- Joined
- Oct 31, 2016
- Messages
- 2,643
I have a made in Taiwan Excel EC30-B mill/drill. I don't trust the dials on my mill/drill to be really accurate. I have not actually measured how far things move in relation to the dials until today On the X and Y axis's one rotation of the dial is 0.125. Checked this with a DI and measured 0.125.
I had always thought that one rotation of the dial on the Z axis was 0.100. Today in cutting the slot for one of the tool holders I am making I decided to try to be really accurate instead of my usual sneak up on it until it fits. I know that I am a hack at this machining stuff. Trying to up my game here.
Today I used my wiggler for the first time to find the edge of the tool holder. Did the math and moved the table in so that the edge of end mill should be where I wanted it. The edge of the end mill just kissed the layout line I had drawn. So far so good. None of my dials have the zero feature. I can sort of set the Z axis to zero by having the dial on zero but don't engage the fine feed. I then bring the end mill down to touch the work and engage the fine feed. When I did this today it looked like the dial was on 9 instead of 0. Move the dial over and know I am on 1. What's going on here. I go through this several times before I take a really close look. Lo and behold there is no 9. The dial goes from 8 to 0. Checked the travel for one rotation with a DI and got readings from 0.85 to 0.89. Most were 0.880 and 0.890. I'll take some more tomorrow.
I can't believe that I have been using my mill/drill for several years and never noticed that one full rotation on the Z axis was 0.900. Feeling pretty dumb right now.
I had always thought that one rotation of the dial on the Z axis was 0.100. Today in cutting the slot for one of the tool holders I am making I decided to try to be really accurate instead of my usual sneak up on it until it fits. I know that I am a hack at this machining stuff. Trying to up my game here.
Today I used my wiggler for the first time to find the edge of the tool holder. Did the math and moved the table in so that the edge of end mill should be where I wanted it. The edge of the end mill just kissed the layout line I had drawn. So far so good. None of my dials have the zero feature. I can sort of set the Z axis to zero by having the dial on zero but don't engage the fine feed. I then bring the end mill down to touch the work and engage the fine feed. When I did this today it looked like the dial was on 9 instead of 0. Move the dial over and know I am on 1. What's going on here. I go through this several times before I take a really close look. Lo and behold there is no 9. The dial goes from 8 to 0. Checked the travel for one rotation with a DI and got readings from 0.85 to 0.89. Most were 0.880 and 0.890. I'll take some more tomorrow.
I can't believe that I have been using my mill/drill for several years and never noticed that one full rotation on the Z axis was 0.900. Feeling pretty dumb right now.