Optimum MH 50V mods and accessories

[Unlogic]

In order to test the mill after all the work I did to tram it in I decided to make a few billet aluminum alternator brackets. I've made some of these before on the mill so I have something to compare against.










Having a properly trammed machine is very nice as I now don't get any noticeable ridges on the parts when I have overlapping cuts.

To my surprise the rigidity of the machine has been noticeable improved. This is something I didn't expect at all. I suspect the shims I added prevent things from moving about on the imperfect surfaces between the base and the column.

Another surprise is how much quieter the machine is with the new oil. I remember Lucas mentioning in his thread way back that the stock oil was really bad but I didn't expect it to be this bad. Big thanks for all the good advice @mksj and @gschora.

 

[gschora]

I'm actually planing to CNC convert my machine as soon as possible. I'm going to use LinuxCNC

Great choice. Mine runs on Mach3 and a CSMIO IP-S. It works great, downside is that you have to use windows.
My machine has two 400W Servos (X Y) and a 750W Servo for Z which gonna replace with one that has a brake (when it gets delivered). I had two minor crashes because there was no brake on this servo which cost me a 16mm endmill and the tip of a 3d-touch-probe.

I really like the servos because they are really quiet, have a lot of power and speed. I built a 4th-axis from a rotary table and used a stepper which is in comparision really loud.

The motors are mounted like this (X-Motor)



The y-Motor is mounted in the back and the front looks like this (just a alu-cap):


I don't have any good pictures for the nut on the X-axis because i haven't fully disassembled it by now. (just to fix some oil-lines):



I have a cheap endoscope. If you want i can use it to make some pictures from inside...
Hope this helps a bit....

 

[Unlogic]

Thanks for the excellent photos, that mobasi kit looks really well made. Is that kit a direct drive for all axis or is there a reduction?

A few months ago I emailed mobasi asking if they sold any parts for this conversion but I didn't even get a reply.

I've started hoarding parts for my LinuxCNC conversion now and the servos, Mesa FPGA board, touch screen and mini computer is here now. Waiting for some electronics and the ball screws before I start the actual conversion.



I went for Delta B3 servos and drives, 750w for X /Y and 1000w with brake for Z along with a Mesa 7i96S board to control them.

 

[Unlogic]

Here is a little update of the progress I've done on the CNC conversion of the mill.

Bought a large 80x60 cm cabinet for all the electronics.



Added some holes to it.






Added some cable entries and some filters.

 

[Unlogic]

Laid out all the components temporarily to find a good layout.





Drilled lots of holes and broke a few taps...



Did lots of wiring.









At this point I had gotten far enough to make the first moves in LinuxCNC:

 

[skogkatt007]

I love their gawdy tools. That 1 is on sale for a mere 6600 euros. Too rich for me.

 

[Unlogic]

I was originally planning to use this little HP Elitedesk 800 G2 mini for LinuxCNC.


However it proved unsuitable so instead I dusted off an old Core 2 Quad based Mini-ITX motherboard and installed in a new Silverstone Milo 10 case.





In order to improve the protection against dust and chips I purchased dust filter which can be cut to shape and attached with magnet strips.

 

[Unlogic]

Having fiddled a bit with LinuxCNC on the touch screen I quickly realized that I needed some physical buttons for the most important functions so I decided to build a small control panel from an aluminum extrusion with an stainless steel front plate.

















I decided to use buttons from the Eaton M22 series as they are very modular and simple to use and modify.



Machined some end plates from aluminum.








Here is how the finished panel came out.

 

[Unlogic]

Next I needed a mount to attach the panel to the bottom of the Asus touch screen and to the arm I'll be using to hold everything above the mill.

 

[Unlogic]

I'm using a DB-25 cable and breakout board to connect the control panel to the enclosure. It was a bit too large to fit inside the control panel so I milled a small aluminum box that sits on the back of the control panel instead.