[Mill] Waber Tools Zip-Cut Vertical Mill - Upgrades and Mods (DRO, Riser and more)

[MasaAMD]

**Updated Feb 18 2017**​

Hello everyone!

I wanted to create a continuation to my restoration thread for my newly acquired Zip-Cut mill. Its been a few weeks and I've been slowly tooling up and getting a feel for how it handles different cutters and materials. It's a great little machine and fits my needs perfectly but its time for some quality of life improvements.

List of improvements to come:
- Vise hold downs DONE
- Leveling Feet DONE
- DRO install IN PROGRESS
- Riser block (maybe incorporate a better method of tramming the head)
- Work light
- Way cover/wipers
- Metric drawbar (increased tooling options)
- Mill repower (variable DC drive)

If anyone is interested the thread can be found here: Zip-cut Vertical Mill - My First Mill + Resto (lots Of Pictures)

One of my first purchases was to pick up a quality vise. Eventually after much deliberation, I settled on a 3 inch screwless toolmakers vise. In hindsight I should have gone with a 4 inch but a 3 in will suit my needs for now and has been doing a great job. I have had very few issues with part holding other than those caused by myself (still learning).

So my first project was to mill four proper hold downs for the vise. It was a fun project and a I learned how different cutters react to CRS. After the second block was finished I tried out a roughing end mill for the first time and I was blow away at how much material could be taken off with each pass. This greatly sped up the machining process. The last block was milled entirely with the end mill in the pictures. This is a really neat end mill that was given to me, that is both a rougher and finisher in one. It is solid carbide and has a copper colored coating. I was able to run this end mill at around 800 RPM and take about a 0.050" depth of cut with ease.

Now for the pictures!




Re-tramming in the vise


Next up: DRO Install!

 

[MasaAMD]

Part 2: DRO Install

As I started using my mill I soon realized I wanted a DRO but I didn't want to break the bank picking one up. Most glass scale units readily available easily cost two to three times what I spent on the mill itself so I began looking at other alternatives. I considered an iGuaging setup, which then lead to TouchDRO. But after piecing everything together in my cart, the grand total was still pretty expensive comparatively. After a little more searching around, I began to revisit the idea of a glass scale unit. Eventually I stumbled on a thread where a user purchased a custom fit DRO from Wilson Huang on AliExpress. I was a little skeptical at first, but after further digging it seemed like others had good luck on their orders too, so I took the plunge and picked one up.

This is the unit I purchased:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/fre...dout-with-3-pcs-linear-scales/1524501216.html

$251 Shipped to my door for a custom length glass scale DRO, that's more like it!

AliExpress was simple to use and Mr. Huang was prompt and professional. Just measure the mill's travel in each axis and they cut and size each scale to fit AND even include a little extra on either end to prevent bottoming out. So after about a week and a half it arrived at my door.

Now onto the good stuff!

Here is the kit!


Upon opening the package I was pleasantly surprised how nice everything was. Everything was wrapped carefully and special care was given to prevent any damage to the scales. The controller is almost identical to a SINO unit and all scales powered up and read perfectly. Alright, time for the install.

X-Axis:
My goal is to try to create the most rigid setup with the least amount of brackets possible. So for the x-axis that meant bolting directly to the table and the saddle.

Forgot to take pictures of positioning the scale, but I centered and aligned it to the bottom rear of the table. One nice thing is that I can still fit the table on my drill press, which helped drilling and tapping nice square holes.


All bolted up. I decided to use 1/4-20 and stick with standard hardware throughout the install. If you look close I did have to file flats on the washers to fit the slots at each end.




Cover fitted as well. BTW always check your tap drill size. Made a goof and drilled one of my holes too large for #8-32. Maybe got 15-20% threads if I am lucky, oh well! If it strips out it'll get a helicoil.






Positioning the read head on the saddle and drilling. You might notice that I modified the read head slightly, more on this in a second.




Spacer cut and bolted to the saddle.




As you can see I wanted to countersink the socket cap screws into the read head. Two things were preventing this right off the bat. First the read head was threaded and second it had small hex shaped recesses. So I very carefully bored each hole to 1/4" and counter sunk with a slightly larger end mill.

Time for goof #2... This one I just skirted by the skin of my teeth on. So I should have been more careful but I just nicked the insulation on the cable coming into the read head. Luckily it only grazed the outer layer and never made it to the wires themselves. So learn from my mistake if you do this, I would highly recommend offsetting the hole if you decide to open them up.


That's all for now! Next up Y-axis! And here's a little teaser...

 

[MasaAMD]

Y-Axis Install:

So its been a little bit since my last update but I've made a good amount of progress and I just finished the y-axis. I decided to mount the scale on the left side of the machine and I wanted to orient it in such a way that the read head would be below the scale and it could accommodate a cover to shield it from chips. Additionally I needed to mount it in such a way that it would not interfere with the knee crank. And lastly since this was to be attached to a cast non-machined surface I needed to incorporate a means to square the bracket to y-axis.

Alright now we know what I need to do, time for the build!

Starting of with a few lengths of 6061 and double sided tape


Approximate location


Positioning brackets for the read head


Scale placement (And don't mind the cant, the clamp isn't in the center of the scale)




Alright! Everything looks good, let's start making chips!

Fixing the two pieces of 6061 together. Using Tap-Magic Aluminum for the first time and it smells horrible! Sort of a burnt chemically cinnamon smell. Back to good-ol WD-40!


Machined and cleaned up. Milled the screw ends flush and took off about 1/8th inch at the end to accommodate the step in the casting.



And how it sits on the mill



Checking bracket, need a little more clearance.



Much better!


Time to position the scale on the bracket. I decided to mount it on the forward end. This scale placement along with read head bracket in the position above allows maximum travel fore and aft.



Alright, now that we know where the scale mounts it's time to layout the holes for the mounting bolts and leveling set screws.



Back to the drill press! Also countersunk the socket cap screws.



A closer look at the mounting and set screws.



Positioning on the mill and transfer punched



Time to drill into the knee. Using a drill guide to keep everything as square as possible.


Bolted up and scale mounted. Just barely clears the casting for the knee crank.




Well I just hit the image limit on this post, time to make a part 2 to the y-axis build.

 

[MasaAMD]

Y-Axis install continued:

First version of the this bracket. I wasn't quite happy with it so I wound it remaking it out of one of the other brackets included with the kit.


Version 2






Installed on the saddle. Not sure how I feel about the nylon spacers, I will probably remake these out of aluminum later.




That's it for the y-axis! Time to work on the Z. Here are a few other random shots throughout the build.

Milling flats on the washers to fit the scales.


Opening up the slots to accept 1/4-20 screws


And lastly here's a little teaser for the z-axis...


More to come soon! I hope everyone is enjoying the build!

 

[LucknowKen]

More to come soon! I hope everyone is enjoying the build!

I for one am enjoying the build.
That ZipCut mill is super sweet!
lk

 

[MasaAMD]

Taking a little break from the DRO install to make up some leveling feet for the mill. I found a good deal on hockey pucks on eBay so I decided to go that route, and I even have enough to do three more machines!

Here we go! Went with 3/8th hardware and doubled up on the fender washers to give them a little more strength. For the holes I used my drill press and a forstner bit to countersink the bolt heads.



Ready to go onto the mill. Applied a little blue locktite on the threads for good measure


Much better! Added a little height and now that annoying rocking is gone!

 

[MasaAMD]

Time for the Z-axis! So I decided to go with a similar approach as the Y-axis with leveling setscrews at either end. I omitted the backer so I lost some rigidity and I might have to remake this bracket out of thicker aluminum. So right now this is more of a proof of concept more than anything. Anyway let's jump right into the build!

Laying out and drilling/tapping all the holes





Scale mounted on bracket. Fits perfectly!


Time to square the bracket to the table in all directions and transfer the holes.





So this was when I realized I would have major issues with flexing. I tried adding an additional setscrew on the opposite side, and while this worked it created an odd pivoting action. The main issue is the column is tapered both vertically as well as forward and back.




Here is a better view of the taper



Positioning the reader bracket.


Drilling and tapping the holes




That's all for the Z! After fiddling around with the bracket and trying to align everything, there is just too much flex in the setup. I will be changing the layout of the setscrews and re-machining a new bracket out of 1/2" aluminum. This time I'll place two setscrews directly to the left and right of the top mounting bolt and two set screw directly above and below the lower mounting bolt. This will create three supported points of contact and will hopefully be much more rigid.

Next up, covers!

More to come soon!