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Newbie Here
- Thread starter dragos28
- Start date
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2014
- Messages
- 929
Looks awesome! Congratulations on the new addition! Could be a number of different causes for the rough sections. Pull the table off, clean and deburre everything reassemble, adjust and you should be good. Take your time drilling and taping the cast iron base. A good sharp bit with lots of oil helps keep everything going smoothly. Same goes for tapping the holes, clear chips frequently and use lots of oil. The chips from drilling and tapping get everywhere and are very abrasive so clean up well after your done.
As a side note I would take the adjustable base off of your vise, it eats up Z axis travel and introduces additional flex to your set up.
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2014
- Messages
- 932
Don't use the end mills in the drill chuck. That is what the R8 collets are for. Use the correct size collet for each end mill. The collets are secured and tightened with the drawbar. They will hold them tight and with little or no runout. Use the chuck for drills. That LMS kit is very nice.
BTW Congrats on the new mill. It's a beauty.
- Joined
- May 14, 2016
- Messages
- 54
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2014
- Messages
- 929
Remove the drill chuck by loosening the draw bar then select a collet that is the same size as your 1/4" to 1/4"... Start with 1/4" or 3/8" and start by taking very light cuts, .oo10 and then move up, listen to the machine and look at how the cut is going and the color of the chips. Watch some YouTube videos they can b very helpful.
Ah, sweet. I was on a tight budget at the time of ordering, so I picked and chose a similar, but cheaper kit. I'll post details when my pallet arrives.
It's not a rip-off...you don't use the chuck with the end-mills, only for drill bits and the center-drill bits. The collet set is used for endmills, and they did match up the two sets so you have the right collets for the endmills in that 10-piece set.
You pop off the black cap in front of the motor on top, then loosen that bolt (the "drawbar") with one of the included wrenches a half-turn or so. Use the pin to hold the spindle from turning when you do. Then give it a knock with a softer item...that is, not a steel wrench. A hammer handle, or brass head hammer would work. The wrench would work too, but over time it could mushroom the end of the drawbar.
That'll pop the collet holding the drill chuck loose, but it'll still be held by the remaining threads. Hold the chuck, then unscrew the drawbar the rest of the way by hand. Then you can insert an appropriate sized collet (there's an alignment pin..turn it until it slides in), and catch a few threads to hold it up.
At this point, you can insert an endmill into the collet, and tighten the drawbar the rest of the way. One thing I read said don't use the pin to hold the spindle when tightening, just grab it by your hand. Otherwise you can make it too tight to remove.
It's not a rip-off...you don't use the chuck with the end-mills, only for drill bits and the center-drill bits. The collet set is used for endmills, and they did match up the two sets so you have the right collets for the endmills in that 10-piece set.
You pop off the black cap in front of the motor on top, then loosen that bolt (the "drawbar") with one of the included wrenches a half-turn or so. Use the pin to hold the spindle from turning when you do. Then give it a knock with a softer item...that is, not a steel wrench. A hammer handle, or brass head hammer would work. The wrench would work too, but over time it could mushroom the end of the drawbar.
That'll pop the collet holding the drill chuck loose, but it'll still be held by the remaining threads. Hold the chuck, then unscrew the drawbar the rest of the way by hand. Then you can insert an appropriate sized collet (there's an alignment pin..turn it until it slides in), and catch a few threads to hold it up.
At this point, you can insert an endmill into the collet, and tighten the drawbar the rest of the way. One thing I read said don't use the pin to hold the spindle when tightening, just grab it by your hand. Otherwise you can make it too tight to remove.
So the "ways" are the flat surfaces that the bearing surfaces of the table and head slide against. The table/head are held in on/in alignment by the dovetails on each side. The "gibs" are strips of metal, that are held in place by those 4 screws and nuts, that actually slide against the dovetails on the ways. You'll want to check the tightness of those 4 screws on each axis, to make sure they're not too sloppy, nor too tight.
The vise in that collection is a "Precision milling vise", and does have in it's features "Yes" to a hold-down mechanism. It may be that your workpiece is bending, or out of square, and so as you tighten down it twists. Maybe raise it up on parallels, and clamp it so the force is only squeezing close across an edge of the workpiece. One other thing I've seen suggested, is to use a piece of soft wire for un-even pieces. A piece of bare copper wire would probably work for this if you don't have aluminum rod.
On my mini mill, you definitely need to use the pin. I don't see how you could get the collet tight enough by hand.
- Joined
- May 14, 2016
- Messages
- 54
thanks guys, for some reason those guys over at LMS also included some weird apparatus called an instruction book and after i put the kids to sleep last night i read through it. amazing whats contained in there, and here i thought i had watched enough youtube videos to be a master machinist 
jk
So i'll loosen up the ways and gibs just enough to allow the Y axis smooth movement, at the moment its too tight and feels rough.
I'll remove the drill bit chuck and use collets with the end mills.
jk
So i'll loosen up the ways and gibs just enough to allow the Y axis smooth movement, at the moment its too tight and feels rough.
I'll remove the drill bit chuck and use collets with the end mills.