King Midas mill conversion

[diy-john]

Good point about larger items and most appropriate methods, and manual work. I will make this machine as good as I can. There will never be other one like it.

This week I have started to make the X-axis "final build". This is a slight revision of plan. I have realized time it takes to make the final build is going to be very long anyway, so not going to make Y and Z -axis any "intermediate build"... but next items are final.

On milling table there is a 708mm x 50mm new piece for X-axis. Had bought 15mm thick aluminium from Ebay for this purpose.



Dialled in G-code to cut a through-pocket (15mm depth), but to one's surprise, end-mill did not penetrate all the way through. Have measured thickness with a digital vernier, and plate seems to be 16mm ( 16.2 mm ). Had to rewise drawings.



I have cut the 708mm x 50mm parts with a cheap circular saw, bought for this purpose + blade made for aluminium. If you try this at home, please use a good respirator (aluminium dust) + eye protection. I did this part of work outdoors, due to mess it creates. Used piece of wood + clamps as a guide rail.



Resulting parts are quite straight, no curvature or windings to mention. There may be a 0.5mm difference to the 50mm I wanted, but I will not try to machine them any further. Will make holes and fittings as needed for this build. This part will attach to the "front of the X-axis -table". The 16mm thick part will replace current 5mm parts.

[Swarfing]

Nice one John good to see your back at it.