# PM30 CNC conversion begins



## theNOTORIOUSmo (Jun 14, 2021)

After years of watching this forum for ideas, last year i purchased a pm30 with every intention of CNC it from the start. So to document this headache im about to go on, i figured i would add to this site where i've gotten so many ideas from.

So it started off life back in October with this mill just sitting on the pallet longer than I wanted it too. life and work got in the way, so for the first few months of me having it, this is how it sat in my garage... sad and covered in the shipping oil..






I went back and forward about if i wanted to make the kit myself or just buy one. Eventually i came to the point that if i dont buy one, i would never take it apart to get measurements and put it together to manually mill the parts. So finally last month i ordered a kid from dave so i went to town taking it all apart while waiting for it...






What seemed like forever, which was only 2 weeks, i had it at my door. When it arrived, well UPS had its way with it. i was missing the y axis and part of the X axis. but there was a Z in there. so that was a plus... And yes, that is part of the X axis sticking out.





I will just like to add that dave is a stand up guy and remade all the missing parts and i had them in less than 2 weeks. Cant ask more than that. I hope he gets something out of UPS for this mess up.


Now one of the things i wanted to do is an epoxy/sand mixture in this. I've played with mills this size before and i know how much the can benefit from even adding 50lbs in there. So i went to at it making molds for this and filling it up.













It was about 40 minutes after i filled the column is when i realized that i messed up and forgot to put release agent on the MDF in there... not sure what i was thinking as unlike the base, i need to remove it to get to the ballscrew in there. so i made the call to just pull it out the MDF pieces roughly half way through the cure time in there.

Liked i planned, the layers slid right out easily bending the small brad nails used to hold them in place.





But the C channel i made that was in contact the epoxy... they took some persuasion.





I knew that i was going to mess up the finish and probably put some marks in the fill from where i had screwdrivers and small prybars to break the MDF out, but getting it out was the priority. Overall it was worth it i feel. I added about 45lbs of mix to the base and 20ish to the column. I didnt fill the back of the column for the last 10 or so inches as i wanted access to the zerk so i could grease it up. While i only added 65lbs of epoxy granite to it, it just feels more dead and i think this will pay off in the long run.

There are plenty of other threads out there that would do a better job of documenting the assembly of this than i would ever do, so i will skip that part.

Now that the easy part is done, it was time to work on the electronics... i will be using mach 3 for now as am taking most of these parts off a router that i no longer use due to space issues in a 2 car garage. So an ESS will be the controller with a c26 on top. For spindle control, i have a c41 to change the PWM to an analog signal. I also will be using a kbsi 240 to convert the 0-10v to the 0-5V that the BLDC controller needs. Eventually this will get replaced with a marathon y551 i got for cheap on ebay. But need this running first to make the parts to mount the motor. Closed loop steppers on all axis will drive this as they are plenty for this hobby sized mill. 


The mess begins...





still in bench testing mode, but everything fits in the enclosure... best part is when the vfd goes in, i can get rid of the KBSI and motor controller, so it will leave more room for activities. these activities include an extra driver for a rotary axis.





Still have a ways to go. Currently i have no limit switches. Need to make more holes to add the remaining axis motor connectors. one shot lube system will get done. NEED TO WELD A BASE AND ENCLSOSURE!!! and clean this wiring mess up.






But i am at a good start. unfortunately work will have me busy for another few weeks so this will be on hold until then. Hopefully this will encourage others to take the plunge into doing this. When i come back and post an update, i hope to show a base / enclosure for this and maybe start the motor swap.


----------



## jwmelvin (Jun 14, 2021)

The is for sharing. I enjoy the encouragement. I have a pm-30mv and recently got a Bridgeport clone, so I’m thinking about converting the -30mv.


----------



## nighthawkFmobil (Jun 15, 2021)

Thanks for sharing. Looking great so far!


----------



## devils4ever (Jun 15, 2021)

I converted my PM25 more than a year ago and never added limit switches. I guess they are a good idea, but if you home all the axes correctly at the start, the software will prevent going past the limits. I'm using LinuxCNC, but I assume all software has this feature.


----------



## DavidR8 (Jun 15, 2021)

Looking good!
Are you running one power supply per driver?


----------



## theNOTORIOUSmo (Jun 15, 2021)

Attached is a rough electrical diagram of the wiring i was using to guide this. Didnt want to include the DC common as it would just clutter everything up even more.





I found these 72V power supplies at work getting ready to be trashed a little ago, so i snatched them up. The drivers are rated at 8A and these power supplies put 6A out, so i figured i would use one per driver. I've been looking for one of those 72V/24V dual linear power supplies for a decent price so i can free up some space.

As for limit switches, i should of called them homing switches. The X-axis will only be one switch in the middle of the travel with a screw on each side in that channel which will set the limit. So that will be the only actual limit switch set up. The y axis will only have one switch at the y- portion as my vise would eat into the positive y travel. And Z obviously only needs one. The safe travel zones will be set via soft limits.


----------



## arizonavideo (Jun 18, 2021)

theNOTORIOUSmo said:


> .


You were the first in 8 or so years to have UPS loose part of a shipment. I have started to tape all the screws togather in the box so one can't get loose and full wraps on the outside to help prevent splitting.  Looking forward to see your 30 running.
Dave.  Maker of the PM-30 kit.


----------



## 7milesup (Jun 18, 2021)

I am getting a warning about opening the pictures.  The certificate is invalid.
The issue of having images linked to an outside source is if/when that source goes away, the images will no longer be available and provide continuity to this thread.


----------



## RetiredRich (Jun 18, 2021)

I'm hoping to go down that path eventually. As they say, images are worth a thousand words. 
Unfortunately the images are very slow to download at my end because on my slow internet. The first image is over 9 megs.  Images to be shared over the internet can be easily reduced in size and resolution without affecting the quality.  I suspect the resolution of the image is 300 or 600 dpi. It can be reduced to 72 dpi since this is the best screen can display anyway.

As 7milesup also mentions, it may be better to insert the images with the text. This will ensure their access in the future.

I'm still waiting on a 728vt and debating on whether to get the cnc kit or go manual, although I'm leaning towards manual for now.  Lots to learn.

Thank you for sharing,

Rich


----------



## theNOTORIOUSmo (Jun 19, 2021)

RetiredRich said:


> Unfortunately the images are very slow to download at my end because on my slow internet. The first image is over 9 megs.  Images to be shared over the internet can be easily reduced in size and resolution without affecting the quality.  I suspect the resolution of the image is 300 or 600 dpi. It can be reduced to 72 dpi since this is the best screen can display anyway.



I changed them to medium sized thumbnails, so it should be better. 



arizonavideo said:


> You were the first in 8 or so years to have UPS loose part of a shipment. I have started to tape all the screws togather in the box so one can't get loose and full wraps on the outside to help prevent splitting.  Looking forward to see your 30 running.
> Dave.  Maker of the PM-30 kit.



i tend to get that kind of lucky somehow. Thanks again for getting the replacement out to me.


----------



## theNOTORIOUSmo (Jun 20, 2021)

Hopefully the bigger thumbnails are working better for people. If not, i can just throw them on here as attachments.

Slowly have been cleaning up this enclosure box. It's funny, every time i do something like this, i grossly underestimate the size of enclosure i need and the time it will take to wire it all up. But I'm just about done all all i need is one more encoder and motor cable pass throughs and it will be done until the motor upgrade.





I was hoping just some standard14/3 cable would suffice, but that motor controller is throwing out some crazy noise so i need to source get some shielded cable for it. Making a plasma table for a friend in the past, i knew exactly what it was so tracking down all the weirdness was pretty easy. the steppers do not have shielded cable as of now, but everything that carries a signal is choked in the enclosure and drain wires have already been routed. So if issues pop up with those, it should be a quick fix.

As i didn't have time to get any steel to make a stand yet, i figured i would start on the motor mount. Didn't spend too much time on modeling everything, just enough to get this and a spindle lock done. But just looking at it, it appears that the head extender will be moved up on the priority list if i ever want to add a pneumatic cylinder to this.





Roughly 1.85 from the center of the drawbar to closest point of the motor with it backed up almost touching the ways is not much to work with. This may be a long shot, but does anyone have a decent cad model or dimensions of the mounting holes for the head that I can have? i really don't feel like taking it off again to get them.


EDIT: for this guy on youtube who has done some pretty extensive mods on his PM30.

Battle Resistant Outfitters YouTube

On one of his videos he includes a 360 file for a head spacer which I had someone convert to a stl so I can open it in solidworks. this channel was a good find even though some of the upgrades like the 5hp motor is overkill I feel, but he does fully admit that.


----------



## RetiredRich (Jun 21, 2021)

@theNOTORIOUSmo
The bigger thumbnails work for me.  Thanks.

That looks so professional.  I'm now thinking that maybe I should get the cnc kit.


----------



## theNOTORIOUSmo (Jul 2, 2021)

Wouldn't call that professional by any means. I wish i got a bigger enclosure so i could put everything on din rails and use wire raceway to hide it all...

Slowly I'm designing the enclosure. This is what i have in mind right now for the lower portion





Originally i was going to buy some 2,5 inch tubing, but then i went to go buy it. Holy crap has steel jumped up in the last year. So i have a bunch of 1.5" .120 wall tube already laying around. So that made my decision for me right there.





I still need to figure out what i want to do for doors on this, but i've got most of the structure for the base done. It may be another week or two before i get back at this, but slowly i will get there.


----------



## Cletus (Jul 3, 2021)

Looks like a cool, fun project! 
I sure as hell had fun building a CNC 4-axis VMC out of my Grizzly Mini-Mill a few years ago.


----------



## theNOTORIOUSmo (Sep 27, 2021)

Back from travel and work has calmed down, so I'm finally getting to this again. Due to the stupid high price of any materials right now, i scrapped the sheet metal pan and sides and went with an 8mm underlayment for everything. I much would of preferred to use thicker plywood, but a guy i new had a few extra sheets laying around so i got them for free, so i cant complain. 

I painted the chip pan and then fiberglassed it. I also changed it up and added  slope to it so it all drains out to one side just so I don't have any pooling under the mill. All the walls were painted in an oil based paint that poly coated which should be fine.





Still need to add the roof so i can place some led cans in there for extra lighting and place the last wall, but it has been a good weekend  of progress so far. 

Now this is where i need some help. I cant decide on a pump to use for flood. Just seeing what is out there, it looks like im going the high volume low pressure route. There is an 1/3 hp submersible pump in a friends shed that i can have. Looking at the specs, it says it can do 2500GPH and has a 25' head height. That will suffice i imagine, and if not, ill just upgrade it and keep that as a wash down pump on its own switch so i dont have to make any bypasses for it. Very open to pump options. I do prefer 220 as any real pump over 1/2 HP (7ish amps at 110) would draw to much power on my already tapped 15 amp lines. And risking tripping the breaker that the PC is on running the program is not a good option.


While i wish i can say this is my only project, like almost everyone else, i've got something else that also eats up my free time.





My current 3d printer is about 10 years old and on its last legs so instead of upgrading that or going with something generic like an ender, I've decided to start putting together a voron 2.4. Highly recommend this or a ratrig for someone who is looking to upgrade theirs for something a little different. The only thing is you have to enjoy the assembly and wiring process...


----------



## 7milesup (Sep 27, 2021)

2500 GPH is about 41 GPM.   Just for reference, I utilized a pump that provided about 4500GPM and a 10 or 15 lift capability for an outdoor water feature.  That water feature was a river about 100ft long sloping down a hill.  It was amazing to hear and watch the water run down that hill over those rocks, and I will say it was a LOT of water.  I would think that your pump will be fine.  If you consider that it will empty a 5 gallon can in 8 seconds, if my calculations are correct.  Restricting it down to flow through nozzles may be more of an issue.


----------



## theNOTORIOUSmo (Sep 28, 2021)

41 GPM is the other concern too. With the restrictions and 1/4 loc line, im thing maybe in the 20 GPM is what i will be seeing. That may be high, i just dont know how restrictive the system will be. But if it is in the 20 range, there is only a 1 inch drain and that would get close to maxing the drain rate with the very basic calculations i did. 

What are everyone's thoughts to those a diaphragm style pump? Im not a pump expert by any means, but looking through them, it looks like some can do 1.9 GPM at 100 PSI. Im more looking for the chip clearing aspect and with a smaller orifice nozzle and this sounds a lot better than 20 GPM at 5PSI with a 1/4 nozzle. Best part is they run on dc so i can use a switching power supply and pull it off my 220 already going to the machine and not have to worry about my 110 amp load.

Very open to ideas from people who know more before i commit to plumbing this up. So feel free to show me the error in my thought process.


----------



## theNOTORIOUSmo (Oct 12, 2021)

i think this is finally in the last stages here. Testing the pump, it drained a 5 gallon bucket way faster than i wanted it to. So i added 2 smaller nozzles to slow it up even more and now it is doing about 10 to 15 GPM which is manageable. Should of measured it, but i was too busy checking for leaks and trying to keep water off the machine.

For a tank, I've got some ammo cans and will be using them to contain the fluid. I am thinking that if i seal this up nice and tight, i can help control the evaporation and help keep the odors down as well. (dont mind the fiberglass hanging over that i never got around to trimming and just painted over...)





Im wondering what everyone's thoughts are to this.





Each ammo can has a volume on roughly 10 gallons, lets say 7 of them are useable with the pump and 8 without it. If I use 2 ammo cans and link them with tubing towards the bottom quarter, i can have one can trap all the chips that make it into there and have a single spot where any oil will settle. Then a second can with the pump in it that will essentially always be clean, or at least much cleaner. But that will mean i have 15 gallons worth of tank, plus almost another gallon in the tubing/filter. Seems a little over kill, but not sure. I've only had mist before so this is a new one to me.  I'm going to start with 1 for now, but just a little thought i had. 

Now this bothers me every time i see it.





How i  managed to not make the manifolds level, and that the second elbow didn't go perpendicular just irk me.

Thats it for now. Shouldn't be too much longer for this to get completed so i can get onto the nice to have items such as the motor and bearing swap





Now don't forget to turn the lights off on your way out.


----------



## B2 (Oct 13, 2021)

Pumps.  Flood cooling. A Messy Subject!!!!!  What does all of the cutting debris do to a diaphragm style pump as the coolant is recirculated? Do the small holes that these systems usually have also get plugged up?

I have two flooding pumps that came on my machines.  The PM940M-CNC and the PM1440GT both have flooding pumps.  Because of the mess I have yet to actually fill the PM1440GT, but I have put a lot of coolant through the 940 and it works ever with lots of debris.  It works well.  There really needs to be a strainer/filter in the system, but I have yet to figure out what I want to install and where.  Anyway, the coolant is directed by one of those flexible plastic hoses and nozzles ("pop bead style").   The hose that came with the mill was large diameter (3/8 dia?), but more importantly it leaked a lot and at the same time had a flex plastic tube inside the pop beads... which was suppose to stop dripping at all of the flex joints, but did not.  Someone (maybe me) had twisted the hose at some point and so it had multiple kinks which prevented flow no matter how much I worked with it and straightened it.  I pitched it all out and bought a good 1/4" dia. pop-bead hose and parts by Loc-Line .... with smaller nozzles no plastic tube liner and which did not leak much.  I think the final nozzle I am using is about 1/16 dia, but I may have cut a bit pff the end ... or drilled it out to make it a bit larger.   Now the pump will shoot a stream clear across the mill table >20 inches!    However, the nozzle does some times clog with debris from earlier cuts so the filter is needed.  

The two pumps are constructed in a similar manner.  A steel box reservoir  with a lid to hold the liquid has a motor mounted to the top with a shaft doing down into the box to the very bottom.  There there is a simple spinning blade style pump.  The mill and stand collects the used coolant and it drains via a large plastic tube back to a port at the steel box.  It works well.  

Both of the pumps that came with my Mill vaguely looks a little like the one that PM sells as an accessory, but this plastic version is not the same.  https://www.precisionmatthews.com/shop/coolsys/

My pump, without the tank, looks a little more like the following one, but my motor is just a normal motor.  Not submersible.      https://www.amazon.com/AMT-5380-95-...lling+coolant+pump&qid=1634158397&sr=8-7&th=1

The key in these pumps are that they sit very close but not in contact with the bottom of the reservoir.  So you do not actually have to fill it up all the way, but more importantly much of the larger debris can settle to the bottom.  I also think it is important that the pump its self is not too tight fitting internally so as to pass the debris.

By the way, I would not want a submersible pump.  This is not like it is going into water.  Coolant gets really foul after usage and cleaning the coolant out and off of the pump is very messy.   My pump and reservoir is inside my Mill stand so getting it in and out is also messy as I have to tilt the steel box reservoir.  It holds about 1.5 gallon.  

I am thinking the filter should be something like on uses for the oil in a car.  

Good luck.


----------



## theNOTORIOUSmo (Oct 14, 2021)

Its funny, i have that exact coolant pump in my a list on amazon right now. I was looking for maybe a 1/4hp though just to get more pressure. Talking to some much more knowledgeable people, they steered my away from the diaphragm pump. And leaned me towards the style of pumps you mentioned as well. This pump was going to get thrown away, so i might as well use it up until it dies. Its made to handle larger solids, so it should last longer than i want until its time to use a proper pump i imagine? 

As for filters, i've seen quite a few videos of people using whole house filters past the pump, and it is the DIY thing to do on the forums. So im giving it a try. A mesh filter should trap most of the bigger chips at the drain and the water filter, the smaller.

If its an epic failure, well at least it was a learning experience.


----------



## Christianstark (Oct 14, 2021)

When I was involved with salt water aquariums, we would make sumps where water needed to go through a series of over and under baffles to allow air micro bubbles out so suspension. Same tech would be perfect for an application like this.


----------



## Cletus (Oct 15, 2021)

Here are a couple ideas. On my CNC Mini-Mill I use this RC Fueling Pump from Jersey Modeler as a coolant pump. 12VDC and very easy to control flow with a dc speed control.  Reservoir is a 2-gal Rubbermaid Cooler






For the CNC Plasma-Jet Cutter,I use a Rule Bilge Pump to flood the water-table. Reservoir is a 18Gal Sterilite bin.






For my Water-cooled TIG Torch I use one of these. Reservoir is a piece of 6" dia PVC drain-pipe with endcaps.


----------



## theNOTORIOUSmo (Dec 20, 2021)

The machine has been running great for a few weeks now, but after a small mistake of letting the table rest on the pan taking it off. Well it seemed like the fiberglass just didnt like it and decided to make a few small cracks and started leaking. Im sure i could of just patched it, but i figured while i have some time off from, i redid the enclosure the way i should of the first time. 





Currently looks like crap as i need to scrap off a bunch of silicone, use rivets on some of the joints instead of screws, and give it a badly needed paint job, but the aluminum sheet will be a much better plan in the long run i think. 

As for the pump, it is still going strong. Once, or if, it quits on me ill replace it with a prober pump. But for now it is working great.

The motor and bearings getting swapped is very high on the list of things i need to do. the 2900 rpm i get just quite doesnt cut it in aluminum. I've seen the cheap servo motors on ebay/aliexpress and a few videos on line have used them as spindle motors. But does anyone around here have any experience with them? a 2.6kw motor that can be ratioed up to 3 or 4:1 will give me 7.5 - 10k rpm which sounds amazing and it should still have enough behind it to do the low speed even being geared i would think. Using that instead of the marathon motor will also be a huge weight savings and wouldn't necessitate the head spacer as much.

Any advice on the motor option would be appreciated as this is super high on my wish list right now.


----------



## Cletus (Dec 20, 2021)

Looking good, must have been a fun build.


----------



## Cletus (Dec 20, 2021)

Did @clough42 not do a spindle motor mod to accomplish just that?  I recall something about an
air-bearing too.  Looking for the vid now to confirm.
Maybe check this out?


----------



## theNOTORIOUSmo (Dec 20, 2021)

Cletus said:


> Did @clough42 not do a spindle motor mod to accomplish just that?  I recall something about an
> air-bearing too.  Looking for the vid now to confirm.


Saw that. But he got an entire replacement atc spindle. I was thinking along the lines of what the guy in the practical renaissance did with his g0704


----------



## Cletus (Dec 20, 2021)

Ahhh, ok I'm not familiar with that.
That ATC spindle seems pretty cool though


----------



## theNOTORIOUSmo (Dec 20, 2021)

Cletus said:


> That ATC spindle seems pretty cool though


Oh I know.. but it's almost 4k when I looked into it. Bearings, servo motor, timing pulleys, and a belt. I think I can keep this around a grand. With some other tooling I want to buy, I just can't justify it especially when I need to swap out all my holders as well.

Starting over and maybe one day, I wish I could find a pm940 size casting to have a blank slate and none of the "extras" I don't need in a conversion.


----------



## Cletus (Dec 20, 2021)

theNOTORIOUSmo said:


> Saw that. But he got an entire replacement atc spindle. I was thinking along the lines of what the guy in the practical renaissance did with his g0704


ooooh!   .....That's pretty darned cool too and leaves some $$$ back to buy more tooling!


----------



## theNOTORIOUSmo (Dec 25, 2021)

well as an update and a Christmas present to myself, i bought a china 1.8kw servo motor, cables, and drive from aliexpress for 330 bucks shipped.... it has a rated speed of 3k rpm and a reasonable power curve to the max speed of 3600 rpm. 100 and 40 tooth are surprisingly cheap there too. while big, that is the only way i can fit a 2.5:1 ratio until i figure out a way to drive it by the splines instead of that outer shaft that drives the splines.

bearings seem to be the most expensive part of this, but im not going to cheap out on that. the spindle bearings will be just almost much as that entire servo setup.  still looking into options, but the SKF angular contact bearings i found are good to about 18k on grease. I dont ever see this going past 10k honestly so there is a set of tapered roller bearings that are a direct swap with no spacers for a little cheaper that are rated to 10k. i think fag or skf makes them so they are not some knock offs. i may go that route, but everyone else uses angular contacts.

The only other thing of substance i have to add is how i routed the coolant and "filtration" system.

i am now using a dual drain setup. makes a small puddle in one spot, but maybe if i stand in it some more i can dent it enough so it drains perfectly. in each of those drains i have some steel sponges to catch the bigger chips.





from there both go into a plastic 50 cal can with scotch bright pads as a secondary filter. that pipe leading to that can is just press fit so i can remove it easy if needed. From there that is connected by a bulkhead fitting to join that to the 30mm ammo can with the submersible pump in it.  from that it goes through the pump and the finer stuff is captured by a 100 micron water filter.

not the most elegant solution, but it seems to be doing a good job. when i finish the final placement of everything I'll make those hoses a proper length.


Hopefully when i get all this stuff over the next few months i can update this with a better update. And if it this thread dies here, well i failed miserably then.


----------



## gregreid (Aug 5, 2022)

>> And if it this thread dies here, well i failed miserably then.

Lol. I just noticed that message, as the last of this two-year-old thread.  Until now, of course.


----------



## theNOTORIOUSmo (Aug 5, 2022)

It's only been December of 21 since I last updated this! So 8 months. I was a little worried when I saw 2 years as I didn't think I've procrastinated that much.

As for progress, I've gotten the servo and driver working. Just took 2 drivers and almost 4 months due to shipping time. decided on a 7500 top speed (just to keep it in the constant torque range) so I have the 100 to 40 htd pulleys. belt and spindle bearings are also on hand. Just need to make the motor mounts and that will be it.

Having a second kid at the end of December, and getting slammed at work has really eaten at my free time. And what time I do have with the machine, I'm making small batches of parts for stuff I sell so I don't want it down.

My goal is when I take a week or two off in November I will get the mounts done, rewire the cabinet, and finally drop mach3 for Linuxcnc.

So this will happen, along with a high speed secondary spindle which is why i dropped the 10k idea. Just need life to stop getting in the way...


----------



## gregreid (Aug 5, 2022)

My apologies!  I had reached page 4 of 4 and saw no further appends after the one that I referenced.  But now that you've responded and I look again at this forum, I can see and catch up with several more appends since then.  Weird, but again THANKS.  

And congrats on the second kid.  

Heading off on 2 weeks of vacation tomorrow, and will catch up when I return.


----------



## theNOTORIOUSmo (Dec 27, 2022)

Well i'd figure i would update this to keep it alive and show i haven't failed miserably yet. It's been almost a year since i started buying parts and i am now finally getting around to doing this. For starters, I finally got rid of mach 3 and am finally going with LinuxCNC. Looking back, i should of just done that in the beginning. But with going to LinuxCNC, that means i need to redo the cabinet. And to help out the next guy who will probably have to trouble shoot something if it goes wrong (that guy being me!) I am taking the time to label everything and make it look better.





I forgot how long this takes. And even using a much bigger enclosure, i feel like im already out of room. I'll post a wiring diagram once i make. doing it mostly for me so i can tape it in there, but also incase anyone wants it to help them out.

The other big part is that i made simple mounts for the motor to go up top. They are nothing special and definitely don't look fancy at all, but they do get the job done and i added tramming screws into them so i don't have to tap the head into alignment anymore.





Finally the most important piece of this is the spindle. After taking the spindle completely apart, i realized that the upper part that drives the splines and lets the quill go up and down only uses maybe an inch of it at the bottom. Seeing that and knowing that i dissembled the quill a long time ago, i went with a different route. I decided to turn the splines down so i can drive it directly from a pully and completely get rid of the backlash now.





The pully on there is a 20t and the drive pully is an 80. But i had to take so much material out of the 20t pully that there really isn't enough room to broach it out to shove a key in there comfortably. Its a nice press fit on there, but having a key instead of just setscrews on there just makes me feel better. So i may go with the 100t and 25t pully i got as a backup to keep the ratio to an even number. That integer multiple will allow me to use the index pulse if i ever decided to start rigid tapping (not sure if that is necessary for normal tapping or only required if peck tapping?). Last change to the spindle is that I also will be adding a bearing on the top to help support the shaft. A plus with that is that it will give me the added benefit of having a place to mount an air cylinder for a power drawbar.

That's really it for the update for now. This project is still alive and i would like to get this thing up and running before spring comes around. Once i get done with the wiring which is the easy part, i'll move onto trying to configure the 7i95. There isn't too much documentation on this board, so i'll throw up those files too incase anyone can use them


----------



## davidpbest (Dec 27, 2022)

theNOTORIOUSmo said:


> Well i'd figure i would update this to keep it alive and show i haven't failed miserably yet. It's been almost a year since i started buying parts and i am now finally getting around to doing this. For starters, I finally got rid of mach 3 and am finally going with LinuxCNC. Looking back, i should of just done that in the beginning. But with going to LinuxCNC, that means i need to redo the cabinet. And to help out the next guy who will probably have to trouble shoot something if it goes wrong (that guy being me!) I am taking the time to label everything and make it look better.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


What a fun project.  I will follow it with interest.


----------



## B2 (Dec 28, 2022)

Love that ceiling port for the Z-axis CNC motor and .... the PVC? pipes!


----------



## theNOTORIOUSmo (Dec 28, 2022)

Yep. When I used the angle, I for some reason treated it like square tubing and measured it off from the top. So i was short about 3 inches... or at least that is the only thing I can think of how I messed that up. I did make a cover for it to seal that hole up, but when I realized that I would have to cut all the connectors and splice them back together to put them through cable glands. Just didn't seem worth it.

As for the pvc, I am debating on just using a pass through for the flood and the one-shot system so it goes up from the tray. But will probably hold off until something leaks. Hopefully it will never as that is low on the list of things I feel like doing.


----------



## B2 (Dec 30, 2022)

I applaud your efforts.


----------

