Denford Software & Machines

Looks good!

It's on my to do list... I've stalled on the power drawbar, as I need to figure a plan of action to remove the head and refit plus align it again. Plus a snafu with incorrect measurements on the artwork, so I need to make a new plate :-/

How much did the spacer cost you in the end?

Also, you mention plate glass, what did you use that for??

Jon

madebymccoy wrote:Looks good!

It's on my to do list... I've stalled on the power drawbar, as I need to figure a plan of action to remove the head and refit plus align it again. Plus a snafu with incorrect measurements on the artwork, so I need to make a new plate :-/

How much did the spacer cost you in the end?

Also, you mention plate glass, what did you use that for??

Jon

Hi Jon the spacer cost me £240 all in so a good price in the end after some crazy quotes.
I used a circle of plate glass to tram the head, the Novamill doesnt have any adjustment so its all on shims, just a long laborious process of moving a dti in all 4 directions over the glass until i was happy enough to lock it down at that. I'm sure there must be an easier way, but it has worked to reasonable tolerance and hopefully i wont have to do it again. i'll keep an eye on it though.

Beautifully done. Thanks for sharing.

I too just got a local machine shop to make me a spacer. Can't wait to fit it in (though I have to modify the ATC as well)

Q1 - once the 4 large bolts at the base is undone, the entire Z column with everything else attached to it also lifts up with the column? So it is a simple act of putting the spacer in and bolting it back with longer bolts followed by refitting the Y axis stepper.

Q2 - what did you use as shims for leveling the Z column?

Thanks

Hi FGC, only just seen this sorry, i'm hoping you figured it out.
I disconnected the wires to all the steppers etc from the main plug to allow me the slack i needed for lifting the column.
shims I used were brass shim of varied thickness. a piece of ground glass and a dti to check in every direction that is was square to the table.

Hi Ben

Thanks for taking time to reply. I have been away and wasnt able to work on upgrading the mill. Thanks for the tips. Will look to upgrading it soon.

Cheers

I've just been chatting with the waterjetting company I use, and it dawned on me that I could get them to cut the raising block from ground tool steel. It'll already have two parallel ground faces, and even though they do really good cutting (so minimal taper from the waterjet), I don't really care about the sides, just the parallel faces.

If not a tool steel, any suggestions as to which steel to use?

I've not actually looked that deeply into the internal design of the column - so I wonder if I should make it in one 70mm, two 35mm slices, or an i.e. 2x 20mm slices and a 30mm slice to give the internal structure needed. Guessing a profile cut isn't a sufficient internal structure??

A possible alternative approach, though it gives less benefit, is to use finger collets direct in the spindle. I bought a set of these from China, they effectively give an extra 50mm daylight.

Hi All,
Been a long time. Has anyone considered casting a spacer in polymer granite and then lightly skimming it with a large diameter fly cutter?

My other thought was to get some ground steel plate water jet cut to profile then stack them to height.

Any constructive thoughts would be much appreciated.

All the best

Barry M

If anyone is thinking of getting the riser block made and would benefit from another unit to reduce the per unit cost, please let me know.