motorised z axis on mill

[Eric CoxParticipant @ericcox50497]

I have a Warco WM14 mill that I want to motorise the z axis to raise and lower the head. I know some people have used a car wiper motor but doubt if this has enough power to raise the head. Can anyone suggest a suitable motor.

[Eric CoxParticipant @ericcox50497]

[Eric CoxParticipant @ericcox50497]

Also, belt or chain drive ?

[Bob Brown 1Participant @bobbrown1]

On my Marlow mill I motorised the x axis using timing belts and pulleys from here **LINK** and used a geared Vexta BLDC (brushless DC) motor which I purchased cheap complete with a speed controller. Did a similar job with a rotary table again with timing pulleys but used geared DC motor (Parvalux I think) with brake and PWM speed controller.

Bob

[kevin hyland 1Participant @kevinhyland1]

if you get hold of mew april 2014 number 214 this features your mill having a z axis conversion carried out

[Tim StevensParticipant @timstevens64731]

I have recently built a power feed for my Champion 20V mill – yes, horizontal but the same principle. It involved attaching a toothed-pulley instead of the handle, and fixing a small 80 rpm 12volt motor to drive it with a 12:60 ratio. Total cost of the parts was about £30 – e-bay mainly – and the most challenging bit was wiring up switches with movable stops to limit the travel. I see no great difficulty in making a Z version except that there might be fewer holes etc to clamp things to.

If members are interested I can make up a sketch or two – just ask.

Cheers, Tim

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