Tramming a Harbor Freight mini mill

[higgite]

Do I have the axis mixed up, I thought the table moved in X and Y, rasing the head up and down was Z, am I wrong?

You are correct, side to side is X, front to back is Y, up and down is Z. You are trying to tram the Z-axis to the X and Y axes.

Tom

 

[maddthom]

Thanks Tom, sorry if I confused anyone because I didn't know how to phrase it. Your reply to Mick, your right I'm sure you know alot more about them than I do but the tilting column isn't the only problem, that tilting mechanism mounts to the base with 3 bolts they are almost in a straight line so it acts like a pivot point with side to side movement. Thats the reason I was slowly taking my time with every, part that can move, trying to make sure it was a square, but thanks to everyone who responded btw Does any one no of a way to make them more rigid?

 

[tghsmith]

there is a reason why little machine shop sells a non tilting conversion column,,(they also sell replacement gears or a belt drive conversion kit)

 

[mickri]

There have been lots of methods tried over the years to add more rigidity to a tilting column mini mill. They all add supports to lock the column in place. Do some searching online and you should find numerous possible solutions to try out.

 

[maddthom]

there is a reason why little machine shop sells a non tilting conversion column,,(they also sell replacement gears or a belt drive conversion kit)

I've already looked at them and spoken to the people/person that works there, they are extremely helpful its just $300-$400 is beyond me right now, gota work with what I got.