My LMS Mini Mill

[KenS]

Hope this helps.

It sure does-- the photos really let me understand the positive and negative offsets. You'd think these all come from the same factory, but I guess there are different foundries casting the parts.

The sketches also help. The absolutely worst problem with my X2 is the miserable head drop followed by the less-than-rigid column and lack of a spindle lock. Using your design, I'll probably fix the column first and then tackle the others.

Thanks again for the helpful posts.

Ken

 

[Fabrickator]

UPDATE: Forward and Reverse Spindle control. My circuit board lead(s) finally arrived from Hong Kong to complete the spindle reversing mod. Aside from researching to find the correct circuit board plug, this mod was as easy as soldering 3 wires to a switch and plugging it into the circuit board as was described earlier in this post from a thread I found on another website.

I was a little bit nervous doing this for the first time and I was hoping that the guy knew what he was talking about, although he seemed very knowledgeable on circuitry. I plugged it in and voila I now have forward and reverse at the flip of the switch. Now, you most likely will never use reverse, but it sure will come in handy to back out of a threading operation.

If anyone is interested in this mod, I have a few spare, pre-wired plug leads available that we could "cost share". PM me.

 

[Fabrickator]

I had previously mentioned that I planned on making some cool, new aluminum handles for my LMS Mill to replace the plastic ones and so here they are. I chose not to make them "round balls" with my new ball turning fixture because I wanted to keep the original look and feel, like I did on my G06020 lathe.

The Z axis handle knobs are tapped for M-8.

The X & Y Axis are drilled through and counter bored. I made these with a much tighter tolerance to keep them for rattling when I'm "fast" advancing the table with the power feed.

Next, I want to make a larger wheel w/ knob (maybe 3" or so) for the "Fine Feed" feature because the little one cramps my aging hands after a little while.

Rick

 

[kbconv]

Excellent material and pics here Rick, thanks for the post! I just got my HF cleaned last week and am now re-assembling, lubing and setting it up today (which is why I'm searching for pics of where everything goes now, ha).

When making the brace, did you position and fasten the 2 seperate support brace pieces to the machine and then place the welds? Were the results of your column brace measurable? I think you mentioned you got chatter at .020" beforehand.

Do you think anything would be gained by using angle iron as the bottom support piece and then welding the lower "ears" of the column's channel iron support to the top "shelf" of the angle iron fastened to the base? I didn't know if that would provide more rigidity or if the complexity is even needed, and I'm not even sure what's available locally.

 

[coolidge]

Fab you have exceeded the manufacturers recommended volume of fun on that mill, nicely done!

 

[Fabrickator]

Thanks for your support guys.

I thought about several ways to make the column support and yeah, you could do whatever works for you or materials at hand. One thing was I wanted to point out the differences between LMS and Sieg/HF base locations. I was going to add angles from the side base tops to the column but decided that it really wouldn't add much. The main idea being that it "supports" the column to the base, which it wasn't doing before.

I tack welded the pieces in place and then removed it and did a some more welding on the inside off the machine.

I haven't had the opportunity to machine any heavy-duty steel operations but I'm sure it couldn't have hurt anything. It does seem much more rigid when I'm plowing through .060" cuts of aluminum though.

 

[Fabrickator]

I recently completed a couple of projects that involved a lot of chips flying off my LMS mini mill and making a big mess on the floor that I was constantly chasing with a broom and shop vac. I ended up using a piece of mat board and a magnet to help deflect the mess and I decided for my next project a proper chip guard was in order.

The mill came with a clear plastic finger guard that was attached to the mill head and didn't do much to contain chips. After thinking about a real chip guard, I decided that the most effective way to build it would be to attach it to the table. I use my mill vise most of the time and anything that is anchored to the mill head can’t get low enough to deflect chips when sweeping from left to right w/o running into the vise. So, I utilized some existing holes on the front of my vise and made a pair of dovetail brackets. It follows the work and lifts on/off easily when needed to take a measurement, change tools or for cleaning-up. My method of clean-up is to vacuum up the big piles and blow everything else to the back wall and then vacuum it up when I’m done, so chips flying out of the back side are OK.

You can see in the pics that it worked pretty good in containing the chips and from getting under foot while I was doing some testing on a cut-off piece of 3/4" aluminum I had in the scrap can.

It won't work for any set-up, but I can't think of a guard design that would. I may be able to make one or two more dovetails to adapt it to another set-up though, only time will tell as the need arises.

 

[Crevice Dog]

I had previously mentioned that I planned on making some cool, new aluminum handles for my LMS Mill to replace the plastic ones and so here they are. I chose not to make them "round balls" with my new ball turning fixture because I wanted to keep the original look and feel, like I did on my G06020 lathe.

The Z axis handle knobs are tapped for M-8.

The X & Y Axis are drilled through and counter bored. I made these with a much tighter tolerance to keep them for rattling when I'm "fast" advancing the table with the power feed.

Next, I want to make a larger wheel w/ knob (maybe 3" or so) for the "Fine Feed" feature because the little one cramps my aging hands after a little while.

Rick

View attachment 76468 View attachment 76469

Did you make or find a larger wheel for the Fine Feed Z-Axis Knob? This is an upgrade that I too need. I think everyone should have it, as you can't get a smooth feed with that knob, and it does tire out the old hands. I'm setting my X2 mini mill up to also do some lathe work with a 4 jaw chuck. I think a folding or quick detaching handle that gets out of the way may be beneficial and safer.

 

[Fabrickator]

No, I never made the larger fine tuning knob. I got to thinking that you may lose sensitivity and drop too much too quickly.

I love your idea of a quick-detach extension lever w/knob that I can use for some applications though. Maybe make the lever with pins and knob and then drill a couple of 1/4" holes in the existing knob to drop it in. I may put a series of 6 holes so I'm always close to the most comfortable position for use, just with more leverage.

 

[Ken from ontario]

If anyone is interested in this mod, I have a few spare, pre-wired plug leads available that we could "cost share". PM me.

Hi Fabricator, I'm planning on installing a reverse switch on my mini mill, just need to to know where you got the female plastic plug that's supposed to fit in the 3 pin connector? would I be able to find them at Home Depot? what is the proper name for that connector?
Thanks.
Ken.