CNC RF 30/31 - for better or worse

[Gator-J]

I have a 1987.5 Enco round column mill, according to the cover plate that does not look quite original, that acquired about 10-12 years ago. Not quite sure on the exact model. I have considered trying to sell it since I have a Russian made Deckel clone I use more often because it has built in power feeds. The RF 30 has more range and I am not short of room currently, so it has been kept. Anyhow, I thought turning it into CNC was a $2-3K binge, so I never really thought seriously about it. Then I saw a thread about a cheap(ish) kit to make it happen and I did the math and though for sub $1k I could do it. So I jumped off the deep end and bought some stuff. THEN I started taking apart my mill to prep and see the condition of things. Well, I was bassackwards in my process. I really should have done a better job figuring out the condition of my machine and the layout prior to purchasing stuff. I am committed now, I have the steppers, and the driver is in the mail. Now I have to figure out what to do.

It was after I bought stuff that I realized my machine with factory power on the z-axis is less than common. I am not sure what the drive mechanism is for a non-power downfeed machine, but I have 2 points of slop in my z-axis. The worm gear from the front and the interface with the quill. Between the two, I am not certain that any real degree of accuracy can be achieved, even with the shock conversion that seems to be popular to reduce the z-axis backlash.

My x-axis had a bunch of backlash, like 50 thou. Since I had always used it manually, and usually not to do anything but hog material, it had never been an issue. After I bought stuff and inspected things for real, it was apparent that slop was only in the middle 6-8in of the table. The ends are really tight. This seems like a bad start for CNC so I think I need to swap to ball screws from the get go. Project creep.

I have disassembled things further than I am really comfortable with and am plunging into new territory. As of today I have made a real mess of things and hopefully can put humpty dumpty back together again.

This is where I am currently. Seems quite the mess I have gotten myself into.





mess I ahve

 

[Gator-J]

I have been giving the z-axis a lot of thought. It seems that most people hook up to the fine feed control and add an air shock to help eliminate some backlash.

With all the interfaces in my gear box there are 3 spots to introduce backlash. This seems far from optimal, even for what I am starting with.

So, is there any reason not mount something like this (not this exact one) on the face of the head and run a rod down to the quill? I could attach it where the depth stop was, and if that proves to weak fabricate a more substantial mount once the concept is proven.