- Joined
- Nov 3, 2014
- Messages
- 18
I am joining this collective groups in hopes I can partake in the wisdom of the more experienced machinist. LONG ago I use a Bridgeport (mostly to miter tubes) and was hooked in what can be done with a vertical mill... flash-forward many decades I finally replaced my bench-top drill with a bench-top mill/drill (Dayton - Rong Fu 31 round spindle type)
I picked up a (old) vocational classroom book and have been reading the very basics, as I build up my tooling and better understand many of the best practices that are expected from machinist knowledge and skills. Soooo much to learn, but at least I have some gear to start.
So far I've set up the 220v, moved 700 lbs of hefty mill/drill to my work area, and picked up an assortment of end mills, drills, a serious vice, parallels and squares and padding / holders and several .001 starrett and federal guages.
After learning how to tram my spindle, and tram the vice I have milled the precise "block" and done a drill and "pocket" with VERY close edge tolerance to observe cutting (end mil type) over both X and Y axis and passed the .003 variance of specification... so looks like I am ready for my project that will be first to improve the Rong Fu 31 (Dayton label) lead-screw backlash replace it with with a ball screw set-up.
I've been doing a lot of reading and see that I have many options, but at this point my goal to it make backlash acceptable for a later-on CNC conversion, (kinda a series of small steps)
My hope is to buy / make a "adapter" that I can screw into the ACME lead screw thread of the OEM ball (nut) and identify the proper length ball screw and support bearings to have handles and a servo motor. The best example of the goal (but at a price I can not afford) is the Flashcut CNC modification... it reused the lead screw nut so it's mostly a matter of adapter to ball screw inserted where the lead screw (acme) went.
I suspect someone has already developed a bill-of materials (vendor and part numbers) for the ball screws, support bearings and ends for handles and servos, as well as the modified ball-nut to attach to the Rong Fu 32 table... but so far only the Flashcut CNC people have a kit, and they are very proud of the $1k kit so I am hoping to find or if necessary make the parts to accomplish the same goal.
Any help is always appreciated! Remember I'm a newbie so my learning curve is steep, but I catch-on quickly.
Looking forward to meeting some of you.
Oh BTW I am building a Lotus Super 7 (90% complete) and now in the "jewelry phase" so billet Aluminium controls will be artifacts of my new leanings.
Lo7us (aka John S)
I picked up a (old) vocational classroom book and have been reading the very basics, as I build up my tooling and better understand many of the best practices that are expected from machinist knowledge and skills. Soooo much to learn, but at least I have some gear to start.
So far I've set up the 220v, moved 700 lbs of hefty mill/drill to my work area, and picked up an assortment of end mills, drills, a serious vice, parallels and squares and padding / holders and several .001 starrett and federal guages.
After learning how to tram my spindle, and tram the vice I have milled the precise "block" and done a drill and "pocket" with VERY close edge tolerance to observe cutting (end mil type) over both X and Y axis and passed the .003 variance of specification... so looks like I am ready for my project that will be first to improve the Rong Fu 31 (Dayton label) lead-screw backlash replace it with with a ball screw set-up.
I've been doing a lot of reading and see that I have many options, but at this point my goal to it make backlash acceptable for a later-on CNC conversion, (kinda a series of small steps)
My hope is to buy / make a "adapter" that I can screw into the ACME lead screw thread of the OEM ball (nut) and identify the proper length ball screw and support bearings to have handles and a servo motor. The best example of the goal (but at a price I can not afford) is the Flashcut CNC modification... it reused the lead screw nut so it's mostly a matter of adapter to ball screw inserted where the lead screw (acme) went.
I suspect someone has already developed a bill-of materials (vendor and part numbers) for the ball screws, support bearings and ends for handles and servos, as well as the modified ball-nut to attach to the Rong Fu 32 table... but so far only the Flashcut CNC people have a kit, and they are very proud of the $1k kit so I am hoping to find or if necessary make the parts to accomplish the same goal.
Any help is always appreciated! Remember I'm a newbie so my learning curve is steep, but I catch-on quickly.
Looking forward to meeting some of you.
Oh BTW I am building a Lotus Super 7 (90% complete) and now in the "jewelry phase" so billet Aluminium controls will be artifacts of my new leanings.
Lo7us (aka John S)