Converting Your Old Mill Or Lathe To Cnc

[HMF]

Converting Your Old Mill or Lathe to CNC

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For many mill owners, do-it-yourself projects provide a relaxing way to escape day-to –day pressures. For some, the idea of turning a manual mill into a more efficient, metal spinning CNC operated tool seems like the next perfect project. To learn what’s involved in converting a mill, visiting several websites with step-by-step instructions may prove helpful. Below are several different ways to go about the process.
Converting a manual mill into a CNC machine
The instructions that follow are for converting a Taig mill into a CNC mill—for more specific directions and additional help, visit the link provided.
Turning a manual Taig mill into a CNC run machine:

1. First, loosen the gibs and the leadscrew all the way.
2. Next, remove the leadscrew mounting bolts and remove the leadscrews.
3. Remove the tables from their tracks and replace brass brushings with bronze adjustable ones, then replace the tables.
4. Replace the leadscrew, add the leadscrew mounting bolts, and tighten all the way.

For the Z - axis:

1. Remove the leadscrew mounting bolts and remove the leadscrew.
   Install the new leadscrew (in this case, from Taig; wwwtaigtools.com), and then replace and tighten the mounting bolts.
2. Next, attach motor mounts, the motor, and the control system. The control system used here is the SP-3/HT from Stepperworld.

For pictures of this process visit:http://alpinetek.netfirms.com/machines/cnc.html
For a different and very detailed account of converting a manual mill into CNC, complete with pictures, the following site may be helpful:http://www.silverkatt.co.uk/CNCMill/