PM-727m New mill has arrived!

[Greebles]

Nice write up. Having this increases my confidence in doing this for myself. However I think I would have used mold release on both mating surfaces.

-Denzil

 

[Sloth2009]

Overall I am satisfied with the epoxy tram results. The y axis was a bit out when I first measured this morning. Maybe my precision square is not so square. There was just enough adjustability left in the mounting bolts to get it on track. Right now from spindle to table my x and y are both measuring about 0.0005 difference over 6.5". Here is a picture of the epoxied gap after removing all the tape. Its a bit messy, but turned out ok.

 

[Sloth2009]

I don't think you need to be afraid of this stuff if something goes wrong. I let some do a full cure on a stick and drilled through it with a drill press with no problem. If you had to undo an epoxy tram you could drill around the gap with a small bit until the column breaks loose. Then you could grind it off and reapply as needed.

 

[Sloth2009]

Got the 3-axis dro from PM today. They were about $450 and are supposed to be good down to 0.0002. I had never even seen a dro before so was a bit overwhelmed with all the pieces and parts. There is not much help in the paperwork to tell you how to install them. I did a little research and familiarizing myself with the parts and I think I have a decent handle on it now. I will go buy some standard bolts tomorrow for the mounts so I don't have to buy find a metric tap. If all goes well I will install them tomorrow afternoon.

 

[Greebles]

I have installed this very same DRO on my PM-727. I can provide photos of my install and answer any questions you need.

-Denzil

 

[wrmiller]

Yea, the first install can be a bit overwhelming. But then after you get it done, you realize it wasn't so bad. I studied a lot of the pictures on DroPros website before I did mine. Still ended up doing it over.

Greebles is willing to help, and has the same mill. That should help considerably. Have fun.

 

[Sloth2009]

I have installed this very same DRO on my PM-727. I can provide photos of my install and answer any questions you need.

-Denzil

I would love some pics, esp of where you mounted the reader and its mounting bracket on the x and y axis. Is your y-axis dro on the right hand side? Does it get in the way of the gib locks? Would you have done anything differently?

 

[Greebles]

I installed the Y-Axis on the left side of the machine to prevent interference with the Y Locks and mounted the X Axis reader to the front.

Make sure you measure and mark the table and saddle travel before you begin. In the pictures below you will notice green marks (lines) where I did that. This allowed me to make sure I aligned the scales and readers properly to allow for full travel (allowing for extra travel on each end for safety).


Here you can see the X-Axis scale is mounted to the table using the dove tale track that was already machined into the table. The Scale Reader is mounted to the saddle with an L bracket.


I marked the center of the saddle along the X and drilled / tapped two holes (10-32). They are the two lower horizontal holes.


Y-Axis mounting was more work. On the left side of the machine I made a standoff that I mounted to the casting with two countersunk cap screws. I drilled tapped holes into this standoff for mounting another bracket to extend out over the base casting.





-Denzil

 

[Sloth2009]

I installed the Y-Axis on the left side of the machine to prevent interference with the Y Locks and mounted the X Axis reader to the front.

Make sure you measure and mark the table and saddle travel before you begin. In the pictures below you will notice green marks (lines) where I did that. This allowed me to make sure I aligned the scales and readers properly to allow for full travel (allowing for extra travel on each end for safety).


Here you can see the X-Axis scale is mounted to the table using the dove tale track that was already machined into the table. The Scale Reader is mounted to the saddle with an L bracket.


I marked the center of the saddle along the X and drilled / tapped two holes (10-32). They are the two lower horizontal holes.


Y-Axis mounting was more work. On the left side of the machine I made a standoff that I mounted to the casting with two countersunk cap screws. I drilled tapped holes into this standoff for mounting another bracket to extend out over the base casting.





-Denzil

Thank you for the pics!

 

[Sloth2009]

Im pretty much done installing the dro. I did the z and x axis yesterday and finished the y axis today. I still need to so some cord management and test the scales for linearity and accuracy. I did indicate in the mounting plates for the scales so should be pretty good overall. Everything powers up and outputs to the monitor which is good.

Denzil's y-axis install would be the way to go. I asked Matt why they put their install on the right side and he said it is only due to convention, but there is no reason to do it on this mill. I made more work for myself and put it on the right side with a bracket off the back of the table for the reader. This avoids crowding the gib locks.

For the x-axis I fabricated a bracket and mounted the assmebly to the back of the table. This should give me enough room to reattach the way covers.

Half the mounting brackets are modified in some way. I also made a bracket for the swing arm so I could get it higher on the column. All my tapped holes are 10-32. I center punched, pilot drilled and used a drill/tap combo bit in a dewalt drill to tap the holes.