833-TV CNC conversion from Dr D-Flo project

magu said:
I'm picking up my 833 early next week, so if you could just hurry up and finish..... :) I am thinking of going the same route, except with centroid instead of mesa; have you received the parts from heavy metal yet? I guess I need to call or email Bruce, I am leaning towards his kit, but it looks like it is just using singular ball bearings, perhaps I am wrong and they are angular contact or something?
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I too have been seriously considering a CNC conversion on my 833T. I have looked at Heavy Metal's kit and it seems like a lot of money for what you get. I am assuming the ball screws in his kit are Chinese because ground ball screws of USA origin would be out the roof. I don't know, maybe his kit is worth it but for myself, I already have the mill set up and running so making the ballscrew and motor mounts seems straightforward.
 
magu said:
I'm picking up my 833 early next week, so if you could just hurry up and finish..... :) I am thinking of going the same route, except with centroid instead of mesa; have you received the parts from heavy metal yet? I guess I need to call or email Bruce, I am leaning towards his kit, but it looks like it is just using singular ball bearings, perhaps I am wrong and they are angular contact or something?
Click to expand...
The bearings are just for holding the ball screw in the adapter plates. They don't need to be anything special like angular contact. Won't be an issue. They're fine as is.

I had the mill torn all the way down, the acme screws out and the ball screws ready to install but ran into a snag. Whoever is machining the castings in Taiwan has changed (for the better) the way they are producing the Z "table" and milling the screw nut attachment surface on the other side of the casting relative to the axis, so the heavy metal kit wouldn't work as shipped. The oil lines are all protected inside the casting now though which in my opinion is a better process. I tried installing the Z-axis screw as shipped for most of a day, but it just won't fit. I finally realized that I just needed to reverse the double ballscrew nut on the ballscrew to make it work. I 3D printed an arbor after researching the process (don't want to lose all those little ball bearings!) and got it flipped around... only to break one of the oil lines right at the fitting from all the stress of rearranging them and of course they're metric and not even our local Grainger's had them. MSC did and they arrived yesterday, so I'll be repairing the broken oil line (if I can!) this weekend and putting the mill back together.

On a much sadder note, Mrs. Nelson replied to an email question with the news that Bruce had passed right before Christmas this year.
 
7milesup said:
I too have been seriously considering a CNC conversion on my 833T. I have looked at Heavy Metal's kit and it seems like a lot of money for what you get. I am assuming the ball screws in his kit are Chinese because ground ball screws of USA origin would be out the roof. I don't know, maybe his kit is worth it but for myself, I already have the mill set up and running so making the ballscrew and motor mounts seems straightforward.
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Yes, I completely understand and considered that quite a bit myself. I think if I had gotten a DRO along with the mill and had some of the other tooling like rotary tables, etc. I might have gone that route myself. Bruce unfortunately passed away before Christmas. His business partner is taking over.
 
FlyingAMortgage said:
On a much sadder note, Mrs. Nelson replied to an email question with the news that Bruce had passed right before Christmas this year.
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Oh no! That is sad to hear.
Was there any mention of someone taking over the operation or was Bruce a one-man shop?

EDIT: You were typing when I was replying, so thanks for the update.
 
7milesup said:
Oh no! That is sad to hear.
Was there any mention of someone taking over the operation or was Bruce a one-man shop?

EDIT: You were typing when I was replying, so thanks for the update.
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She mentioned in her email that his business partner was taking over. They had employees, it wasn't just him. I get the impression they did a lot more full conversions than kits, but that was just an impression I got. I don't actually know.
 
magu said:
I'm picking up my 833 early next week, so if you could just hurry up and finish..... :) I am thinking of going the same route, except with centroid instead of mesa; have you received the parts from heavy metal yet? I guess I need to call or email Bruce, I am leaning towards his kit, but it looks like it is just using singular ball bearings, perhaps I am wrong and they are angular contact or something?
Click to expand...
I was in contact with HeavyMetal recently. The email I got said that there was a death in the family, and they may take a while to get the company running again. The way it read, it sounded like Bruce died, but the wording was a little ambiguous.
 
FlyingAMortgage said:
She mentioned in her email that his business partner was taking over. They had employees, it wasn't just him. I get the impression they did a lot more full conversions than kits, but that was just an impression I got. I don't actually know.
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Here's what she sent me verbatim, and it tracks. I'm not going to post the personal back and forth, condolences, etc.

>> On Dec 29, 2021, at 10:39 PM, Bruce Nelson <bruce@heavymetalcnc.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>> I’m Debbie Nelson,
>> My husband Bruce passed away, before Christmas. Our partner will be getting back to you on this as soon as possible. Please believe me that we want to help.
>> Thank you
>> Debbie Nelson
>>
>> Bruce
 
FlyingAMortgage said:
The bearings are just for holding the ball screw in the adapter plates. They don't need to be anything special like angular contact. Won't be an issue. They're fine as is.
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They also take the thrust loading from the ball screws and can be a source of float in the system. Any misumi, nsk, etc uses angular contact and or a combination of bearings to support thrust and reduce backlash.
 
magu said:
They also take the thrust loading from the ball screws and can be a source of float in the system. Any misumi, nsk, etc uses angular contact and or a combination of bearings to support thrust and reduce backlash.
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The vast majority of the thrust load is on the nut plate adapter and the bearings split their load along with some help from the motor coupler. I'm not concerned.
 
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