A “many Pictures Few Words” Sieg Super X2plus Mill Cnc Conversion

Thank you for your kind words Konine!

Do you have tha same X2 model? (SXL2Plus)

I had to put ballnut outside the table as it was impossible to fit it under the table.

Of course I could have bought a very small ballscrew-ball nut but it would have cost "an arm an a leg" as they say.
Sorry I did not mention the boring of the thrust bearing holes before.

I made it on the lathe as I did it with the original blocks when I added bearings when Ibought the mill

faceplate.jpg

I centered the block on the lathe and bore the hole at he front

bearing block.jpg

And at the back

I did the work to the new blocks using the same setting.
I suppose I could have done it with a boring head on the mill but I do not have a boring head...

Lining up the screws with the mounting blocks was easy (but not very professional).
I measured the stock block...

blueprints.jpg

Then I transfered all measurements to the new block (Top & bottom right to the next sketch)

Cuts.jpg


Finally I made the supporting holes (the ones that secure the block to the table) a little wider as to make micro adjustments.

The mill is running like a charm, although I used a controller that needed plenty of conversions to work as it should
see http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/retrofitting-the-famous-tb6560-cnc-board.34352/

Good luck with your conversion!
If you need any help I'm happy to assist

Petros

ps
Write a name, to address to you properly.
 
This is great, I am doing a x2 upgrade on my HF mill and it was very helpful to see what you have done.
 
Hey, really nice work here. I'm going to order a SX2P from arc too in near future. Can you tell me what size ballscrews did you use for X and Y, cause i'd like to order them now from Aliexpress. Takes some serious time to ship...
I planed to use SFU1605, but not sure about lenght:
250mm and 400mm cause thats the nearest to the stock screws?
I like the idea of how you mounted the ballnut to the outside of the table, but do i need a longer ballscrew then?
And if i use a little longer on the Y-axis, do i get more Y-travel (head wouldn't be in the travel center anymore)?
Sorry for hijacking, but this is the best X2 conversion thread i could find.

Cheers Matthias
 
Hey Matthias,
I'm surprised you asking that, as all the info are in section B1 Parts & Cost.
...
EUR 32.68 1x L500mm CNC SFU1204 BallScrew with Single Ballnut End Machined STS (for X axis)
EUR 22.27 1x anti backlash ballscrew 1605-350mm-C7 (for Z axis)
EUR 23.95 1x anti backlash ballscrew 1605-300mm-C7 with end machined (For Y axis)
...
For X you need 500mm 1204 ballscrew not 1605! as the screw and nut are considerably thicker and will not fit there!

For any axes X,Y,Z, you cannot get more travel than the one specified by the designers! Not without any major modifications!!!

Read it through and if you have any questions I will be happy to help!

Petros
 
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Hello Petros, thanks for you reply

I should have read twice, i wrote this from my smartphone @work and had multiple threads open. So maybe i was a bit confused.

Thanx for your advise but it seems to me this guy link used 1605 on all 3 axes.
Are there any disadvantages in 1204 sized ballscrews. I somehow like the idea of using them for all axes, cause 4mm pitch, and 400steps per turn, won't be an advantage i think but somehow i like the fact. Then on the other side, bigger is better most of the time.

And for the extended travel, I only tought about few (5-15) mm's nothing big or fancy.

So 500mm for X and 350mm for Y. Why are they so different from the stock screws?
X stock 370mm screw lenght and 420mm overall
Y stock 225mm screw lenght and 275mm overall
 
Hello Matthias,

1. The guy you mention above, did a very nice job but with MAJOR modifications. As I have said I did not have acess to another mill at that time and I kept the modifications to a minimum. If you have acess to another mill you can always choose that approach. My thought was that if I fail I could always put back the original screws and have my mill operational again.

2. There are no dissadvantages in 1204 ballscrews. Your software settings will take care of the pitch difference. You will not even notice that two of the ballscrews have 5mm pitch and the 3rd has 4mm pitch. The only difference is in thickness! 1204 fits under there nicely, while 1605 needs a lot of material to be removed.
If bigger was better all the time, everyone would drive a truck instead of a car ;)

3. If you extend the travel and the table moves beyond the end position, I think there will be less area in contact with the gibs, making the mill less beefy. I have calculated the legth while Y was fully retracted (in) and chose the ballscrew length.

4. The differences in lengths between original screws and ballscrews arise from the nut position. The nut is not in the middle of the table anymore but at a different position (even at the edge). On the other hand the machine will use the legth of the ballscrew needed for the travel distance. If there are a couple of cm unused in X or Z axes you can always use your angle grinder and cut it off. If you use a longer Y ballscrew it will not fit under the base as the column restricts it or it will not allow full retraction of the table towards Y axis. You might need to remove material from the column base that is not a wise desicion.

I hope I helped
Petros
 
Thanx again for enlighten me, yo help alot:)
Is your X-screw standing out for aprox 1/3 of his lenght on one side of the table then? Can i see a picture from your mill where i can see the whole assembled machine?

I don't like the idea of cutting my ballscrews, i have a lathe but almost zero experience on it, and i read they are hard. And they need to go into a bearing somehow?
 
My pleasure to help,

The ballscrews do not stand out of the table by 1/3 of the length. The X ballscrew is about 2 cm longer and is standing out 2 cm.

Xout.jpg

I take advantage of that to move the table 2cm extra towards X+ as you can see to the next photo (the ballnut is exposed because of that extra travel)

Advantage.jpg

The ball screws do not move independently they always move in reference to the table as they are connected to it and move with it.

See the next two photos one with the table all the way to X-- and the other with the table all the way to X+

Xlefts.jpg

Xrights.jpg
To make it clear I have uploaded a video showing all the movement of the X axis from left to right.


Same for the Y axis. See the video showing Y to retract all the way


I hope its more clear now and I hope you excuse the mess around the mill :oops:

Petros
 
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