RIP Bruce Nelson from Heavy Metal CNC. He got me my start with my first PM conversion kit and after he died I bought his Sharp SV2412 that made all the conversion kits for Heavy Metal CNC. Its in my garage now.
I'm a 77 year old retired Journey Machinist. CNC was in it's infancy at that time. Numerical control was coming out at that time. Punch tapes, or manually entering the codes at that time. I like seeing young people getting involved in this type of work. All the machines I operated where manually operated. The big thing in my time was DRO's, where coming out.
A note in case you make more of those chill blocks that will help ensure accuracy of drilled hole and also drastically speed up machine time per block... Spot drill all the holes with a large enough 90° spot drill to a depth that will give you the finished chamfer you want then come though with your drill and drill the holes. Drills (especially jobber length drills) tend to walk to some degree and the spot drill opp will prevent this. Plus if the spot drill opp is done to the right depth, then you will already have your chamfer ahead of time and the run time for each hole will be less since a single Z axis move to spot to proper depth is much faster than a G02 or G03 circular interpolation move. Quick simple math will will tell you how deep you want to set you spot depth that will give you the chamfer that you want. For example, say that you wanted a 1.5mm x 45° chamfer on your 6.5mm hole, then with a 3/8" spot drill, you would spot drill to a depth of 4.09mm. Since Spot drills are 90°, you dont even have to do any trig to figure out your depth, just need to know the finished hole size and the chamfer size along with the subtraction amount since like all drills, spot drills do not come to a perfect point. The math is just Hole diameter / 2 plus the chamfer size minus the truncated amount from the tip. The Truncated value for spot drills is pretty standard and are as follows Ø 3/8" = .026" (.66mm) Ø 1/2" = .035" (.89mm) Ø 3/4" = .045" (1.14mm) Ø 1" = .060" (1.52mm) So for your case with a 6.5mm hole and say for example, the 1.5mm x 45° chamfer mentioned above, math for the depth would be, 6.5/2+1.5-.66= 4.09 As an alternative, if you know the diameter that you want at the top face / surface, then its just simply take that diameter, divide by 2 and subtract the truncated tip amount for the spot drill you are using. Like say for example, you had a hole that you wanted to major diameter of the the chamfer to be 10mm and you were going to use a 1/2" spot drill, then the depth would be 4.11mm (10/2-.89=4.11) The math is the same if you are working in imperial sizes, just use the imperial truncated values instead of the metric value's. Along with that, assuming you want a 45° chamfer around the perimeter of the block,spot drills work great as "chamfer tools" too. It also should be noted that many drill manufactures will tell you that you shouldn't use a spot drill with an included angle of less than the angle of the drill that you intent to use to drill the hole because it can cause heavy wear in one area of the drill where is first contacts the spotted hole. While this is true, in soft materials like aluminum or fairly soft steels, this is not generally a problem or a concern. Harder steels, yes, definitely a problem but soft materials (especially aluminum or plastics and such), I've never had a the problem and have been doing it for year with probably millions of holes at this point. Lastly with facing, running all the way off the part will help eliminate the lines left at the end of the cut. Even with a head that is perfectly trammed, you will still see a line where the cutter stopped. I'm not very familiar with Fusion360 since we use SolidCAM with Solidworks at work but from the little that I do know about Fusion, I know that there is a setting that you can set that will cause Fusion to do just that, "take the cutter totally off the part in X or Y before it stops and / or lifts the Z axis. I'll bet Fusion probably has a setting or something for the Spot depth mentioned above too.
Yaaaaaaaassssss!!! or use a mill-drill to spot as you would with the spot drill, then before changing tools, chamfer the profile of the part. Then drill holes.
@@chrisr2941 Honestly, you don't even need a mill-drill, just a standard 90° spot dill will run edge profile chambers all day with no problem, especially in aluminum. I call / use spot one of my spot drills any time I have to run a chamber in aluminum. On steel however I do tend to use a regular 4 flute chamfer mill because I've found that with harder steels, the cutting edges of a regular spot drill do tend to get chipped when doing small edge chamfers on things like say Pre-hard 4142 for example but a HSS spot drill will leave a beautiful edge chamfer on aluminum. Mill-drill in my opinion are a waste of money because really the only advantage they offer is a tiny bit quicker cycle time if you have to mill out a thru pocket on a thinner part since they will bore the initial thru-hole faster thru the material than a helical ramp or a straight plunge with an end mill. Unless you have a lot to do, you really are only saving a few seconds of machine time by using a mill drill in this situation.
@@CJ-ty8sv cool good to know! I typically dont use mill drills at the place i work now but just another option i guess. That is one of the joys of machining. there is 50 ways to do anything, and the machinist community sharing different ideas and methods is priceless. just cant find that in a textbook.
@@chrisr2941 Yep, there are a lot of things that can only really feasibly come with experience and sharing of what works and what doesn't. The technology advances far faster than text books can and then there is the cases that may not have come to light at the time of writing a particular book so knowledge of what might seem like an unorthodox use of something that works well simply wasn't known at the time. Sure, _"having a tool for that"_ is always nice but at the same time, there are times I feel that it can hurt you by removing the drive to think outside the box and find new and effective uses for things. You never know when "knowing of another way to use a particular tool" might come in handy when you least expect it.
Hi, great video. Just a quick note about the (apparently) hand scraped ways. The regular scrape marks you see on these import machine ways have less to do with generating a flat surface than providing shallow pockets for the lubricant. In my youth, as an apprentice (mid 1970s) in the machine tool industry here in the UK I did plenty of scraping. Sometimes the objective was to create a flat surface usually to mount large sub assemblies and sometimes we would deliberately pocket an already very flat machined surface for oil retention. Hand scrapers could be bought or made in all shapes and sizes for different purposes. Flat scrapers were usually made from an old file using an off-hand grinder to get rid of the file teeth and create a gentle bevelled curve on the end. Everyone had at least one scraper in their toolmakers’ chest for general scraping jobs including removing old gasket material. Anyway good luck with your workshop endeavours, all the best from the UK.
Wish I had the GREEN STAMPS you had to get you to this point!! I’ve ALWAYS HAVE HAD to settle on harbor freight crap to begin to build and fabricate anything. And you know that crap NEVER HOLDS UP to much of anything! Yea I’m jealous, something like this setup would have served to be relaxing entertaining and somewhat enjoyable Deterrent while I go through my cancer therapy and pain management treatments. We all need something to help relieve the bad situations that happen in our lives, even if the outcomes are terminal like in my situation, this is the perfect mind altering solution to help occupy some of the hard days a cancer patient can have. Good job on your setup I hope it brings many years of enjoyment as you grow with it!
Another thought.... WD-40 is a great lubricant for cutting aluminum. May not be the cheapest obviously but spraying a small amount on the surface of the material works wonders. Also, a poor mans enclosure is to use PVC pipe hung from the ceiling and a shower curtain suspended from that. At least all of the chips from the mill will end up at the bottom of the mill and not all over the place. Third, look into build a fog-less coolant mister. works awesome. the plans are on CNC Zone
I'm in school to become a machinist, and we do videos a minimum of 25 minutes long, and have to write and answer questions on that video. The hardest part is finding a good video to do is that most videos have no commentary and give very little to ask about. You did an awesome job, and it's very easy to learn from this video. Definitely will be using your videos more.
Go for it Adam - you are learning skills that you will use forever. Machining is a tough but rewarding career or hobby. There is sooo much to know and remember and calculate and thousands of different tools and methods for doing things. I’m totally Jealous, I’d love to go back to where you are now and discover that incredible world all over again. Use the machines and test yourself with new skills and ideas as much as possible when learning. Nothing beats hours on the machines to become a master machinist. Cheers young fella, and all the best.
This is very inspiring content for someone like me that just started working with manual lathes and mills, I appreciate your channel and you as an individual for the good, smart work that you do. Keep it up!
Good job amigo - You've got what we call "the knack" :) You may lack the experience, but you make up for it with your critical thinking and research. Keep your head on a swivel and stay away from corners, you'll do just fine!
Hey everyone! I'm back with my second video in 2020. This CNC mill is the largest project that I have ever undertaken, but it was totally worth all the time, energy, and money that my friends and I put into it. I am now able to create parts out of aluminum and steel that would have cost my left leg at the local machine shop, but now cost me next-to-nothing. Let’s just say I have already started working on some exciting projects that you are not going to want to miss out on! Thanks for checking out my newest video.
That some solid documentation you've got there ! Your article is pretty detailed, guess it would help me when I get into it. (Currently running grbl on a cnc router)
I have a hard time finding some feedback about probe basic. Do you find any drawback using it ? Like a weird 3d view, some bugs or not well made interface menus etc etc
I am definitely biased... I have been hanging out with the Probe Basic dev team over on their discord (discordapp.com/invite/463hMhd), and they are really awesome guys. The GUI is still largely in beta with some of the more complex features like the handling of the ATC being glitchy. If you have a simple setup like I do then it will work fine. They are quick coders, so I would assume all the issues will be ironed out in the near future.
Just a tip: if you use the left upper corner of your workpiece as (0,0) and align the material with the left edge of your vise, you only have to probe once for all parts done in the vise independent of the size. disclaimer: I am an electrical engineer so I am used to do just the bare minimum necessary to make installations safe enough for certification with the minimum amount of costs for my company.
As a manual and (recently cnc machinist) for over 20 years, I never set my origin (or 0.00 x 0.00 y on the movable side of my vice. The reason for this is, the movable jaw of the vise, can move side to side slightly. The work piece will not always be exactly the same length and width, thus changing your zero.
Very nice work. I assume that you will at some point want a DRO for absolute measurement accuracy or switch to servos. Steppers can slip. Also, great job tramming your column, but consider that the shim and the rear of the column are now interfacing ideally along 2 lines rather than a plane. There is special filler material that will again make your column and base intersect in a plane. In machining stiffness is everything - you can never have enough. Outstanding video though. I've always wanted a CNC mill, but am out of room with manual mill and lathe. I would be happy to collaborate on parts in the future, if you are interested. I also have a surface grinder.
Dr. D, Great freaking video! While probably not critical for your chill block project, I'd recommend a spot drilling operation on those holes first. With those longer jobber length drills they can wander of center, flex, and potentially break, particularly with smaller diameter drills. Not a seasoned machinist by any stretch, but have definitely broken some tools in my college machine shop skipping this step. Can't wait to see what else is in the works! Thanks for sharing.
I almost remember the missus' giving me that look while doing something inherently dangerous. Wasn't long before the feeling went from worrying about my safety to worrying about blowing a chunk off the house. I take that as a sign of trust that I know what I'm doing. 😁
Seeing kids do that is almost as funny as seeing me doing that. Luckily my dad will guide me so there will be only one person laughing! Excellent class!!!
NEMA23 motors are more than adequate for this mill, especially if you are using ball screws. If you run into something, a whole lot of torque can cause damage. Ball screws do reduce backlash a lot but they do nothing for accuracy over a lead screw. The biggest advantage of ball screws is how fast you can spin them. Very nice build.
Ok, so this is really interesting to me. I have this same exact mill. Purchased it from Matt about 2 years ago, or whenever they first came out. Looking at doing this to mine soon. I see you have a build log too... Awesome!!!!
Great video and very helpful. I was hoping you could share more about the NUC you used including specs and has it worked out well for this application.
First time seeing this channel, very impressed with the simplicity of getting major points across. Video quality is also spot on, would be really great if you could throw some acoustical panels on the walls or maybe use a wireless mic...for those of us that use hearing aids, there is a big echo/reverb...could be my crappy speakers though:-)
Very en-lighting to say the least, at 68, I am on a path to converting a RF-30 that we (Bride & I) just purchase used over to CNC. Not a high tech as yours on this video, but it already has power X, DRO to x,y,z and new 3hp Baldor with motor controller, so a plus. Sold our '80 Enco that was a great mill, but out dated. Will be coming back often to your channel. Bears Rod Shop
You should bolt the vise directly to the table, instead of having it on the swivel base. Also, great job! Fantastic results for a first time. You must have nailed the speeds and feeds to drill all those holes in aluminum without it gumming up on you (if it does, WD-40/kerosene works great to prevent aluminum sticking to tools).
Pro tip, put shower wall panels the thin plastic 4x8 cfrom home depot on the walls behind and sides around the mill. You will be using oil and coolants with a air nozzle spraying all over your nice walls and it will destroy them.
you are correct about flaking ad what it does, however, that's all that's there. those machines have not been scrape, the telltale is the price point and quantity sold. scaping that many machines would need an army of pro scrapers, It would easily take a pro to do that machine a day. i'm positive about that.
Suggestion, consider grease lubrication. If you stay with way oil you need a suction filter and line filter. You should hit up lube usa Never use compressed air to blow chips away always brush them away. Number 1 you will blow a chip in someone’s eye. Number 2 you will blow a chip somewhere it gets lodged in the dovetail
Wow I just saw your channel after two years. I would really like to see your setup now, the last I saw it was on Setup wars and on your channel two years ago!
try changing the working tips from the facing mill, just rotate the inserts and take care that they are mounted correctly, and add some WD40 to the surface before the finishing cut, and I bet you will get a better surface finish, nice job!
You have a new subscriber. I’m utterly impressed with this project you’ve undertaken. You explained the process incredibly well. I really look forward to you upcoming videos. Again, fantastic job.
woow, best cnc conversion video. All in one. Crazy! Subscribed. Bring more content about it! Igf possible also a work through how to set up linux CNC you used will be great. Currently running Mach3 but thinking of switch to Linux CNC.
Making the spindle speed computer controlled is probably quite simple. On my cnc conversion it was as simple as replacing the potentiometer with the pwm speed control of my breakout board (Leadshine MX3660). If your breakout board has the same feature this should be as easy as attaching 3 leads
Looks like you have a keyless chuck on there. Those are really meant for drilling holes and not milling as they can't handle the side forces. They can loosen and you'll lose a bit. Look into an ER collet system or and R8 Collet.
Hey Brendin! I am only using the keyless chuck for a spiral drill bit. The facing mill comes with an R8 collet and the chamfer bit is in an R8 collet as well.
The face mill fits into the head on a taper to ensure a snug fit, no side or lateral forces will affect the tips, same for the keyless chuck...chuck taper fits into the Head taper then the drill is hand tight into the chuck....
real cool cnc router. i search for a workshop today. if i find one i build also a cnc Machine. this times i make with a little Laser Cutter und a Diy 3d printer some projects. but my channel very litte at the beginning. i hope i can make some cool vid. like yours :)
Just can't across this video. Excellent conversion and explanation. Should consider sure step servo motor (accepts step & dir input) with servo like precision with full loop feedback control. Wouldn't have to worry about losing steps like with a stepper motor
Well, I really don't know what the Total cost for both: The really cool Milling Machine and The Upgrade accessories ! Probably 20,000$, so we only need to sell 250pcs of that Cooling-Block to break even at 80% Profit margin. Sound like good investment @@ I'm loving it !! =)))
Thanks for an outstanding conversion. I would like to as a few questions and would like to work out a list of parts that I will need to get. I have a similar mill
What do you plan on making with your new machine which kicks azz by the way and thank you for the video I would love to do something similar. At least when I order my machine I won’t have no shipping cause I live around an hour and a half away from them.
Great video. You lost me at the electronics in the cabinet, but that's my own fault because I'm an Electrically-Challenged-American. Still, great information, and well presented.
I am considering buying the Precision Matthews mill 833T just so I can do this conversion. Is a good option (I dont currently have a mill) or is there a better option i should be looking at? 3700 + 5000 cnc conversion.
Its late and I should be sleeping but question! Would it be possible to measure your backlash on each axis then modify your g-code to account for this variance and run it out in the process during drive directional changes?
Your tram is off or the mills inserts are not at the same height. Hey congrats on that part. Would a plunge chamfer cut be more efficient than interpolating every hole??
You don't need or want the swivel base on your vise. With cnc you will never use it and you lose z height also it adds weight to the vise. If you ever have machining questions or good ways to set up jobs or steps in getting to a good finished part I be happy to help. I ran Bridgeport mill for 20 years doing parts for the big 3 auto companies doing prototypes, fixtures,gages and one off hand tools. Then maybe you can school me in all the electrical stuff :)
You may want to remove the swivel base from the vise. I found I don't use it and it takes up valuable clearance. Also if you indicate of the fixed jaw it'll save you a couple steps. What kind of backlash compensation are you dealing with?
Nice project David! The controller board you used can handle 2 more steppers for 5 axis? Tell me you have this conversion in mind for the near future! Great work again =)
0,007" out of square in YZ tells me the 'scraping' was superficial flaking to get oil retention, but definately not done for accuracy of the machine tool, otherwise the thing would be square. And talking about squareness, was the XZ tested at all? Wouldn't trust it if already one direction had a lean to it. Regarding the tramming of the spindle relative to your table, at 12:23 you can see the indicator moving many numbers when traveling in Y direction, which would indicate that the tram is maybe good in X direction, but the Y direction was not checked nor trammed for. And as above squareness gave away, I wouldn't be too surprised to see this spindle tram to be out of alignment either.
Also, the mill has a quill. Would check the travel of that in XZ and YZ also against a square once the Z-axis is squared both ways and the spindle tram is good in both directions.
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RIP Bruce Nelson from Heavy Metal CNC. He got me my start with my first PM conversion kit and after he died I bought his Sharp SV2412 that made all the conversion kits for Heavy Metal CNC. Its in my garage now.
I'm a 77 year old retired Journey Machinist. CNC was in it's infancy at that time. Numerical control was coming out at that time. Punch tapes, or manually entering the codes at that time. I like seeing young people getting involved in this type of work. All the machines I operated where manually operated. The big thing in my time was DRO's, where coming out.
A note in case you make more of those chill blocks that will help ensure accuracy of drilled hole and also drastically speed up machine time per block... Spot drill all the holes with a large enough 90° spot drill to a depth that will give you the finished chamfer you want then come though with your drill and drill the holes.
Drills (especially jobber length drills) tend to walk to some degree and the spot drill opp will prevent this. Plus if the spot drill opp is done to the right depth, then you will already have your chamfer ahead of time and the run time for each hole will be less since a single Z axis move to spot to proper depth is much faster than a G02 or G03 circular interpolation move.
Quick simple math will will tell you how deep you want to set you spot depth that will give you the chamfer that you want. For example, say that you wanted a 1.5mm x 45° chamfer on your 6.5mm hole, then with a 3/8" spot drill, you would spot drill to a depth of 4.09mm. Since Spot drills are 90°, you dont even have to do any trig to figure out your depth, just need to know the finished hole size and the chamfer size along with the subtraction amount since like all drills, spot drills do not come to a perfect point. The math is just Hole diameter / 2 plus the chamfer size minus the truncated amount from the tip. The Truncated value for spot drills is pretty standard and are as follows
Ø 3/8" = .026" (.66mm)
Ø 1/2" = .035" (.89mm)
Ø 3/4" = .045" (1.14mm)
Ø 1" = .060" (1.52mm)
So for your case with a 6.5mm hole and say for example, the 1.5mm x 45° chamfer mentioned above, math for the depth would be,
6.5/2+1.5-.66= 4.09
As an alternative, if you know the diameter that you want at the top face / surface, then its just simply take that diameter, divide by 2 and subtract the truncated tip amount for the spot drill you are using. Like say for example, you had a hole that you wanted to major diameter of the the chamfer to be 10mm and you were going to use a 1/2" spot drill, then the depth would be 4.11mm (10/2-.89=4.11)
The math is the same if you are working in imperial sizes, just use the imperial truncated values instead of the metric value's.
Along with that, assuming you want a 45° chamfer around the perimeter of the block,spot drills work great as "chamfer tools" too.
It also should be noted that many drill manufactures will tell you that you shouldn't use a spot drill with an included angle of less than the angle of the drill that you intent to use to drill the hole because it can cause heavy wear in one area of the drill where is first contacts the spotted hole. While this is true, in soft materials like aluminum or fairly soft steels, this is not generally a problem or a concern. Harder steels, yes, definitely a problem but soft materials (especially aluminum or plastics and such), I've never had a the problem and have been doing it for year with probably millions of holes at this point.
Lastly with facing, running all the way off the part will help eliminate the lines left at the end of the cut. Even with a head that is perfectly trammed, you will still see a line where the cutter stopped.
I'm not very familiar with Fusion360 since we use SolidCAM with Solidworks at work but from the little that I do know about Fusion, I know that there is a setting that you can set that will cause Fusion to do just that, "take the cutter totally off the part in X or Y before it stops and / or lifts the Z axis. I'll bet Fusion probably has a setting or something for the Spot depth mentioned above too.
I appreciate comments like this. Thank you sir!
Yaaaaaaaassssss!!! or use a mill-drill to spot as you would with the spot drill, then before changing tools, chamfer the profile of the part. Then drill holes.
@@chrisr2941 Honestly, you don't even need a mill-drill, just a standard 90° spot dill will run edge profile chambers all day with no problem, especially in aluminum.
I call / use spot one of my spot drills any time I have to run a chamber in aluminum. On steel however I do tend to use a regular 4 flute chamfer mill because I've found that with harder steels, the cutting edges of a regular spot drill do tend to get chipped when doing small edge chamfers on things like say Pre-hard 4142 for example but a HSS spot drill will leave a beautiful edge chamfer on aluminum.
Mill-drill in my opinion are a waste of money because really the only advantage they offer is a tiny bit quicker cycle time if you have to mill out a thru pocket on a thinner part since they will bore the initial thru-hole faster thru the material than a helical ramp or a straight plunge with an end mill. Unless you have a lot to do, you really are only saving a few seconds of machine time by using a mill drill in this situation.
@@CJ-ty8sv cool good to know! I typically dont use mill drills at the place i work now but just another option i guess. That is one of the joys of machining. there is 50 ways to do anything, and the machinist community sharing different ideas and methods is priceless. just cant find that in a textbook.
@@chrisr2941 Yep, there are a lot of things that can only really feasibly come with experience and sharing of what works and what doesn't. The technology advances far faster than text books can and then there is the cases that may not have come to light at the time of writing a particular book so knowledge of what might seem like an unorthodox use of something that works well simply wasn't known at the time.
Sure, _"having a tool for that"_ is always nice but at the same time, there are times I feel that it can hurt you by removing the drive to think outside the box and find new and effective uses for things. You never know when "knowing of another way to use a particular tool" might come in handy when you least expect it.
Hi, great video. Just a quick note about the (apparently) hand scraped ways. The regular scrape marks you see on these import machine ways have less to do with generating a flat surface than providing shallow pockets for the lubricant. In my youth, as an apprentice (mid 1970s) in the machine tool industry here in the UK I did plenty of scraping. Sometimes the objective was to create a flat surface usually to mount large sub assemblies and sometimes we would deliberately pocket an already very flat machined surface for oil retention. Hand scrapers could be bought or made in all shapes and sizes for different purposes. Flat scrapers were usually made from an old file using an off-hand grinder to get rid of the file teeth and create a gentle bevelled curve on the end. Everyone had at least one scraper in their toolmakers’ chest for general scraping jobs including removing old gasket material. Anyway good luck with your workshop endeavours, all the best from the UK.
High quality content! Realistic, yet ambitious. You do have a beautiful mind! Thank you for this.
Wish I had the GREEN STAMPS you had to get you to this point!! I’ve ALWAYS HAVE HAD to settle on harbor freight crap to begin to build and fabricate anything. And you know that crap NEVER HOLDS UP to much of anything! Yea I’m jealous, something like this setup would have served to be relaxing entertaining and somewhat enjoyable Deterrent while I go through my cancer therapy and pain management treatments. We all need something to help relieve the bad situations that happen in our lives, even if the outcomes are terminal like in my situation, this is the perfect mind altering solution to help occupy some of the hard days a cancer patient can have. Good job on your setup I hope it brings many years of enjoyment as you grow with it!
The most underrated CNC video on the planet 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 genius
Another thought.... WD-40 is a great lubricant for cutting aluminum. May not be the cheapest obviously but spraying a small amount on the surface of the material works wonders. Also, a poor mans enclosure is to use PVC pipe hung from the ceiling and a shower curtain suspended from that. At least all of the chips from the mill will end up at the bottom of the mill and not all over the place. Third, look into build a fog-less coolant mister. works awesome. the plans are on CNC Zone
My company machines aluminum castings often, we buy 4 gallons of wd-40, online, for around 20usd per gallon. locally they are twice that.
I use oatys cutting fluid...less fumes.
I'm in school to become a machinist, and we do videos a minimum of 25 minutes long, and have to write and answer questions on that video. The hardest part is finding a good video to do is that most videos have no commentary and give very little to ask about. You did an awesome job, and it's very easy to learn from this video. Definitely will be using your videos more.
Did you align the z-axis column to x-y?
Go for it Adam - you are learning skills that you will use forever. Machining is a tough but rewarding career or hobby. There is sooo much to know and remember and calculate and thousands of different tools and methods for doing things. I’m totally Jealous, I’d love to go back to where you are now and discover that incredible world all over again. Use the machines and test yourself with new skills and ideas as much as possible when learning. Nothing beats hours on the machines to become a master machinist. Cheers young fella, and all the best.
This is very inspiring content for someone like me that just started working with manual lathes and mills, I appreciate your channel and you as an individual for the good, smart work that you do. Keep it up!
Good job amigo - You've got what we call "the knack" :) You may lack the experience, but you make up for it with your critical thinking and research. Keep your head on a swivel and stay away from corners, you'll do just fine!
This guy just told you how to multiply the value of your mill machine 6 times.
Thank you sir !
Why does this not have more views? This is brilliant, kudos to you my dude.
Maybe because of too many ad breaks
Hey everyone! I'm back with my second video in 2020. This CNC mill is the largest project that I have ever undertaken, but it was totally worth all the time, energy, and money that my friends and I put into it. I am now able to create parts out of aluminum and steel that would have cost my left leg at the local machine shop, but now cost me next-to-nothing. Let’s just say I have already started working on some exciting projects that you are not going to want to miss out on! Thanks for checking out my newest video.
Hi. Having a thick anti-fatigue mat in front of the CNC machine will protect your joints in the long run.
That some solid documentation you've got there !
Your article is pretty detailed, guess it would help me when I get into it. (Currently running grbl on a cnc router)
I have a hard time finding some feedback about probe basic.
Do you find any drawback using it ?
Like a weird 3d view, some bugs or not well made interface menus etc etc
I am definitely biased... I have been hanging out with the Probe Basic dev team over on their discord (discordapp.com/invite/463hMhd), and they are really awesome guys. The GUI is still largely in beta with some of the more complex features like the handling of the ATC being glitchy. If you have a simple setup like I do then it will work fine. They are quick coders, so I would assume all the issues will be ironed out in the near future.
Great man, high quality content
Just a tip: if you use the left upper corner of your workpiece as (0,0) and align the material with the left edge of your vise, you only have to probe once for all parts done in the vise independent of the size.
disclaimer: I am an electrical engineer so I am used to do just the bare minimum necessary to make installations safe enough for certification with the minimum amount of costs for my company.
lol, you got me on that last part!
As a manual and (recently cnc machinist) for over 20 years, I never set my origin (or 0.00 x 0.00 y on the movable side of my vice. The reason for this is, the movable jaw of the vise, can move side to side slightly. The work piece will not always be exactly the same length and width, thus changing your zero.
As a guy thats new to machining, I appreciate the advice!
You made a beautiful CNC milling machine. 👍
Very nice work. I assume that you will at some point want a DRO for absolute measurement accuracy or switch to servos. Steppers can slip. Also, great job tramming your column, but consider that the shim and the rear of the column are now interfacing ideally along 2 lines rather than a plane. There is special filler material that will again make your column and base intersect in a plane. In machining stiffness is everything - you can never have enough. Outstanding video though. I've always wanted a CNC mill, but am out of room with manual mill and lathe. I would be happy to collaborate on parts in the future, if you are interested. I also have a surface grinder.
I have no clue what you're talking about but it sounds smart as hell😂😂👍👍👍
Very glad I'm going to have access to a forklift when I do my conversion
Dr. D, Great freaking video! While probably not critical for your chill block project, I'd recommend a spot drilling operation on those holes first. With those longer jobber length drills they can wander of center, flex, and potentially break, particularly with smaller diameter drills. Not a seasoned machinist by any stretch, but have definitely broken some tools in my college machine shop skipping this step. Can't wait to see what else is in the works! Thanks for sharing.
love the dr. d-flow sequence... damn
That has to be one the best explanations of a CNC Mill conversion I have ever seen. Awesome video! Keep it up.
Absolutely splendid presentation and implementation of high level intelligence all around 👌
Nice job man. I can tell you have a gift of great intelligence. Look forward to seeing more videos you're very informative.
you are really professional😁
I almost remember the missus' giving me that look while doing something inherently dangerous. Wasn't long before the feeling went from worrying about my safety to worrying about blowing a chunk off the house. I take that as a sign of trust that I know what I'm doing. 😁
owning a CNC machine and a 3D printer, man that widen your building and inventing oppertunity by as much as alot of fuckin percent , good job!
Seeing kids do that is almost as funny as seeing me doing that. Luckily my dad will guide me so there will be only one person laughing!
Excellent class!!!
NEMA23 motors are more than adequate for this mill, especially if you are using ball screws. If you run into something, a whole lot of torque can cause damage. Ball screws do reduce backlash a lot but they do nothing for accuracy over a lead screw. The biggest advantage of ball screws is how fast you can spin them. Very nice build.
Nice choice on the mesa, I just got mine a few weeks ago and love it!
Ok, so this is really interesting to me. I have this same exact mill. Purchased it from Matt about 2 years ago, or whenever they first came out. Looking at doing this to mine soon. I see you have a build log too... Awesome!!!!
Great video and very helpful. I was hoping you could share more about the NUC you used including specs and has it worked out well for this application.
First time seeing this channel, very impressed with the simplicity of getting major points across. Video quality is also spot on, would be really great if you could throw some acoustical panels on the walls or maybe use a wireless mic...for those of us that use hearing aids, there is a big echo/reverb...could be my crappy speakers though:-)
Very en-lighting to say the least, at 68, I am on a path to converting a RF-30 that we (Bride & I) just purchase used over to CNC. Not a high tech as yours on this video, but it already has power X, DRO to x,y,z and new 3hp Baldor with motor controller, so a plus. Sold our '80 Enco that was a great mill, but out dated. Will be coming back often to your channel. Bears Rod Shop
You should bolt the vise directly to the table, instead of having it on the swivel base. Also, great job! Fantastic results for a first time. You must have nailed the speeds and feeds to drill all those holes in aluminum without it gumming up on you (if it does, WD-40/kerosene works great to prevent aluminum sticking to tools).
Pro tip, put shower wall panels the thin plastic 4x8 cfrom home depot on the walls behind and sides around the mill. You will be using oil and coolants with a air nozzle spraying all over your nice walls and it will destroy them.
you are correct about flaking ad what it does, however, that's all that's there. those machines have not been scrape, the telltale is the price point and quantity sold. scaping that many machines would need an army of pro scrapers, It would easily take a pro to do that machine a day. i'm positive about that.
Suggestion, consider grease lubrication. If you stay with way oil you need a suction filter and line filter. You should hit up lube usa
Never use compressed air to blow chips away always brush them away. Number 1 you will blow a chip in someone’s eye. Number 2 you will blow a chip somewhere it gets lodged in the dovetail
This motor is incredibly quiet, even as it is revving up to its max rpm.
No one:
CNC mill: sounds like a C17 on takeoff
All in fun! Great video
Wow I just saw your channel after two years. I would really like to see your setup now, the last I saw it was on Setup wars and on your channel two years ago!
On drilling op, you should peck and crank up your retract speed. That will make it much faster.
Awesome content, I wish I had even a portion of the knowledge you have my guy
You should cover up the inductive sensor. Any metal chip could trigger it and cause stoppage
try changing the working tips from the facing mill, just rotate the inserts and take care that they are mounted correctly, and add some WD40 to the surface before the finishing cut, and I bet you will get a better surface finish, nice job!
Thanks Antonio!
yo this shit aint easy at all. appreciate it. good video. too expensive for me right now but i will certainly do this after i have a house
You have a new subscriber. I’m utterly impressed with this project you’ve undertaken. You explained the process incredibly well. I really look forward to you upcoming videos. Again, fantastic job.
When using an adjustable wrench or pliers etc..MOVEABLE jaw in direction of rotation.
woow, best cnc conversion video. All in one. Crazy! Subscribed. Bring more content about it! Igf possible also a work through how to set up linux CNC you used will be great. Currently running Mach3 but thinking of switch to Linux CNC.
Would love to see what projects you are doing with your mill meanwhile...
Excellent video and nice job! Keep going!
Congratulations for your job...
Dude why don't you have more subs? Your videos are great.
Making the spindle speed computer controlled is probably quite simple. On my cnc conversion it was as simple as replacing the potentiometer with the pwm speed control of my breakout board (Leadshine MX3660). If your breakout board has the same feature this should be as easy as attaching 3 leads
Extraordinario el Dr. D-Flo :)
very good.nice guy. i maked CNC machine in Japan.
Nice work!
Good video Dr. D. Question do you remember the length of the ball screws? I want to source them myself to save $. Thank you.
nice work and thanks for a great video!
Backlash isn't always a bad thing. IMO far better to close the loop with scales on each axis to have a completely accurate position.
Nice Video very well explained
My gosh, what a beauty!!! ⚡🤖👌🏻💥
This is clutch man 🙏🏽
This is awesome! Your website has been super impressive as well.
Looks like you have a keyless chuck on there. Those are really meant for drilling holes and not milling as they can't handle the side forces. They can loosen and you'll lose a bit. Look into an ER collet system or and R8 Collet.
Hey Brendin! I am only using the keyless chuck for a spiral drill bit. The facing mill comes with an R8 collet and the chamfer bit is in an R8 collet as well.
@@DrDFlo Good stuff and nice job!
The face mill fits into the head on a taper to ensure a snug fit, no side or lateral forces will affect the tips, same for the keyless chuck...chuck taper fits into the Head taper then the drill is hand tight into the chuck....
Wish I had a mill that size mine is a boat at 4500 pounds that one is the perfect size for what I need.
hey! Glad to see you're still around! I shot you a DM
Brilliant work, thanks
real cool cnc router. i search for a workshop today. if i find one i build also a cnc Machine. this times i make with a little Laser Cutter und a Diy 3d printer some projects. but my channel very litte at the beginning. i hope i can make some cool vid. like yours :)
25:44 Got some real Marty Chang vibes from that delivery.
Love the new LinuxCNC inteface!
Just can't across this video. Excellent conversion and explanation. Should consider sure step servo motor (accepts step & dir input) with servo like precision with full loop feedback control. Wouldn't have to worry about losing steps like with a stepper motor
Well, I really don't know what the Total cost for both: The really cool Milling Machine and The Upgrade accessories ! Probably 20,000$, so we only need to sell 250pcs of that Cooling-Block to break even at 80% Profit margin. Sound like good investment @@ I'm loving it !! =)))
Could you make the machine into a 5 axis. Like is Z axis high enough to lift up for that?
Great work! I do plan on building a Cnc mill just like yours.
Thanks for an outstanding conversion. I would like to as a few questions and would like to work out a list of parts that I will need to get. I have a similar mill
What a knowledgeable video. Thanks, keep up the good work!
The only question I always have after watching such videos is how do you guys afford such costly machines and upgrades
surely TH-cam doesnt pay enough cause u have very less views
What do you plan on making with your new machine which kicks azz by the way and thank you for the video I would love to do something similar. At least when I order my machine I won’t have no shipping cause I live around an hour and a half away from them.
Excellent video. Regards Kevin
Great video. You lost me at the electronics in the cabinet, but that's my own fault because I'm an Electrically-Challenged-American. Still, great information, and well presented.
Since these mills come with tilt it would be nice to see them with some kind of precision motor to control the angle. 4Axis to cnc.
I am considering buying the Precision Matthews mill 833T just so I can do this conversion. Is a good option (I dont currently have a mill) or is there a better option i should be looking at? 3700 + 5000 cnc conversion.
Its late and I should be sleeping but question! Would it be possible to measure your backlash on each axis then modify your g-code to account for this variance and run it out in the process during drive directional changes?
dang, those NEMA1000000000 motors are cool.
What kind of motion controller did you use?
Breakout board? And are you happy with the inputs/outputs?
I wonder if stepper motors are the only solution - isn't there a measurement ruler that can also be used? Thanks!
Your tram is off or the mills inserts are not at the same height. Hey congrats on that part. Would a plunge chamfer cut be more efficient than interpolating every hole??
You don't need or want the swivel base on your vise. With cnc you will never use it and you lose z height also it adds weight to the vise. If you ever have machining questions or good ways to set up jobs or steps in getting to a good finished part I be happy to help. I ran Bridgeport mill for 20 years doing parts for the big 3 auto companies doing prototypes, fixtures,gages and one off hand tools. Then maybe you can school me in all the electrical stuff :)
You may want to remove the swivel base from the vise. I found I don't use it and it takes up valuable clearance.
Also if you indicate of the fixed jaw it'll save you a couple steps.
What kind of backlash compensation are you dealing with?
Great work and thanks very much for sharing.
Nice work! What is that GUI you are using?
Nice job !!!
woh super and perfect diy project
Great video. You may want to consider a lapel microphone. Best.
I understand you got the ball screws from heavy metal cnc. Where can I get all the electronic components? Thanks
Nice project David!
The controller board you used can handle 2 more steppers for 5 axis?
Tell me you have this conversion in mind for the near future!
Great work again =)
5 axis is a bit overkill, but a 4th (indexing head) can be useful.
0,007" out of square in YZ tells me the 'scraping' was superficial flaking to get oil retention, but definately not done for accuracy of the machine tool, otherwise the thing would be square. And talking about squareness, was the XZ tested at all? Wouldn't trust it if already one direction had a lean to it.
Regarding the tramming of the spindle relative to your table, at 12:23 you can see the indicator moving many numbers when traveling in Y direction, which would indicate that the tram is maybe good in X direction, but the Y direction was not checked nor trammed for. And as above squareness gave away, I wouldn't be too surprised to see this spindle tram to be out of alignment either.
Also, the mill has a quill. Would check the travel of that in XZ and YZ also against a square once the Z-axis is squared both ways and the spindle tram is good in both directions.
I read somewhere that Bruce passed away and you can no longer get your hands on these conversion kits.
yeah.. read the same, shame. Website is also down.
Any idea on anyone else who's doing anything similar or good sources for these screws and motors?
You should support the z axis with a counterweight to relieve the ballscrew
can you make a fourth axis from the spindle tilt?
Go ahead and crank up that travel speed. Nice job!