X1 mill z axis power drive

[Firebird]

Hi

with the power drive on my Myford lathe being a great success I fitted a motor to the Z axis of my X1 mill. I built my benches quite high so that i don't have to bend over the machines but it does make the z axis handle a bit high. Much better now.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQxFuxm9kcg" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQxFuxm9kcg</a>

Whoops Its right video now

Cheers

Rich

[rleete]

Wrong video (it's showing runout on the lathe)

[rleete]

But it is a neat adaption.  I had an X1, which i sold after getting a mini mill from Grizzly.  I think I liked the smaller one better.

[Bogstandard]

What a great video and explanation Rich.

I am sure lots of people could easily do this mod to their machines.

As you know, I have a power feed on my largish mill knee, for doing basically what you have done, and when you come to bore holes, then is the time you will notice improvements in your machines new capabilities.

Because you are not struggling trying to keep a constant feed by hand, the super fine surface finishes and great accuracy become very easy to achieve.

John

[HS93]

what car is your motor of for your x1 i have got hold of a few and they ar all plastic gears
by the way it wuns great

peter

[Firebird]

Hi

Thanks John, I haven't tried boring yet but have used it when drilling holes.

Peter, all the motors I have are plastic gears inside. I can't remember what car I took the motor from but they are all similar.

The timimg gears used on the X1 mill and the Myford lathe I cut myself, the belts were sourced from ebay.

Cheers

Rich

[HS93]

thanks for that

Peter

[Firebird]

Hi

I have decided to modify the power feed. The smaller electric window motor works ok but is about at its limit so I am changing it to a more powerful wiper motor and I am upping the gear ratio from 2 - 1 to 3 - 1 to speed things up a bit. The existing gears are 40 tooth on the motor and 20 tooth on the lead screw. I am going to change the 40 tooth on the motor to a 60 tooth. As mentioned above I cut these gears myself so I thought I would show you how I do it. I normally cut 2 or 3 gears at once to save time and helps keep a few in stock but I only had enough material to do the one today.

After roughing out the blank from 10mm ally plate its held in the chuck and bored.



Turn a mandrel, drill and tap the end 8mm



Fit a heavy washer



Followed by the blank



And another heavy washer and 8mm cap head bolt to lock the blank securely to the mandrel



I use this great free little programme called model engineers utilities, you can get it from the following link,  http://www.colinusher.info/Software/Model%20Engineers%20Utilities.html   to calculate the blank size.



Then turn the blank to size



The rotary table in the vertical position with a 2MT drill in the the 2MT socket in the rotary table to align the cutter on centre height.



The first few teeth cut.





All the teeth cut



Atrial fit of a T5 belt.





It needs to be cleand up with a small file and have the sharp corners knocked off the teeth but its not bad.

Heres a bit of video to show the procedure.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx9_OTKUF3g" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx9_OTKUF3g</a>

Got to fit the new gear to motor next and refit to the mill. A job for another day. I'll post more when I get it done.

Cheers

Rich

[Firebird]

Hi

Well what seems like an eternity away from my shop  doing a kitchen refit and other domestic duties I had a day to myself today, fathers day     

I spent most of the day on some long overdue machine maintenance but I did manage to get the new motor and gear finished and fitted. Its a great improvement, the more powerful motor is smoother and the increase in gearing from 2 - 1 to 3 - 1 is a good deal faster. I can still select a slower speed if I wish from the controller. Heres a bit of video.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I32JgWarr7E" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I32JgWarr7E</a>
Cheers

Rich