He who dares wins???

[Jesse Hancock 1Participant @jessehancock1]

Hi Silly question time but rather this than waste a fair amount of money.

Has anyone on here pegged or otherwise locked a tilting mini mill's Y axis post, (the upright if I have the axis wrong.) One of the suppliers actually does a new solid post for these Mills however it's a bit dear.

Still pondering choices as to a bigger mill.

Jesse.

Edited By Jesse Hancock 1 on 21/01/2015 20:58:30

[Jesse Hancock 1Participant @jessehancock1]

Mini Mill alterations

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I fitted a triangular brace and scraped in the bracket on my old-style X2 mini-mill. This made abig change to its capabilities, combined with angular contact bearings.

If I hadn't done all that work, I'm pretty sure I would have invested in the solid column from Arc. For £111 I think it would pretty much transform the machine's capabilities.

Neil

[nigel jones 5Participant @nigeljones5]

the previous owner of mine had pegged the column. Its about 6mm dia and the column still moves! If your going to peg it, use a hefty peg!

[Jesse Hancock 1Participant @jessehancock1]

Good evening Neil. What Bracket and I can't quickly find a suitable detailed pic.

 

Hi Fizzy any idea how big a pin can be fitted?

Jesse.

 

Edited By Jesse Hancock 1 on 21/01/2015 21:26:23

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I think the problem is more to do with it not being a taper pin than the size. A parallel pin needs to be a perfect fit, a taper pin can be tapped in to snug in the hole.

Pic below shows the plate. 4mm thick, the screws are M12 and there are angled spacers to ensure it isn't distorted when snugged up.

A taper pin could be fitted at the top of the plate, I haven't found one necessary but it could be beneficial.

Neil

 

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 22/01/2015 13:20:10

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

Would the angle plate stiffener as shown above, be improved and made much stiffer, by welding flat bar stiffeners vertically on both sides of the central bolt.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Hi Gordon,

Possibly, but the forces on the plate and are relatively small, it is a good 4" back from the (almost straight) line of screws around which the column pivots. Forces on the plate are tension (where it will be massively stiffer than required) or in compression. The two screws are 100mm apart and the vertical distance to the centre of the big nut is 60mm. The distance between the edges of the circular washer to the screwheads is about 25mm.

The amount of movement (without the plate) is probably only of the order of a couple of thou, with it in place I doubt any force that didn't break the machine would noticeably flex the plate.

Neil

[Jesse Hancock 1Participant @jessehancock1]

Thanks for that Neil, I could well do something like that on the Micro Mill. In fact I might be able to extend the bracket to full height and make it from heavy angular plate.

I'm off tomorrow to have a look at a CMD1225D. Haven't seen one close up yet and it looks like a Chinese import once more but heck I wouldn't be in the market at all if it wasn't for the cheap imports.

PS: Where did you get that washer?

Jesse.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

The washer is original, the column pivots around the bolt.

Neil

[nigel jones 5Participant @nigeljones5]

Im confused (again!), if the column pivots about the main bolt how does the plate stop it from moving?

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

The bolt and spring washer is more than adequate for stopping the column tilting sideways (the supplied spanner is about 14" long).

The problem is that the bracket in front of the column that it bolts to is secured by three screws that are virtually in a straight line. The bracket and base also had poor contact on my machine and the combination of these two factors meant it had very little rigidity back and forth. Scraping the joint surface enabled me to eliminate a slight back and forth tramming inaccuracy and combined with the plate make the whole thing very much stiffer.

Neil

[nigel jones 5Participant @nigeljones5]

I see. Mine is the same, but tightened up and pegged it still moves pretty easily – any ideas?

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by fizzy on 22/01/2015 19:36:56:

I see. Mine is the same, but tightened up and pegged it still moves pretty easily – any ideas?

Brute force, ignorance and that very big spanner.

I assume you have the spring washer? The extra diameter helps increase its grip over using the nut alone.

Otherwise, try taper reaming that hole and fitting a tapered peg with a mallet.

Neil

[oldveloParticipant @oldvelo]

Hi

One more mod to the X2 mill is to discard the coarse thread clamp bolt and
fabricate a new oversize clamp bolt that is a closer fit through the column and the front mounting bracket.

Make the threads @ 1 or 1.25 mm pitch fabricate a nut to suit.
Grease the threads and on the face of the nut with E P Grease or "Never Sieze"like compound
More grip for the same length of spanner with the same amount force.

The extra plate on the back of the column stiffens it up by heaps

As Neil points out the large cone-washer spreads the load to the sides of the column over a bigger area and not distorting the hollow column with the high load in the centre only.

With couple of brackets and jacking screws bolted to the column and bearing on a lug welded or bolted to the stiffener plate to fine adjust the tilt tramming becomes a breeze

Eric

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

I don't have the requirement for these mods, but I would suggest that the bolts be fitted, ie close tolerance in reamed holes.

Ian S C

[Ed DuffnerParticipant @edduffner79357]

On the Warco WM-16 the tilting head, rather than the column is secured by two bolts. One is the pivot and the other is slightly off set to that by about 30mm. Both are used to lock the head in position. I imagine you could do the something similar to the column base of that type of tilting arrangement.

Or do something similar to Neil's bracket but make it much chunkier so that it sits over and around the column.

Ed.

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

Posted by fizzy on 22/01/2015 19:36:56:

I see. Mine is the same, but tightened up and pegged it still moves pretty easily – any ideas?

Unless the bolt is a very tight fit a single dowel will still allow some movement. I would fit two on opposite sides of that central bolt.

Russell.

[Author]

Posts