DIY mill...

[wiremonkey]

Milling a pcb is on my bucket list! I admire your moxy.

[Doddy]

Milling a pcb is on my bucket list! I admire your moxy.

Then think carefully about that Taig that you linked to. My immediate concerns (2 minutes glance at spec, no-more) table too small; need the 5019 ball-screws to address backlash for PCB milling; spindle-speed too low for micro-mills/drills.

[keith77777]

Hi hope this has uploaded my pics.

I have made lots of bits for the big mill jncluding a 4 jaw chuck fitting. faceplate , fly cutter. The overarm is not yet perfected. I wanted to do in line boring. The spindle has a taper which fits into the chuck and faceplate with a central bolt and tapped hole down the middle. These bits are made from old trailer hubs whose central hole has been filled with molten aly and then machined to a taper. I made a tool post for lathe tool out of cast iron block.

Not done much on the mill recently since I got the router table, not very big but OK for pcb,s. These tables are good value for money but the table needs to be milled flat with its owm cuttrer. An extra set of collets was bought and the toolstation hinge cutter did the trick. The material on the table top is laminate flooring left over from my bathroom.

Buy for now Keith

[keith77777]

Just replying to my own thread its lonely out here.

The Chinese router table has a bed which is not in line with the gantry therefore its necessary to skim it with a large mill (I lined it with left over bathroom flooring and skimmed it with a hinge cutter available from toolstation). I hope the image has gone thro I recently started to use Ubuntu. The cast iron block in the middle contains another ER11 collet holder . The reason for this I wanted to drill thro the centre of 6mm rod with a 1 mm drill.This task could not be done on my big lathe. You put the part in the rotating part and the drill is static. then its easy to increment it down onto the drill (I use Zeus ). Also the block has a notch for 6mm lathe tool so I can go sideways and turn small items. A cheap precision lathe !!

[keith77777]

Hi Mr Monkey
Sorry I did not reply, As u can see from my other posts I milled the cheap Chinese table I bought with a 1 inch hinge cutter after I had covered it with wood. Making 4 PCBs at a time cutter depth must be the same at extremities.
Yoy will see from my other posts I have made a Gingery horizontal mill impersonation. Its a lot of heavy ironwork bolted together. There was a guy on here asking about distortion in a welded frame. Well I dont weld everything first off. Bolts can be sufficient but if something starts to move clagg a weld on it. Good reason for using steel bits.

Wishing u success with ur build Keith

[keith77777]

Just to show how u can make an adapter block for cheap Chines router table to drill and machine small parts. The spare collet holders are dirt cheap together with sets of er11 collets to 7mm. I drilled a 6mm brass rod and made a nozzle for hot air soldering iron. the cast iron block was made on my big lathe.

Best regards Keith