini is a german one I have not used yet.) Not sure I am going to keep the mini yet. no room for both in the shop.
 
7.62x39 said:
I have found a few different sets of plans for building your own belt drive. Problem is that now you need to buy a lathe to go with your new mill. LOL

Here's one
Projects 6
Click to expand...


[rofl]

Would this work?

I picked up one just like this a couple years ago and never set it up due to life getting in the away.
Now I'm hoping to clean off the dust and get it setup. LMS will really love me now, buying tooling for two machines... [smile]

It's a Atlas/ Clausing 6" Lathe Model # 10100
 

Attachments

  • product_1437[1].jpg
    product_1437[1].jpg
    16.6 KB · Views: 25
  • $T2eC16d,!)kE9s4,BMVpBRT73NuZ)g~~60_12[1].jpg
    $T2eC16d,!)kE9s4,BMVpBRT73NuZ)g~~60_12[1].jpg
    27.1 KB · Views: 21
Last edited:
DJ_99Wing said:
[rofl]

Would this work?

I picked up one just like this a couple years ago and never set it up due to life getting in the away.
Now I'm hoping to clean off the dust and get it setup. LMS will really love me now, buying tooling for two machines... [smile]

It's a Atlas/ Clausing 6" Lathe Model # 10100
Click to expand...

Or you could sell that to me! UGH ive been looking for a nice small lathe that isnt a piece of trash for some time now. I refuse to buy some modern chinese import. Ideally I wanted a 10" or larger but let me know if youd ever consider selling that if you choose to not set it up.
 
I can only speak for my own experience, and having owned and used a number of different sizes of mills and lathes for what I call a small serious gunsmithing hobby, I wouldn't discount all of the Taiwanese made lathes. I have a gear headed Grizzly 13x40 that I bought for around $4K new in 2007 and it has performed exceptionally well...part of the issue is making sure you have good tooling. Here is a pic.

photo (80).jpg

I would add that my experience with mills has been different. I had initially purchased a Sherline 2000 mill and after a year of trying to use it for all but the smallest projects gave up and purchased a Grizzly GR0728 bench top mill which is R8 spindle 2HP which has worked out fairly well. The issue becomes once again cost of tooling...and then it leads to wanting something larger. Which is why I am awaiting a post-April 15 [after my tax season] delivery of a brand new HAAS SMINIMILL2 VMC....which has essentially got me to make the decision to turn my shop from a hobby into a business. I got lucky in that a number of my clients in the construction business are Bulgarian immigrants to this area. I was able to sponsor two of their parents for Green cards, which gives me a pair of semi-retired machinists with 30+ years of experience willing to work part time at a very good rate...so things should get interesting quickly.
 
7.62x39 said:
DJ,

If you are looking for a belt drive I found one. NIB
Yahoo! Groups
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up 7.62. I will check it out... Please PM me with what you feel would be a fair offer for the unit.

Are there any good magazines to subscribe to for an entry level machinists that you would recommend?

Now that I have a couple new toys, I want to learn how to use them. [smile]
 

Similar threads

How to Remove an Older Handguard
Replies
10
Views
348
mac1911
M
Shipping to MA
Replies
14
Views
891
Hydrocarbonate
H
Roll pins used to secure an AR 15 front sight base
Replies
6
Views
475
mac1911
M
Working on my build.
Replies
25
Views
1K
mac1911
M
quick question, what would be good to wrap lever rifle lever with besides leather?
Replies
15
Views
542
Sweeney
Sweeney
Back
Top Bottom