Grizzly GO 727 mill has grown

[iron man]

Here is a shot of my Grizzly 727 mill with home built power feed and DRO's it is a nice little mill but like many other Horizontal/Vertical mills such as Atlas they lack room between the spindle and table this one has only six inches.

This prevents you from using a lot of other attachments and machining odd shapes and sizes this needs to change.

 

[iron man]

So I started out I made a new lead screw 6 inches longer and bigger in dia. I then slugged a steel tube with aluminum and capped and welded the ends the aluminum dampens vibration. I then cut a 55 degree dovetail on to a block of cold rolled steel that will be attached later.

 

[iron man]

Here is the finished product installed works perfect!! The base is a little bigger to give a bigger foot print.

 

[iron man]

And here is the finished product standing much taller. The adapter now gives 12 inches of travel instead of the previous six inches although it takes some planning this is not a hard conversion and it opens up more possible use's now I need buy a longer DRO. thanks for looking.. Ray

 

[iron man]

I use to have only 1/2 inch of clearance between my vise and drill chuck what good is that?? now I have 6 inches that is much better. If I was to do it over of course there is things I would do different but not much this works and worked out very well. I have a one of a kind now as long as Grizzly does not get the hint and comes up with a kit of there own.. Ray

 

[iron man]

I just made to more small modifications I have never worked on a knee mill that did not have a table lock so I drilled and installed one. Also the original mill was suppose to have a removable three pin connector for the motor this comes in handy to service the belt and motor so I installed one of them as well.. Ray

 

[Rbeckett]

Ray,
That is absolutely beautifull work. And extending the working envelope willl pay many dividends as you find more projects you can now do too. Is the DRO on the quill or on the knee? If it is on the quill it will be pretty easy to add another "Axis", otherwise I would leave the quill based DRO alone. If it is based don the dove tail and column, can you just relocate the sensor into the usable range and call it good, or is a new sensor the only alternative? Thanks for the great pics of a really great looking project!!!!

Bob

 

[iron man]

Thanks it fits in there just like a factory piece I dont know why I see a lot of these foreign machines that just stop short of making a good product because of a few inches of cast iron it takes just as much material to make a bad product as it does to make a good one.

I also learned that any of these foreign built lathes and mills you need to go through them and check all bolts every single bolt on this mill was a 1/2 to a full turn loose even the motor brush holders where loose. Ray

 

[eac67gt]

Yep, apparently they don't know how to torque stuff in assembly or it loosens on the boat. :rofl:
Found the same thing on my stuff.

Ed

 

[iron man]

I made another mod to this mill since I made the column longer the small handle to crank the table up was just too small 1 1/2 inches from center to handle it made it feel like the gibs where to tight when in fact they where too loose.