Laser Indicator For Mill

cathead

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IMG_0812.JPG IMG_0813.JPG As an experiment, I built a laser indicator for my 9x42 Enco mill. It has adjustments to aim the
red dot to the center of the quill. The guts of an old laser pen was used as a basis for the experiment
and a 3 volt lithium battery and small switch were employed to put it together. I'm still working
on tightening up the dot a bit and so far it looks promising. I will be doing some testing to
determine the accuracy of this set up. The dot focuses at only one height so with the table
higher or lower than the focus point one gets a circle. This may prove to be handy
for centering round materials mounted vertically and possibly other applications.




I have to blame the computer gremlins for rotating my top photo, anyway, you get the picture...:fireman::devil:
 
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That dan gelbert chap talks about the laser finders in one of his vids.

I think the spinning the laser is good as it eliminates any off aim issued a static dot can have and makes it more versatile.


Stuart
 
Dan Gelbert is such an interesting guy. A billionaire that could have any equipment in the world at his disposal and you see what he uses. I have to make one of those laser centers, looks much fast than using my DRO's edge finder probe.
 
Dan Gelbert is such an interesting guy. A billionaire that could have any equipment in the world at his disposal and you see what he uses. I have to make one of those laser centers, looks much fast than using my DRO's edge finder probe.

ahh that explains his custom made cnc all granite, air spindled grinder / lathe :)

Stuart
 
ahh that explains his custom made cnc all granite, air spindled grinder / lathe :)

Stuart
That lathe he made was a work of art! The air bearings are amazing.

He highly modifies all his equipment, a true inventor and innovator.

Edit: I looked at my notes on Dan. Here's a reply he made on his laser center and to state that that mill was his drill press. Uses a Makino KE55 CNC mill. This was from another forum.

(Dan Gelbart)
Hi Folks:
For all of you building a laser center finder, here are some notes:
1. The laser has to be focussed to a very fine spot (under 0.1mm) so a regular laser pointer is useless. Focus it to a minimum spot about 150 mm away. Since the spot is oval, orient oval spot with long dimension tangential to the circle created to get a finer line. You can buy a laser module that can be focussed on Ebay for a few bucks, for example: 2pcs Focusable 3 5V 650nm 5mW Red Laser Dot Diode Module 12x35mm | eBay
2. The tilt of the beam has to be adjustable by tilting the module or a small mirror. A fixed angle is a poor choice. I posted a link to a fully detailed design on the YouTube video where I show the device.
3. Note that the posted design slips over the chuck or toolholder, so you don't have to remove tool to check centering.
4. Make sure design is balanced so you can use it at high speed. Design and test it to withstand much higher speeds as the highest used.
5. You can easily get 25um (0.001") and even better by using some simple tricks. For example, to center a hole on a bar or shaft place piece of paper under shaft and adjust height or beam angle till you just see two tiny spots of light on paper, each one on one side of shaft (e.g. shaft blocking almost the whole circle). This will give you accuracies down to a few microns in a dim room.
6. For all of those who felt sorry for me because of my choice in a milling machine:
The machine shown (Jet) is what I use as a drill press. I have a Makino KE55 CNC mill , Moore jig borer and other fancy machines. This video is part of a course to teach students so I chose machines they will be familiar with. I don't show any of the fancy machines (like a 1um accuracy aerostatic lathe/grinder) in these videos.
Cheers,
Dan Gelbart
 
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