DIY manual mill (with CNC upgrade planned in future) discussion and advice thread.

[Safety Crocs]

I'm not sure if the right forum for this but I want to create a thread getting peoples input on a mill build I'm working on. I'm very much in the design phase and while I have bought some stuff for the project in is only when there has been an exceptional deal.

Here are my design goals for this build:

• a robust and quality mill that will meet any demands that a hobbyist like myself might have.
• minimize cost without sacrificing the end result.
• to initially utilize the x,y positioning table (pic below) that I already have but be designed with the assumption it will be upgraded to CNC in the future.

Here are some specific questions that I am considering, but I am interested in any and all input!

• Has anyone had experience with these spindles from Amazon? Are they a decent quality?
• I have a 2hp 220v single phase motor already, I'm trying to decide between using it or purchasing a 3 phase and converter (no 3 phase in the shop).

• What type of ball screw in best for a CNC application, I'm having difficulty finding info on the matter.
• I am still trying to decide how best to tram the motor any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Here are they designs I have inspiration from so far. Any thoughts on these designs or other examples to draw from?

My design so far



Anyway thank you to anyone who read this far, looking forward to hear yall's input!

 

[Mitch Alsup]

In my opinion: you will not be able to construct a mill that can compete with the accuracy and precision as one you can buy and assemble parts.
{{If you already had a Mill you could.}}

The table you show at the top is for a drill press {I have one too} and the difference between a drill press and a mill is the bearings in the spindle and the stiffness of the connection of the spindle and quill AND the orthogonality of the movements to the table.

My advise is to shop Precision Mathews and/or Grizzly; or the used market for a real Mill (and nor a round column.)

 

[matthewsx]

This ^^^^

 

[matthewsx]

Here's my thread....

Homemade vertical mill drill

Well, I guess I'm gonna try to make myself a mill for cheap. I found this column on Craigslist for $80. And I ordered this spindle I can power with a VFD I already have. And I'm going to get one of these cheap x-y milling tables. And probably look for a really flat piece of C channel...

www.hobby-machinist.com

Now that I have a mill I might be able to get things squared up and running true. If you're interested in going down this path send me a PM, I may have a deal for you.

John

 

[Safety Crocs]

In my opinion: you will not be able to construct a mill that can compete with the accuracy and precision as one you can buy and assemble parts.
{{If you already had a Mill you could.}}

The table you show at the top is for a drill press {I have one too} and the difference between a drill press and a mill is the bearings in the spindle and the stiffness of the connection of the spindle and quill AND the orthogonality of the movements to the table.

My advise is to shop Precision Mathews and/or Grizzly; or the used market for a real Mill (and nor a round column.)

For sure, I have a friend with a mill and was planning on using a local machine shop for parts that are too big for his machine.
As for the positioning table I know it's for a drill press but honestly the is build the same way that a mill XY table should be (to the best of my knowledge), and it feels far heavier duty than any benchtop mill that I have seen. Is there a significant design difference between it and a typical mill bed? (bed dimensions 9.5x22). Its would only be temporary anyway.

To be clear the main reason I'm doing this is for fun and a challenge, not really expecting to save money vs buying one.

 

[matthewsx]

You will learn a lot if you go down this path.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

For sure, I have a friend with a mill and was planning on using a local machine shop for parts that are too big for his machine.
As for the positioning table I know it's for a drill press but honestly the is build the same way that a mill XY table should be (to the best of my knowledge), and it feels far heavier duty than any benchtop mill that I have seen. Is there a significant design difference between it and a typical mill bed? (bed dimensions 9.5x22). Its would only be temporary anyway.

To be clear the main reason I'm doing this is for fun and a challenge, not really expecting to save money vs buying one.

Yes, absolutely.

Im a Toolmaker by trade, and I'm going down this path currently and looked into a table similar to what you have. The difference is in finish and parallelism of the ways. Basically to get that quality of table tight enough to withstand milling forces without chattering it will get bound at some point in its travel or bound on high spots alone.

This will lead to galling of the ways and then its all down hill from there. I saw a video of this table where the guy tried bringing it up to spec as a drill table positioner and you could literally hear the ways scraping as he moved it by hand. 48:00 That's not the sound of good quality ways.

More info as to the way I went here, this is one area you want to spend your money on.

Prazi BFE65-Littlemachineshop Big Mill table Frankenbuild, spin off thread.

This thread is a spin off of the following to keep things from becoming cluttered. Lathe Mill score thread. I got this mill head in a package deal as posted in the above thread but the milling table/base was not included. Having read everything I could find about this combo and working as a...

www.hobby-machinist.com

I used the LMS 5013 table and I'm very happy with it.