Added An Angel Eye To My Enco Rf30 Mill/drill

[ndnchf]

After seeing what some of you have done with an angel eye, I ordered one for my RF30 (about $9.00 delivered from ebay). I made a simple switch box from a PVC connection box and used a leftover 18v computer power supply (the LEDs run on 12 - 24v). The switch box was attached to the side of the head with double sided tape, the power supply box was attached to the back of the mill base with the same tape. I'm amazed how well it works, plenty of light focused right down where I need it. I couldn't be more pleased, and it cost under $15 for everything!

 

[Bob Korves]

How did you attach the light?

 

[Ulma Doctor]

very illuminating!
nice project, good work!

 

[ndnchf]

Attaching the light was a bit of a challenge. The LED ring lays inside a U-shaped plastic lens. The top of the lens is an open channel. I had planned to use double sided tape to attach it to the bottom of the spindle. But with the open channel there was very little surface area for the tape to adhere to. So instead, I wrapped fine copper magnet wire around the lens in three places 120 degrees apart. This was twisted to make a tail that reach up about 1/2". The tree tails were secured to the side of the spindle with black electrical tape. It sounds a little cheesey, bit it works well. If you look closely at this photo, you can see one of the three securing wires. A better way may be to epoxy small magnets to the top of the ring. If this doesn't hold up, I may try that. But this seems to hold just fine.