Grizzly G0704 Cnc Conversion


That's what I was thinking of. It's basically what Hoss does on his DVD, except his is 3D printed, too. A tube with and ID that will pass the machined end of the ballscrew and slide over its end, but has an OD smaller than the minor diameter of the screw. Then the ballnut is unscrewed onto the holder, trapping the ball bearings.

nut_tool.jpg
I don't have any stock handy to do this, but hadn't considered taking the whole thing up to the Borg and seeing if a piece of PVC will work.
 
FWIW I opened the file for the ballnut removal tool (tube) and it's .53in or 13.46mm. My guess is a piece of 1/4" pvc sched 40 would prob work. They show it has an outside diameter of .54in with tolerance +/- .01"

Even a piece of hose or vinyl tubing with a 1/2" outside diameter should work... especially with a little duct tape if you need to enlarge the diameter a little. Just guessing you don't have a lathe or this prob would be a issue at all.
 
FWIW I opened the file for the ballnut removal tool (tube) and it's .53in or 13.46mm. My guess is a piece of 1/4" pvc sched 40 would prob work. They show it has an outside diameter of .54in with tolerance +/- .01"

Even a piece of hose or vinyl tubing with a 1/2" outside diameter should work... especially with a little duct tape if you need to enlarge the diameter a little. Just guessing you don't have a lathe or this prob would be a issue at all.

No, I have a lathe. I just don't have any stock of that size to turn. I'd have to order something. There's no place locally (that I know of) to go get some plastic stock to turn, unless it's something the big box home centers carry.
 
An intermediate step along the way. Y-axis ballnut.
Y-BN_Trimmed.JPG
Used a diamond grinder. BTW, these are the linearmotion ballscrews from Chai in China, and this is good steel. It's not case hardened; it doesn't get softer after you take a hard skin off. It's hard this whole depth.
 
Used a diamond grinder.

Probably not the best for grinding steel, even hardened steel, they tend to load up quickly and then just make things hot. Diamond is great for grinding rock, glass, and ceramics. The better choice for steel is just a standard 36 grit grinding disk.
 
Probably not the best for grinding steel, even hardened steel, they tend to load up quickly and then just make things hot. Diamond is great for grinding rock, glass, and ceramics. The better choice for steel is just a standard 36 grit grinding disk.

I left out a word. I used a wet grinder that was designed for grinding rocks. The water flood washes the grinding dust out constantly. No one in their right mind would go buy one for this use, but since I have one, it was convenient and worked well.

By the way, anyone thinking of the mod and wondering, the width across the widest points on the ballnut was about 1.88". The width of the area it has to clear in the G0704 base was 1.84. That sounds like just taking a total of .050 off the piece would work - 25 each side. I made mine look like the one in Hoss' pictures and it came out 1.55. Way more than necessary.
 
Just a post to keep this thread alive. I'm still working. Latest is finishing the chip tray, the enlarged one that's not on the DVD, but buried in his videos on YouTube and his CNCZone forum.
Tray&Mill.JPG
This is the tray, rev.1, which has already been modified. See the big hole at the top of the middle panel? That's the way it appears on the jpeg drawing Hoss posted on CNCZone. Only the videos move it forward, closer to the front edge, and enlarge it from 1 1/2" to 3" for a common sink drain. I got that done after this picture was taken. It's 64" tall in this pic, which is left to right in use, and 36" front to back.
 
Nice job on the chip tray. I wish I had room for something that big, but as an alternative I'm planning a smaller partial (1/4 to 1/2 height) enclosure. I plan on getting a new tig welder soon so thought I'd make it my first tig project and use aluminum. Be sure and provide some photos when you get yours sealed and mounted!
 
Nice job on the chip tray. I wish I had room for something that big, but as an alternative I'm planning a smaller partial (1/4 to 1/2 height) enclosure. I plan on getting a new tig welder soon so thought I'd make it my first tig project and use aluminum. Be sure and provide some photos when you get yours sealed and mounted!

If you have Hoss' DVD, he has a smaller chip tray in the "Projects" folder. It's shorter front to back, and the Y axis motor sticks out front, and 59" left to right while the new one (like mine) is 5" longer. 5'4". The left to right size is pretty much fixed by the length of the table with the X-axis motor and Hoss' mount.

Hope that's useful.
 
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