New CNC Mill on the horizon

[fvfdrums]

Another good weekends work out of the way...

So a slight change of plan, after heeding the warnings of laying out resin in the cold and the temp around here steadily dropping it was decided that we would attempt to see how level we could make the machine using various measuring methods and after an hour or so of painstakingly shimming and adjusting the base the top was where we wanted it to be.

A few cups of tea and staring later the straight edge I ordered arrived and from this we could see using feeler gauges there was a pretty consistent shallow curve from one end of the steel to the other mainly due to the welding around the middle of the machine as this was within 0.05mm at the same point on either side of the machine.

As the difference was not all that large we decided to embark on shims and the possibility of using epoxy putty if needed. All I can say is dont be put off by having to shim rails! Initially I did not even think I would be able to get it near close what we needed however a couple of hours of filing high spots and then measuring using a feeler and inserting the correct piece of shim steel and we had the rails matching the straight edge.

The gantry moves smoothly from one end of the machine to the other no tight spots and I just need to get hold of a DTi in order to do some final checks however all in all I am very happy with the results.

Fitting the x axis screws however was a PITA....

The first one went on fine, no binding alignment was great everything slid in place.

The second one is really bent :( I thought it was a bit bent when it came from Chai - i registered a complaint but heard nothing back after 2 emails. However with one end bolted down and the ball screw holding it steady one rotation of the thread results in the loose bearing mount the other end moving up and down about 2-3mm dependant on what part of the thread you are on.

Does anyone know anywhere I might be able to get this straightened? I have no access to a hydraulic press or anything precision enough to make this good? any suggestions?

This aside its all on and screwed in place and a few turns of ballscrews here and there results in a pleasing movement across the machine. The only other issue is there seems to be a large amount of end float coming from the bk bearings I have either end so I am going to disassemble them and see if they need shimming in the middle!

All in all a successful weekend :)