jid2 Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 Face milling is good stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heavyopp Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 Within a tighter budget which would be a better choice for a hobbyist to get a cnc mill set up the grizzly or little machine shop? This thread has really sparked my interest and now I need to start saving up. I'm not exactly sure but I think the grizzly mill is a bigger mill --- do you have the space? I'm going to the Grizzly showroom in PA next weekend to see the mill up close -- I'll bring a camera Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akkid17 Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 I've got a small separated garage that I have access to so room isn't the issue. I'm looking to get a good CNC set up for gunsmithing my personal collection. Nothing huge but I'd like to be able to work on a full size 1911 and possibly ar parts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StraightUp_OG Posted May 19, 2013 Author Share Posted May 19, 2013 The LMS is the biggest in the X2 class of Mini Mills. But any of the X2's will allow you to work on full size 1911's and AR parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akkid17 Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 What's the difference between the solid column and the tilting column. It'd be nice to be able to do up to 45 degree cuts on each side without having to set up two separate operations but I'm not sure if that may compromise the stability of the cuts maybe give some unnecessary wobble and have some chatter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StraightUp_OG Posted May 19, 2013 Author Share Posted May 19, 2013 (edited) The reason I did not go with the tilting column is you need to re-tram the mill after using it tilted. I would rather tilt the work piece with an angle vise or jig and not have to tram the mill each time. ETA: Tram is the squareness of your mill head to the table. Edited May 19, 2013 by StraightUp_OG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinj308 Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 What's the difference between the solid column and the tilting column. It'd be nice to be able to do up to 45 degree cuts on each side without having to set up two separate operations but I'm not sure if that may compromise the stability of the cuts maybe give some unnecessary wobble and have some chatter. The reason I did not go with the tilting column is you need to re-tram the mill after using it tilted. I would rather tilt the work piece with an angle vise or jig and not have to tram the mill each time. ETA: Tram is the squareness of your mill head to the table. http://www.cnccookbook.com/CCMillTramming.html A good read on tramming Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIIID Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 The Tubal Cain videos are made by my neighbor, he used to be the High School machine shop teacher. I milled my first Bo-mar on that mill almost 20 years ago. Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griz Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 My X2 has the tilting column and I have never used it... Probably could have, but it's less trouble to tilt the work piece. If you convert to CNC, you would be even less likely to need to tilt the column. What I have done though is spend countless hours trying to counter the loss of rigidity caused by the tilting column. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akkid17 Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 Good to know. I would have bought the tilting column model if strictly for being able to do angle cuts that are mirrored on each side of a slide if I hadn't asked but it sounds like its not really worth the hassle if having to re align the column every time you make a semi rare cut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donnyglock Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 My mill has a tilting column and I use it alot. If you buy the dual guage set up for tramming its simple and only takes a few min. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinj308 Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 A thread on cnczone shows this mod to a g0704 to help with tramming http://www.cnczone.com/forums/benchtop_machines/96443-new_grizzly_g0704-27.html Little bolt on brackets with set screws and lock nuts. These are the pics from the post. On a side note, I think I knew but had forgotten that the Pres. and CEO of Grizzly Industrial is a very successful precision rifle shooter. http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2013/02/match-winning-rifle-shiraz-balolias-300-wsm-f-open-rig/ I kinda like buying a mill from a guy that shoots a rifle like that! AND it's not easy to pull off that moustache. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griz Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 On the X2, to make an angled cut with the tilting head, you'd be cutting along the Y axis, which on the stock X2 is less than 4". Doing something like profiling a slide would be challenging. Much easier to use angle blocks or an angled bit to do that sort of thing manually (to me anyway)... Or cut the angled profile using CNC, that's the sort of thing that is easy to program by hand Tramming is pretty easy with just an indicol type DTI holder that clamps onto the spindle... I just sweep it left and right and then adjust half the difference to get very very close on the first try. I use that same holder for sweeping in vices, etc as well. I don't think I have ever done a project without using it. Example of what it looks like: http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=1251&category=1310310429 This is also an example of where analog is better. Sweeping in a workpiece or tramming a mill with a digital DTI would be a huge pain IMO... Also the accuracy of the DTI doesn't matter since you don't really care about the absolute measurment, you are just trying to repeat a position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midget Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 Well it has arrived! A quick question for you guys. Convert it to ball-screws now or wait until it comes time to convert to CNC? Please ignore the messy garage..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StraightUp_OG Posted May 21, 2013 Author Share Posted May 21, 2013 (edited) WOO HOO Happy Day!!!! How long will it be before you do the conversion? If it will be soon I would leave it as is until the upgrade. If it is going to be a while and you will be using it manually it might be a good idea to upgrade to ball screws and ball nuts. Edited May 21, 2013 by StraightUp_OG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dskinsler83 Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 Nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midget Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 WOO HOO Happy Day!!!! How long will it be before you do the conversion? If it will be soon I would leave it as is until the upgrade. If it is going to be a while and you will be using it manually it might be a good idea to upgrade to ball screws and ball nuts. It is probably going to be a year long project to get this converted. But in the mean time I plan on using it as a manual mill to help build my skill set Did you use the cnc fusion kit? If so, what recommendations do you have for it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StraightUp_OG Posted May 21, 2013 Author Share Posted May 21, 2013 Yeah I used the fusion kit. Get the preloaded ballscrews it made life much easier. If I were to do it now I would look harder at the gecko motors as I understand they are really good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a matt Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 Well how do your new toys shoot? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StraightUp_OG Posted May 21, 2013 Author Share Posted May 21, 2013 (edited) The hybrid commander is AMAZING it shoots like an open gun. Very fast and flat. I had a buddy of mine (Master Class Open shooter) take it for a test drive and although we did not have a timer on it he had to be doing sub 2 bill drills with it and for a 45acp 4.25" that is rockin! I was shooting 2" off hand at 15 yrds with it. The 2011 45 is also a dream. Shooting 1" groups rested at 25yrds with it and I am very happy with that one as well. I am really getting excited that my 6" Schuemann barrel is on the way so I can get started on my 6" sight tracker!!!! Edited May 21, 2013 by StraightUp_OG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinj308 Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 Well it has arrived! A quick question for you guys. Convert it to ball-screws now or wait until it comes time to convert to CNC? Please ignore the messy garage..... AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donnyglock Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 Contgrats on the new mill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midget Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 I will have to say, this mill is tiny in real life... According to the specs, it will do everything I'm looking for, but damned it almost make me wish I would have gone with the G0704. The more I research the lms 3960, the more I become encouraged about it as a platform Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StraightUp_OG Posted May 22, 2013 Author Share Posted May 22, 2013 Nothing says you can't have both. :-) I know it seems small but I am doing big things with it and have yet to find that it is not enough mill to do what I want. That is not too say a bigger mill wouldn't be nice. I chose to buy tooling and gun parts with the delta in cost. Maybe when I retire I will SPLURGE and get one of them Haas Mini Mills! A boy can dream... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griz Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Wait on the ballscrews. My understanding is that they will complicate your life on a lightweight manual machine since the table could move easier under cutting forces if you let go of the handwheels. The stepper motors have holding torque that keeps the table from moving when you convert it. I could be wrong though, I've never tried ballscrews manually. I know some people use them on manual Bridgeport sized machines, but that's a whole different scale where the table is massive enough that it might stay put for light cuts with no screw at all. I used the CNC fusion kit.... It was a quick way to get up and running but I hate the Z axis and will re-work it eventually. I also paid for the pre-loaded ball nuts, but I don't think it was worth it, after figuring out how they work, loading the balls isn't a big deal. Note that they are pre-loaded with standard .125 balls, not oversized balls as I mistakenly thought. You'd be way ahead of the game if you made a project of making your own motor mounts following Hoss Machines plans (or just his general approach). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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