วีดีโอ

I know, I’m very surprised just how much the mist helped. But you and a couple others have all said flood is even better. I want to “float” the machines chip pan at an angle with epoxy of some sort, so the coolant will atleast all flow to the drain. Right now it’s just flat, and when I got the machine the coolant dried up like grease and it caused quite a bit of corrosion. I will have weeks where I don’t use the machine, and don’t want to have to clean that stuff everytime.

@@mwmxcnc Ouch, that sounds like a mess. I ran flood briefly on my PCNC1100. Every time I was done for the day I'd use the air gun to blow all the coolant over to the drain to avoid that problem. Wasn't perfect but it worked. But flood was such a game changer. I broke a TON of end mills and was always babying them to avoid breakage. Especially slotting, which was always problematic. I had one part with a 1/8" wide slot that had to be machined 5/8" deep. When I ditched the fogbuster and went with flood, I could run that same toolpath in 1/5th the time without breaking end mills. That sealed it for me. I went on to develop some custom coolant manifolds and redo the coolant system on my 1100MX and as a result got a LOT of production from that machine. Good luck and keep making the videos!

Yeah, I got it for $5,000. That included a few tools and a vice. Here in Utah it seems these things are pretty expensive, there is a couple others for sale right now in the 5500-8500 range, and they’re series 1 machines.

@mwmxcnc wow, that's a pretty good deal.

Thanks!

Yessir! Still the way I do it. For now, I might try building a touch probe soon, I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to making something that can be bought pretty reasonably. lol.

That’s a good way to look at it! Thanks

Thanks, I’d say make a little project of it, and build your own. The don’t look too complex.

My dilemma is that the machine will most likely sit up to a month or two, and based on how I got the machine, with nasty dried up coolant that was almost 1/2” thick in places, and rust all over, I’m worried that could happen again. How long does your machine sit? And what coolant do you use? I’m scarred for life after cleaning this thing haha.

Yeah I am looking for a reasonably priced probe, do you have any recommendations?

Thanks! It definitely has its challenges, but this will be knife number 4 and 5 that I’m working on now, so far so good. I have a few videos of making the first one on the tube of you, machining, hardening, and anodizing. I’m no expert, and I’m a worse videographer, but I’ve found watching them at like 1.5X speed makes them at least watchable, haha. I’m getting better though I think.

Thanks! Gotta keep those pawn shop finds running!

I keep forgetting to see which version Path Pilot I have. Do you know what version it works with? I’ve read V2 and higher. I just ran my first part, which was new holes in soft jaws that I already had, so they’d fit my 5” vice.

@@mwmxcnc if you type admin in the mdi line you should be able to scroll down and see if admin backlash is listed i just got my 1100 in may so im still learning also (zero cnc experience )

I finally got the v1.x to v2.x thumb drive and updated to the most recent version, v2.10 I believe, and your instruction showed the list in the mdi, so I set it about .0001" less than the actual backlash and it seems to be working great, now I just need to find a more accurate way to measure tool heights, I have a height gauge, but for whatever reason I am getting inconsistent results, within .001" but I don't know why, maybe the tool is moving in the collet, but I remeasured a few after using them, and the shrank, maybe its just wear, but I don't have a microscope. Ive been thinking about getting a china height setter, but that may be even less accurate.

Thanks! I really appreciate the comment.

Do the carbide burrs hold up to the slag okay? That’s probably would have been much easier.

I forgot to look just now, but I believe it is underneath behind the spindle.

You know that oil need?​@@mwmxcnc

That makes a lot of sense, cause I barely touched that dang pipe and instantly burned, I’m trying to find some cooling fins, haven’t check McMaster yet. I’ve never heard of an intercooler on an air compressor, I’m going to look that up also, but it probably wouldn’t be worth while on this size compressor, but still to cool to look into.

I did some searching, looks like they have intercoolers and aftercoolers, but I was not able to find anything available to public. Though I bet a cars power steering cooler would work. Or an automotive a/c evap or condenser coil. That could look pretty cool too.

Thanks, and yes they are, especially something large enough to fit a 30 inch wide sheet. This was only the 3rd time I have used the 3d printed one, so $100 printer and $10 of filament is all you really need to make all sorts of tools. I make special tools for dirtbike and mountain bike suspension, and plenty of other things with it. They can make surprisingly strong parts if printed correctly.

If you're looking for ideas, I'd watch a video on how you design and make these parts.

I can do that, I use the free version of fusion360, there is already a million videos for fusion, the problem is a lot of times they get outdated pretty fast as fusion updates and changes the software, I’ll put one together for the next part/tool I make.

Yeah that was definitely an unnecessary rebuild haha. But it did let me get the bearing numbers, and video of how it all goes together so I will have a better idea of how to convert it to a higher rpm motor. Which I plan to do someday. Also, as a mechanic, you’re saying you don’t end up with bonus parts after most jobs? I have a whole mountain of them! Haha

Yeah that would be a waste in my machine, you’d probably need a pretty precise machine to use one of those spindles. And if it’s the one I’m thinking of, they’re air driven right? So you’d also need a hell of a compressor. Someday maybe, running a machine shop would be pretty awesome, or just being rich enough to have it all in my garage would be nice too. Lol

@@mwmxcnc they sell both air driven and electric motor driven, yeah the air driven ones would def need alot of air lol But the electric ones are still small, it's just the lack of torque I'd be worried about there's vids of them machining 60rocwell steel but it'd take hours to make any kind of shape lol I think they are more for tiny bits for precision features n stuff. And yea I'd assume it's need a precision machine otherwise it's have tool breakage issues. I wouldn't be surprised if your setup will be quite decent bro, If you follow those specs when you were setting up the rails, dial everything in nicely, use precision levels and scrape it all in where needed I assume itl be at least on par with Haas machines if not out do them

Thanks! I’m not much of a video editor, but I’m working on it. I’ll be building a plasma table pretty soon, I’m using mess boards, and Linux cnc for this one, should be a pretty neat build, if you’re into cnc machines and fab work.

Yeah it’s a simple enough part to make with some sort of hack saw, grinder and files. Cnc machine makes it a little easier though. And I’ll use any excuse to use mine. It’s always good to get some perspective.

It appears to be a nylon of some sort, the original also looked like it was impregnated with bronze or something. The problem with a metal/babbit/ductile iron etc. ring is that the piston and rod are one piece, and because of that, the piston rocks instead of staying parallel with the cylinder, I’d worry that would cause problems, a hard leather might be a good alternative, the ring looks like it’s designed to act kind of like a lip seal, where the more pressure, the more it forces outwards and seals, but depending on your compressor, you might be able to find a ring on eBay or Amazon, there is a ton out there, just not my exact size. I really hate tossing anything, and I always have the mindset that anything can be fixed, which gets me in trouble spending more than I should.

I’m not really sure what material I’d use, I could maybe do cast iron, the aluminum that’s in there now, looks to be hard anodized, or possibly some sort of plating, steel may work for a bit, bronze might work pretty well, I might have to try that.

I actually did check out HF’s compressors, nothing available over 5cfm at 90psi except their gas powered units. Home Depot has some options around $1000

@@mwmxcnc I gotcha, yea mines 4.5cfm I think which does pretty damn good for what I’m using it for but if you need more I get that. I heard and read Lowe’s kobalt super quiet compressors we’re off the chain also like a notch above the HF stuff like I got

For real, I’m done with it, does your fortress make enough air? Everything I’ve read has said you need a ton of air, 8cfm min. I’m going to run it on a plasma table, so I won’t really be able to start and stop to let the compressor catch up, but the plasma cutter doesn’t have a very long duty cycle though anyways, so really I just need something that can keep up with that, which is like 4 minutes, then either 6 or 10 minutes of cool down, at full amperage.

@@mwmxcnc man I honestly haven’t pushed my plasma on it yet for 4 min or near that long ya kno, but I will say I got the 10lb fortress bro and it more than keeps up with my plasma so far, but in your case I would personally get that super quiet 27 gallon or 28 gallon super quiet one fortress makes and I bet money it wud be able to run that table fine, because it’s got more reserve than mine does, mines not super tiny but it’s only a ten gallon, the pumps and tank are like over double what mine is on those bigger ones, I don’t think you’ll have an issue with either of the two bigger ones keeping up with that table, like I said mine is only 4.3 cfm with only 10 gallon reserve and it kicks the pump on eventually sure, but it keeps up. Yours would have the big ass 27 gallon tank for it to run on first off, and then the bigger pumps topping it off, I would be surprised if those bigger fortress ones didn’t work for you

Yeah that’s what I figured, the compressor is junk, I may use it as an expanded tank for whatever I get next. Or just sell it as a tank.

Yeah that’s a great idea, but a new setup would most likely mean at least a 60gal tank which I think would be plenty, but I’m not actually sure, and shop space is at a premium.

build a little shed for it to sit outside the shop lots of place's I have been at do it like this @@mwmxcnc

Well that is good to know for next time! Thanks

Sorry, I do not have drawings.

Bedankt voor uw bericht

I think you are correct! I’ve spent hours looking for them online with nothing really to go on. Nikken make sense as they also made a very similar, possibly identical version of my BIG spindle increaser. I’ll have to go check the tapers of mine, but so far it looks like the Nikken version is just a little longer overall, but it has a necked down section at the base. Thanks for letting me know about these, I actually ordered some er16 collets and was planning to try grinding them down on the lathe to get the taper right, and make them fit.

Yeah I listed out the steps in the description with timestamps to skip ahead. So you can just use the directions that I typed out.

Yeah I took mine apart and cleaned everything when I first purchased it, but I didn’t know to look for loose keys I’ll be back in there again soon. It was loaded with crud in the gearbox. I’m having a hard time deciding which route to go with to get the spindle seed up. Do you have any plans for that? It’s a killer whenever I have to use a small tool at 1500rpm’s.

@@mwmxcnc how do you guys adjust the setscrew on left side of the head in wich the quill keyseat rides on? Im totally lost there.

@mwmxcnc sorry missed your reply. I have no answer on how to speed up the machine, but I have heard rumors that people remove the gear set and go for a belt drive in conjunction with a VFD to control speed. That would open up a lot of options, but after this teardown, see what I saw, I am not sure if the machine is worth the effort. Cheers

@supla84 horrible system! If I had endless time and money, I would rethink that whole system. I just go by, feel, and lock it down where I think is a good compromise between having too loose of a quill and tearing the crap out of it. Cheers.

Those are some good ideas, I did clean it out really well originally, but dropping a magnet in there woulda been smart. What oil did you use? I think some 15-40 syn would probably be a good middle ground that won’t thicken up like the 90w conventional gear oil does in the cold. You can hear the motor struggle when to get going when it’s first started and cold. I’m guessing you did the bearings and oil at the same time, so it would be hard to tell which contributed to the noise reduction most. Although both probably helped. I will try changing the oil here in the next couple weeks, I can do atleast that now, and maybe find a drain plug with a magnet. I’ve always suspected quite a bit of power is being lost by the 90w, but I’m also the type that typically listens to manufacture specs unless someone else has had good luck with an alternative. Also, the manufacturer of this mill probably spec’s whatever was cheapest, and not based on living in a Utah garage.

@@mwmxcnc I think I used Mobil One 5-30. but the 15-40 would be good too. I also added about a half quart of Lucus oil stabilizer to it to make the oil clingier. I have been using the synthetic oil for a while with no problem even at higher RPM. I just recently replaced the 8 bearings in the gearbox and noticed the better quality Nachi bearings are quieter. The old bearings seemed to be in good shape, but the new bearings are quieter. If you ever replace the bearings, you will probably have to open up the gearbox and get the numbers off of the bearings as the parts book probably won't list the bearing sizes. I also replaced the 3 oil seals since I went that far. I converted my PM940 into a CNC and wanted to run at higher RPM so that is why I went with using synthetic motor oil instead of heavy gear oil. I can run at 6000 RPM with no problems. I have very little metal shaving stuck to the magnet in my gearbox, so it is doing fine, and the gear teeth all look good. I have the strong magnet in the bottom near the drain hole to catch any shavings when I drain the oil. The drain plug in mine is a 1/4 NPT thread, so I just installed a 1/4 valve to make it easier to drain the oil. You can reinstall the drain plug in the end of the valve for extra security.

@halfstep67 Luckily when I recorded the video I tried to read out the bearing numbers, I think I can figure them out, but my question is how are you getting 6k rpm? I would love to get mine even to 3k would be awesome. Mine tops at 1500 the PM’s are nicer machines from what I’ve read, what did yours start with and how did you get it up to 6k? I’ve been trying to devise a plan to up the rpm’s for a long time, and other than swapping the gearbox out for some sort of pulley system or adding a pulley system to it, I haven’t really been able to find a way. I don’t know much about 3ph motors, but I have read they can be run at a higher hz to get higher rpms, but I’ve always looked at vfd’s as kind of a headache, seems people run into problems mainly with the cheaper vfd’s.

@@mwmxcnc Since I converted my PM940 to CNC, I had to buy a VFD and a 3-phase motor so the CNC controller can turn the motor on/off and control the speed and direction. I have a 3 PH 2 HP 3600 RPM motor. I have a tachometer so I can accurately clock the RPM. I can hit 6K pretty easy and even higher with angular contact bearings in the spindle. Even if I didn't do a CNC conversion, I would still want a VFD and 3-phase motor for the ability to control the RPM. It is a game changer for a bench top mill. You will need to go with better spindle bearings. The factory spindle bearings are a tapered bearing, and you can replace them with higher quality, higher RPM tapered bearings. Or you can go with angular contact bearings that are made for higher RPM than the tapered bearings. With a good quality tapered bearing, you can get 6k for short periods. With the angular bearings, you can run all day at 6K. There are some other things you will need to do to set the spindle bearing preload and maintain it and to get good concentricity with little run-out. I replaced the spanner nut with a better one from J. W. Winco.

Alright, now I’m gonna need more info, your machine sounds awesome, did you come up with everything on your own, or is there some sort of write up somewhere? looking at the pm940, it appears to have a quite a few differences, so I’d bet the gearing and bearings are different. But knowing what you went with, and had success with for spindle bearings, motor and vfd would be a good start. I haven’t searched the web lately for someone who has done the conversion, so maybe there is a write up somewhere now. Being able to control the spindle with the control would be nice.

nx cam

I will have to dig into it again now that I’m older and wiser haha, I’m not too well versed in electric motors, but I do remember trying to find a wiring diagram for it, and not being able to figure out how to get it to run 220, it was stamped 220, but it was a new returned unit and it was all disconnected but came with a 110 plug and cable. If I had a way to share a pic, I have one of the plate with a diagram, but it’s the same plate stamped 220. It could definitely use more power though with the bigger cutters.

A pressurized oil system would great, especially on cnc.

They both sound proper to me, but you are right, depending on the plurality of following noun in the sentence, determines which you use "there is" or "there are".

@@mwmxcnc"there IS two" is wrong... it is "there ARE two"

You is right,

@@paulypaulypauly8011 hahaha

What do you mean? Im fine with my job, it pays the bills, and this is a hobby that I enjoy and offers some gratification, while it is an expensive hobby, a lot of the money can be recouped if needed by selling it all. There is something to be said about someone who can fix and make things themselves in these days of disposable everything.

@@mwmxcnc do you know about scraping or you did it just for make a video?

@@mwmxcnc i ask you becose i dont understand well what you scraping on video.no straightedge,no blue paint for check highspot or other,just scraping slides everywhere for what?

I had already scraped it in flat parallel and square a few years back. This was just adding some flaking back in. Google flaking if you’re unfamiliar. Its sole purpose is to make small low spots to hold oil. You are right though, it has some wear now, but it is still very close to its original flatness. Trust me, I spent weeks or months scraping it in.

I would also add, the only reason I did add some flaking was because I had the machine apart already, to replace the ball nuts, otherwise I would not have done this.

Sorry for the long reply, and here is a link to a vid that's uploading now that shows the insides of the head and gearbox, it is pretty nicely made: th-cam.com/video/jNw5CV1plfU/w-d-xo.html . So, everyone's gonna tell you it depends what you're going to use it for. "If precision and minimal setup are priorities, go for the PM-25mv. I've heard it has better out-of-the-box accuracy, but slightly smaller, but you'll probably get better customer support. The Bolton Tools machine is good for less accurate, larger work, but may require disassembly, cleaning, and lubrication. I checked with Bolton Tools for used or refurbished machines." With the Bolton mill you will probably have to get the head and z-axis tower shimmed to get it straight. You won't have to quite go as far as me with scraping it all, that was way overboard. The www.precisionmatthews.com/shop/pm-932m/ is probably the best of both worlds, but it's also much more expensive. Another good option would be trying to find a used one, but here in Utah they're hard to come by, and crazy expensive. One more quick thing, if you don't have a lathe yet, I would definitely start with that, you can do more with a lathe and easier, and I use mine far more for fixing and making random things. You can also get a milling attachment for the lathe, which is what I did. I brought the mill home, set it up, and it sat there for a long time just trying to find something to make or fix with it.

Yeah you are right, I’m going to pull the gib, clean everything, and recheck, if I still have the slop, I will blue it and re-measure. Because I know at one time it was nearly perfect, I am thinking I might have a chip or something behind the gib. It just doesn’t make sense that the more visibly worn side is tighter. And I’ll admit it was getting late when I put it together and could have easily missed something.

Was Chinese shitty cast properly stress relieved? prolly not

yeah I doubt it, someday Id like to replace the dovetails with large linear rails, and replace the entire head, gearbox, and spindle with either a custom spindle, or find something used from a different machine to adapt to this, this machine just uses taper roller bearings, and gets pretty warm just running at the 1500 rpm max. for the price of the machine though, you get quite a bit, but like most things, it could be better.

dovetail parallelism requires measuring with 2 guage pins in the dovetails, if the bottom of dovetail is flat it dies not mean that the angled dovetail is parallel to the flat one, so a reference that fits intio the dovetail, that touches both the flat and angled part of the divetail at the same time. so with 2 guage pins you can check all 4 surfaces by measuring the 2 pins in the dovetails with a large caliper or micrometer. but most if the wear being in the front is prbably because your machine saddle comes partly off the lower dovetails, i have same machine and the Y travel comes out of the dovetails so it gets extra wear

That’s a great point, it does come off the front, even after adding the steel plate under the main upright column which moved the head back about 1.5”. I do know after my initial scraping in, that it was nearly perfect, which is why it’s throwing me for a loop that the front, that shows more wear would be tighter, I’m going to pull it apart again and make sure I don’t have a chip or something behind the gib. I really didn’t want to get all the way back into re-scraping it this soon. It sounds like you already know, but I’ll need to at least blue the flats, to be sure the dowels aren’t sitting in an unworn area, like where the gib rides on the flat, because the gib doesn’t actually touch the flat on the bottom side, leaving an unworn spot. Wishful thinking that I’d get away with just touching up the scraping without measuring, it’s all or nothing, and when I did it I was thinking about what Richard king said about a comparison he did with one of his customers, where they only flaked one machine and came back a while later to compare the wear to a same or similar machine to prove that flaking alone reduced wear. But those could have been newly ground machines that were flat and parallel. Thanks for the advice! I’ll report back soon.