X2 Mill Table and Saddle with linear rails

[shooter123456]

I am having a little trouble following.

Lets start from the bottom up.
1. Y Axis linear rails attached directly to the machine base.
2. Y axis linear bearings attached to bottom of fabricated aluminum plate.
3. X axis linear bearings attached upside down to the same fabricated aluminum plate.
4. X axis linear rails attached upside down to the bottom of the X3 table.

If that sounds right, then the answer to your original question is "that depends on what you mean by metal pad". On my mill I attached all the bearings directly to the same plate.

I made mine a bolt on attachment instead of cutting away the dovetails so I could revert back if it didn't go well and so I could use the machine to make its own parts.

 

[DMLCV]

Yes The Y Axis linear rails , Yes on the linear bearings, Yes on the X axis linear bearings, Yes on the X axis linear rails.

Metal pad becomes the saddle if I got that right. Do you think that a size of 9" x 9" x 1" is a good size for this?? The X3 table is 720mm long.

Here is a view of the LMS large table compared to the X3. You can see the size difference.



This is a photo of the ball screw for the X3 table.




This is the end view of the LMS large Table base, notice the the mounting holes for the Y axis are off interesting find.


I understand the view of not wanting to remove the dovetails and be able to revert back for us of the mill for work on the upgrade.

I really liked what you did and I really like that you have taken time to talk to me.

 

[shooter123456]

Yes The Y Axis linear rails , Yes on the linear bearings, Yes on the X axis linear bearings, Yes on the X axis linear rails.

Metal pad becomes the saddle if I got that right. Do you think that a size of 9" x 9" x 1" is a good size for this?? The X3 table is 720mm long.

Here is a view of the LMS large table compared to the X3. You can see the size difference.

View attachment 245896

This is a photo of the ball screw for the X3 table.

View attachment 245897


This is the end view of the LMS large Table base, notice the the mounting holes for the Y axis are off interesting find.
View attachment 245898

I understand the view of not wanting to remove the dovetails and be able to revert back for us of the mill for work on the upgrade.

I really liked what you did and I really like that you have taken time to talk to me.

Ok we are on the same page now. The plate would become the saddle. Its hard to say in terms of dimemsions. The X3 table is massive compared to what the base was designed for. You may run into trouble with the Y axis rails being too close together to support it at either end if there is much weight on it. Remember that torque increases as the distance from the point of rotation increases.

On my X2, the most the table would be able to overhang was about 8 inches. That table looks to be about 30 inches, which would mean it would hang 22 inches when at the extent of its travels. I would try to make sure that was supported somehow.

1 inch is a bit thick, thats not where you would want that mass to be. Preferably, you would find a way to spread the Y axis rails out a little bit more.

I hope that helps. One thing you could try is using Fusion360 to draw it all out as accurately as you can, then use the simulations to get an idea of what effect certain design changes would have.

 

[DMLCV]

Thanks for the input and I will let you know what I decided to do. Making the base wider makes since and again thanks.

 

[DMLCV]

Shooter,

The table is 6 1/4" wide 22 3/8" long. I am going with a 1"x12"x12" aluminum for the base on the bottom of the mill. For the table I am going with 3/4"x6"x24" That should give the table about 2/3rds over the base at any one time. Going to be a bit long but I will work on that. I got the Fusion 360 program now all I have to do is put in my data and see how that fairs.

 

[steveday72]

Have you made any more progress on your upgrade since November 2017?

It's a fascinating (and ambitious) project.

 

[shooter123456]

Have you made any more progress on your upgrade since November 2017?

It's a fascinating (and ambitious) project.

Unfortunately, no more progress. I played with that machine for a while, but the project was replaced with my new machine, a PM-25MV. The X2 was disassembled and converted back to manual.