Mini Mill Power Feed For The Table

Good job, James. I wish I had your skills and patience. I popped for the power feed with clutch from LMS. I'm quite happy with it, but wish it had a rapid traverse button. That is on my to do list.

ETA: Also, good job by lspeedin. I forgot that he started this thread.

Tom
 
Great job James!


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Hello,
Though I might give a brief update.
I have now fitted "end stops" to the power feed.
On someone elses suggestion, I used magnetic sensors (Hall effect sensors).
I have mounted these in a plastic box on the saddle, and have moveable magnets on the table.
20160827_133122 (copy).jpg


I have placed the magnets in a plastic rod (white pieces), but have now bought some aluminium for a better finish.
The steel blocks are held with a bolt, which can be loosened and slid along to where required.
Seems to work very well, and is repeatable to within 0.02mm.
It is impossible to set accurately though, as the sliding action is not too smooth.

Big question is: will these work properly when covered in lots of steel chips?
Haven't really used it enough yet to find out.

It it works OK, I definitely like it better than having some sort of contact.

James.
 
I like what you have done. Years ago I worked with mag operated switches. These was little contacts in a glass tube . They worked quite well. Hope you have good success with your set up.
 
Hello,
David, the contacts in glass tube are called reed switches. These were the "original" magnetic switch.
Hall effect sensors are the electronic replacement. They are more sensitive and can switch bigger loads.

I gave the end stops a bit of a work out yesterday.
As I expected, lots of chips stuck to the magnets - but they kept operating.
Forgot to check change in accuracy when covered with chips (concentrating on work!), but they DID stop the chuck hitting the tie downs in a tight setup.

Other interesting side effect: when needed, I can hand crank PAST the magnet, and use power feed to continue on.
I found this useful where I wanted to move well away from the cutter for measuring and adjusting the tie downs.
Cannot easily do this with a mechanical switch.

James.
 
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