Optimum MH 50V mods and accessories

[Unlogic]

When doing larger jobs on the mill I got chips and coolant all over the place.



So I extended the front of the table 14 cm with a 2 mm stainless steel plate angled 90°.



Sealed the joint between the table and the place with some silicone.



Then I built a chip guard out of some polycarbonate plastic that I carefully heated up and bent.



This is how it looks on the machine.

 

[Unlogic]

I bought an extra vice so that I can could clamp larger parts, however I realized the mounting them next to each other want really possible as the mounts interfered with each other.




And mounting them like this means that one vice doesn't get tightened down properly...



So I bought some 35x35 mm steel square stock and started milling it down.










Now I can mount both vices very close to each other using these middle mounts.

 

[Unlogic]

The chip guard I made worked well but it was a bit too low when working on larger pieces. So I made a new one that's 15 cm higher which solved the problem.

 

[Unlogic]

The higher chip guard turned out to work very well, here is a photo of it packed with chips.

 

[gschora]

Really nice work! Please keep us updated...
I also got my MH50 a few weeks ago and I have to 'borrow' your chiptray idea

 

[Unlogic]

Really nice work! Please keep us updated...
I also got my MH50 a few weeks ago and I have to 'borrow' your chiptray idea

Thanks, I've been busy with my autotive hobby lately due to a bent crankshaft but I'm hoping to do some more work on the mill later this autumn.

Are you happy with your machine so far?

 

[Unlogic]

The higher chip guard I made worked very well but there was still room for improvement as I realized that I made the table extension a bit too short. When I had the vices jaws open to fit large stock the tightening screws of the vices would hit the chip guard.

I decided to go for another approach this time to make it simpler to align the extension with the milling table. I used an extruded aluminum 90 degree angle that I then mounted a flat stainless plate to.





I had to mill a slot in the aluminum for the glass scales on X-axis of the mill.



Here is the final result.

 

[Unlogic]

I have LED light attached to the mill with a magnetic foot. It's been attached to the service cover for Z-axis handle mechanism since it was the only spot flat enough for the magnet to stick with some force at least. However during vibrations or chatter the light has had a tendency to come loose and change angle or just fall on the table which is highly irritating.



Instead of removing the paint from the service cover or scrape/grind a part of the machine flat I decided to add a steel plate on the service cover instead.

I realized right away that I didn't have any steel plate in the right size so I started by tig welding two pieces together.



I then milled it flat, drilled four holes and rounded the edges before bolting it to the service cover.









While testing the new plat I noticed that the bottom of the magnet base is much stronger than the backside. I don't know if this applies to all these Chinese magnet bases which comes on many things these days but it sure made a difference in this case so I thought I'd mention it.

 

[gschora]

Thanks, I've been busy with my autotive hobby lately due to a bent crankshaft but I'm hoping to do some more work on the mill later this autumn.

Are you happy with your machine so far?

Sorry, I've also been busy lately. I'm a farmer and no is the time where we have to work the most

Yes I'm happy with my machine so far. Pretty sturdy, because I'm mostly milling steel and that's not a problem.

One problem is, that I think that my column is leaning forward, because when I'm face milling I get steps on the face. But since I'm new to machining with a mill I will have to test this out further.

As lights I put led-strips around the spindle, but sometimes you get shadows. So I might need another external light.


Here is something I've made from steel:

 

[Unlogic]

That's a really nice piece of steel, how did you machine that?

The column on my machine also leans slightly forward. I've ignored it so far as the bolts for it can only be accesed from the underside of the machine and I don't have the roof clearance to lift the machine up where it's currently standing in my shop. I know the column on Lukas (soldernerd) machine also leaned forward but I think he fixed with epoxy if my memory serves me right after reading his German thread using Google Translate.